Chapter : 09
“Pardon?”
Elena, who had been a little relaxed, was startled and asked again in a shrill voice.
But Sirius only frowned once and, without saying anything, left the dining room.
…Ugh, I guess I have to follow him.
With the feeling of being dragged along, Elena trailed after Sirius. The place they arrived at was the training grounds.
“Wait here until I’m done.”
Why should I?
That was what she wanted to ask.
But if she asked that and Sirius suddenly brought up last night, then everything would be completely ruined.
So instead, Elena asked this:
“Would it be okay if I waited over there instead?”
If I wait here, I might run into Father….
No matter what, she really didn’t want that. Even now, she was constantly on edge, nerves stretched tight.
It felt like the Duke of Rode could appear at the training grounds at any moment.
As Elena hesitated and fidgeted, a familiar look flashed through Sirius’s eyes.
“Do as you like.”
The first time they met, he’d had that same look when he told her she was useless.
But Elena wasn’t hurt by it at all.
She was just happy she’d been given permission and sprinted off like an arrow to hide behind a distant tree.
What good was being useful anyway?
If she were useful here, that would be a disaster.
Then she wouldn’t be able to comfortably ride the protagonist’s bus later.
Leaning back against the tree, Elena lightly furrowed her small eyebrows.
It would be perfect if she didn’t have to sneak aboard.
Unfortunately, the world wasn’t that easy.
And if she acted like she had last night again, Sirius might start becoming more aware of her existence.
Still, for now, it was fine.
She could just keep denying what happened last night.
I’ll take a nap.
Having organized her thoughts, Elena closed her eyes. Being small had its advantages in moments like this.
If she wriggled around a bit, she could find a comfortable spot even under a hard tree.
As she breathed lazily, the fresh scent of grass tickled her nose.
Along with the smell of flowers… and blood—
Blood?
At the metallic scent, Elena’s eyes snapped open.
Before she knew it, Sirius was standing right in front of her, their eyes meeting.
“Get up.”
She stared at him, scanning him from head to toe.
In the short time she’d been away, Sirius was once again drenched in blood.
Her heart dropped with a thud, but he didn’t look injured—his complexion was far too normal.
If anything, he looked oddly pleased. The aura around him felt more uplifted than usual.
As Elena unconsciously examined him in detail, she snapped back to attention when a hand suddenly appeared in front of her.
At his expectant gaze, as if telling her to take it, Elena grabbed his hand and stood up.
But even then, he didn’t let go.
Rather, as if he’d wanted to do this all along, he held on even tighter.
What is wrong with him?
Unable to pull away, Elena felt awkward to the point of dying. Her body naturally began to squirm.
Seeing that, Sirius’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Is my hand too cold?”
“No, it’s not that…”
“Then why do you keep trying to let go?”
Elena looked down at her hand, which was twitching against her will.
If she had to make an excuse, it was just acting on its instinct to escape.
But there was no way she could say that.
Pressed by his gaze to answer quickly, Elena blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“I—I was going to pat your head!”
She managed to say it boldly without sounding scared, but it was complete nonsense.
I’m doomed.
Desperately trying to salvage the situation, Elena hurriedly cobbled together an excuse.
“I mean, like… you did well… praise….”
“Is that so?”
Unexpectedly, Sirius smiled as if he found it cute.
Though still young, his face—already showing signs of future handsomeness—was dazzling.
If he weren’t covered in blood, it would’ve been a truly nice sight.
“Then hurry up and praise me.”
Don’t suddenly act sweet, you lunatic.
Elena’s trembling hand came to rest atop his silver hair.
The coarse strands slipped softly through her fingers. Just watching her awkward movements was uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the one being praised didn’t seem dissatisfied.
“Could you see it from there?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t know what he meant, but once she answered positively, Sirius began explaining on his own.
According to him, the Duke of Rode had looked surprised, as if he hadn’t expected to see Sirius at the training grounds again.
The knight assigned to instruct the class had stared at him with his jaw nearly dropping.
That made sense—yesterday’s training had been closer to torture.
Naturally, no lesson had been prepared for today.
So Sirius fought a monster captured for the knights’ training.
Despite his battered condition and swordsmanship that lacked even the basics, he was the victor.
“So that’s why he was covered in blood.”
That was all Elena thought.
It must have been a beast-like fight.
