Chapter 33
By the time Askin hurriedly arrived at the territory, the entire situation had already come to an end.
“Aria!”
Askin rushed headlong into the castle. The servants, who had been bustling about, spotted him and quickly bowed their heads.
Upon seeing the wet cloths and basins of water they carried, Askin furrowed his brow and quickened his steps.
Soon, Nanny Martha came running toward him.
“Martha, how’s Aria?”
“Oh, the young lady… she’s resting comfortably now, Your Grace.”
Martha was the nanny who had been with Askin and Aria since their childhood, and she had cared for Aria for a particularly long time.
As such, she knew Aria’s condition better than anyone.
Just by looking at Martha’s face, Askin could tell how Aria was doing.
Her wrinkled face was pale. But reading her expression was easy enough.
Aria was safe.
She had passed the crisis.
“…How did she make it through?”
He had gone off briefly with Ben.
It was to a region Askin had recently been focusing on—one that might bring him wealth in the future if his plans panned out.
Askin’s top priority was always his little sister Aria, but today, he had thought it safe enough to step away for a short while.
But the price of that complacency had been steep.
Remute Territory did have a physician who could be called the ducal family’s doctor, but to be frank, he wasn’t particularly skilled.
That was why, whenever Aria’s condition worsened, Askin would bring in a doctor from the capital himself.
He just hadn’t expected her health to decline so sharply right when he’d let his guard down.
Even so, it was surprising.
Normally, nothing short of the caliber of doctors he brought from the capital could handle Aria’s symptoms and unique seizures.
“What exactly happened? Tell me.”
“……”
Something was off.
Martha and the surrounding knights and servants all seemed at a loss, hemming and hawing.
As if they didn’t know what words to even utter.
Of course, they couldn’t wake the soundly sleeping Aria for this.
Seeing Askin’s expression grow colder by the second, Martha stepped up.
Clenching her eyes shut inwardly, she cautiously opened her mouth.
“Her Grace the Duchess sent the Altizeit ducal family’s physician……”
Askin’s eyes widened. His lips parted as if to speak.
But just before the words came out, he realized there was more Martha wanted to say.
“…And? You look like there’s more.”
“……”
“Martha, whenever you’re hiding something, your left eyebrow twitches.”
Martha made a troubled face and gave an awkward smile.
Our young master can’t be fooled… With that thought, she carefully parted her lips once more.
“Her Grace the Duchess also sent a healing mage with him… If it hadn’t been for the mage, the young lady wouldn’t have lasted—her strength was giving out.”
“……”
Askin felt an indescribable emotion.
Honestly, he was shocked the moment he heard it, and regret followed right after.
It felt like he’d learned a truth he never should have.
He was curious about what Martha was hiding, but this wasn’t the kind of truth he’d wanted to hear.
Was it really true? No, such doubts weren’t fair.
All the vassals, knights, and servants wearing awkward, bewildered expressions were witnesses to it.
“…Is this true?”
“Yes, it is.”
Healing mages.
They were specialists trained solely in healing magic, treated like earls wherever they went.
And the skilled ones? Their services came at a premium—you got what you paid for.
There were even rumors that the Altizeits, drowning in wealth, called one in for a mere scraped knee on their precious granddaughter.
Remute Territory’s circumstances were different.
“…The fee was already paid by Her Grace the Duchess, so they refused payment and left.”
The physician and healing mage had already departed.
“I see. Everyone, return to your posts.”
It was right then that Askin gave the order. A maid came rushing to him, informing him that Aria had opened her eyes.
Askin hurried to Aria’s room in a heartbeat.
“Aria!”
“…Oppa!”
Aria, who had been struggling to sit up against the bed, called out to him happily.
Askin faltered at the sight of his sister’s face—pale beyond pallor, utterly devoid of color—but he soon sat by the bed as if nothing were wrong.
“Aria, I heard. I’m sorry…”
“Oppa, you heard?”
He’d been about to apologize for not being there by her side, but Aria’s small voice cut him off.
