Chapter 4

Seriously… how did things end up like this?

That morning, after finishing cleaning the store, I happily stepped outside to hang up the 「Open」 sign and welcome the start of a pleasant day, only to find a shabby cloaked man standing right there.

The moment I saw him, I must have made a very clear face. Something like: This is bad. Or: Oh no.

With a faint grin beneath the hood pulled deep over his face, the man flipped the freshly hung 「Open」 sign back to 「Preparing」 blocked my escape route, pushed me back into the store, stepped inside himself, and locked the door behind him.

(This… feels like a very bad situation…)

Normally when a man forces his way into a woman’s store, she’d probably worry about her safety in that kind of way… but considering who this is, I didn’t feel that kind of danger. Instead, I was drenched in cold sweat from a completely different kind of danger as I nervously backed away from him.

I’d love to accuse him of trespassing or attempted robbery, but unfortunately, he’s someone from the very organization such a complaint would be filed to. Meaning he’d probably get away with it. What a hopelessly unjust world.

(No escape routes… huh.)

The front entrance was clearly unusable. And even if I tried to run toward the back door, he’d catch me easily. There was no escape.

I could guess why he came here… but I didn’t want to accept that guess as reality.

「Hey. Thanks for the other day. I came to say thank you.」

He flipped back his hood and flashed a dazzling smile at me. I quietly averted my eyes. He wore such a gentle expression, but the colors above his head were so painfully honest, gray distrust and caution stretched clearly upward. The usual colors of pain were still there too, so he must truly despise women. No matter what expression he makes, I can’t be fooled, I can literally see his emotions.

Not that I’d be fooled anyway after he forced his way in. Only a certain type of person would forgive everything just because the intruder happened to have a dangerously beautiful face. …And unfortunately, with a face like that, I could imagine him actually being forgiven fairly often. It was headache-inducing.

「I asked the town’s butterflies if there was a famous fortune-teller around here.」

Let me say this one more time: I am NOT a fortune-teller. Much less a prophet. I’m simply the daughter of a healing magician’s bloodline who can see a little more than others. Nothing more, nothing less.

But still, when women hear prophecy, of course they think of fortune-telling. And of course they all thought of me.

…Extremely against my will.

「They all said the same thing. There’s a girl named Cyril who gives incredibly accurate readings. She has snow-white hair and apple-red eyes. I remembered you instantly, so I came.」

My hair and eyes are unusual. After an encounter like ours, even if I wished he’d forget, there’s no way he would.

As a shopkeeper, this is shameful behavior, but I turned my face away completely. Not from embarrassment. Not from shyness.

But because while he smiles sweetly and warmly… all I can see are gray distrust, blue-violet pain, and deep navy hatred. Layer upon layer of negative emotion.

Expression and emotion: completely mismatched.

「…This is a pharmacy. If you’re here to shop, please take your time.」

「Sure. If I buy something, you’ll read for me, right?」

So he’d already investigated thoroughly. I had no room to pretend otherwise.

After wandering the shop for a while, the Flower Knight, Hector, eventually came to the counter carrying painkiller medicine. Then, smiling sweetly, he began telling the story of the harbor incident, and finally asked:

「You knew, didn’t you? That something dangerous would happen. And… that I would be in danger too, right?」

Even though he looked so gentle, the distrust above his head made the whole conversation feel like an interrogation.

No, it probably was an interrogation on behalf of the knights. Not that I’d done anything wrong. Which meant they couldn’t drag me to their headquarters and question me officially… so instead, he came.

「Is your silence an admission?」

「…It’s not like I knew pirates were coming. Or that you were going to be crushed by that carriage.」

That wasn’t a lie.

I can’t see exact events. Just rough outlines of emotions and futures. I only interpret the lines I see.

Maybe the knights wanted to recruit me. Someone who could sense danger could be invaluable in their work.

Too bad. I had no interest. My ability isn’t reliable enough to gamble lives on.

(And I don’t even know what he really came for…)

Whether this is an interrogation or recruitment is only my speculation. I truly don’t know what Hector wants. He’s definitely investigating me, but why? If it’s personal curiosity, fine. If it’s for the sake of the country, then…

My identity as a healing magician MUST stay secret.

He must’ve sensed my tension, because his expression softened even further, his smile unbelievably gentle, while no trace of gentle emotion appeared above his head. …Normally anyone would fall for that. It was terrifyingly flawless.