But after finishing his story, Sirius stared at her blankly, as if expecting something.
She had no idea what it was.
Then, hesitating, he grabbed her hand again—only to abruptly let go as if irritated, and walked away.
“What the hell. If he was going to do this, why tell me to wait?”
She was left alone, waiting for nothing. It was absurd, but she wasn’t upset.
Freedom!
Finally freed from Sirius, Elena returned to her room and flopped onto the bed.
Still, it was a relief that he hadn’t questioned her about last night.
Well, Sirius was human too.
If he’d been able to recognize someone while unconscious and unable to open his eyes, he wouldn’t be human at all.
Several days passed after that.
Relieved, Elena lived in a more relaxed state.
Sirius sometimes emitted a confused air toward her, but there was no chance of being discovered.
You couldn’t really call it a crime, but still—it was the perfect crime.
However, there was one thing Elena had overlooked.
Sirius was a human beyond human. His blood was mixed with that of a wolf.
And in this world, a perfect crime could never truly exist.
And one more thing—
Criminals always return to the scene of the crime.
“Wh-what should I do…?”
With trembling hands, Elena gathered bandages and medicine.
Her mind screamed that she shouldn’t go, her mouth muttered “what should I do,” but her feet carried her straight toward Sirius’s room.
Crossing the line once was hard; the second time, there was hardly any hesitation.
Just as the fact that she’d once nursed Sirius was starting to fade from her mind, he once again ended up half-dead—almost as if to prove a point.
This time, it was far worse than before.
Last time, it had been the aftermath of training.
This time, there had been an incident.
From what Elena pieced together after overhearing the maids, it went like this:
Sirius, whose basic sword-drawing stance had once been completely wrong, began improving rapidly under the Duke of Rode.
She’d thought his recovery last time was thanks to her care, but it seemed his stamina and tenacity had always been absurdly strong.
No matter how hard he pushed his body to its limits, Sirius would crawl to the training grounds the next day.
Even when assigned an impossible amount of training, he always finished it and returned to his room.
With innate perseverance combined with unprecedented talent, his growth was impossible to miss.
Everyone began calling him a genius without hesitation.
Little by little, curiosity appeared in the Duke of Rode’s eyes as he watched Sirius.
It was no surprise that Joseph, who prided himself on his swordsmanship, grew anxious.
“I wonder who will win.”
The Duke of Rode said this after ordering a spar between Sirius and Joseph.
There was already a difference of several years in their training experience.
For Joseph, it was an immensely humiliating situation.
Even so, the mere thought that he might lose turned his mind completely white.
Before the count was even finished, Joseph attacked Sirius.
Clang!
Sirius barely managed to block, but with his eyes blazing red, Joseph immediately followed up with another strike.
It was a clear violation of the rules, yet the Duke didn’t order the match to stop.
Startled, Sirius glanced at the Duke and hastily tried to evade—
But the blade grazed his side.
“You almost dodged it. What a shame.”
“Hah…!”
Sirius clutched his side, breathing roughly.
But he couldn’t stop the blood from dripping down.
Only then did the Duke order the spar to end.
“Joseph will be disciplined for breaking the rules.”
As he looked at the bleeding Sirius, the Duke spoke in a flat voice.
Then, uncharacteristically hesitating, he added one more sentence.
“Sirius… was not bad.”
Calling that praise?
No—more importantly, instead of praising him, shouldn’t you have treated him first?!
With a furious expression, Elena lifted Sirius’s shirt.
Blood was seeping through the poorly wrapped bandages beneath.
“Ugh…”
Just like last time, Sirius lay unconscious on the bed, occasionally letting out pained groans.
His face was deathly pale as he remained completely still, letting Elena treat him however she wished.
The stench of blood soaked into the bed assaulted her nose. She forgot even to check if he might wake up.
Still, she absolutely couldn’t let him find out about this.
Though she’d barged in urgently and was giving clumsy treatment, the truth was she didn’t want to risk herself like this.
More than anything, her own life was what mattered.
But of all times, the physician was nowhere to be seen.
It seemed Joseph had caused trouble and stopped the physician from coming.
In the end, after waiting as long as she could, Elena gave up and brought gauze and medicine over from the next room.
That idiot Joseph!
After doing this to such a small kid, he’d have no right to complain if he ended up getting stabbed by a fully grown Sirius someday.
