Chapter 33………………………………………
Aria’s condition was more serious than expected. It had only been a brief moment, but the blade had gone in far too deep, making even stopping the bleeding a challenge.
Her pulse grew weaker by the minute, and her lips slowly took on a bluish hue.
At this rate, she could have died screaming right in the middle of the road.
That was why, on the way to Renesti, the knights focused solely on stopping the bleeding and keeping her breathing.
It was the kind of state where only by desperately clinging on could she barely hold out.
Honestly, it wouldn’t have been strange if she had died from excessive blood loss on the spot.
So even as they crossed the threshold into Renesti, the knights didn’t let their guard down for a second.
“M-my lady! Oh my goodness!”
The moment the carriage arrived, a maid with a deathly pale face came running out at full speed. Thanks to another knight who had ridden ahead to deliver the news, the family physician—already informed of the situation—was waiting there as well.
Enoch, who had rushed over at the summons, sucked in a sharp breath the instant he saw the young lady returned covered in blood.
Just what on earth had happened outside for a person to come back in such a state?
But with every second critical, Enoch couldn’t bring himself to ask for details.
After hurriedly moving her to the bedroom, Sophia followed his orders and gathered every medicinal supply in the house.
They had managed to stop the bleeding, but it still wasn’t time to relax.
They needed to properly examine the wound and disinfect it to prevent further infection.
While everyone was rushing about in a frenzy—
The monster who had been waiting endlessly for his master finally began to reveal himself.
“……Gasp!”
Sophia, running hurriedly down the corridor, flinched in shock the moment she saw him approaching from the opposite side.
In the blink of an eye, Matthias closed the distance between them and narrowed his eyes.
“The smell of blood.”
A foul scent brushing the tip of his nose. It was something he smelled every day, so recognizing it wasn’t difficult.
But someone had bled so heavily that the stench lingered in the air, and he needed to know who it came from.
“M-Master Matthias. Th-that is, right now—”
Sophia looked up at him, still terrified. In her frantic efforts to save Aria, she had completely forgotten that he was there.
“…….”
Matthias stared toward the inner corridor where the smell of blood was strongest.
The kind of situation that would make a maid act this urgently was, frankly, obvious.
Scanning the closed doors with sharp eyes, Matthias soon fixed his gaze on one particular room.
Just then, another maid burst out of it, clutching a bloodstained towel.
The instant he saw that, his legs moved as if possessed.
Sophia hurried after him, but once the beast had started running, she had no chance of stopping him.
In the blink of an eye, Matthias charged into his master’s bedroom and froze.
Forcing his legs—on the verge of giving out—to hold him upright, he took in the scene before him. It was, quite literally, a spectacle.
The physician and maids moving in frantic haste. Red towels scattered across the floor. …And on the bed, a woman lying as if dead.
“……Aria?”
A reality he didn’t want to believe in a single part of stood right before his eyes.
It felt like I’d slept incredibly deeply.
A long, uninterrupted sleep with no one disturbing me. It had been so long since I’d slept this well that the very first thought upon opening my eyes was simply, I feel amazing.
My stomach hurt a little, but that was all. My mind was clearer and sharper than it had been in ages.
But the moment I realized I was back in reality, memories from before came rushing in like a tide.
‘…Right.’
I’d been stabbed.
Even thinking about it again was absurd.
‘What a lunatic.’
No matter how angry you are, who decides to stab someone on the spot?
I forced my stiff arm to move and touched the injured area.
Below my left rib.
The spot where Xavier’s blade had grazed me burned strangely, as if I’d suffered a burn.
As I slowly traced the throbbing wound with my fingertips, I eventually frowned.
When I turned my head, I saw bright sunlight pouring in from beyond the curtains.
I was sure it had been nighttime. It was so bright that I couldn’t even guess how much time had passed.
Just as I was starting to regain my bearings and turned my head again—
Clatter!
Sophia, who must have been standing there blankly for some time, dropped the tray she was holding.
“M-Miss Ariaaa!”
She screamed my name without even thinking to pick up what she’d dropped.
But just as she was about to run over to me, she seemed to regain her composure at the last second, quickly turned around, and bolted out of the room.
“I-I’ll go get someone right away!”
“When you move, do you feel dizzy at all? Any nausea?”
“I’m fine. I don’t feel particularly uncomfortable anywhere…”
If anything, I felt too fine—that was the problem. After a solid rest, my body felt light enough that I could probably run around the garden right now.
Only the injured area throbbed a bit. Once I regained a little more strength, it felt like I’d recover before long.
Enoch, who had been examining my condition, initially wore a very worried expression, but gradually relaxed.
Still, warning that it was too soon to be fully at ease, he removed the stethoscope hanging around his neck.
“Even so, you must be careful for a while. No organs were damaged, but you lost a great deal of blood. And since you’ve been lying down for several days, it would be best to eat light meals, like thin soup.”
Sophia, listening beside him, quickly wrote everything down. I agreed as well.
It wasn’t just a day or two.
I’d been hovering between life and death for a full week—common sense dictated that I should be careful, at the very least.
After finishing the examination, Enoch withdrew, and Sophia briefly reported what had happened in the meantime.
“The marchioness came again yesterday.”
“The marchioness?”
“Yes. She’s visited almost every day since that incident. She brought lots of medicines and disinfectants that are good for the body. Even the Odilon family’s physician came by.”
“…She’s been very considerate.”
Sending her personal physician wasn’t enough—she even came to visit herself.
I should prepare some kind of thank-you gift later.
“Oh! And the marchioness said that if you ask, she’ll immediately update you on the progress of the case. For now, all the criminals caught in the act have been arrested. The nobles who were at the deal site too!”
“That’s a relief.”
Yeah. After all that suffering, it would’ve been unacceptable to let anyone slip away.
Hearing that every last one of them had been locked up made me feel at ease.
‘I should rest a little, then contact her right away.’
She must have handled almost all the cleanup by herself while I was injured. The thought that I’d burdened her weighed on my mind.
After checking over the information I needed to know for now, I looked around.
“By the way… where’s Matthias?”