「So then… what can you see? Won’t you tell me?」

Any woman in town would spill everything after being asked like that. With that face. That voice. That softness.

Honestly, I wouldn’t even be surprised if he really was using charm magic.

He probably intended to use his natural allure to coax answers out of me, just as he always has.

Except,

Instead of reacting to his face, my eyes locked onto his right hand, the one resting slightly forward on the counter as he leaned toward me. Before I knew it, I grabbed it.

He froze mid-smile.

And my anxiety vanished completely.

(…So that’s why he could still smile like that. For six years straight, that pain color never disappeared…)

I stared at his right hand. It looked unbelievably clean. No sword calluses. No old wounds. The skin wasn’t even hardened.

Too perfect for a knight’s hand.

Because the wound wasn’t visible anymore.

Inside his arm remained a residual, twisted magic scar, the lingering curse of a monster’s attack.

I had noticed the pain color before. But I’d always associated it with the swarm of women around him. I assumed he simply hated them that much. Mental pain and physical pain appear the same color.

I never imagined it was literal suffering.

(And to hide that pain so flawlessly… unbelievable…)

Monsters are different from beasts, mindless, amorphous horrors. Nearly extinct now, but not gone. Only a few survive, and encountering one is sheer misfortune.

A monster’s wound sometimes retains magic. Even once healed, the magic remains in the body and continues harming it. That lingering curse is called magic corruption.

His right hand was still infected.

The magic wrapped his nerves. So his hand barely functioned. So he never held a sword with it. So he fought left-handed.

And above all, he suffered constant severe pain.

For six full years.

「Leaving something like this untreated… This medicine is not what you need. Wait here.」

「Uh… what?」

「If you’re in pain, make a face that looks painful. It’s confusing otherwise.」

Maybe that was unfair to say. But if he’d looked like he was hurting, I would have realized sooner. The pain color had always been there. I simply failed to notice the truth.

Doctors probably never figured it out. Of course not. Ordinary people can’t see magic corruption. Only someone sensitive to magic, like a magician.

He likely thought it was lingering nerve damage and simply endured while taking painkillers.

But I had a medicine prepared.

A special antidote salve, something my parents taught me to always have ready 「because you never know.」 I’d honestly wondered if I’d ever use it.

Today proved my parents right.

I fetched it, then, before he could object, smeared it into his hand and wrapped it firmly so it wouldn’t rub off. He stared, still processing.

「It’s expensive. But as a knight, you can afford it. Apply it once per day and keep it wrapped. A week’s worth is 10,000 bel. Continue until the pain stops.」

「…So, one month is 40,000 bel. That’s… a bit much, isn’t it?」

A knight earns well. Enough to pay this.

Besides, magic corruption worsens over time. Treatment grows harder and longer. Of course it costs more.

「This is your fault for neglecting it. …If you’re in pain, you don’t have to force a smile, you know.」

For the first time, his glued-on smile vanished.

He stared at me like I’d said something unbelievable.

Why?

Wasn’t that obvious?

「…It’ll take at least a year before the pain fully disappears. And you’ll need rehabilitation afterward. So be patient.」

…Honestly, if I used my healing magic, I could fix it far faster.

But I can’t reveal that.

He silently paid, took the medicine, and after a moment of hesitation, smiled, this time slightly awkwardly.

「…Thank you. But please keep my right hand a secret.」

「If you keep my situation a secret.」

「…Fair enough. I promise. I’ll be back.」

We made a pact.

He wouldn’t expose what I can do.

I wouldn’t expose his crippled right hand.

Mutual secrets, binding enough.

He pulled his hood back up, returning to the shabby 「mysterious cloaked man」 appearance completely unworthy of the Flower Knight, and left the shop.

As soon as the door shut, I collapsed forward onto the counter.

I hadn’t exactly fooled him, but at least my deepest secret wouldn’t be dragged before the knights.

Probably.

Maybe.

…Instead, I had just earned myself a regular customer.

(…But I couldn’t leave him like that.)

His right hand, a knight’s hand, suffering that much, for so long.

I couldn’t look away.

My medicine would ease the pain and gradually cleanse the magic. Once movement returns, training will restore strength.

He’ll recover.

And I will help until then.

(Just until he’s healed. I won’t help with training. So… probably a year…)

The real question was,

Could I keep his visits secret from the town’s women?

I sighed deeply.