Chapter 16: Our Hope

I was his hope? I’d never done anything worthy of that, though?

Blinking both my eyes, I stared at Finneas, who was smiling faintly. Sercia had definitely complimented me so much that things had gotten exaggerated.

“Um, I think there’s some kind of misunderstanding…”

When I was about to correct Finneas, the area behind the door the three people had disappeared into became noisy.

Soon afterward, I could hear Sercia’s gruesome scream.

My eyes widened with surprise as I stared at the closed door.

‘Are they really fighting with the intention of killing someone?’

Finneas laughed embarrassedly like he was thinking the same thing. 

“They don’t usually fight each other with death as the end goal, but it seems their emotions are particularly strong today.”

“R-Really?”

“We can’t let a murder occur. Let’s go stop them.”

To think he’d mention murder so calmly—he was truly a Lapileon.

I followed Finneas while thinking useless things.

When Finneas walked and opened the door, red hair snapped in our direction. Surprised, I reflexively stepped back.

“Seci?”

It was Sercia who’d run into Finneas’ arms.

“Uncle!”

Sercia’s voice was shaking like a surging wave. As I approached, I could see that her face was pale in fright.

“Selphi—Selphi!”

Hearing Selphius’ name come out of Sercia’s mouth, my body reacted automatically. I ran past them and left the dining room.

‘Something definitely happened!’

As I approached the living room, I saw Theodore’s back view. He was kneeling on the marble floor.

The situation in front of me was shocking.

Selphius, who was so pale he seemed like he’d been drained of all blood, was flailing with pain.

“Sel—Selphi!”

I could smell the scent of blood when I ran to Theodore’s side. The blood Selphius had thrown up was painting the floor, which was enough to make me dizzy.

“W-What happened?”

Grabbing at his chest, Selphius groaned in pain. I reached out to hold Selphius, who was collapsed on the cold marble floor, but Theodore firmly dissuaded me.

“Leave him. If you move him, it’ll hurt more.”

Compared to me, who was aghast, Theodore was calm. He watched composedly as his nine-year-old young nephew—no, adopted son—was flailing around in pain.

“Keuk!”

“W-Why is this happening? Did someone poison him? I thought you said you have immunity to poison!”

After seeing Selphius’ pretty face covered in red blood, my leg started shaking anxiously. I shook the innocent Theodore’s shoulder hard and yelled at him to do something, anything. Meanwhile, Theodore looked up at me with a flat gaze.

“There’s nothing to be surprised about.”

“How can you say that when the child has…!”

“This is normal for us.”

What?

“What are you talking about? Normal?”

“I told you our blood is poisonous.”

“…”

“The poison is so strong that it eats away at our intestines. If your body is weak, it can’t stand the effects.”

It seemed like he was criticizing me while he stared at me with an ever-calm expression, saying ‘haven’t I always told you this?’

“It’s how my brother died.”

In response to Theodore’s words, I could feel my heart plummeting like a wave of a deep sea.

I’d just thought they were cursed with poison.

I had never once thought that the curse was actually eating away at their insides.

“There are several babies who lost their lives from it before they could even take their first steps.”

“…”

“It doesn’t surprise us anymore.”

Theodore, covered in a cold sweat, stared at Selphius—who was writhing grotesquely—as if he just hoped the pain would end soon.

“W-Why…”

“Why?”

Theodore had a self-mocking, cynical smile. He spoke with a low tone just as cold as his expression.

“I’m also curious.”

With a crooked smile, he clenched his fist. He clenched it so tight that the button of his sleeve popped off.

“Why does it have to be us? Why does it have to be poison?”

I couldn’t easily open my firmly-closed mouth. I felt like I was only now truly facing the dormant curse of the Lapileon family.

“I told you Selphi’s blood has a particularly strong toxicity even for us, right? Whenever the condition of his body worsens, this kind of stuff happens.”

“…”

“That’s why I sent him to the countryside.”

