Episode 102
Even in the midst of that bleakness, Ejekail ventured to raise one possibility.
“What if I promise never to breathe a word of this to Lizan…….”
“Then Miss Lizan would assume that I must have shown this written exchange to you, Major.”
“…….”
“There are some things one cannot say directly to the person concerned. With Miss Lizan’s disposition, that would have been even more so. I think that, for her, even confiding this much to me took considerable courage.”
However, quite apart from understanding Lizan’s feelings, Polina did not have any particularly satisfying solution to offer.
“If even you say you can’t treat Lizan, then whom should I bring? Dr. Briman?”
“Of course, if the doctor came, he would be far better than I. Moreover, unlike me, who has focused solely on treating one field—the eyes—he has much more experience seeing patients in many different areas, so he would be far more capable as a medical practitioner as well. The problem is that, unlike me, who has many short-term surgical patients and so can travel relatively freely, Dr. Briman has many patients under long-term care, so I understand it would be difficult for him to free up much time.”
That was how it had been in Ejekail’s memory as well. While Polina, who had been asked to perform the surgery, had come running at once and stayed at the Derosa estate, Dr. Briman had said he could not simply abandon his existing patients and had dutifully traveled the long distance back and forth, or corresponded by post. Most of those patients were not well-off enough to comfortably afford the fees of a doctor as renowned as Dr. Briman, but Dr. Briman had taken responsibility for them, even adjusting his fees according to their circumstances. And now he would have to travel even farther, all the way to the capital, so there was a high possibility that he would decline Ejekail’s request.
With the hand that was not holding the paper, he rubbed his roughened face. If this had been a problem he could solve by spending a great deal of money and a long stretch of time, he would have been glad instead. He was prepared to keep bringing in doctors, whether dozens or hundreds of them. As for time, he had been prepared for as much as it took from the beginning. It had taken him a very long time to recover his own sight as well. Based on his own experience, he had wanted to encourage Lizan so she would not lose hope and to care for her. Just as she had lived as his hands and feet when he was blind, this time he wanted to become Lizan’s language.
But what was he to do when the patient had no will in the first place?
“So I thought about it, and I think it might be best to bring my husband.”
Ejekail asked back in puzzlement.
“Your husband?”
“I don’t know if you remember, but my husband is also physically impaired.”
There was no way he could already have forgotten such a striking story. Polina’s husband was a medical student who had lost his sight in a fire.
“Most people would not understand my husband, but he is someone who says that being blind now is not particularly bad.”
“That is curious.”
There had never been a day when Ejekail had been fine living as a blind man. It had always felt as though a storm lay hidden inside him. After Lizan came to the estate, he regained stability, but even then, his own situation—being unable to see Lizan for himself—had been suffocating.
“I find my husband curious as well. I absolutely want to cure my husband’s eyes, but he is always at ease, saying it would be nice if his eyes were healed, but it would also be all right if they were not. That aspect of him may resonate with Miss Lizan, who says she will not receive treatment.”
“Is he naturally an optimistic person?”
“He is, in a way. Looking back, I think my husband played a large role in my being able to overcome things so calmly, even after my face was badly injured by burns. I feel nothing about it now, but while I was receiving treatment for the burns, it was quite painful. The process of the melted skin healing hurt, and I needed some time to acknowledge and accept that my face had changed from before. But the person who had been injured the most—my husband—received a diagnosis that his eyes were completely ruined, to say nothing of his burns, and yet he just sat beside me smiling like someone with no worries at all…… At some point, I found myself smiling with him.”
Ejekail nodded. If he was that sort of person, it would be good for Lizan to meet him at least once.
“But if one person cannot see and the other cannot speak, will they be able to communicate?”
“They will. Communication is not necessarily made only through conversation.”
Then again, even he, who had a perfectly sound mouth, was not properly communicating with Lizan right now. Even if he placed paper and writing tools in her hands, it was doubtful whether Lizan would try to share the deep thoughts in her heart through written conversation.
Communication is not necessarily made only through conversation.
Though it was a painfully sharp point, it was true.
