Chapter 40
I tried my best to ignore the piercing blue gaze and started happily telling lies.
“But it seems like the other people from the duke’s household already escaped early this morning. So even though the Grand Duke made the trip for nothing, he was relieved to know that Yubel was safe.”
I felt like he was burning a hole in the back of my head with his stare, but I had no choice.
“So, what you’re saying is the Grand Duke came to ‘rescue’ you?”
Rena carefully chose her words.
But I understood what she meant right away.
Basically, she couldn’t believe that the man known for killing people without hesitation would come all this way just to save someone.
“I came to rescue [Materia], as the lady said,”
Winter answered coldly, agreeing with my lie.
Ironically, it was the complete truth.
“Now that I’ve confirmed [Materia] is safe, I should return.”
Then why are you still holding onto me?
Once again, Winter picked me up from behind. I whispered softly to him.
“Um… you really shouldn’t keep doing this.”
“How do you plan to travel such a long distance with such a small body?”
“There are horses and carriages. Plenty of options.”
“If you take a carriage from Lohiya to the Northern Empire, it’ll take over a month.”
Wait, the Northern Empire?
I was confused, trying to understand what he meant. Meanwhile, Rena suddenly shouted.
“Then that means everything’s okay now, right? Miss, I need to hurry home. Alfred must be waiting for me, unable to rest even though he’s sick!”
At the mention of Alfred, Loti’s eyes sparkled.
“Miss…”
I knew exactly what Loti wanted.
And I also knew that the time I needed most right now was enough to calm down Winter Orserth before he suddenly took off flying again.
“Let’s go! Alfred is sick, of course we should visit him!”
Somehow, the Alfred I had never met had now become ‘our Alfred,’ but that didn’t matter at all.
***
After sending the other maids home, we all followed Rena to see Alfred—me, Loti, and even Winter.
Rena kept glancing back at us, as if she couldn’t believe she was taking us all to the stable to see Alfred.
But of course, she had no right to refuse. So she quietly led us to the stables where Alfred worked.
But strangely, the stables were completely empty.
“Isn’t this where horses live? Why isn’t there even one?”
Rena looked around, confused, and called out loudly.
“Alfred! Alfred! It’s your sister!”
Loti also called out for him in a soft voice, but stopped when Rena gave her a sharp look.
“Alfred! Alfred!”
Rena looked so worried that I joined in and shouted his name too.
“There’s someone behind the stable,”
Winter whispered quietly, so only I could hear him.
Following his words, I went around to the back of the stable, leaving Rena and Loti behind.
And just like he said, there really was someone there.
A man with a very pale face was lying on top of a pile of hay, groaning.
“Alfred!”
I rushed toward him.
“No.”
Winter suddenly spread his wings and blocked my way.
“What’s wrong?”
Winter stared seriously at the man and asked quietly.
“How much do you know about the disease spreading from Elahi?”
“I know it came from the sealed god Fuerion and is called ‘evil.’”
Wait, no way…
I pointed to Alfred, shocked.
“Are you saying Alfred is infected with that evil?”
Winter nodded and picked me up again.
“You must not touch him with a child’s body. If you don’t want to die, stay away.”
“Wait, but I can at least look from a distance, right? I need to check how bad his condition is.”
I struggled, and Winter finally put me down again.
He frowned slightly and said,
“Don’t touch him.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
I carefully approached Alfred.
“Ugh… urgh…”
Alfred had a very high fever and looked terribly unwell.
‘This fever is dangerous.’
I looked around seriously and found a stick lying nearby.
I planned to use the stick to lift parts of Alfred’s clothing and check his condition.
“You’re trying to check for the symptoms?”
Winter stopped me again.
He gently took the stick from my hand.
“I’ll do it. You shouldn’t get too close.”
It was like he already knew what I wanted to do.
That made sense. After all, all the knowledge I had about this world came from Winter’s experiences.
He flipped Alfred’s hand and took off his shoes to check his feet.
‘There are no black marks!’
I sighed in relief.
Fuerion’s evil wasn’t like a regular disease.
It was literally a god’s hatred toward his own creations—more like a curse than a virus or bacteria.
At first, it caused strong emotional reactions like rage or sadness.
To recover, the person had to stay far from the sea where the evil was strongest and then rely on their own mental and physical strength.
Children, however, almost never survived even a small exposure to evil.
If they couldn’t fight it off, the symptoms would worsen—starting with fever, then black-blue marks spreading from the hands and feet.
Once the marks appeared, it was too late.
“Rena and Loti need to be here. They’re the only ones who can emotionally support Alfred.”
Just as I said that, we heard the sound of someone running.
“Miss! What are you doing here!”
“Alfred’s back here!”
Hearing me, the two rushed over. Rena saw Alfred’s face and screamed.
“Alfred!”
Loti also burst into tears and called his name.
“Alfred…”
I blocked their path.
“Wait! You can’t touch him. He has the disease spreading in Elahi!”
Rena and Loti both turned pale.
“Just call his name and try to wake him up. Don’t touch him. Understand?”
I guided the crying girls gently to Alfred’s side.
He still looked really bad.
“Rena, how long has Alfred had the fever?”
“About three days. It wasn’t this bad at first, and even yesterday he wasn’t like this…”
“He’s lasted a long time.”
Winter’s eyes sparkled.
He was right. It was a miracle to survive three days with a fever from evil.
In other words, Alfred must’ve been very healthy in both body and mind.
‘Sigh… if Loti hadn’t kept pushing and pulling, he might’ve recovered already.’
But I couldn’t say that out loud.
“Alfred! Your sister is here. Wake up!”
At Rena’s voice, Alfred groaned and turned his head away with a pained expression.
“Alfred, I’m here… It’s me, Loti…”
Loti cried and kept reaching toward Alfred.
“Don’t touch him. It’ll spread.”
At my firm warning, she could only stomp her feet in frustration.
“Lo…ti?”
Then, Alfred, who seemed unconscious, slowly opened his eyes.
Rena mumbled under her breath, annoyed that he responded to Loti but not her.
“This guy…”
Loti called him desperately.
“Alfred! It’s me! Loti!”
Seeing him open his eyes despite the fever was a good sign.
I whispered to Loti.
“You asked when you should confess, right? It’s now. Right now. Say sorry and tell him you actually liked him.”
When someone is affected by evil, they get overwhelmed with negative emotions.
Alfred might’ve been struggling even more because of his feelings for Loti.
Loti nodded through her tears.
“Alfred, I…”
She bit her lips tightly and then—
“Wait, Loti! No!”
Before I could stop her, she rushed straight at Alfred’s lips like a bull charging a red flag.
