Lariette indirectly warned the maids and returned to her room, having completely forgotten that she had meant to look for her bag.
If they had been servants of House Blanche, she would never have let it end so lightly, but punishing underlings was wholly the right of their master, so she restrained herself.
However, if they tried anything similar again, she had no intention of letting it slide. Sharpening her blade in her heart, she finished getting ready for bed.
The unfamiliar bed felt awkward, but only for a moment. Once she lay down on the luxurious bedding for the first time in ages, sleep quickly came over her and swallowed her up.
Lariette opened her eyes early in the morning, just as the sun was rising.
Back when she was in House Blanche, she had risen every morning to handle the ducal household’s affairs, great and small. Because it was a habit ingrained over many years, her eyes still opened on their own at that hour.
When she rang the bell to announce she was awake, the maids entered and helped her dress. Though calling it dressing up made it sound more impressive than it was. She had hardly any clothes or accessories to begin with.
Moreover, there did not seem to be a single lady’s maid in House Candel. There was no mistress to serve, so there had been no need for them, and even the few who had come in had usually fled in fear of Duke Candel.
“……Where is the maid who showed me around yesterday?”
Lariette casually asked the maid combing her hair. Usually, the maid in charge would not change so easily, so she found it strange that the girl had vanished overnight.
At her question, the maids exchanged glances for a moment, then lowered their heads.
“We apologize. We do not know.”
“However, from now on, we will be attending to you, my lady.”
I see. Lariette answered briefly. It had only bothered her for a moment; she was not particularly curious.
What bothered her more was what dress she should wear today and how she should style her hair. Since it would be her first meal with Asrahan, she wanted to prepare without lacking anything, but she had far too little. For the first time, she missed the dresses she had left behind at House Blanche.
“What time does breakfast usually begin?”
“Pardon? You may eat whenever you wish……”
“What?”
At the unexpected answer, Lariette’s brows rose. The maid merely looked at her in confusion, as though she did not understand what the problem was.
Only then did Lariette recall that Asrahan was not the sort of person to behave as she expected. Just like that moment yesterday, when he had merely watched her get down from the carriage without concern.
Then it was her turn to go find him again.
***
Asrahan was sitting back on the sofa in his office. His black bangs were half swept up, and he wore a black turtleneck that rose to just below his lips.
The sight of him reading documents and drinking coffee with eyes sunk as though in exhaustion looked as if it had come straight out of a painting.
“……Do you have something to say?”
“Gasp! You knew I was here?”
Without changing his posture, Asrahan merely lifted his eyes to look at Lariette. She had been blankly stealing glances at his face for a while, and now she smiled shamelessly.
“Asrahan. I came because I have something to say.”
Lariette walked over rather confidently and placed both hands on the table before him with a smack. Asrahan maintained his indifferent expression, as if telling her to speak.
What a serious expression. She was frowning hard, but in his eyes, she merely looked like a rabbit throwing a tantrum.
Asrahan wondered if she had come to ask about the curse, but at the question that followed, he unconsciously gripped the handle of his coffee cup tightly.
“Why won’t you eat with me?”
“……Pardon?”
“I waited for you! I thought of course we’d have breakfast together.”
Lariette’s plump lips jutted out as if she were sulking. Asrahan, faced with her close-up face, instinctively leaned back a little.
“I usually eat alone. Whether it is breakfast or dinner, you may eat whenever you wish.”
“But I want to eat with you, Asrahan.”
“……You must have a strong stomach.”
“Pardon?” Lariette asked back in puzzlement, but there was no answer.
He neatly folded and set aside the documents he had been reading, then lifted his head and gazed at her. His eyes were still chillingly cold.
“Shall we have a more productive conversation? Since you seem bored.”
“It’s not because I’m bored……”
“Mage.”
Asrahan cut her off in a cold voice. It seemed he had decided on what to call her instead of her name.
“How much do you know about my curse?”
“……Nothing at all. I only know that it’s powerful enough to drain all my mana in an instant.”
Lariette sat down on the sofa as well and answered honestly. His expression as he spoke of the curse was so grave that she could no longer push forward as though teasing him.
“It is the curse of a dead man. Something the caster left behind at the moment of death.”
“Ah, so that’s why……”
“Yes. That is why it is even more powerful, and it cannot be resolved by killing the caster.”
“When did it happen to you?”
“Around when I was seven.”
Asrahan explained in a low voice as he carefully unwound the bandages wrapped around his right hand.
It was something he had to do in order to show her its condition, but for some reason, he kept hesitating.
It was because the mage’s eyes, watching what he was doing, were too clear. Thinking that as though making an excuse, he avoided her gaze.
“It is a curse that causes the skin over my entire body to lose its strength and rot. I have summoned countless purification mages until now, but all they could do was slow the curse’s progress.”
