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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Operation Save Chessier
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“My lady, we've packed everything you need.”
“Look. The bunny's face is all puffy now, isn't it?”
“Wowww!”
I scrambled off the bed and dashed over, and Jeti slung the bunny bag over my shoulder.
“Hmph. You're just too cute. May I carry you to the study?”
“Yes! I'd like that!”
As Jun held me, I studied her expression.
For someone who'd made a perfect deduction, Jun didn't seem to be thinking much of it.
Then again.
After all, a Primera emerging from a family other than the imperial line was as preposterous as a whale walking on land.
There was no need for me to be anxious; I just had to proceed with my plan, step by step.
Today…
...was the day for Operation Save Chessier, which could be postponed no longer.
It was time to carry out phase one.
“But, wait!”
“Yes, my lady!”
“Where's the apothecary?”
“The apothecary?”
* * *
The Rubinstein Ducal Apothecary.
“Knock, knock.”
The young physician, Flin Schultz, had been dozing off in his seat by the sunny window and jolted awake.
“W-what was that?”
“Knock, knooock.”
Wiping away a drool stain, he looked around as a youthful voice made another sound from behind the door.
“Who is it?”
When he opened the door, he saw a little girl with her arms full of flowers, smiling.
With her cute pigtails and blue eyes, she was unmistakably the daughter of the house.
Flin recognized her immediately and was surprised.
“Well, who do we have here? Could it be the young lady? The ducal estate has been buzzing for the past few days...”
“Yes, that's me! It's nice to meet you, Flin! My name is Lilis!”
“Goodness, you know me? But we haven't even been formally introduced.”
“Yes! The maids told me Flin is a very smart doctor. They said if I get sick, you'll make me all better.”
“Hehe, that's right. I am rather competent...”
Flin, who had been chuckling and rubbing his nose, suddenly jumped in alarm.
“Don't tell me you've come because you're feeling unwell?”
“Heehee! Nope. I just wanted to come and say hi to you, Flin. This is a present. The smell of spring was so pretty, I picked them from the garden.”
Seeing Lilis hand him the bouquet with a shy smile, Flin was so moved he covered his mouth.
What an adorable little angel…
“Oh, sniffle. Thank you, my lady. The apothecary was so gloomy, but these will look lovely in a vase.”
As Flin accepted the flowers and looked for a vase, Lilis followed him like a little chick, trotting along behind.
“By the way, Flin.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Do you have any Fairy's Tears here?”
“Fairy's Tears? Ah! Do you perhaps mean Salvasion?”
“Yes! That's it!”
“Yes, we have it right here. Do you need some?”
When Flin asked, Lilis's eyes widened, and she blinked before asking back.
“They say it's a really precious medicine. Can I have some?”
“Aha. It is, but…”
A type of mystical antidote herb. Salvasion was extremely rare, and the imperial family monopolized it to control its distribution.
It was also a gift bestowed once a month only to a select few families approved by the emperor.
Those who desperately needed Salvasion could never get their hands on it, while royals and some nobles simply brewed it into tea like a health tonic…
“A direct member of the Rubinstein family is more than qualified. And of course, that includes you, my lady.”
“Oh, I see. I read about it in a book, and it said it's something really good. Can you give me some? I want to make tea for my daddy…”
“Oh, my. Goodness me. You're an angel...”
To think this little child wants to make tea for her father!
Flin could now understand why the servants had been singing this young lady's praises for the past few days.
“Of course, I'll give you some. Just sign your name here. Please come again anytime.”
“Wow! Thank you!”
Lilis neatly wrote her name in the apothecary's logbook with her small hand.
“Li-li…s, Ru-bin…ste…in.”
“Kuh.”
Even her crooked handwriting was so adorable that Flin was overcome with a thrill.
* * *
‘Preparations complete!’
I proudly patted my bunny bag, now with its puffy belly.
‘Now, how do I sneak outside...’
For a frail seven-year-old child to go out, a guardian is a must.
If I asked to go out alone, I'd be grabbed by the scruff of my neck and locked in my room.
In that case…
...who is ‘strong’ enough to ‘secretly’ take me outside and also act as my escort?
Jeti and Jun?
‘Wrong.’
My personal escort?
‘Wrong.’
Mr. Louis, the ace of the Rubinstein private knights?
‘Wrong.’
Poke.
Just then, a finger poked my cheek.
“If your lessons are over, let's play, shorty.”
It was Leon.
And next to him was Theo.
Seeing the twins who had come to find me as soon as their lessons were over, I grinned.
‘Bingo.’
That's right, my big brothers!
“What should we do today? Want to go catch spiders? The hairy kind.”
“Sigh, Leon. Did you already forget what Mother said? Girls don't like spiders, you know?”
“But shorty said she likes them.”
They were still just bickering twelve-year-olds, but…
‘Right now, they're the strongest people in this house after Dad. Yep.’
It wouldn't do to judge them by their appearance.
The twins were ability users.
They had already graduated from the Ability User Training Center and awakened their powers.
What's more, their rank was Dos.
