IBDF 06

Chapter 6

I set the tray I had brought on the counter and was about to turn away when a man stopped me.

Amid the clatter made by the busy kitchen servants, I heard footsteps approaching me.

“You. Open your mouth for a second.”

“Huh?”

“Not ‘huh.’ I said open your mouth.”

Before I could even understand what he meant, a hand suddenly grabbed my face and tried to force my mouth open.

“Mmph!”

“I said open your mouth!”

“Mmmph—!”

What the hell is this supposed to be?

I struggled desperately, trying to push the man away, but he was far too strong. I couldn’t even shake his hand off.

“…That’s strange. Someone definitely stole some.”

After peering into my mouth, the man muttered suspiciously and finally withdrew his hand.

I spat out the salty taste lingering on my tongue, my face twisted in irritation.

Ptoo, ptoo. Seriously!

“If that’s not the case, then why is the dish completely clean?”

Ignoring my reaction, the man muttered to himself again before suddenly interrogating me.

“Confess already! You secretly ate the young master’s meal, didn’t you?”

What on earth is this man talking about?

“If you’ve got eyes, you must’ve seen it too! The young master hasn’t touched his food at all—he’s always sent it back untouched! And today, suddenly, the plate is completely empty?”

At his words, I reached out and felt the dish I had just set down.

The plate from Kalios’s room was indeed spotless.

Ever since I started working at the ducal estate, I had never once seen Kalios touch his meals.

He practically starved himself every day, only eating something simple like an apple or a piece of bread when hunger became unbearable.

So what if he actually ate today because he was starving? Does that justify accusing someone like this?

Just as I was about to protest with an indignant expression, someone nearby butted in loudly.

“Hey, Harrison! There’s no point questioning that maid. She’s blind.”

“Blind?”

The man repeated in confusion. A moment later, I felt air swish across my face.

He waved his palm back and forth in front of my eyes, then spoke.

“So it’s true? Tch, bad luck.”

He brushed his hands off dismissively.

“Then she must’ve tripped somewhere and spilled everything.”

Having reached that conclusion on his own, the man named Harrison picked up the empty dish with a clatter and walked away.

His attitude made it clear he didn’t think I was worth any further discussion.

“……”

Sadly, this kind of treatment had become painfully familiar.

In this world, disabilities were considered either a “punishment from God” or “retribution for sins.”

Arguing about unfairness here only led to being pointed at—or worse, landing in even deeper trouble.

Tch. Ptoo.

I spat out the lingering unpleasant taste in my mouth and turned away.

I really needed to brush my teeth right now.

* * *

“Ugh… this feels awful…”

After brushing my teeth until my gums practically wore down, I headed back up to Kalios’s room.

But before I even reached the door, a sound made me stop in my tracks.

Crash!

A familiar sound—one that made my chest go cold.

No… why…

Anxiety gnawing at me, I hurriedly opened the door.

“Get out! Get out, I said!”

Kalios’s roar was accompanied by the sound of something shattering.

“Y-Young master!”

Another voice tried to restrain him—a man’s voice I didn’t recognize.

I rushed into the room.

“Young master! Please, calm down!”

My mind was in chaos.

Just earlier, Kalios had been calm enough to tease me. Now, for some reason, he was completely out of control.

Suddenly, a dull impact sounded, followed by a scream.

Something had clearly struck the man trying to stop Kalios.

Panicked footsteps staggered toward the doorway where I stood.

The man groped along the wall as if searching for an exit, bumping into things several times before reaching me.

Before I could step aside, he collided with me and fell to the floor.

“W-Who are you?” he asked in a flustered voice.

“I’m the maid attending Young Master Kalios. What happened? Don’t tell me you opened the curtains?”

I demanded sharply.

The man replied in panic.

“C-Curtains? No! I’m just a servant delivering the contents of a letter addressed to the young master!”

A letter?

“What kind of letter could make him this angry? He was fine just a moment ago.”

“Well…”
The servant caught his breath and explained.

“It’s news from the academy. If the young master continues to miss classes, they say they’ll have no choice but to expel him…”

The academy? Expulsion?

The moment I heard that, a fragment of the original story surfaced in my mind.

Right. Because of his madness, Kalios had to leave the Imperial Academy he used to attend perfectly well.

After that, he was never able to return.

For nobles, the Imperial Academy carried enormous significance.

Graduation was practically a rite of passage before receiving a title, and the connections made there often shaped noble factions.

That was why, after the illness first broke out, Duke Revanion had worked behind the scenes to prevent his son from being expelled.

He didn’t want to accept that his only son had been struck by such a cursed disease.

He desperately hoped to cure him and restore him to normal.

But even after half a year, Kalios’s condition showed no signs of improving—only worsening.

At that point, the duke was forced to accept the truth.

That his only son’s illness might never be cured.

And that he needed to urgently find a replacement heir.

In that process, Kalios was naturally pushed out of the duke’s concern.

In other words, the letter the servant brought was practically a declaration that the duke had all but given up on treating his son.

“I don’t need it! Get out! All of you, get out!”

From within the darkness, furious screams continued as objects flew through the air.

Sounds of things breaking and shattering echoed everywhere.

Kalios was drowning in despair more violently than ever before.

For the young duke of Revanion—whose future had once been bright and guaranteed—this reality was unbearably cruel.

“Young master!”

Avoiding the flying objects, I crawled toward him.

“Young master, please calm down!”

“Get away from me!”

Kalios shouted savagely.

But I ignored it and groped for his sleeve, gripping it tightly.

I expected him to fling my hand away, but he didn’t.

Instead, he froze completely—then slowly collapsed to the floor, like someone who had given up on everything.

“It’s over… it’s all over…”

He forced the words out in a hollow, stunned voice.

“…I can’t step outside anymore… not even a single step…”

Muttering like a man who had lost his soul, Kalios soon fell silent.

A terrible feeling crept over me.

“Young master?”

I shook his shoulder, calling out to him, but there was no response.

“Young master? Young master!”

I shouted toward the servant slumped outside the door.

“Please call a doctor—quickly!”

* * *

Once, there was a time when a colorful world spread out before my eyes.

That was in my life before I possessed this body.

A vast blue sky. A world covered in lush greenery, or blanketed in white snow. The faces of my family and friends.

Facing all of that every day had been completely natural.

Until the year I turned twenty, when a sudden accident robbed me of my sight entirely.

That accident overturned my life.

Why did this have to happen to me? What’s going to happen to me now?

Crushed by waves of despair, I couldn’t leave the house for over half a year.

“Are you really going to keep not eating anything? Should Mom make you something?”

“I don’t have an appetite.”

My personality changed completely in an instant.

“You have to eat, even if you force yourself.”

“I’m not hungry.”