The white bandage gradually loosened, and soon the flesh beneath it was revealed. It was utterly different from his healed left hand.
The broad back of his hand was rotting like a corpse left abandoned for a long time. Red flesh showed through between the ragged pieces of skin, and a foul stench spread in an instant.
His bandages had magic cast on them to prevent the smell, so ordinarily it was much better. But the moment he removed the bandage, the scent of death quickly filled the space around him.
“Asrahan……”
At the voice calling his name, Asrahan slowly shifted his gaze toward Lariette. Her eyes had drooped heavily, and there was a crease between her brows.
‘Is she horrified?’
It was the reaction he had expected, yet his heart ached dully. However, the response that came back was one he had not anticipated.
“Doesn’t it hurt……?”
In her clear violet eyes, tears had already begun to gather in droplets. Even her bright voice was full of tears.
“……It is bearable.”
“It looks like it would hurt a lot.”
Lariette truly wanted to cry. She hated herself for having regarded the curse as a convenient means to approach him.
To have faced such a terrible curse at the tender age of seven was something she could not even imagine.
With what kind of heart had he lived for nearly twenty years while cursed? She pitied herself, who would end her life at the flower-like age of twenty-two, but she pitied Asrahan, who had to live his whole life like this, even more.
As the price for having taken his curse lightly, she resolved that she would without fail lift it for him. And at the same time, she carefully placed her own hand over his right hand.
Whoooosh—
The white light she had seen yesterday spread from her hand.
But unlike yesterday, it did not seep into his body. It only brushed lightly over him.
Lariette’s eyelashes trembled again as she closed her eyes. Unlike yesterday, when she had been full of mana, her body had not yet fully recovered.
“Stop.”
“Just a little more……”
“Mage, stop.”
Asrahan spoke quietly and, with his left hand, took hold of her wrist and pulled it away. Even at a glance, she did not seem to be in good condition, and continuing any longer would be too much for her.
Asrahan’s right hand had not changed at all. He released her and began wrapping the bandage again.
“Today, I don’t have enough mana. I was just checking something.”
“……Checking?”
“Your left hand. It looks completely healed, but the purifying power from yesterday was still there. Whew. It seems to still be purifying it from the inside.”
As she spoke, Lariette intermittently let out hot breaths. It was because she had overexerted herself with the little mana that had returned.
Asrahan, who had listened intently to her words, poured water into a cup on the table and handed it to her. Lariette gave a brief thanks, gulped down the water, and began explaining again.
“So, as a test, I tried putting in more purifying power, but it seems there’s a limit to how much purifying power Asrahan’s body can hold. In other words…… until the area of your left hand is completely purified, I can’t purify anywhere else.”
“I see.”
He lowered his long eyelashes as he answered. That sight looked especially sorrowful, so Lariette quickly took both of his hands in hers.
“Don’t worry! I’ll take responsibility and fix everything before I die!”
“Before you die?”
“Um, I mean…… as soon as possible!”
Lariette’s eyes sparkled with firm determination. Asrahan silently looked at the small, white fingers holding both his hands.
“Ah! I’m sorry. Did that hurt?”
Realizing where his gaze was directed, she was startled and let go. She felt foolish for having asked just a moment ago whether it hurt, only to forget so quickly. Of course, the strength of her grip was not enough to even tickle Asrahan.
Asrahan recalled the way Lariette had held his tattered hand without hesitation despite seeing it, and his lips parted slightly.
“You……”
Asrahan shifted his gaze again and met Lariette’s face.
A body that looked as if it might rot away and crumble at any moment, the horrifying smell of death. There was no way she could neither see nor sense them, and yet her face was only bright and innocent.
“Are you not afraid of me?”
The voice of the maid who had called him a monster duke circled in his ears. She had already been whipped and expelled from the ducal house, but those words still lingered in the air.
Are you not horrified by me? He wanted to ask that as well, but his pride would not allow him to go that far.
“Is there any reason I should be afraid?”
Once again, Asrahan’s lips only twitched, and he could say nothing. It was not because there were none. It was because there were far too many.
Lariette continued speaking, folding down her outstretched fingers one by one.
“The rumor that you’re a war demon? What war demon! You barely managed to win a war that was all but lost, and then they go around spreading rumors like that? Does that make any sense? If anything, you’re a hero who saved the nation!”
It must be an imperial conspiracy born from jealousy of Candel’s power. Lariette muttered those dangerous words without fear.
“The greatest sword in the empire. That’s obviously not something to be afraid of, but something cool.”
“……”
“And the curse. This is ridiculous too.”
As if venting her frustration, Lariette thumped her own chest. Asrahan, his pupils trembling, took in every bit of her appearance without missing a thing.
“You should be afraid of the person who cast the curse. Why would you be afraid of the person who was cursed?”
Oh, how unfair! she shouted, as if it had happened to her. Then, bravely, she reached both hands toward Asrahan’s face.