In other words, they were formidable talents who could slam burly guards into a wall with a flick of a finger.
“I don't have the energy to play. I'm hungry...”
I flopped back onto the bed.
“Hungry? Let's go to the dining hall then.”
“The food in the dining hall is yucky...”
Theo asked kindly, but I curled up and refused.
“Then what should we do? Is there anything you want to eat?”
“There is... but they don't have it here.”
“What is it?”
“The food I used to eat with Dad at our old house...”
“Aha.”
Behind me, the twins fell silent.
After a moment of silence, I could hear them murmuring to each other.
“It must be commoner food, right? Do you think the chef would make it if we asked?”
“Are you an idiot? How would a noble family's chef know what commoners eat?”
“Then what do we do? Oh, couldn't we just go out and eat? Lilis, should we go to a restaurant where commoners eat?”
This is going smoothly.
I turned over and added.
“...Will the adults let us?”
“Hmm, you're right. If we said we were going to a commoner's restaurant, Mom would tan our hides.”
“Ah, that's true...”
Unlike the easily swayed Leon, Theo, who was a bit of a stickler for the rules, seemed to hesitate.
I looked at the hesitating Theo and pouted.
“Big brother, Lilis is huungry...”
“Ah.”
In the end, Theo quietly offered a solution.
“Let's just sneak out and come back.”
* * *
The twins and I pretended to catch spiders in the garden for a bit before stealthily making our way to the back gate wall.
Going outside wasn't the problem, but to do so without an escort or servant, this was the best way!
...according to the plan from our leader, Theo.
“Ugh.”
“Lilis, are you okay?”
“Uh-huh.”
I groaned as I squeezed my small body through a hole under the wall.
“Should've made it bigger. Theo, you idiot.”
“No way. If I made it too big, it'd be obvious.”
Leon and Theo, already standing on the other side of the wall, chattered.
Of course, the hole hadn't been there to begin with; Theo had carefully created it with magic.
Unlike the two of them, who could easily jump over the wall, I was just a hopelessly weak baby Lilis, after all…
“Ahem. Lilis is successful.”
“Oh dear, you're all covered in dirt.”
Theo carefully dusted off my skirt as I emerged from the hole, proudly making a V-sign with my fingers.
“All done.”
“Heehee! Thanks, big brother.”
“It's nothing. Shall we get going now?”
Just then, Theo, who was about to take my hand and start walking, staggered.
“Ugh.”
He stopped, pressed a hand to his forehead, and frowned.
He looked like he was in pain.
“W-what's wrong? Why? Big brother, are you hurt?”
“Ah, no. I'm fine.”
“What? Again?”
“...Yeah.”
“Are we going to cause trouble by going out? Why don't you just go back inside and rest?”
“No, really, I'm fine. After a headache like this, it usually comes about five days... later.”
Watching the twins discuss Theo's condition as if it were familiar, I realized.
‘That's right. Theo suffers from a rare disease. So, what comes in five days must be a seizure.’
In the original novel, the role of the twins, who were both destined to die, was this:
1. To be a catalyst for Chessier's growth.
2. To pull at the readers' heartstrings.
Therefore, the ‘kind and affectionate’ Theo was set up from the beginning to have a ‘congenital rare disease’.
This was because his purpose was to gently heal the heart of Chessier, who had closed himself off after long-term abuse, and then exit the stage once his role was fulfilled.
‘That cruel author.’
The illness Theo, who was always depicted as a sickly pretty boy in the original novel, suffered from was ‘Mana Conflict’.
It was a rare disease where holy power and magical power periodically clashed within his body, causing seizures each time.
Theo dies in the spring of the year after he turns sixteen and is knighted.
In other words, his time was limited…
“Should we get going, Lilis? Why the long face? You're not hurt, are you?”
“Oh, uh-huh, no.”
Seeing the kind Theo examining me from all angles despite my denial made me feel depressed.
‘Sniffle. Big brother, please. Don't use your 'kindness' character setting on me...’
A character destined to die, yet one I can't help but grow attached to.
Feeling conflicted, I held Theo's hand tightly and trotted along beside him, recalling a corner of the original novel.
「Chessier Rubinstein offered the Saintess's Heart at Theo Antracse's grave and wept bitterly.
“It's too late. I'm sorry, brother.... I—I never did anything for you. Because I was a fool.... Because I...”
It was an offering of flowers that had come far too late.
If he had given it to him while he was alive, Theo Antracse would still be smiling by his side.」
Though it was known as an incurable disease, there was, in fact, a method to offset the Mana Conflict recorded in an ancient tome.
Something called the Saintess's Heart, or what have you.
Of course, that was a metaphorical expression, so no one knew its true identity.
‘In the end, Chessier did figure out what it was.’
After Theo's death, Chessier, knowing it was a futile effort, became obsessed with deciphering the ancient tome…
...and eventually found the Saintess's Heart and offered it at Theo's grave.
“Sigh.”
As I sighed, I froze.
......?
No, wait a minute.
Am I an idiot?
“...But I know what that is!!!”
