Chapter 77
Episode 77
"You need to see a doctor. Wait here. I'll tell them to come."
"I said I'm fine!"
Yohan yanked my wrist away, so I slapped him on the back with my other hand! I could feel him flinch even in his pain.
He looked at me with a somewhat dazed expression.
"The cut is festering. Even purification won't heal it! If you stop me again, I'll pinch your cheek."
As I glared at him threateningly, Yohan's hand slowly lost its strength.
I stubbornly brought a doctor to examine him and even called Dad.
Dad's expression darkened when he saw Yohan lying in bed. He looked angry, and also dumbfounded.
"It hurt."
"……."
"You endured the wound inflicted by the mercenary all this time alone? Without saying a word to me."
"I received treatment at Viscount Dubois's residence."
So that's why he went to the Dubois residence.
I swallowed a sigh.
'Those stubborn Dubleds.'
It seems this stubbornness runs in the family. Not only Yohan, but Dad, Henri, and Isaac were all stubborn.
"The two of you conspired and deceived me. How dare you."
"That is correct."
See? He never says he's wrong. Dad's eyes grew colder.
"Dad, Dad."
"……."
"The doctor said Yohan needs to take medicine. And eat meals."
As I said this with drooping eyebrows, Dad, who had been frowning at Yohan, relented.
Dad listened to the doctor about Yohan's condition for a while longer, and then left the room.
The doctors and the servants who had been helping out left, and the room became quiet again.
"Did you get what you wanted?"
Yohan asked coldly, and I narrowed my brows.
"I should have let Dad scold you more."
Then I sat down on the chair beside the bed. I took the slightly thick chicken soup that was on the bedside table and held it out to him.
"……I don't want it."
"The doctor said this medicine is very harsh if you take it on an empty stomach."
"……."
"Hurry up. Or I'll go out and tell everyone, 'Yohan is sick!'"
My hand is going to fall off.
I held out the soup again. He stared at the spoon I offered for a while, then soon opened his mouth slightly.
As soon as he swallowed the soup, I held out the spoon again.
"Good. One more time."
"……."
"Just one more time."
"……."
"Last one."
"……."
"Oops, there's some left, you'll eat this all, right?"
"……."
"Wow, this is really the last one."
I emptied the small bowl of soup and held out the medicine.
"If you eat this, today's annoyance is over!"
As I coaxed him gently, Yohan swallowed the pill with a sigh. He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at me. It was a deep, dark gaze that I couldn't understand, but I wasn't afraid of Yohan anymore.
\\
A few days later.
Yohan now stared blankly at LeBlaine, who nonchalantly entered his room.
Today, she had picked a bunch of flowers from somewhere and put them in a vase. Then she looked at them with dreamy eyes, saying, "Pretty."
For the past few days, that child had been constantly coming in and out of his room.
She would come and chatter on and on about so many things, then leave.
[Did you eat?]
[Your medicine?]
[They served shrimp soup today, and it was delicious. They said they'll give us chicken soup tomorrow.]
Even if he told her to get lost because she was annoying, she would come again in the afternoon and ask if he had eaten, taken his medicine, and how he was feeling.
LeBlaine, who had put flowers in the vase, sat on the chair beside his bed as always.
Then she leaned her elbows on the bed and began to chatter.
"So, Viscount Dubois got scolded a lot. Dad didn't say much, but he seems very scared on his own."
"……."
"And today, Uni mismanaged the servants' laundry, so everyone had to wear clothes dyed blue. She got scolded by the butler. They're bringing in new clothes tomorrow."
"……."
That child was a change.
A change that filled the always quiet duchy with noise.
He tried to ignore her and read a book, but he couldn't turn the page.
"So, they served French toast this morning, and it was delicious with condensed milk. Oh, right. The tea was also very good today. The doctor said Yohan can drink it too. Leah, brew some tea."
That child was really strange.
At first, she was scared of him like everyone else, but at some point, she became the most annoying existence in the world.
It wasn't just the child herself who was annoying. Even the things influenced by her were irritating.
Yesterday evening, Isaac had come. He had been looking at him for a long time with a sullen expression, so he thought he had come to pick a fight, but he had moved a wild boar into the bedroom.
[I just happened to see it while passing by, so I brought it. I didn't deliberately catch it.]
Henri had come in the morning. He grabbed a pile of documents on his desk, glanced at him, and said.
[You don't have to do things like this for me. It's a burden for both of us, isn't it.]
And then he left.
The next to come was his father. His father often came with LeBlaine and stared at him silently for about 30 minutes before leaving.
Just as he was focusing on his book, LeBlaine, who had been chattering for a long time, became quiet.
When he glanced at her, she was sitting in the chair, half-buried in the bed, asleep.
Yohan stared at the child.
Her white face and chubby cheeks were like flour dough, her nose was small and round, and her lips were like a chick's beak.
An ordinary child with nothing special.
Because of such a child, the duchy was changing.
The duchy, which had always been buried in dark silence, was now filled with sunlight. Soft carpets were laid on the hard and luxurious floors. It was to prevent the child from getting hurt if she fell while walking.
