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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: My Sister, My Enemy, Cares for Me
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The knowledge he spoke of was entirely new to me.
A map that accurately reflected spaces warped by magic – it was beyond groundbreaking, it was revolutionary.
I had always thought that the inability to mark such areas was the limit of maps.
It wasn't that I had never seen a map in my previous life.
However, the ones I had seen, though inaccurate, used a simple, easy-to-understand, one-dimensional cartographic method.
I had heard that new forms of maps existed in the world, but I never had the chance to learn their methods. Calein's library didn't have any of them.
More than anything, Calein would become displeased whenever I showed interest in maps.
‘You Lupernes always waste your efforts on useless things, trying to bring about unnecessary changes.’
He would say that, snatching the map from my hands.
‘If you show interest in something I haven't permitted even once more, I will completely excise all traces of Luperne from you.’
‘…What do you mean by that?’
‘It means I will make sure that light never again dwells in those sky-blue eyes that resemble the Duke even a little. It also means I will carve something like this onto both sides of your face.’
He pointed to the long scar that stretched from his left eyebrow down to his cheek. Calein's left eye, beneath it, was always closed.
Such conversations sent chills down my spine, forcing me to put down whatever I was looking at.
“Young Lady?”
Theon called out to me, lost in thought.
“…When was that developed?”
Thanks to Calein's memories, a question suddenly came to me.
“Two years ago. It was Lady Callista who ordered its development from Akases, a retainer of the Luperne family.”
Theon said it casually, as if it were common knowledge.
“So, my sister… she did.”
I sighed deeply to myself.
Always wasting efforts on useless things, trying to bring about unnecessary changes – that was Calein talking about Callista, then. Callista was Calein's nemesis, after all.
Then why didn't he just fight her directly instead of taking it out on me?
“Uncle Theon, please teach me how to read that map.”
I reached out and tugged at Theon's sleeve as I spoke. He simply raised one eyebrow and didn't answer for a moment.
“…Uncle?”
Theon stared at me intently, then answered slowly but clearly.
“…No.”
Ah, I should have tried harder to impress him.
I had held onto a tiny bit of hope. I thought my standing with him had risen, if only by a minuscule amount, after dealing with Clarissa the day before.
“But… if I have to learn it alone…”
“It would take you a month, even if the Young Lady is exceptionally bright.”
“But that won't do!”
My genuine feelings burst out before I could stop them.
The only reason I could move around somewhat freely now was because Father and Callista weren't at the mansion.
But there was only a week left. In a week, she would return. Callista, who was graduating from the Imperial Academy as the youngest ever, would be coming back to the territory.
The moment I thought of her, chills ran down my spine. I vividly remembered the murderous eyes I had seen last before my regression.
I wanted to learn everything I needed to before then.
“Young Lady Harper, I don't know what it is you're trying to do right now.”
Theon looked down at my tearful face and said,
“…Learning is of no great importance to Young Lady Harper anyway. Especially such advanced knowledge.”
His cold voice was clear. I slowly blinked a few times. For a moment, a flicker of pity crossed Theon's seemingly emotionless eyes.
“But…”
“You would do better to read a fairy tale. Like other innocent children. That would be safer.”
I tried to argue further, but Theon was resolute.
He was telling me to simply take care of myself.
“Let's go downstairs. I will not teach you how to read maps. If you wish to learn on your own, I won't stop you.”
“…Alright.”
I didn't object and quietly listened to him. However, I made sure to place the map book, which had been high up, on a slightly lower shelf so I could retrieve it whenever I wanted.
Fairy tales, really? I'll learn it on my own.
What happened when I *did* play it safe in my previous life? The Empire was ruined, Theon died, I died, we all died, didn't we?
Right, Theon is Callista's person anyway. There's no point in trying to get closer to him now.
I don't know for sure, but in my previous life, it was probably Theon who helped Callista concoct my assassination plots.
“Shall I carry you down?”
Theon asked when we reached the stairs.
Not even "holding" me, but "carrying" me? I felt like a precious piece of luggage. I shook my head vigorously and descended the stairs on my own feet.
“If you don't hold the railing and walk carefully… *cough*!”
He, who had been walking fine, suddenly erupted into coughs again.
“Uncle Theon!”
“I’m f-fine… *cough*! *cough*!”
I wanted to pretend not to notice, but the situation was far more serious than before. He tried to brace himself against the wall but suddenly collapsed onto the stairs, convulsing.
