OAP 03

Chapter 3

The chickens and ducks that had been asleep were startled by her late-night visit, making a noisy fuss before finally settling down.

“Why is it so cold?”

Even though she had dressed warmly, her breath came out as white mist. The barn, with no stove or warm blanket, was no different from the outside.

Shivering all over, she moved further inside and found a figure leaning against the straw.

“……Ah.”

The person was in a more serious condition than she had thought. He groaned, seemingly suffering from a high fever. His wet clothes didn’t look dry yet, and yellow pus and bloody fluid seemed to ooze from the wounds she could see.

At the moment when she had gathered her courage to come, suddenly, Sioana felt afraid.

‘I shouldn’t be here.’

If someone saw her so close to a slave, they would condemn her. But the only advantage of this desolate place was that there was no one around.

‘First, let’s save him.’

She quickly bent down and covered him with the blanket she had brought. Startled by the sudden warmth, he opened his eyes for a moment as if to see who it was.

“Is now the time for you to be worrying about that?”

Sioana spoke coldly, having read the refusal in his hazy eyes. He struggled desperately to remove the cloth she had laid over him with his weak hands.

“Stay still. You could die like this.”

She pressed down on his thin wrist, then brought the medicine bottle to his mouth. The slave resisted, trying not to swallow, but he couldn’t overcome Sioana’s strength.

“……Phew.”

After roughly bandaging the visible wounds with the cloth she had brought, all the strength drained from her body.

“I should go back.”

Sioana leaned her back against the straw and raised her head. Through a small hole in the roof, she could catch a glimpse of the night sky.

Her eyes, which had been gazing at the twinkling stars, kept closing, and soon she fell into a deep sleep.

Etienne Bernhardt, when he first opened his eyes, thought he had finally died. Because last night, his condition had been truly terrible.

He had a raging fever, and he couldn’t move as if all his bones were broken. At that moment, which might have been his last, he found himself so pathetic he couldn’t even laugh.

‘Edwin, I’m truly sorry.’

He might not be able to fulfill his younger brother’s wish to live well for both of them. But what he was truly sorry about was that he had given up on life. After leaving home, he had lived recklessly.

‘……It feels like my head is splitting.’

As he rubbed his forehead with one hand, he noticed an unfamiliar cloth wrapped around it. Only then did he realize he wasn’t dead. Etienne stiffened his back.

“…….”

A little distance away from him, the precious young lady of the Evgenia family lay asleep. Seeing the medicine bottle, food, and cloth scattered on the floor, Etienne’s expression twisted.

‘I don’t feel grateful to her for saving me at all. What to do.’

She was a truly strange woman. Even though she clearly feared him greatly, she had taken pity on him.

Right after he had been doused with cold water yesterday, just before he fainted, she had come and whispered to him:

Pretend to be cold, she said. Fall backward.

He had seen many nobles in his time, but never a woman like this.

‘She was trembling as if she were the one who’d been wronged, not me.’

He stared at her face, which stirred a strange feeling in him, for a long while. Then, when her eyelashes fluttered, Etienne quickly pretended to be asleep again.

“Good heavens, did I fall asleep here?”

Sioana made a sour face as she looked at the straw and dirt on her dress. Then she immediately reached out her hand under the slave’s nose.

“Thank goodness. You’re not dead.”

She gathered the items on the floor back into her basket and hid it well under the straw. Then, without looking back, she slipped out of the barn.

Her father, who had gone to the capital, stopped by home for a moment. His expression wasn’t very bright.

“It seems the ship I invested in encountered a storm.”

Count Evgenia took a few heavy puffs from his pipe.

“But there’s no need to worry. Business always has its ups and downs.”

“I only trust you, Father.”

Elai held the Count’s hand tightly and smiled affectionately. The Count clicked his tongue and spoke.

“What’s with this family? Why are the sons more affectionate than the daughters? Hmm?”

“I’m worried whether he’ll ever be able to marry, acting like that. That’s why I’m thinking of hiring a etiquette teacher soon.”

Elai mocked Sioana, who had been silent the whole time.

“I feel so secure because I have you.”

The Count’s eyes shone warmly as he looked at Elai, the heir to the family.

“Joseph! Is that fellow not here yet?”

