GDTEA Chapter 125

Spread the Rumors

Sharti was bewildered.

As she was escorted courteously, welcomed by knights lined up on both sides, Sharti couldn’t collect herself. She wondered what on earth was happening so early in the morning, and even pinched her cheek to check if she was dreaming.

Clunk—. Sharti, who had boarded the Chelonar County mansion’s carriage with a half-asleep face, gradually came to her senses as the carriage moved.

‘The comfort of riding for the first time…….’

She could hear the wheels rattling, but there was no swaying transferred to the interior of the carriage. It was comfortable, literally like a bed.

Sharti gulped down a dry swallow. The saving grace was that only Ren and she were inside the carriage.

“Hey, Ren. Where’s the general store uncle?”

“It seems he fled straight away right after I came out of my room.”

Ren had woken up early upon hearing footsteps climbing the inn’s stairs. With a premonition that what had to come had arrived, he covered his face with his hood and immediately stepped out of his room. Just as he was about to knock on Sharti’s door, thinking he needed to look after her, the knight order appeared—and toward the wary Ren, the knights immediately brought out that title.

“At first I thought they’d all bumped their heads together and gone mad.”

[Excuse me, but are you, despite having your face covered, the ‘Demon King’—the one who is incredibly kind-hearted, frightening yet not frightening, and who holds only the Deer Princess in his heart?]

He was glad he’d been wearing his hood at that moment. Had they seen his expression, the knight commander might have burned black with shame.

[We have come to escort the Deer Princess.]

He felt a brief flash of resistance at the knight commander’s words about coming to fetch Sharti, but Ren quickly grasped the situation. Was it even plausible for titles like “Deer Princess” and “Demon King” to come from the mouth of the Chelonar County knight commander in the first place?

[Deer Pwincess is pwetty……]

[The Demon King loves the Deer Princess. He is cool. He must make her happy.]

The image of the two little ones whose eyes had sparkled upon learning a new fairy tale flickered in his mind, and Ren was certain. This was a “code” sent by those two little ones.

He was especially convinced by the fact that they had come to fetch the Deer Princess and not the Demon King.

“Judging by the fact that Count Chelonar called for us personally, it seems Tein spoke up well.”

“To be precise, it wasn’t us—only you, Sha, that was called.”

Watching the anxious Sharti, Ren recalled what Virena had said.

[You’ve got some nerve, causing trouble at the Chelonar County mansion. Causing trouble the moment Sha isn’t by your side—tsk, tsk. Your intelligence is worse than a mutt’s.]

[……What is it you want to say.]

Virena, who had come to find Ren in secret while Sharti was preoccupied with mass-producing the antidote, conveyed the Tower Master’s message with a sour expression.

[If Count Chelonar calls for Sha, accompany her.]

[If I, who caused the trouble, am present, the impression of Sha won’t be favorable.]

Ren frowned and objected. Sharti might end up hearing unpleasant words. More than anything, he flexed the fingers of his empty left hand.

[Since the magic tool broke, I’ll be showing my bare face. I also dislike Sha receiving unnecessary misunderstandings because of me, who had been covering my face.]

[……]

Virena, for the first time, stared at Ren with complicated, mixed, and troubled eyes. Ren sensed empathy in Virena’s gaze—it seemed like she might snort and tell him to ignore the Tower Master’s message on the spot.

But in the end, Virena said nothing and left without a word. She had conveyed the Tower Master’s message, so as far as she was concerned, she had said all that needed to be said.

Thanks to that, Ren had felt unsettled in one corner of his heart until now. The fact that it was specifically the Tower Master’s message made him inexplicably uneasy.

“But Ren, is it alright for you to come with me? You won’t be able to keep your face covered in front of a noble.”

Sharti, belatedly realizing Ren’s situation, asked worriedly.

“I’ll be fine.”

Ren willingly smiled to reassure Sharti. Even without the Tower Master’s message, he wouldn’t have sent Sharti alone.

“Really.”

Clunk. The carriage, which had arrived at the mansion right on cue, came to a stop.

Sharti was gazing at Ren with worry-filled eyes when she unwound the scarf around her neck and wrapped it tightly around his.

Ren inhaled deeply the herbal scent from Sharti as he lightly took and released her hand.

