Episode 108
He sometimes witnessed the traces that the shock of the hanging had left on Rijan. Just before falling asleep, Rijan always adjusted the position of the blanket with delicate care. She tugged the edge down so it would not cover too much of her face, making certain her eyes and nose remained exposed. Seeing how she could not pull the blanket all the way up over her head even when he watched her in silence, it seemed she had grown frightened because it reminded her of the black cloth the executioner had thrown over her head on the scaffold.
There was another thing: no matter how cold it was, Rijan would not wrap a muffler around her neck. The reason was so obvious that even Ejekail, who had involved himself deeply in Rijan’s clothing, could never bring himself to suggest a muffler again. Instead, the best he could do was turn up the collar of her coat or loosely drape a shawl around her neck and shoulders.
“When we return, let’s call a doctor and at least have you examined.”
Still, today had brought a harvest. Now that Rijan’s family had provided a pretext to examine her throat, this was his chance. Ejekail tried to persuade Rijan.
“At the very least, we need to know exactly what your condition is. That way, when we meet your mother and father next time, we’ll have something to explain, won’t we?”
Her family, who had each been dragged away to different camps and suffered hardships before barely reuniting today, proved tremendously effective. In the end, Rijan could not refuse.
❖ ❖ ❖
The doctor glanced at Major Ejekail Valdemaera, gauging his mood. The girl leaning back against a large pillow was someone who had made every doctor connected to this mansion nervous.
Through the servants, the doctor had heard how ominous the atmosphere in the mansion had been on the day Ejekail returned carrying a condemned prisoner down from the gallows. He had also heard that because of this girl, loud voices had occasionally erupted from the study, and for a while the servants had crept around avoiding both masters, afraid some needless spark might fall on them. She was a terribly quiet yet troublesome guest.
The major, who in the past had hardly ever stayed at the mansion because of training or war, to the point that even the servants said they could barely remember his face, had practically begun living there from the first day of the new year, when he brought this girl home. Even now, he stood firmly behind her, watching the examination with sharp eyes. The pressure made cold sweat break out on its own.
The doctor carefully looked inside her throat and attempted several tests.
“Try making your throat vibrate, as if you’re drawing out an ‘ah’ sound. Aaaah.”
“…….”
“Your voice really won’t come out at all? Shall we try lowering the pitch a little? Aaaah.”
“…….”
“Take a deep breath in, and out.”
“…….”
“Does it hurt? It doesn’t hurt, does it?”
“…….”
“Do you feel anything stuck in your throat, or any tightness?”
“…….”
“I heard your coughing has nearly subsided, and the wound has healed quite a bit. Unexpectedly, the condition of your throat is better than I anticipated, but…….”
After examining the vocal cords of the girl, who showed no response no matter what he asked her to do, the doctor shook his head ambiguously.
The doctor left the bedroom and spoke with Ejekail alone.
“To be honest, I don’t quite understand why she cannot speak. Even if her throat was badly damaged at one point, a great deal of natural healing has taken place now, and the medicine mixed into her meals should have helped considerably as well. Her voice might change, or there might be a metallic quality mixed into it, making it somewhat different from before, but for her to be unable to make any sound at all like that is very strange.”
The doctor cautiously added his personal opinion.
“Could it be that the young lady is deliberately not speaking?”
Ejekail’s face instantly turned cold.
In order to make the most of this one opportunity, when Rijan had agreed to a medical examination half willingly and half otherwise, he had carefully selected a doctor reputed to be skilled. Yet even the doctor he had chosen had arrived at the tentative conclusion that Rijan was lying. It was absurd.
“How is it that every bastard who calls himself a doctor is this incompetent?”
Rijan was not the sort of person to tell such a lie. If she could have made a sound, she would have cried out unconsciously any number of times. When he had startled her by touching her body without permission in the underground charnel house, and when she had reunited with her family, she should at least have let out a short scream or sob.
But throughout all the time Ejekail had made for himself to remain by her side, he had not once heard Rijan make a sound.
“If a patient’s symptoms are beyond your understanding, it is a doctor’s role to study the reason. Is suspecting the patient what a doctor should be doing? If you lack ability, you would do well to at least watch that mouth of yours.”
