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‘Let’s move him for now, but…’
Valletta was troubled by his restless expression. Of course she didn’t move him herself, but the boy was moved by the chamberlain.
Reinhardt was given the room next to Valletta, despite being a slave.
It was Count Delight’s order. He ordered that if anything happened to Valletta, anywhere, anytime, Reinhadrt had to give his life to protect her.
‘I feel like he’s going to die before I do, instead of protecting me.’
A servant wrapped Reinhadt’s wounds up, but it was poorly done.
Even though Valletta didn’t know anything about medicine, she could tell that this girl had no medical knowledge at all.
Knock. Knock.
She turned away at the sound of a knock on the wooden door.
Entering was a half-heartedly bandaged servant.
She brought cold water and towels, probably because Reinhardt was suffering from a high fever.
“Don’t do it. Call the doctor. He’s going to die if you don’t.”
“Miss, I don’t think you know anything about this… For a slave, a doctor is a luxury. This one has a uselessly long life, even if left alone, he’ll live.”
Even though they’re all humans, how can they have a narrow viewpoint just because of their different status?
Valletta frowned at the sophistry that the servant had laid out. She meant that his condition could not be cured and just let him be.
“You think I’ve asked for your opinion?”
“Yes…?”
“If I leave him like this, he’ll die. So call the doctor.”
Valletta raised her voice, and the servant’s eyes opened wide.
“I gave you an order. Shall I tell my father that you disobeyed me?”
“…… No, I’m sorry. I’ll call the doctor right away.”
“Tell him to come as soon as possible. I’ll pay whatever the cost is.”
“Yes, Miss.”
The servant bowed and hurried out of the room, leaving a towel and a basin of water on the small table beside the bed.
Seeing her blank expression, Valletta scratched her head and sighed. She wasn’t used to this kind of hierarchy, and she couldn’t help it.
Count Delight was very strict, and because the Count himself treated Valletta as something “useless”, some of his servants sometimes ignored her altogether.
The servant would never be able to act this way in front of the Count.
In such cases, when the Count’s name was mentioned, the servants generally kept their mouths shut and obeyed.
Valletta was usually the one who kept her mouth shut, even when the servants treated her unreasonably. The reason was simple. Even if she tried to say something, the Count’s fire would fly at her as well.
So most of the servants ignored Valletta only behind the Count’s back, but sometimes there were servants who couldn’t read the air. Especially the newcomers.
It hadn’t been more than a day or two that they tried to teach her, as if she was still naive because she was young, but she was offended by the fact that the servant compared Reinhardt to a slave as if he was nothing.
‘And if I leave this child to suffer like this…’
Valletta was afraid of the consequences.
Reinhardt was not easily angered. He was always portrayed as having a smile on his face.
Quite often, she was surprised by the heart wrenching feeling she would feel about his description, even though he only existed as a character in the novel.
Reinhardt was someone who would pile up all the things that people were doing to him, one by one, in his mind, and later explode all at once, in the worst possible way.
‘…Did they say that a wizard who never awakens is weak?’
It was said that the stronger the talent, the later the time of awakening.
Usually, wizards were awakened in their mid-teens. However, Reinhardt’s awakening was on his twentieth birthday, when Valletta came of age.
And on that day, he would become the master of the magic tower, killing all living things, including the servants of the Delight family.
‘Including me.’
Valletta sighed.
Reinhardt’s breathing was ragged and dangerous, like he was about to expire.
She was surprised how he could get up and kneel down earlier.
Of course, he wouldn’t die if she left him like this as the servant said…
‘Let’s heal him and then get rid of him.’
She had to give him freedom and avoid death.
Valletta squeezed the towel in cold water, and placed it on Reinhardt’s forehead.
He shivered as the cold towel touched him.
“Why…?”
Reinhardt’s silver-white eyelids trembled in the cold air and slowly opened.
His eyelids opened and his red ruby eyes also appeared. His eyes were clouded.
“I’ve called the doctor, so rest. And when you get better, I’ll let you go, so get out of this house, okay?”
“Why?”
Staring at his lips, Valletta’s brows wrinkled.
‘Because you’re going to kill me and I’m trying to get rid of you before that happens.’
At the very least, she would ask for another slave, not Reinhardt. This future madman is still a madman.
He seemed to be relaxed at the moment, but everyone who saw him laughing and giving creepy glances earlier knows that.
There was an old saying, “Don’t raise a black-headed beast.”
That’s exactly what Reinhardt was. He was the one who would bring disaster if he was raised. He would even bring her death.
‘I don’t need you.’
If Reinhardt were to escape with the bead, Count Delight was bound to be very angry with Valletta herself. However, she’d rather choose to take the punishment he would inflict.
She would rather starve herself for a week or hang upside down on the ceiling than be killed by this madman in the future.
“……unusual, I’m human…”
Muttering, Reinhardt closed his eyes again.
‘I don’t think I have anything in particular to do as you do.’
As she was thinking, Valletta dipped the towel back into the water and placed it on Reinhardt’s forehead.
It was an hour later when the doctor arrived.
“It seems he was injured by a sword, but fortunately the wound is cleaner than I expected. The lacerations may be severe, but the situation is not bad.”
“Really?”
“Yes, you can give him this medicine three times a day after meals and sprinkle this powder on the wounds. The bandage should be changed every day and you should make sure that no water reaches the wound until it is healed.”
“Thank you very much. I will call you again next time, so please come. You can charge as much as you need to, and the chamberlain will pay out of my personal allowance.”
“Yes, you may call me any time.”
The doctor bowed and left the room.
He gave Reinhardt some antipyretics and painkillers, and his complexion was certainly better than before.
‘When you’re better, I’ll give you some money and get you out of here.’
Valletta said the same thing dozens of times today to herself.
Reinhardt was not a being that often appeared in the novel she read, but he had a tremendous presence.
Once he appeared, he would make an entire village disappeared, or he would fight with a single finger against the male lead who reached the status of a swordmaster.
It was always described in these kinds of ways .
He was such a bad character that when someone tried to be kind to him, by giving him kindness with a smile, he would instead cut off their head without a care in the world.
‘He looks different like this.’
If Valletta didn’t know all those facts, she would have made an effort to like him. In fact, the “real Valletta” liked him.
[“Do you love me, Valletta?”
“Yes, I love you. Rein, I can go anywhere with you. So… when you’ve finished your revenge on this house, let’s leave together. I’ll help you.”
“Is that right? What should I do though, I don’t love you.”
The man whispered in a sweet voice, stroking her cheek…]
Reinhardt in the novel used Valletta’s love to eventually kill her family, and killed Valletta with a smile.
Of course, there was a reason, but…
But what was the reason why he killed Valletta too? She couldn’t remember.
Valletta shuddered as she thought about it again. She shook her head vigorously from side to side.
‘Let’s get rid of him.’
She nodded with determination.
Glancing at Reinhardt, who had fallen into a deep sleep, Valletta slipped out of the room.