'She does fall often.'
She would run through the garden, the greenhouse, and the corridors.
Even if she fell flat on her face, she would get up without a whimper and run again.
She was not a noble Young Lady, but just an ordinary child.
As he unconsciously reached out to her fluffy hair, the child, who was having a light sleep, grabbed Yohan's hand with both of her hands.
Knock, knock, a maid entered with a tray after a small knock. On the tray was the black tea that LeBlaine had asked for for Yohan.
"Oh my."
The maid put the tea on the bedside table and said.
"I will take her away."
"Leave her."
"Yes……?"
Yohan, who had gotten up, laid the child on the bed in his place.
The maid's eyes flickered slightly for a moment, but she soon smiled.
A gentle sunlight was seeping into Yohan's always dark room.
\\
When I woke up, the sun was setting. I blinked with a dazed expression.
As my blurry vision cleared, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
'Where is this…… Oh!'
I had come to nurse Yohan and fallen asleep. I hurriedly got up.
'I even slept in the patient's bed.'
As I was panicking, I felt a gaze from the sofa. It was Yohan.
I fidgeted with my hands and said.
"I'm sorry……."
I had chased away the patient and taken his bed.
I thought he would be dumbfounded, but the words that came from him were unexpected.
"What do you want?"
"Yes?"
"As compensation for nursing me."
"I didn't do it expecting anything."
What does he think of people's good intentions?
As I frowned, Yohan muttered.
"……I know."
"Yes?"
"Regardless of your purpose, I mean that I want to give you something."
I blinked and sorted out my thoughts.
'So that's…… I guess that means thank you.'
I laughed inwardly as if I couldn't help it.
Hmm, there's nothing I particularly want…… As I was thinking that, a light bulb suddenly turned on in my head.
"Magic Power!"
"Magic Power?"
I could receive his hair, but if I'm going to receive it anyway, it's easier and faster to just receive the Magic Power all at once.
Yohan frowned and said.
"It would be useless to you who has Divine Power."
"Still, still……!"
After staring at me for a moment, he said.
"Well, fine."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Yay!"
As I jumped up and down with joy, a small chuckle flowed into my ear.
Surprised, I stared at Yohan with wide eyes. The corners of his mouth were gently curved.
"You really are like a chick."
'Wow…….'
I thought he was completely like Dad, but his smiling face is completely different.
'Maybe he looks like Lisette.'
I smiled at Yohan while thinking that.
When I came back after dinner, there was a white, fine stone on my bed. It was Yohan's Magic Power stone.
\*
That evening.
I looked at Yohan's Magic Power stone with a happy face in a corner of the garden where no one was around.
'It's really surprisingly transparent Magic Power.'
[Now give it to me.]
'It's too good to just hand over, should I divide it into a few and only give you one?'
[What!?]
Paimon, who shouted angrily, dedicated himself with a red light and frowned.
"Where would you find something like that!"
"I asked for pure Magic Power, not for this Magic Power stone."
"That's! ……But."
"Yes."
"Isn't it unnecessary for you anyway?"
"If it's such a precious Magic Power stone, there are endless ways to use it. Even if I sell it to the Magic Tower right away, they'll give me a very high price?"
"The richest man in the country is your father, what value does money have!"
"Originally, the more money you have, the better, right?"
Paimon, who was flustered, had an anxious expression.
"Then I will make money for you."
"These days, all banknotes have codes, so if you make them recklessly, you'll become a counterfeiter."
"Then I'll make you jewels!"
"Bune said that if a summoned demon goes back and releases Magic Power, those things will turn to dust. Why would I trust you and receive jewels?"
"I will impart knowledge that you do not know."
"<Information Repository> is Paimon's Special Ability. You can only receive knowledge once, right?"
I'm going to receive information about the Long-Distance Teleportation Array.
As I narrowed my eyes with an expression that said, 'Don't even think about scamming me,' Paimon became speechless.
But he really seemed to want Yohan's Magic Power stone, so he couldn't hide his resentful feelings and couldn't take his eyes off the Magic Power stone.
It would be difficult to find Magic Power with this much purity anywhere. The black Magic Power stone was sparkling white like a pearl.
'I don't know for sure, but the musical instrument made with this would make a very beautiful sound.'
It seemed like my guess was right, judging by how much Paimon wanted it.
"Okay, so if it's not a Special Ability, and you give me something that I can't get rid of even after you go back, then it's okay, right?"
"Well, if that's the case."
I was walking towards the gazebo, answering nonchalantly.
Suddenly, a faint light like a firefly appeared in front of me and connected like a crack.
And what appeared was…….
A long-haired young man wearing unusual clothes and waving a luxurious fan.
A short, bearded middle-aged man.
And a woman wearing a nurse's uniform that came up to her calves.
The middle-aged man said.
"Who is the one who called us."
I looked at Paimon.
"These people are……."
He turned his back to the three people and spread his arms.
"The world's greatest strategist. A man with a dictionary that has no impossibilities. An angel with a lamp. They are my Familiars that I am proud of."
"……."
"Choose. Who do you want to put in your Etwal?"