Even without this, many people inside and outside the mansion were watching Rijan because of her history as a condemned prisoner. While warning the doctor to keep his mouth shut so that no needless rumors would arise, Ejekail inwardly wondered what it would have been like if the doctor’s foolish diagnosis had been true.
If it had been…….
If it had been, it would have been so very good. Rijan’s low voice, which had always tickled his ears gently and calmly, now existed only in his memory.
If he were never to hear her voice again like this…….
Rather than that, it would be better if every sound in the world disappeared.
❖ ❖ ❖
It was already the fourth visit.
Rijan awkwardly smoothed down her pale blue outdoor clothes. Although she was merely walking from the main building to the annex, Ejekail insisted that this counted as going out and bundled her up tightly in layers.
The first clothes he had dressed her in had fit neither in width nor in length, but at some point, he had begun bringing clothes that fit Rijan perfectly. She had never had her measurements taken, yet somehow, even the shoes and gloves fit her hands and feet exactly.
Ejekail kept his promise that he would continue to let her visit according to the speed of her recovery. At intervals of four or five days, he took her to the annex.
On the first day she visited her parents, she had only been able to see their faces briefly from far away, in order to maintain the appropriate distance designated by the doctor. But during the next visit, they were able to close the distance by another step or two. After that, they grew close enough to clasp each other’s hands. That day, their hands remained joined until sweat rose slickly from the heat of their bodies.
Ejekail accompanied her without fail on every visiting day. Although Rijan judged there was no need to go that far, he put shoes that fit her feet exactly on her, tied the laces securely, and escorted her along a path they both already knew by heart. Even after arriving at the sickroom, he did not leave; he seated Rijan in the prepared chair and then stood behind her as if guarding her back.
Since the person of highest status happened to be standing, Rijan’s parents were naturally restless. Only after seeing the sick people struggle to sit up instead of lying quietly in bed did Ejekail add a brief explanation that, because of his profession, standing was more comfortable for him, calming them down.
At that moment, Rijan was a little surprised. Come to think of it, there had been few days when she had seen him sitting comfortably and resting, yet she had not found that particularly strange. The bedroom she was currently staying in was also his bedroom, but after giving his own bedroom to a guest who had rolled in, she had not even thought to ask, much less find out, where the actual master slept.
No…… did he even sleep properly?
Lacking the strength to endure an entire day, Rijan would fall asleep and wake at random. And whenever she did, the man who had not been there before she fell asleep had inevitably returned to her side. He would stand silently by the bedside, leafing through the book she had left half-read, checking the fruit on the plate, adjusting the brightness by changing the lamp’s position, or sometimes gazing at her so intently that she could feel a hot flush on her cheeks.
Rijan glanced sideways over her shoulder at the hand gripping the back of the chair she sat in, then quickly withdrew her gaze.
“Well…… Rijan, you’re eating well and doing all right, aren’t you? We’re fine too. We’re getting much better day by day. The meals are so good that we’ve even gained weight lately.”
“The pain has almost all gone now too, and they say they’ll let us leave this room before long…….”
Perhaps because they had worked for Valdemaera as servants for many years, her parents could not easily utter a single word. It was obvious that they were watching Ejekail’s mood and carefully censoring the topics of their conversation.
However, it did not take long to understand where her parents’ true feelings lay.
“Um, a guest has arrived.”
A servant came in and informed Ejekail of a visitor’s arrival. Ejekail checked the time first, then narrowed his brow. He did not want to leave Rijan behind, but it was still too early to end this visit after five days of waiting.
“Rijan, can you be alone for just thirty minutes? I’ll be back soon.”
In truth, asking whether she would be all right alone was absurd. Her family was in the same room right now, and servants were frequently passing by outside the door. Rijan, her father, and her mother had all improved so greatly that people were beginning to say it would be all right for them to slowly return to daily life.
Rijan nodded. She was not a child, so there was no need for him to grow so anxious over every little detail like this each time. Even so, Ejekail called a servant and gave a few more instructions before leaving.
“Risi.”
Once Ejekail’s footsteps grew distant, Rijan’s mother called to her while furtively minding the situation outside. Risi. It was a childhood nickname she had not heard in a long time. At the voice that had become extremely small, as if whispering a secret, Rijan had to lift her back from the soft backrest of the armchair and lean her upper body close.
“I wasn’t quite sure since last time, but…… are you going to become the lady of Valdemaera?”