Chapter 166: A Patroclus Morning
Day 16, morning.
There were hardly any patients that day, so the hospital staff were gathered around a table, enjoying cake and tea that Acrea had bought.
“My bone is broken! Broken, I tell you!”
A strange patient suddenly arrived. A man, his face hidden under a slouch hat, his drab gray hair hanging down like a ghost, was clutching his right arm, exaggerating his pain with dramatic gestures.
“Let me take a look.”
As Perlman stood up, the man in the slouch hat flinched and stepped back.
“No, not you!”
“…What?”
“I want to be treated by that young lady.”
He pointed at Sue, who was sipping her hot tea.
“She’s not a doctor, and she doesn’t even have proper medical knowledge. I can…”
“I said I want to be treated by that young lady!”
“No, but…”
The man in the slouch hat ignored Perlman’s explanation.
“Fine, I’ll do it. Happy?”
Sue, sensing the awkward tension, slowly stood up. Dena, who had been sitting next to her, frowned.
“Ugh, he’s a pain in the ass. Sue, just apply some medicine and be done with it. If he tries anything funny, I’ll tell Acrea.”
She was whispering about Acrea again. Sue knew what she was up to, so she just smiled.
Sue took some painkillers and bandages and sat in front of the man in the slouch hat. He started writhing and groaning before she even touched his arm.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
“Just a moment, please be quiet…”
Sue, struggling to hold his arm, suddenly stopped. She had recognized the familiar face hidden under the slouch hat.
“Jea-…”
“Shh! Just wrap the bandage.”
Jean Emilia.
He shushed her before she could even say his name.
Sue, still confused, started wrapping the bandage haphazardly, as he had instructed. A short silence fell.
“…Did you dye your hair?”
Sue, regaining her composure, whispered. Jean with black hair? It didn’t suit him.
“Hey, I heard Woo Acrea is here too. You must have seen my face when I ran off with the high priest at the chapel. That’s why I didn’t bring him.”
“No… But why did you come here in the first place?”
“Because I was worried about you!”
Sue’s heart warmed at his words.
“I came by Rem, and my butt is killing me from the long ride. I should have said my tailbone was broken.”
But her warmth faded a little.
“Why didn’t you come to the workshop after what happened?”
Jean leaned closer and pressed her.
He had been worried because she hadn’t come to the workshop even after the appointed day, and he had heard that something had happened.
He had snuck into the capital and found out about Viscountess Sue Byron’s 30-day exile. Jean, baffled, had come all the way to Patroclus to hear the story himself.
“You paid me all that money, and you’re not even using me! You asked me to save you from that cult…”
He was right, if she had asked for his help, he would have found a better solution. But Sue hadn’t been in her right mind back then.
She had thought she didn’t deserve to be helped, and she had avoided anyone who could have helped her, instead of seeking them out.
“That’s…”
Sue was about to explain when Jean’s long arm, which had been bandaged, suddenly shot up.
“Your arm isn’t broken.”
Acrea, grabbing Jean’s arm, smiled faintly.
‘Dena said something strange again.’
Sue sighed inwardly.
“Ahem! Ahem, ahem, ahem!”
Jean, recognizing Acrea, pulled his slouch hat lower. As expected, even the great Jean felt fear when he had something to hide.
Sue had to intervene.
‘What should I say?’
She could just kick Jean out, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that to someone who had come because he was worried about her.
Sue quickly racked her brain and blurted out the first thing that came to mind,
“A-actually, he’s my tutor.”
***
“I didn’t know you had a magic tutor, Sue.”
“Hahaha! This is… I told him to keep it a secret, that rascal. How embarrassing.”
Jean, who had suddenly become Sue’s tutor, was being treated with the utmost hospitality at the Perlman house after his “treatment.” Jean, seemingly not displeased, sipped the green grape wine Perlman had poured him.
“You look very young. How old are you?”
“Hahaha, does age matter?”