“We have arrived.”

Outside, a knight opened the carriage door. As Sharti followed Ren, who had stepped out first, and was about to exit the carriage, she was startled to feel her body being suddenly lifted.

Ren had, without a word, scooped her up in his arms.

“……!”

The surprised Sharti immediately wrapped both arms tightly around Ren’s neck.

“You startled me!”

Sharti whispered into his ear beneath the hood, and Ren shrugged his shoulders.

“They know us as the Demon King and the Deer Princess—shouldn’t we show them an appearance befitting that?”

“……”

He certainly had a way with words. It would have been much better if he’d shown off his persuasiveness and logic inside the carriage.

Sharti silently glared at Ren beneath his hood.

Still, seeing Ren’s unchanged, composed, and unabashed manner even upon arriving at the mansion put her at ease.

“Teacher—!”

Just then, one side of the main building’s door opened, and Tein, dressed in green silk clothing, came running out with both arms wide open.

“Tein!”

The longing and guilt of not having been able to visit despite entrusting him with such a weighty task came pouring out.

Sharti came down from Ren’s arms and embraced Tein with both of hers.

“Have you been well, Tein? As for food—it looks like you’ve been eating well. And sleep……. It looks like you’ve been sleeping well too.”

Just as Virena had said, the chubby cheeks and the eyes that had grown even more vivid and larger made Sharti break into laughter.

“Teacher, the medicine is working. The baby angel doesn’t have nightmares anymore.”

“Any side effects?”

“None found.”

It was a repetition of the conversation they had exchanged through notes, but it was only when seeing each other’s eyes that she could truly feel at ease.

Tein exchanged greetings with Ren as well. During that time, Sharti glanced around nervously. The knights lined up on both sides made her feel embarrassed and pressured.

Then, attendants came rushing out from inside the main building en masse, and beyond them, a dignified middle-aged man walked out.

“Welcome, Doctor.”

Count Chelonar strode over and stood before Sharti. And then, without any preamble—didn’t he bow in greeting?

“Oh, uh, what……?!”

Since this was happening right in front of her, Sharti, not to be outdone, bowed back facing him.

“I shall escort you inside, Doctor.”

“Um, why are you speaking so formally to me……”

Sharti, with her head lowered, stumbled over her words with her hands clasped together.

With a status lower than a commoner, she wasn’t supposed to dare meet a noble’s eyes. It was the wall of social status carved into her bones during her years of living as a girl of the streets.

“Are you not my benefactor? Come now, quickly show them inside.”

“Yes, Master!”

“Ah, no, wait a moment……. Why am I alone……!”

Pushed along by the attendants, Sharti disappeared into the mansion as if being sucked inside, all alone.

Count Chelonar turned to Tein before entering the mansion.

“After my conversation with the Doctor is finished, you may bring Eryl.”

“Yes!”

Tein nodded reliably.

Ren, who had been gathering wariness and maintaining a state of tension throughout, stood still in the face of Count Chelonar’s benevolence, from which no hostility could be felt whatsoever.

The fact that the Count, who held the position of leader of the neutral faction no less, was using honorifics toward Sharti left Ren mildly surprised.

‘They said he cherishes his daughter, and it was true.’

From Count Chelonar’s perspective, there was no great reluctance in using honorifics toward Sharti, who was of low standing. He was a man who, for the sake of saving his daughter, would offer his family, his faction, and everything else to Darhan Bridend, and if told to lick his shoes, would lick them—so this was nothing.

“Then please take good care of the Doctor’s companions as well.”

“Yes.”

Count Chelonar, with a smiling face, entrusted Tein and Ren to the attendants and turned away.

“……?”

But a strange feeling that brushed past him in an instant made the Count pause momentarily and look back at Ren.

Ren, head bowed just as Sharti had done, was waiting for the Count to leave.

Hmm. Leaving behind a short murmur mixed with puzzlement, Count Chelonar entered the mansion.

Now was the time to focus on Sharti.

Thus separated from Sharti, Ren was able to follow Tein toward Eryl’s room.

“The Demon King Bear is here?!”

Eryl, who had been pacing at the door, came running over with her short legs and clung to Ren.

When Ren lifted Eryl up, she beamed with delight.

