I Have No Health

“That’s why I asked Master to raise a puppy.”

“That’s right! Don’t you know how much Master loves fussy little creatures while pretending not to?”

“Don’t you remember? It’s probably because of their fur!”

It was the same with everyone else, they were whispering and fighting amongst themselves.

“……”

I couldn’t hear them too well, but I roughly understood the atmosphere.

My cheeks slowly heated up with shame. I was embarrassed because I felt like I just became a child who believed that nature was alive.

“Okay.”

Meia’s clear eyes looked at me affectionately and folded softly.

A face as bright as the sun. In the original story, she was often compared to the sun.

If Nineina was a crumbling leaf frozen by ice, Meia was the sun that would freshen the dead leaf.

Her bright and friendly eyes innocently looked at me, who drew a line between us coldly.

Her persistent affection was so painful that I understood why Nineina in the original story had no choice but to love Meia in the end.

I stared at Meia’s face which I always avoided because it was so innocent that it gave me goosebumps.

***

There was a dual purpose in my visit to the garden.

One was to test Meia and the other was to read Rubenio’s letter.

“I’d like to be alone. I can’t take a nap when it’s always busy around me.”

I remained alone in the sun, wriggling under the blanket, then pulled out Rubenio’s letter.

“……”

As soon as I saw the letter, one of the corners in my heart ached, and my eyes trembled.

I thought that I’d feel less dejected if I was under the lively sun, but I didn’t.

As if the name ‘Rubenio Seia’ had become a keyword for emotions, I burst into tears.

“Does this mean that Rubenio meant that much to Nineina?”

Just by touching Rubenio’s letter, I was overflowing with sadness that was so intense I felt like I actually reached him.

I figured that it was a letter I had to read someday. Without further hesitation, I turned the letter upside down.

It was about time to peel off the wax stamped on the letter.

“Master!”

I could see the butler crying out in a hurry.

Several knights were also seen following the butler and pulled out their swords in an instant.

Sreung!

– If you feel like you’re in danger, you must call the spirit’s name before you think. Because a little hesitation may kill you.

That day, Caesar’s advice struck like lightning in my head.

I reflexively called the spirit’s name.

“Sona!”

Bang!

I heard something bounce off, but it didn’t seem to crash into Sona’s shield.

Hands in black leather gloves swiftly grabbed the daggers that flew one after another.

Caesar, who arrived in the nick of time, protected me before Sona’s shield appeared.

“Huh.”

Without realizing it, I bit my tongue.

The objective of Sona’s summoning was lost.

This meant that he had to plant another mark.

I thought that Caesar, who hated physical contact so much, would look at me with an angry face or a look of disgust.

“That was a good decision.”

He didn’t.

With a casual look, he put down a heavy pouch under my feet.

His eyes briefly glanced at me.

It was an eager gaze that had something to ask.

But there was no anger or disgust whatsoever.

A fruit, which I had seen for the first time, slipped out of the pouch and rolled over.

‘A fruit? It looks like a peach?’

I reached out my arms and caught the fleeing fruit.

“Ahhhhhh!”

At that moment, a terrifying scream rang out.

But as soon as I raised my head, it disappeared.

‘Mother bird?’

That’s what Caesar reminded me of. He tied up the assassin with a rope and turned him into a rope salamander. I didn’t even know where the rope came from nor did I know when the assassin was caught.

The fact that Caesar had kept silent about it was absurd, saying that it was useless even if I had known.

Still, he reminded me of one.

He’s like a mother bird that does a great job at protecting me from predators and hunting prey.

I might then be something that lives in the huge nest he guards.

‘The nest was made………..’

The unread letter rustled in my hand.

The assassin, who was tightly tied to prevent himself from committing suicide, turned his head to me.
(TL/N: Assassins usually kill themselves when they’re caught to refrain from getting tortured for answers.)

And for some reason, his forehead, which was facing me, crumpled.

Caesar swung the assassin into the arms of the butler.

“Geez!”

The middle-aged butler made a strange noise and balanced the assassin who couldn’t even stand properly.

“Drag and lock him up. I’ll do the interrogation myself.”

The butler said that he had received orders from Rubenio to obey Caesar’s words when it came to accompanying me.

The butler nodded and walked away.

“Yes.”

Whenever Caesar appeared, it had become a habit for the servants to run away so they tried to follow the butler.

“Wait.”

He called in a young maid who was the last to leave.

“Do you need anything?”

“Plates and forks.”

For some reason, the young maid took turns looking at Caesar and the fruit he had brought.

Soon after, her innocent eyes twinkled like stars.

“I’ll get it right away!”

The maid, who pressed her lips, nodded and ran to the place where the seniors were.

As the young maid said something, the older maids gathered around and began to chatter.

Caesar did not bother to listen and approached me.

‘Interrogation………….’

My heart was still pounding.

The current situation just came back to mind.

An interrogation. Are you going to torture him? A human?

However, in this world, that may be normal.

‘If I was caught by an ‘enemy’, I would suffer the same fate.’

I bit my lips hard to get my act together.

‘Don’t think about it.’

I forcibly dragged the corners of my trembling lips.

“People who aren’t able to see the sun must be depressed.”

It was totally out of the blue.

He could have just ignored it, but he halted and looked down at me.

I could see my reflection in his eyes.

“It’s like a branch in the middle of winter.”
(QC/N: he feels the sun is nothing special.)

He blurted out. The poetic expression spoken in his specific emotionless voice was ridiculous.

“It would be pretty if snow piles up on a tree that has lost its leaves, wouldn’t it?”

I tried to say anything.

As I consciously diverted my attention, my pounding heart calmed down.

He accepted it without ignoring it like usual.

“Eh.”

That’s all. But, it was no different from agreeing to the question of whether the tree would be pretty.

Hehe. I felt ridiculously better.

“I take naps here once in a while!”

I spoke with my arms wide open.

“……!”

Caesar, who had come close to my sudden movement, opened his eyes wide and staggered back.

He looked like a frightened herbivore, retreating hastily in fear of being touched.

“Were you surprised?”

I laughed mischievously like a prankster.

Caesar naturally frowned.

But he couldn’t even get mad at me.

Because I grabbed the back of my neck and groaned.

“Ugh…… By the way, I think I have a sore neck.”

“……Your reactions are very slow.”

He watched me with a pathetic look on his face, but lifted my hair to one side as if to take a look.

“Is my hair okay now?”

“I’m wearing gloves.”

He spoke in a cold tone and grabbed the nape of my neck which was only a handful for him.

“My skin is so white that I think you’re going to give me a black mark from your gloves.”

“No way.”

His seriousness was so funny that I burst into laughter.

“Now it’s red as if it had been sprayed with paint.”

What the? He didn’t seem to have any particular intention, but it sounded strange.

“I’ll touch you.”

Ah, this man’s way of speaking is the problem.

To massage. To rubdown. To probe. There are many other verbs. What is ‘touch’ supposed to mean?