Slide. Under her fingers, the black turtleneck slipped down below his chin. Soon, a soft touch cupped both his cheeks.
“Asrahan. I am not afraid of you. Except for being afraid that you won’t date me, Asrahan, I’m not scared at all, not one bit.”
Lariette’s declaration was so confident that it was almost solemn.
Asrahan met that unwavering gaze and bit hard into the inside of his lip.
“……Let go.”
“Ah, sorry.”
I got swept up in the mood. She smiled slyly as she made the excuse, then quickly withdrew her hands.
Asrahan seemed to have been waiting only for her to remove them, for he promptly rose from the sofa. Then he strode toward the office door.
‘Gasp, is he angry?’
Lariette nibbled her lip as she watched his retreating back. She regretted getting needlessly worked up and overstepping.
Asrahan, who looked as though he would disappear without even saying goodbye, stopped just before leaving through the door. He hesitated briefly, then slowly parted his lips.
“……Seven o’clock. I will see you at dinner.”
“……! Yes!”
His voice was still only cold, but the contents were exactly what she had hoped for.
Lariette, her face flushed with excitement, answered loudly in delight, just in case he, leaving so quickly, might not hear her.
***
Asrahan had eaten alone ever since he was very young, and so he was used to it. After his mother, the former Duchess Candel, died, no one had ever shared a table with him.
For that reason, he found the situation of eating with a woman unbearably awkward. He had mastered etiquette so thoroughly it could not have been more perfect, but now that he was about to put it into practice, it weighed on his mind.
Perhaps new rules of etiquette had appeared after he had finished his studies. Lariette was, moreover, five years younger than he was, and the people Asrahan usually dealt with were the old men of the imperial family.
“Master, this……”
Halstein, the butler who had served the House of Candel since before Asrahan was born, quietly handed him a book as he was changing his clothes by himself.
With an expressionless face, Asrahan accepted it and checked the cover.
“……?”
One of Asrahan’s eyebrows arched as if in disbelief. Halstein merely chuckled and turned the pages for him.
“Put aside such useless thoughts.”
“Useless, you say? In the twenty-seven years I have served you, Master, I have never been more useful than I am now.”
Asrahan lightly ignored him and tossed the book onto the table. Then he focused on buttoning the shirt he wore over his bandages.
The butler did not give up and opened the book himself, beginning to read aloud.
“Let’s see. It is proper to pull out the chair for her…… You know this much, of course? I will read only the key points.”
“Halstein. Are you very bored?”
“During the meal, you must continue to meet her eyes and look at her affectionately, affectionately. Not with those dead eyes you have now.”
“A corpse’s eyes could hardly be alive.”
Asrahan muttered self-mockingly. Then he took the long coat hanging on the rack and put it on over his shirt.
“Are you not going to a formal dinner? There is no need to wear a coat as well……”
Though a chilly spring wind blew in the mornings and evenings, it would certainly be hot unless he was dining outdoors.
But he ignored the butler’s words and left the room with the coat draped over his shoulders.
‘It should block the stench of a corpse, if only a little.’
Lariette had never said a word about the smell coming from him, but since it was a meal, it bothered him all the more. Even if she became nauseated and left first, he would have nothing to say.
Asrahan walked down the corridors of the Candel ducal residence, the hem of his coat fluttering. The servants who saw him quickly bowed their heads, and some trembled at his fearsome aura.
‘That is the usual reaction.’
With eyes as lifeless as those of a dead fish, he opened the door to the dining room. The large door, filled with glittering ornamentation, opened, and soon the interior was revealed.
“Asrahan!”
Lariette, beautifully dressed and groomed, sprang up from her seat and called his name. She looked extremely glad, as though she had expected to be stood up.
“Mage, please sit down.”
“I told you, it’s not Mage, it’s Lariette……”
I’m not even hoping for a nickname anymore! Still grumbling over the fact that he would not call her by her name, she sat down.
Only a moment passed before Lariette hurriedly took out a sheet of paper she had prepared.
“By the way, I’d like to revise the contract a little. Will you take a look?”
“Give it to me.”
Did young people these days get straight to the point the moment they sat down? Asrahan pondered it briefly, but found no answer.
“Honestly, considering how much purification magic I’m using, I think the compensation is a little lacking.”
Lariette made her claim in a confident tone, but for no reason, she glanced at him furtively and watched his reaction.
Since he did not think she was wrong, he accepted the contract indifferently. He was prepared to give her enough money to buy a small country if she asked for it. But as expected, the contents of the contract were something he had never imagined.
Contrary to his expectation that an astronomical sum would be written there, the revised contract was only puzzling.
Asrahan furrowed his brow slightly and asked,
“By a request for outings, you mean……?”
“Why, dates, of course!”
If you don’t revise it, the contract is canceled! Lariette declared innocently.