“Is your body feeling better?”

“Mhm! I prayed every single day while taking the medicine the Deer Princess gave me. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

At her giggling laughter, Ren smirked. The fact that she loved the fairy tale in which he was the main character made him feel unexpectedly proud.

“Eryl told Papa. That the Demon King Bear visited Eryl and went to tell the Deer Princess that Eryl was sick. And that the Deer Princess gave Eryl medicine so she wouldn’t be sick, so now it doesn’t hurt at all, Eryl said.”

“Remarkable.”

Having entered Eryl’s private reception room, Ren offered his honest and simple praise to the bright-eyed little one.

“But does the Demon King Bear really love the Deer Princess?”

“Yes.”

“Wooooow—!!”

While Ren had the full attention of the two little ones, Sharti was meeting alone with Count Chelonar in the main reception room.

However, it was not the scene Sharti had imagined.

“Please accept this, Doctor.”

“Um, well……”

The box Count Chelonar had placed on the table was filled to the brim with gold bars.

Sharti, who had only recently encountered gold coins for the first time, nearly had her breath cut off at the sight of the gold bars.

“It is my thanks for saving my daughter Eryl.”

The expression of the Count, who pushed forward a box full of gold bars, was composed.

Sharti stared with dizzied eyes at the gold bars in the box, then pulled herself together.

“The verification of the antidote’s side effects hasn’t finished yet. It’s far too much for me to receive right now.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t covet the gold bars.

However, since parents sometimes lose their judgment when their child is involved, Sharti explained calmly.

Since she couldn’t freely disclose the existence of the <Experimental Report on the Combined Use of Poison, Forbidden Magic, and Curses> or information about the purple poisonous herb, she gave only a hint about the cause of Eryl’s illness and the ingredients of the antidote.

“Ha……!”

Count Chelonar, upon learning of the existence of forbidden magic, roughly rubbed his dry face and ground his teeth. At the words that among the mages brought in to treat Eryl, there had likely been agents of Darhan Bridend mixed in, the Count’s face turned pale.

“This is the antidote I prepared, just in case.”

Sharti took the antidote from her bag and held it out. When she presented the dosage instructions along with it, Count Chelonar’s eyes wavered.

“And, if even after the verification of the antidote’s side effects is complete you still wish to repay me……. Would you be able to grant me one request?”

“Yes. What request would that be?”

Count Chelonar readily nodded.

Sharti gazed at the gold bars before her and made up her mind.

“I want to obtain an Academy completion certificate and a Doctor’s license.”

“For that, even now I could……”

“No! What I mean is—I want to be recognized and obtain the qualifications in a proper setting where my skills can be verified.”

“……”

“A chance. Please give me a chance.”

Count Chelonar stared steadily at Sharti and then nodded.

Eryl’s illness, which no Academy student, graduate, or the many doctors brought in had been able to diagnose even its cause—the skill to have identified it meant there was no need for separate verification.

More than anything, with Count Chelonar vouching for her, what further qualification was needed?

But Count Chelonar could not help but feel pleased by the attitude of wanting to be recognized for her learning and to prove her skills.

“I shall arrange the opportunity before long.”

“Yes!”

“In the meantime, would you be willing to stay at the mansion and look after my daughter?”

“Of course. Thank you for allowing me to be by the young lady’s side.”

A smile blossomed like a flower on Sharti’s face, happy at having received the promise of what she had wanted.

That night, Count Chelonar summoned the head butler, the knight commander, and the head maid together.

“From this moment forward, the House of Chelonar shall withdraw its hand from all affairs within the Empire and lock its gates. Not a single thing—Eryl’s condition, the guests staying at the mansion, my orders—shall pass beyond the front gate of the mansion.”

“Yes, Master.”

“And spread the rumors.”

Count Chelonar’s sharpened gaze gleamed intensely.

“That the young lady of the House of Chelonar is hovering at death’s door, and her father the Count cannot leave her side for even a moment and is falling apart.”

Count Chelonar had begun to move to strike Darhan Bridend from behind.

However, in the end, two days later, it was the Count himself whose back of the head stung.

“……House of Gwendhill……?”

The moment he met those deep teal eyes, Count Chelonar felt goosebumps rise all over his body.