I bit down hard on my bottom lip. I was the one who’d made Selphius live in the Capital, even if Selphius had also wanted it.

I should’ve dissuaded him. Instead of taking Selphius’ side, I should’ve just stayed still and not done anything.

“Aaack!”

Selphius screamed in agony like he was dying. When I lifted my lowered head, I could see him staring at me with bloodshot eyes.

His red lips moved weakly.

‘What was he saying?’

It was difficult to read the lips of a child in this wrecked state. Narrowing my eyes, I focused on Selphius’ lips.

‘I,’ ‘am,’ ‘okay.’

“…!”

A child who was vomiting blood was staring at me and telling me he was okay.

At that moment, I moved impulsively. I got past Theodore and quickly ran toward Selphius.

I took my handkerchief out and crumpled it, putting it inside of Selphius’ mouth. Then, I shifted Selphius’ head onto my thigh.

Luckily, he must’ve lost all strength, seeing as he didn’t protest my movements.

“Are you crazy?”

Theodore, who followed me, urgently snatched my blood-covered hand.

“Did you already forget? This isn’t blood, it’s poison.”

“I know.”

“There’s no telling how dangerous it may be when it’s vomited like this, yet you recklessly—!”

“Regardless, the child is hurting, so I can’t just watch and leave him be.”

“I already told you. No matter what you do…”

“It’s useless? I know. But…”

As I glared at Theodore roughly, he closed his lips firmly.

“What if he bites his tongue because of the pain? What if he flails around and hurts his head? I can at least help him so none of that happens!”

I yelled and pulled my wrist free from his grasp. Then, I unhesitatingly grabbed Selphius’ hand, which was also covered in blood.

I could hear footsteps coming from behind Theodore.

It was Finneas and Sercia.

It seemed Finneas had been delayed after going to get his medication bag from the guest room in the separate building.

“Selphi…!”

Finneas, who’d run here, practically threw his bag on the ground and pulled out two corked glass bottles.

Given the circumstances, it must have been Selphius’ medicine. There was no time to waste. The louder Selphius’ cries got, the more patience I lost.

“Please, quickly…”

“I boiled the roots and plants of dried moonflower grass. It lessens the pain of the burning cold.”

“Is it medicine? Does he get better after consuming it?”

Finneas shook his head in response to my question while measuring and combining the two liquids from the bottles.

“All this does is lessen the pain. There’s no medicine that can cure it.”

To think there was no cure.

Those words were like lightning in a clear blue sky. I hugged Selphius, who was flailing in pain, closer to me.

Observing my expression, Finneas smiled bitterly before handing me the bottle of medicine he’d finished mixing.

“I told you. Not only was I unable to find a cure, but I also couldn’t find a way to lessen the pain.”

Was this what he was talking about regarding pain? The “periodic pain” was this?

Biting down hard on my lips, I took the bottle of medicine from Finneas’ grasp.

My blood-covered hands trembled. Selphius was still in pain on my knee.

The hand holding the bottle of medicine trembled so much that it looked pathetic. No matter how hard I tried, the trembling didn’t stop.

Then, a big and rough hand softly covered mine.

“It’s still better than not giving him anything.”

It was Theodore’s hand.

While covering my hand in his own, Theodore took the handkerchief out of Selphius’ mouth. The handkerchief, which had been white, was now blood red.

Theodore opened Selphius’ mouth as if he was used to it. He then poured the medicine through his lips.

The bitter scent of the dried herbs filled the air. It must’ve tasted bitter as well since Selphius’ forehead crumpled each time he swallowed.

Selphius also must have been used to this kind of situation, though, seeing as he didn’t reject the medicine and just kept drinking it.

“Selphi, it’s okay,” Theodore said.

Although he drank all of the medicine, the situation didn’t change, just as Finneas had said. Selphius kept vomiting blood and crying out in pain, and there was still nothing to be done.