The Count had taken quite a liking to the slave he had brought in after the carriage accident. When the slave arrived at the reception room, the Count spoke cheerfully.

“You’ve grown a lot in this short time.”

Count Evgenia’s eyes narrowed, and he wore a satisfied expression.

‘He has good raw material. With a little training, he could become a talented man who can support Elai.’

He didn’t know what circumstances had made the man a slave, but he could sense dignity in him. Something he couldn’t hide no matter how hard he tried.

But Elai, who had no way of knowing such circumstances, trembled with anger.

“What could that lowly creature possibly do, Father?”

Elai believed that the very air nobles and lowlifes breathed was different. So when the Count defended the slave, he couldn’t hide his fury.

“Haven’t you always wanted a younger brother? You even cried when Sioana was born, asking why it wasn’t a boy. Isn’t it good that now you have a boy you can spend time with?”

At the Count’s words, Elai’s face turned pale. Elai tried not to show his irritation at Count Evgenia’s eccentricity, speaking calmly.

“Father, I didn’t need a slave to order around. I needed a partner to spar with in swordsmanship.”

“Joseph! Bring Elai that sword hanging on the wall.”

When Elai took the sword, the Count nodded his chin as a signal.

“This is insulting to me.”

Reluctantly, Elai rose and raised his sword toward the slave. The cool menace of the blade filled the room, and cold sweat ran down Sioana’s back. It was impossible for an unarmed slave to block that.

Elai’s sharp sword cut through the air, and Sioana squeezed her eyes shut.

After a few seconds, a dull sound seemed to echo, followed by Elai’s irritated voice. When Sioana cautiously opened her eyes, she saw the slave blocking the sword with a piece of firewood.

“See there? Isn’t he good enough for a sparring partner?”

The Count chuckled like a man who had just seen an amusing spectacle.

“Father, I’ll take my leave for now.”

Unable to control his anger, Elai stormed out of the reception room.

“Since coming to Regvel is fate, serve Elai well. He’s the future Count Evgenia.”

Then, without even glancing at Sioana, the Count headed downstairs.

“……Ha.”

Sioana let out the breath she had been holding. Her face was pale.

She was relieved that the person she had nursed had recovered his health and that Elai hadn’t wounded him with his sword. But she was afraid of what Elai, with his wounded pride, might do next.

Just then, Sioana noticed him staring intently at her. As if he had forgotten that he had almost just been run through with a sword, his eyes were filled only with Sioana. His fierce intensity forced Sioana to meet his gaze.

‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

She barely managed to look away from those sharp red eyes.

“You… stay out of the mansion as much as possible.”

She tried to act as dignified as she could, but Sioana’s voice trembled badly.

The sky was overcast; it looked like rain would pour at any moment. Feeling uneasy for no reason, Sioana tugged at Martha’s apron.

“Martha, can I sleep with you tonight?”

The Count, who had gone to the capital, had sent no word, and Elai had left for Highvel two days earlier. When they were away, Sioana often acted clingy like this with Martha.

“Oh dear, what shall I do?”

Martha made a troubled face and continued.

“Jane from the kitchen is about to give birth tonight, so I need to stay by her side all night.”

“……Ah. I see.”

There was no doctor in this town without a market, and even if there were, they wouldn’t treat a servant. So Martha, who had experience as a midwife, occasionally played the role of a doctor.

“Our young lady is all grown up now, so you’ll be fine by yourself, right?”

Martha saw that Sioana, who had been particularly afraid of thunder and lightning since childhood, and tried to joke lightly.

“Of course. I’m not a child anymore.”

When Sioana straightened her back and answered, Martha looked moved.

“Goodness, right now you looked exactly like your late mother.”

“……Uh, um.”

At the words that she resembled her mother, Sioana smiled awkwardly. It should have been a happy thing, but in this house, it wasn’t.

The Count loathed his daughter for reminding him of his dead wife. It was said he didn’t even see her until Sioana was about three or four years old. Elai, inherently sensitive and sharp, naturally followed his father’s example. From the time she lay in her cradle, four years his junior, he had bullied her.

‘I’m this sad to hear I resemble my mother.’

Sioana found her situation a little ridiculous.