“Ugh, *cough*!”
Oh… what should I do?
His attempts to suppress his coughs looked agonizing. I suddenly turned my head and remembered that we were on the very same stairs where I had almost fallen through the gaps earlier.
Theon had pulled me out like a radish to help me.
I sighed inwardly.
Right, even if he was a bit unkind at times, he had saved me once. And he had also helped resolve the issue with Clarissa.
‘Let's help him out, just this once.’
Since it would be hard to get closer to him anyway, I figured repaying this debt would at least put my mind at ease.
He might be the one to plot my assassination in the future, but what's the difference if I don't help him with this one thing? It's not like I couldn't avoid in this life what I avoided in my previous one.
Having made up my mind, I opened the sky-blue water bottle I was holding and brought it to Theon's lips.
“Drink this and wait a moment.”
“Young Lady Harper…? Where are you g-going… *cough*!”
I placed the bottle in his hand and headed towards the second-floor corridor of the library. Theon seemed to collapse again behind me, trying to call out to me.
In less than three minutes, I returned with a book in my hand. This time, it was a children's book, so I found it on a lower shelf.
What kind of mindset was it to keep children's books when children weren't even allowed in?
“Uncle Theon.”
When I spoke, he looked up at me with a weary face. After drinking the water from the sky-blue bottle, his coughing seemed to have subsided slightly.
“What… is it?”
“Read that book to me!”
“Pardon? Suddenly?”
“It's a fairy tale, just like you said!”
What I held in my hand was a fairy tale that simply explained the traditions of the southern regions of the continent.
It was written in the language of the rare Carnai ethnic group, but I had seen it before when I went down to that region in my previous life.
It was about a poisonous herb Theon had accidentally eaten as a child. The ‘Yellow-Green Herb’ – the moment it passed his throat, it would torment him with coughs for the rest of his life, preventing him from even sleeping.
In most parts of the continent, the Yellow-Green Herb was called the Devil's Flower. It was said that one should never touch it with their lips.
However, the culture of the Carnai people in the southernmost part of the continent was a little different.
The people there, where the Yellow-Green Herb grew in abundance, did not fear the yellow poisonous herb. On the contrary, they welcomed it.
“Here.”
I smiled like a child and waved the book I had brought out in front of Theon's eyes. When he saw its title, Theon's eyes widened impossibly.
Theon stared at the fairy tale book with an incredulous expression.
“Yummy… Yellow-Green Herb…?”
The cover clearly depicted a young girl smiling brightly, gathering Yellow-Green Herbs by the basketful.
He hurriedly flipped the book over to check the publication date and language.
“…The title is written in the Imperial language, but the content seems to be in the Carnai or Etania language.”
He mumbled to himself.
“It's an old book, published decades ago… how did you find a book that must have been tucked away in a corner of the library…”
“Hurry, hurry. Read it to me.”
Instead of opening the book, Theon looked at me with an incredulous expression.
“I don't know the Carnai language, Young Lady.”
Ugh, how frustrating.
“It’s a picture book.”
Was he so precocious that he grew up without even looking at picture books? Children often look at the pictures more than the content of fairy tales. It's up to adults to weave a story around them.
Only then did Theon open the first page. As expected, it was a book with almost no text, mostly made up of pictures.
That's why I picked it.
“…A child is picking Yellow-Green Herbs. It seems to be for consumption.”
Wow, I can't believe a voice reading a fairy tale could be so stiff. I frowned, but Theon didn't notice.
He turned a page, revealing a picture of a child and their mother. In the child's hand was an unsightly, dark red Yellow-Green Herb root.
“When the child took it home, the mother prepared the Yellow-Green Herb and steamed it in a pot. When the child tried to throw away the root part…”
Theon's eyes widened as he turned another page.
“The mother scolds them and stops them. Looking at the picture… it seems to be saying that the child did something dangerous. She's miming a cough.”
“Wow, so if you throw away the root, you start coughing, huh?”
I overtly interjected and explained, just in case he missed the clue. Theon furrowed his brow and turned to the next page.
“They add various spices and cook it whole, root and all, and the entire family eats their fill… That's the end.”
“And no one coughed?”
“No. So…”
He closed the book with trembling hands and looked at me.
“It must mean that the root of the Yellow-Green Herb has a detoxifying effect that prevents side effects.”
Seeing Theon's dazed expression, I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness. He understood.
