Chapter 49
Chapter 49
ON standby at Rhad’s house—the Mende Family Manor—Selena sipped her tea and eyed Vigo as he jotted information down.
“…Vigo?”
“What?”
“Hasn’t Yuki seemed a little strange lately?”
The hand running the feather brush across the paper stopped. Vigo looked up from the paper at Selena. His face seemed to ask what it was she was trying to say.
“Vigo, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how openly strange Yuki has been acting?! There’s a limit to how oblivious you can be!”
Recently, Yuki had been acting out of character. The severity of her health played a part in her behavior, but there was something more to it that had her giving Selena the cold shoulder.
“…I’m telling you, something isn’t right. It’s almost like she’s hiding something.”
Selena contemplated whether she had done something to offend Yuki, but nothing came to mind. If she had to dig for something, her distrust of Rhad could have been a factor. Perhaps not trusting Rhad put Yuki in a difficult position and was the source of her odd behavior.
“It’s probably bad to say this when we’re borrowing a room in his manor, but he seems like a big fat phony. Especially his attitude toward Yuki. What’s with all that Lady Yuki and bowing junk? I don’t like him.”
“That’s just a symptom of your desire to monopolize the people you care about…. In any case, I believe her change is due to becoming aware of her ability.”
Selena dropped her teacup and swiftly caught it with her left hand before it smashed on the floor. Some of the tea spilled over the side and splattered on her boot. She rubbed it off with a napkin. She had a hunch of where the information slipped from.
“That man noticed her power. It’s my assumption he told her.”
Since they started confining Yuki to her room, Selena witnessed her worsening health improve whenever she rested. And then, out of nowhere, her health began a steady decline with no improvement.
“Around the same time her health got worse she became aloof with us…”
“And from there not only did the number of patients increase dramatically, but they began healing at a much faster rate as well,” Vigo added.
“What? I didn’t hear anything about that!”
“I would say that’s the reason for the little lady’s rapidly deteriorating health and lack of recovery,” Vigo speculated, placing his feather brush down and wiping the ink from his fingers.
“…I’m of the opinion it’s unwise to let Yuki use her powers any more than we already have.”
“I agree. I plan to make the queen her last patient.”
“…Are you all right with that, Vigo?”
Allowing Yuki to stop healing at the queen meant letting the other patients die when they could be saved. Doing so involved overlooking people they could rescue with Yuki’s power.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not so blind as to attempt saving every human in the world.”
“Yuki seems gullible enough to try.”
“She does,” Vigo laughed tiredly. He stroked his thick beard and exhaled. “…But her exhaustion and deterioration is far worse than Lord Cahn’s ever was.”
“Because she’s still young?”
“No. Lord Cahn was nowhere near as drained at the same age.”
“I see.”
Yuki learned about the existence of her power. Selena had no doubt Rhad was involved. What was Yuki thinking now that she knew?
“Hey, Vigo, what have you been writing?” Selena asked as Vigo picked up the brush and jotted various things down on the tawny paper.
“…I want to learn what kind of power the little lady possesses.”
Peering over at the notes he was making, she saw the names of successive generations of Rvydom’s kings, their powers, and how they related to each other. He must have started keeping notes for quite some time, because there was a massive pile of paper sitting on his desk. Then she remembered how Vigo’s memory was on par with Rifaenotis and he had a strong spirit of inquiry.
“What is this?” she asked.
“My attempt at writing about all the kings I can remember. In the history of our kings, not one has had a power that eats away at their lifespan. Yet the rate our little lady is wasting away can only mean it’s killing her.”
How many generations of kings had he written out? Just looking at the pages of text gave Selena a headache. His ability to memorize things to such a detail was astounding.
“She would have died a long time ago if she were handing away her own lifeforce to heal people. Then that leads us to the theory she manipulates the time inside our bodies and resets the clock to before the illness or wounds happened. But this theory fails when it comes to diseases that existed from birth. This leads me to believe she is amplifying the natural ability all humans have to recover. If that’s true, then her ability is similar to Lord Cahn’s.”
“That’s a longshot.”
“Can you come up with a better theory? The people of Rvydom who possess the ability to heal can only forcefully seal an external wound back together like glue. Internal wounds, external wounds, diseases—they’re all the same to the little lady’s power.”
“When you put it that way, it sounds just like Lord Cahn.”
“But the drain and consumption rate of hers is mindboggling.” Vigo brooded over the problem. Selena joined him in pondering the cause.
What was the difference between Cahn and Yuki? The difference in their experience? The difference in age?
“…What about the notion a Witch is restraining her power?” Selena offered.
Vigo blinked. “It’s plausible,” he muttered and added a note to his paper. He turned away from her and focused on the blank space on the page, running his feather brush along it as he stroked his beard.
He’s kind.
The man who stated he didn’t mind if Yuki died because of them using her power to heal people was the same man who was deeply troubled by what effect her power had and what side effects came from it.
