Chapter 16
“Seriously—do you think I didn’t use that word because I don’t know it? I didn’t use it because it doesn’t look like being polite to me. And you, sir—why are you suddenly hitting on my aunt? You weren’t like this before!”
Luca’s arrow turned toward Rüdiger.
Rüdiger, apparently flustered by the sudden accusation and the charge of “hitting on” her, pressed his lips together and blinked.
“…….”
Look at that—Rüdiger’s gone stiff.
Well, of course. From Rüdiger’s point of view, it must have been insulting. The word hitting on was about as far removed from a man like Rüdiger as it could get—one hundred and eighty degrees away.
And besides, look at who the other party was. Since Rüdiger couldn’t bring himself to get angry at Luca and just kept his mouth shut, I stepped in to take the bullet and defend his honor.
“What do you mean, hitting on her? Rüdiger isn’t doing anything like that. You’re exaggerating again, Luca.”
“Aunt, just don’t butt in. Seriously. He’s got no sense at all, and he’s talking about dating and getting married?”
Luca huffed, glaring as if he were suffocating with frustration. The sight was absurd.
Dumbfounded, I let out a dry laugh and flicked Luca lightly on the forehead.
“Good grief. What does a ten-year-old know, getting all cheeky? You should be grateful your aunt and uncle get along. What if Rüdiger and I were always fighting, saying, ‘I’ll raise Luca!’ ‘You’re not qualified to be Luca’s uncle!’—what then?”
“But—”
“But what? Didn’t you finish reading the fairy tale I told you to read earlier? I said I’d check.”
“I already did.”
“Good. Then let’s see.”
Without giving Luca a chance to say anything else, I pushed him along by the back. At my gesture to bring the book, Luca grumbled but eventually brought it over obediently.
I sat him down beside the sofa and tested how well he could read. Just as he had boasted, Luca read through the fairy tale smoothly in a flat, matter-of-fact voice.
He hasn’t even properly learned his letters—how can he read this well? Is Luca a genius?
Well, he is the protagonist of a novel, so maybe being exceptional is only natural…
Impressed by his talent, I pulled out another fairy tale and had him read that too.
In the meantime, without me even realizing it, the topic of Rüdiger’s marriage to the princess was swept far away into the back of my mind.
By the time I realized it, the atmosphere was no longer one where I could bring it up.
Ah, I should’ve said it one more time. It was really important. Boo-hoo.
There was a separate dining car on the train for first-class passengers. With tablecloths laid out and a sommelier serving wine, it was a place that wouldn’t fall short even compared to a high-end restaurant.
But we didn’t need to go there. After all, weren’t we VVIPs who used an entire train car as our private suite?
When mealtime came, the attendants brought the dishes directly to our compartment and set everything up.
So this is the power of owning buildings—no, of owning a train…
I couldn’t just sit back and marvel, though. The assassin would appear disguised as one of those very attendants bringing in the food.
The bigger problem was that the novel never specified exactly when the assassin appeared.
It was only described as a sudden incident intruding while they were caught up in the novelty of train travel…
I suppose I should at least be grateful that it mentioned it happened at dinner.
I couldn’t let my guard down at any meal, and as a result, it was only natural that I ended up with terrible indigestion.
“Ughhhh…”
Watching me lying there, clutching my bloated stomach, Luca clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“You’re someone who used to eat bread hard as bricks without trouble. And now you suddenly have stomach problems?”
“I thought I could chew iron, too…”
“Seriously. Expensive, fancy food is useless.”
“Ughhh…”
Letting Luca’s grumbling go in one ear and out the other, I leaned against the armrest of the sofa and sagged.
I knew it was unbecoming to act like this in front of Rüdiger, but I was in too much pain to help it.
At least I had some digestive medicine and took it, but it didn’t seem to help much. What else could I do? I’d just have to endure it.
As a last resort, I tried a folk remedy, pressing hard between my thumb and index finger.
Luca trotted over and asked,
“Does it hurt a lot? Even after taking the medicine? Can’t we call a doctor at the next station?”
“It’s okay. If I stay like this, it’ll get better.”
“Just pressing there works? I’ve never heard of that.”
Luca narrowed his eyes suspiciously. There was no missing the concern in them.
It was sweet of him to look out for me, calling me his aunt. I wanted to smile, but I didn’t even have the energy for that.
In a dying voice, I replied,
“It’s a folk remedy.”
Not from this world, but the human body should be similar enough. Even if not, there was always the placebo effect.
As I kept pressing my hand, Rüdiger suddenly approached, took my hand, and asked,
“Here?”
My hand nearly disappeared as it was enveloped by Rüdiger’s large, angular hand. Then a sharp pressure surged through me.
The strength was incomparable to when I pressed it myself, and a scream burst out of me.
“Ow! Ah!”
“Ah… Is it not here?”
Startled, Rüdiger quickly let go. Looking awkward, he muttered,
“It seemed difficult for you to do it alone, so I tried to help… I suppose I pressed the wrong spot.”
“No, that’s the right place. It’s not that it hurts because you pressed hard—when you’re indigested, that spot hurts anyway.”
“Is that so? You know quite a lot, Miss Judith.”
Rüdiger added in admiration.
It feels like he’s building up some strange expectations and trust in me…
I should be glad he thinks well of me, but at the same time it’s a bit burdensome.
I smiled shyly and scratched the back of my neck. Then, out of habit, I tried pressing my hand again, but my grip had weakened, and the pressure was faint. My gaze drifted to Rüdiger’s hand.
It did feel good when he pressed it earlier. And he’d come over intending to help anyway. So asking him wouldn’t be taking advantage of him.
After earnestly rationalizing it to myself, I cautiously spoke up.
“It’s not that… um, Mr. Rüdiger. Since you came to help anyway, could I ask you to do it again? My hand’s lost its strength.”
“…I’ll do it. You, sir, go over there.”
Before Rüdiger could answer, Luca cut in, snatching my hand away. He began kneading it diligently, but with a hand barely as big as my palm, no matter how hard he tried, there was hardly any effect.
Even my own weak kneading would probably be better than this.
At first, I let him try because he was being sweet, but right now, relieving the indigestion came first.
I looked down at the crown of Luca’s curly, golden hair as he worked hard and let out a small chuckle.
“Luca, you just don’t have the strength yet.”
“What do you mean I don’t have strength?”
“Ughhh…”
When I groaned again, Luca reluctantly gave up his spot to Rüdiger, not forgetting to pout his lips.
Rüdiger returned to my side, glanced at me sideways, and gently pressed my hand again—much more softly than before.
Even so, it felt far better than when Luca did it. His calloused fingertips pressed firmly and skillfully.
Perhaps his gloves were in the way, because he soon took them off. The warmth of his hand seeped into mine. Wrapped in that strange sense of comfort, I let out a languid breath.
For a moment, our eyes met. Making an army colonel and a young nobleman knead my hand while I lounged there groaning made me feel self-conscious.
Embarrassed for no reason, I lowered my gaze to avoid his and added quietly,
“I feel shameless making you do something like this.”
“Not at all. It’s my fault for not having a doctor stationed on the train from the start.”
“There’s medicine, and that should’ve been enough. It’s not like we knew this would happen.”
As we went back and forth like that, easing the awkwardness, there came a knock—knock, knock—on the compartment door.
Without even looking away, Rüdiger continued kneading my hand and said casually,
“Come in.”
It was a tone that assumed the other person was of lower status than him.
Sure enough, when the door opened, it was a train attendant who stepped inside.