“Of course it does, she’s a Byron child. We have to be picky about her educators.”
Elizabeth firmly countered Jean’s words. She would always transform from a kind aunt to a strict Byron lady when this topic came up.
“I’ve had enough to eat. I have a baby face, you see.”
“Hmm, what’s your highest license? A-rank?”
Even Sue had to act like a Byron lady, not her niece.
“Aunt, he’s trustworthy.”
She was telling her to stop.
Elizabeth’s expression softened immediately.
“I’m sorry, Jean, I got a little carried away. There are a lot of untrustworthy mages out there. I was just worried.”
“Well… I understand your concern. But I’m a very trustworthy mage.”
Jean grinned, pointing at himself with his thumb. It was an unfounded claim that only made her more suspicious.
Acrea, who had been silently observing them, put down his wine glass.
“…Jean, was it?”
“W-why? What’s wrong?”
Jean asked, his voice hesitant.
Acrea traced the rim of his wine glass with his finger and said,
“Have we met before?”
“…!”
Sue’s heart skipped a beat, and she swallowed nervously.
“What are you talking about? I’m seeing you for the first time.”
Jean even shrugged, as if he genuinely didn’t know. Acrea, his face emotionless, stared at him for a moment, then slowly tilted his head.
“I see. I must have been mistaken. My apologies, Jean.”
“Hmm, hmm, well then.”
After Jean’s unexpected welcome party, Sue was getting ready for bed when…
“Sue.”
Jean knocked on her door.
She opened the door, and he was dressed similarly to the day he had barged into her townhouse.
“Are you leaving?”
Sue asked, her eyes on the goggles on his head.
“Yes, but before I go, I have something for you.”
Something for her?
Sue let him in. He sat down on the desk chair and took out a small handbag from his pocket.
“What’s that?”
“A bag imbued with my essence.”
Jean reached into the bag and pulled out a glass bottle the size of his forearm. It was the bottle containing Sue’s pain reliever.
“W-what’s that?”
“I thought you might be running low. Are you still having seizures?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. What’s that bag?”
Jean had asked with concern, but Sue’s attention was solely on the palm-sized bag.
“It’s a bag I made. A magic bag.”
“T-they make things like this…?”
Her eyes sparkled.
“Can’t you sell it to me?”
“No, it’s the only one I have. I can’t make another one.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know.”
It was a “don’t ask” kind of answer. Sue, bound by their contract, had no choice but to keep her mouth shut. Jean was helping her a lot, but he seemed to have a lot of secrets.
Sue was curious about his secrets, but at the same time, she had a vague feeling that they weren’t things she should know.
“Sue, you want to break the curse quickly, right?”
“What? Of course.”
Jean changed the subject. He wanted to give her a progress report. He held out his hand, his palm open.
“I feel like I’m just five pieces away.”
“Five pieces…? Are you talking about the curse breaking?
Jean nodded.
“T-that quickly?”
“It’s all thanks to the high priest you caught. I was able to compare your formula and his formula. I roughly analyzed the blood components by matching the fever and chills…”
“Okay, okay, I get it. Thank you so much, Jean.”
Five pieces left.
That meant that once she had those five pieces, she would be free from the agonizing pain. Sue was so happy that she wanted to jump for joy.
But Jean, seeing her reaction, frowned.
“Those five pieces… are going to be hard to find.”
“Ah… How hard?”
“It might take more than five years to find those five pieces.”
“…Really?”
“Yes.”
Sue’s shoulders slumped. If Jean was saying this, it meant it was a real problem.
Five more years?
She would be dead before then.
She had realized through this whole ordeal that she wouldn’t last another two years in the capital. It was a separate issue from her resolution to live a positive life.
“…Isn’t there any other way?”
“I’ve been thinking about it.”
Jean said, as if he had been waiting for her to ask.
“Sue, your family is known for their curse magic.”
“Ah, I’ve pretty much searched the entire basement of our house. But there’s nothing related to this snake curse.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“?”