I wonder how much he will suffer if Yuki is permanently damaged by what we’ve made her do. Almost certainly Vigo would blame himself for mistakenly believing Yuki’s powers fell under the same rules as Cahn’s. Regret would plague him for the rest of his days. What a foolish man. And I am an irredeemably foolish woman for letting my heart go wild for him.
Selena’s self-mocking laughter was hidden by the sound of frantic footsteps running outside the room. The door was thrown open and Rhad came inside to announce heart-stopping news that erased all laughter.
“Lady Yuki collapsed. She is presently asleep inside the room granted to her inside the castle. I request you examine her.”
***
YUKI heard the crackle of something burning and searing away. She heard the rumbling roar of something washing away. Unsettling, throbbing screams came from her heart. Indescribable anxiety coiled around the pit of her stomach. Covering her ears to the raucous noises drowning out her thoughts didn’t mute them as they echoed directly inside her head. She cowered from the quickly approaching sounds.
“…!”
A thundering roar like the sound of blood spurting from a stabbed body, like thunder, like an earthquake assaulted her five senses. Her throat contracted. She couldn’t breathe. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind she calmly assessed she was screaming at the top of her lungs but her own voice no longer reached her ears.
“Yuki!”
Rough smacks to her cheeks slowly summoned back her senses. The stinging ache in her cheek, the ragged breaths ripping through her lungs, and the sweat soaking her heavy body.
“…Selena?” she croaked. Selena peered down at her on the verge of tears.
“Are you okay? You were badly moaning,” Selena said with a kind smile and ran her thumb under Yuki’s eye. Her thumb pulled away with tears on it.
They had to be in the room prepared for her in the castle. Yuki laid on the most comfortable bed she had ever felt and Selena sat beside her. Vigo stood on the other side of the bed.
“Ah…”
Vigo wordlessly put his hand on her forehead. “Do you have a headache or the urge to throw up?”
“No.” A sharp pain stabbed at her chest, but the source of it wasn’t visible anymore.
“This is a case of overexertion and mental exhaustion,” Vigo diagnosed.
Mental exhaustion—those two words twisted her gut.
“Anxiety, rushing, worry, and other such emotions are likely causing an imbalance in you. Did all your worries and fears hit you at once?” he asked, pushing back her hair.
“…!”
Neither of them knew. They didn’t know what happened between Yuki and Orga. If she were to tell them, where should she start? Stab. Stab. Daggers seemed to stab her chest from all directions.
The incident had taken place months ago, but the events clung to her memories like mold and wouldn’t go away. The cruel curl of his lips as he pressed the burning hot iron rod to her chest over and over again. The smell of flesh burning away, layer by layer. Hearing her own screams come out sounding like the death screech of a banshee.
The discomfort of intense pressure being placed on her stomach had her wriggling in bed. Gradually rising bile brought a grimace to her.
“…They have finished inspecting the medicine. Can you do this, Lady Yuki?” Rhad asked from where he leaned against the wall with his arms folded.
“You want to bring Yuki to the queen in this awful state?!” Selena pulled Yuki into her arms and hugged her protectively. Without her armor on, she smelled like flowers and honey.
“We are out of time. The queen’s condition is worsening by the minute.”
“I don’t care! If we have her do it now, she’ll—”
“I’m…okay,” Yuki said over Selena.
“Yuki!”
“I’m fine, Selena. I’m fine.” She clenched Selena’s shirt and smiled up at her. She didn’t let Selena’s hurt look affect her as she turned to address Rhad, “Do we go now?”
“No. It seems the queen has a guest in her quarters. You have a little time. Would you like to rest?”
“No. If I still have time, I want to use it to take a bath. I reek of sweat,” she joked, putting up her best smile.
“As you wish, m’lady,” Rhad said and gave orders to a servant waiting in the back of the room. The servant bowed and left.
“Yuki…” Selena intoned sadly.
“Thank you for worrying about me, both of you. But I really am okay,” Yuki affirmed and swung her feet over the side of the bed. Slowly, she lowered them to the floor to fight off another wave of dizziness.
Despite what she said, her hips mocked her. If she didn’t concentrate, her legs would give out and she would crumble to the ground.
I wonder if I really am going to die.
Yuki felt as if her limbs were made of sandbags. The dryness in her throat was tormenting, but her stomach refused to accept anything. The tip of her nose, her temples, and the back of her neck dripped with sweat. Inside and out, she was freezing and shivered like her life depended on it to keep from contracting hypothermia. If her body had a limit, the needle on the gauge had already passed red and broken off completely.
“If using this power brings happiness to the people of this world, I’ll happily make use of it. I’d be satisfied even if it results in my death.”
The statement she made to Rhad mockingly rung through her. Even on the precipice of it becoming a reality, calmness settled over her.
Blurriness filled her vision. She blinked several times. The servant returned with something in their hand. Rhad exchanged a few words with them and looked at Yuki. A door to an adjoining room was opened and the servant slipped inside. Rhad gestured for Yuki to follow. Encouraging her shaky feet to walk in a straight line, she went inside the newly opened room.
Something in the dark recesses of her mind cackled.