Surprisingly, she looked excited.
A faint flush even colored her cheeks.
“They say the Duchess helped me! Could it be… we’ve misunderstood her all this time?”
Askin’s lips parted as if to reply, but he clamped them shut and gave a curt nod.
“…Your color’s still off. Why not sleep a bit more?”
“Oppa, listen to me seriously! How did she even think to send us the top healing mage that even the capital can’t book?”
Aria clutched her cheek.
“The truth is… the Duchess said she’d be my friend, too.”
After a seizure, his sister always suffered from severe depression.
She hated herself for being a burden on him.
“…It’s because of me.”
That was why he could never bring up money in front of her, not even on pain of death.
There had been countless times when she spent up to a month without smiling, sobbing through sleepless nights.
He remembered every one of those periods vividly.
His only family, the sister right before his eyes, was smiling so joyfully and full of hope for the first time in ages. He couldn’t bear to spoil it.
“…Well, that’s something. Her, a friend.”
“Right? To think she’d be friends with someone like me… It’s like a dream. She’s so, so pretty and cool…!”
He couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge that woman, so all he managed was a gruff reply. But even that was enough to delight Aria—she clapped her small hands and flashed a lovely smile.
Askin found it novel to see Aria acting her age for once.
But perhaps due to her even weaker stamina, she soon grew fatigued.
Sensing it keenly, Askin put his sister to sleep by force.
“…Oppa.”
Aria struggled to open her heavy-lidded, sleep-clouded eyes toward him.
Her fragile fingers clung to the hem of his clothes.
“Oppa… do you… hate the Duchess… a lot…?”
Instead of answering, Askin stared at his sister’s fingers.
Such delicate hands.
Did he hate that woman?
His feelings toward Charlize Altizeit couldn’t be summed up in a single line.
If he had to boil down the long-buried emotions in his heart… it would be resentment and hatred.
There were countless incidents Aria knew nothing about.
But in this moment, rather than dredge them up, he simply nodded silently.
“…Because of me…?”
“No.”
“Then… just once, only once… couldn’t you give the Duchess a chance…?”
Her words took his breath away.
He cherished his only family more than anything, but that… he just couldn’t answer.
Understanding, Aria gave an awkward, faint smile and let him go.
Exhausted, she fell asleep in an instant, and he quietly slipped out of the room.
Those who worried for Aria were still gathered outside her door.
Askin dismissed them all and headed to his study.
In the empty room, he collapsed onto the sofa and rubbed his handsome face.
His mind was a whirlwind.
‘Why… that woman…’
Why of all people had Charlize Altizeit gone to such lengths for his sister?
“No, Oppa, the Duchess let me into the carriage because she worried I’d get cold! And she… she even brushed my hair…!”
On that day of pouring rain, he’d been certain that woman had tormented his sister. But the truth from Aria’s lips was different. He couldn’t believe it.
That woman?
“You want to see me fall apart. It thrills me when you suffer.”
The same woman who’d said that?
“…Y-Your Grace. The Duchess helped us. Not just with laborers… she provided water and food, all without asking for anything…!”
“Th-thanks to her family, we were able to recover and survive!”
He knew of the “Charlize Angel” rumors circulating lately in Remute Territory.
He’d dismissed them as nonsense.
He’d thought every incident was just her latest scheme.
But.
If it truly was a scheme, her actions were too strange.
“I just tripped on my own, but Grandfather misunderstood.”
“You’ll need time too. Think about it. Wasn’t it weird, even by your logic, for me to suddenly obsess over meeting you like some madwoman? I only asked to meet—no tricks, which was a first, right?”
A slender voice echoed in his ears.
“I gave him chance after chance. But he threw them away. Just think of him as not the one for you.”
“Wait, Grandfather. This is…”
“What are you doing!”
The woman who’d always acted like a tyrant, so arrogantly—seeing her dragged away powerlessly with a face like she might cry… Was it because it went against his sense of justice that it stuck with him for so long?