Chapter 57
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Chapter 57
"Marquis, why are you following me?"
"I'm not following you. I'm going to see your Aunt as well."
"That makes it even worse!"
Lucian fixed Claude with the fierce gaze of a wild beast.
"You're trying to contaminate our Aunt with germs again!"
"Germs? I'm not filthy."
"Yes, you are! There are tons and tons of germs in saliva!"
"By that logic, you're just as filthy as I am, Lucian...."
Claude's earnest protests died mid-sentence.
Lucian lifted his head to look at Claude's face.
Claude's eyes, fixed directly ahead, burned with an intense, smoldering fire.
It didn't take long for Lucian to understand why.
"What? Why is Aunt with Gillian?"
I don't like Gillian...!
He was about to stomp his feet in frustration when—
"Lucian."
Claude called to him in a low voice.
"Let's go."
The moment their eyes met, Lucian understood. They were on the same side.
"Yes!"
With that response, Claude lifted Lucian up effortlessly.
"Charge!"
Claude hurled his crutches to the floor and bolted down the Corridor, Lucian tucked under his arm.
"Young Miss!"
"Aunt!"
At the near-shout, Lucella's head turned from Gillian.
"Marquis, what on earth are you doing!"
Her face soon filled with alarm.
"If you run like that and injure your leg, what will you do!"
"It's fully healed."
"I beg your pardon?"
"My leg. It's completely healed."
Claude wiggled his bandaged foot back and forth, even hopping in place, yet felt no pain whatsoever.
It was only natural. His leg had been fully recovered for quite some time.
"Since when, exactly?"
"Since this morning. When I got up and put weight on it, it felt wonderfully refreshed."
"But the Physician said the bone would take at least two more months to fully knit."
"It seems my recovery has accelerated thanks to eating well and resting properly."
Of course, it was a lie. He had simply conspired with the Physician because he wanted to remain by Lucella's side longer.
I felt Gillian's gaze on me from beside, but Claude paid it no mind.
"Is that possible?"
"I tend to recover rather quickly."
"I suppose that's true...."
Lucella's suspicious expression faded as she nodded in understanding. Fortunately, it seemed she had no intention of pressing further on the matter.
"But what brings you here? And with Lucian, no less."
"That is...."
There was only one reason I had come all this way to find Lucella.
I wanted to see her.
After witnessing her in the company of another man, my vision had blurred and I'd bolted down the Corridor in a frenzy.
Yet I could not simply admit such a thing.
"I wanted to show you this!"
It was Lucian who spoke in my stead.
The boy thrust forward the doll he'd been holding all along toward Lucella.
"The Marquis made eyes for Luto!"
"Eyes?"
Lucella's gaze fixed upon the button, its thread tangled in a chaotic mess. Claude felt his face flush with belated embarrassment.
I had not wished for her to witness such clumsy needlework. I wanted to show her only my finest self.
"The Marquis truly did this?"
"That is... yes, he did."
"Then your hands must be...."
"Ah."
I looked down at my hands, riddled with cuts and scrapes. I wished to hide them behind my back, but I was holding Lucian, making that impossible.
"Needlework is... not as simple as one might think."
Overwhelmed by embarrassment, I lowered my head.
'What if she laughs at me for failing at something so trivial?'
My anxiety kept me from looking up.
Yet what I had feared did not come to pass.
"This is truly... touching, Marquis."
"Pardon?"
I lifted my head abruptly from where it had been bowed. There stood Lucella, both hands covering her mouth.
"Such care for our Lucian...."
"Care? No, I merely apologize for my clumsy work."
"It is precisely because the work is clumsy that it moves me so."
What did she mean by that?
That clumsiness was more touching? It was a sentiment I could not fathom, yet I did not press her for clarification.
If Lucella was pleased, that was all that mattered.
"Come, let us tend to your hands first."
"Very well."
I followed Lucella as she led the way toward the Physician's Office.
"...I had a hunch, and it seems I was right."
Gillian ran a rough hand through his hair as he watched the man and woman's figures recede into the distance.
"Bleh."
Lucian stuck his tongue out at Gillian in response.
* * *
Claude and I left the Meeting Hall and headed straight for the Physician's Office, with Lucian still tucked under my arm.
However, contrary to my expectation that the Physician would be there, the Physician's Office was empty. It seemed he had been called away on urgent business.
"I'll just head back. It's not that deep a wound anyway."
"We've come this far already. We should treat it properly before we go. Lucian, stop clinging and come down."
I pried Lucian from Claude's arms and scanned the shelves where medicines were kept. Fortunately, I found the ointment and bandages without much difficulty.
"Let me treat it for you instead. Would you mind showing me your hand?"
"Of course."
Despite his earlier claim that treatment wasn't necessary, Claude readily extended his hand to me—like a well-trained dog offering its paw to its master.
"Let me see. My, you've been pricked quite a lot."
"Ha ha...."
Claude laughed as if trying to brush off his embarrassment.
But I couldn't bring myself to laugh.
"I'm truly grateful. For looking after Lucian."
His earnest care for Lucian, displayed through his clumsy efforts, was so touching.
All I could do was treat his hand with meticulous care.
I applied ointment to Claude's scraped hand and affixed a bandage.
"I'll treat Amelia well too."
"You're already doing more than enough."
"Do you think Amelia sees it that way?"
"Of course. In fact, when we go home, she keeps insisting that I bring Sister Lucella with us."
"That dignified Amelia?"
"She's only dignified in public. In front of me, she's just a child."
I burst into laughter. Imagining Amelia throwing a tantrum, I couldn't help but laugh.
"Ha ha ha."
Claude smiled back at me as I laughed.
"If you're done, why don't you let go of my hand?"
A sharp voice cut through our laughter.
Lucian stood with a sullen expression, staring at us—or more precisely, at our intertwined hands.
"How much longer do you plan to hold on?"
"Oh!"
I hastily released Claude's hand.
I hadn't even noticed I was still holding it, too absorbed in our conversation.
"Don't get the wrong idea just because I helped you earlier. I'm not on your side."
"I know."
"Hmph."
Lucian snorted disdainfully and settled onto my lap.
"On the same side? What does that even mean?"
"It's something like that."
Lucian spoke while pulling Luto's ear upward in a long stretch.
Without my knowledge, the two of them had formed secrets together. Seeing that Lucian had opened his heart to this degree, it was clear that Claude was treating him exceptionally well.
"It's a shame we must part ways like this."
"I... beg your pardon?"
Claude's mouth fell open blankly at my words.
"Part ways, you say?"
"Your leg has healed completely, so you must return home now."
"..."
"Um, Marquis?"
"...Yes. I'm listening."
Claude's expression visibly darkened. He too seemed reluctant to return to the House of Agris.
Yet with his body fully recovered, he could not remain at the Duke's Mansion indefinitely. The position of territorial lord was far too weighty a responsibility to abandon.
"I should instruct the servants to begin packing your belongings."
"Yes..."
"I'll also send a messenger to the House of Agris, informing them that you'll be departing soon."
"That would be best..."
Claude's voice lacked all conviction as he replied.
"Aunt, Aunt. Is the Marquis going back to his house?"
"Yes. His leg is all better now, so he's heading home."
"Phew, thank goodness."
I'd almost lost my aunt.
Lucian muttered softly to himself.
"Lucian, this isn't the time to be relieved."
"Why not?"
"The Marquis returning home means Amelia must leave this place as well."
"W-What?!"
Crumble.
Beyond the window, I could almost hear the sound of Lucian's world collapsing.
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