Polina declared firmly.
“I believe it is possible.”
❖ ❖ ❖
It was entirely by chance that Ejekail discovered the doctor coming out of his father’s study. Had he not been crossing the estate constantly to check on Lizan, he would have passed by without knowing. In truth, under normal circumstances, he would not have paid much attention. If someone was feeling mildly unwell, there was nothing especially strange about calling a doctor to the study to be examined.
So this was a kind of intuition. Some instinct that his father’s interest might reach Lizan in an unpleasant way.
Ejekail called him to a stop.
“What business did you have in the study?”
The doctor stopped in surprise.
“Ah…… Major.”
“Is my father unwell?”
“Pardon? No, no, he is not.”
The doctor glanced back at the study for a moment, then answered as though it were nothing of consequence.
“His Excellency asked about the young lady.”
“About Lizan?”
“Yes, it was nothing particularly serious. He asked whether, since the young lady miscarried in the camp, her body would be able to bear a child again; whether her lack of voice was permanent damage; and whether, if she were to give birth after having once been poisoned, the child might also develop a disability—questions of that sort.”
He truly seemed to think the contents were not a big deal. The doctor spoke readily.
“I told him that her voice is not certain yet, but since you recovered your sight as well, Major, the possibility that it will lead to permanent damage is extremely low, and that a miscarriage does not necessarily lead to infertility. The young lady’s health is very poor right now, so it would be difficult for her to become pregnant immediately, but if she eats well and rests, since she is still young…… Major?”
Before the doctor had even finished speaking, Ejekail flung open the door to the study and strode inside.
“Do you regard Lizan as a broodmare?”
Otherwise, there was no way he could look at a patient who had been carried in and immediately begin discussing pregnancy and disabilities.
“You declared that you would not have an heir unless it was with that child, so I must also ascertain whether that child can at least fulfill the minimum role. Or do you have any intention of having a child from the womb of another woman, instead of that child? Of course, I would welcome that option far more.”
Even at Ejekail’s sudden intrusion, his father did not so much as blink. Beginning with the bloody conflict between brothers that had shaken Astrie, and with all manner of incidents erupting under the name of Valdemaera, it had been quite some time since ordinary matters had ceased to surprise either of them.
“From what I hear, that child’s health is not very good. I do wonder whether a child born from such a body would be sturdy. At least be grateful that there is nothing about her appearance that stands out as conspicuously unusual. You have black hair, and the child has red hair; if your wife were blond, anyone could tell at a glance that the child was an illegitimate one brought in from elsewhere. If the girl has brown hair, it is a common color, so there is a wider range of choices.”
For a moment, he wondered what on earth that was supposed to mean. But it did not take him long to understand his father’s words.
Ejekail’s expression stiffened as it was.
“You mean to obtain only a child from Lizan, and bring in a woman from a family you prefer as the mistress of Valdemaera.”
“There are many families that wish to form a marriage tie with Valdemaera, so as long as you and your wife agree to properly fulfill your official duties between yourselves, there should be no problem. Whether each of you keeps lovers is for the two of you to decide, and whether you keep that child as your mistress or not, I will no longer interfere that far.”
Was he truly hearing this as words?
The more he listened, the more outrageous it became. Ejekail clenched his jaw.
“Am I a stud horse?”
“What else did you think you were?”
A calm question came back.
“We are people who have the duty to pass down Valdemaera’s name, history, and honor to the next generation. Surely you do not imagine there has not been a single man in this family as jagged as you? There must certainly have been quarrels and conflicts worse than now. Nevertheless, because they all reached the consensus that the family, at least, had to be protected, Valdemaera has been able to endure to this day. Since I was born bearing the name Valdemaera, I was a stud horse, and you are one as well. This is no different for men or women. If you were a woman, you could bear a child yourself and continue the family line, but you are a man, so you must borrow another woman’s womb to continue the family. As the head of the house, I have no choice but to consider every possibility.”
Ejekail glared at his father, who rubbed between his brows, his eyes gone icily pale.
“Ejekail, do you know what official document I placed my seal on today?”