All I could do was comfort Selphius, who was suffering through the pain alone, and tell him it would be okay as if I was casting a spell.

* * *

“Is he okay now?”

After being in pain for half a day, Selphius eventually fainted as if falling asleep. Theodore carried Selphius in his arms and moved him to the washroom.

Then, he personally washed the child’s blood-covered body and changed his clothes before laying him down on the bed.

“Since he’s experienced it once before, he’ll be okay for now.”

After watching Selphius’ pale face for a while, I secretly placed my index finger under his nose. Luckily, he was breathing.

“It’d be best to allow Selphi to rest. Let’s have an hourly patrol.”

Theodore nodded at my suggestion. After gently brushing Selphius’ hair, I left the bedroom.

It was only after I left the bedroom that I felt myself relaxing. The moment my body—which had been tense with nervousness throughout the ordeal—relaxed, I could feel everything aching. I must have been very surprised by what had occurred, for as soon as I calmed down, I immediately lost strength in my legs and fell to my knees.

Theodore, who’d followed me out, took a knee in front of me and met my gaze.

“Are you okay?”

Was I okay? At that question, my lips started trembling.

“Selphi.”

“Yeah.”

“I-I thought he would die.”

There was no way I’d be okay. I’d thought Selphius would die in front of my eyes. There was no way I’d be okay after seeing that.

I was covered in blood and hadn’t even been able to clean myself yet. While watching me silently, Theodore spoke calmly.

“You were reckless.”

“…”

“When he’s in that state, it’s best not to approach him. Even you have a risk of dying. Despite me telling you that, you not only touched his blood but also hugged him—how reckless can you be?”

“…”

“However…”

Theodore slowly outstretched his hand, wiping Selphius’ blood off of my cheek with his thumb.

“You were cool.”

For some reason, I got the impression that he was faintly smiling. My anxious fear disappeared instantaneously. Although I felt like crying, I held it in.

Theodore changed his expression as if nothing had ever happened before grabbing me and helping me up from the floor.

“You should wash up first. You know that everything on your body right now is poison, right? Unless you want to see some corpses, you should wash on your own today.”

True. Though it wasn’t dangerous to me, it could be deadly to others.

“I’ll do that.”

Looking down at my blood-drenched dress, I nodded. There was no way I could personally wash this dress or order someone else to, which meant I had to burn it.

After thinking about that, the bloodied living room came to mind.

“What should we do about the living room? Selphius’ blood should still be there.”

My worry must have been for naught, for Theodore guided me to the bathroom as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“I made sure no one would come near the vicinity of the living room while I was conversing with Sercia, so it doesn’t matter. Today, the butler will replace all of the furniture in the living room. He probably already burned the original furniture and dealt with the floor himself.”

Everything had been dealt with very quickly. It was like they’d already expected this to happen.

“It’s not the first or second time this has happened, so don’t worry.”

The fact that he was saying that this wasn’t the first or second time it’d happened so nonchalantly made my heart ache strangely. Did the entire Lapileon family always die like this?

“Your lady-in-waiting wasn’t there either. Don’t worry about it.”

I stopped walking and stood still. Theodore, who had been escorting me, also stopped.

“What is it?”

Approaching me with a questioning gaze, he glanced at my legs.

“Did you lose strength in your legs again? Can you walk?”

If this was the case for everyone in the Lapileon family, it would be the same for Theodore.

“Theodore, when did your brother pass away?”

He must have figured out the meaning behind my question right away. Theodore moved his gaze away from my legs to look at me.

“Are you worried I’ll die?”

I’d never thought about someone dying in front of my eyes.

“Now that I think about it, you also said that if I ever got hurt or was in danger, you’d be scared. Looking at your face, you have a scared expression right now.”

Theodore was making small talk, which was very unlike him. After he realized I wasn’t reacting to it, he crooked his finger towards himself while smiling weakly.

“You wanted to ask when he died, right?”

“…”

“He died when he was my age.”