Chapter 16

"Me? Hope? I’ve never done such a thing." I blinked my eyes and looked at Phineas, who was smiling faintly. It must have been an exaggeration that Cersia praised me so much.

"Um, there seems to be some misunderstanding..."

Just as I was about to speak to correct Phineas’s misunderstanding, there was a commotion from the direction of the door where the three had disappeared. Soon, Cersia’s piercing scream reached my ears. I opened my eyes wide in shock and looked beyond the closed door.

'Are they really fighting to the death?'

Phineas also seemed to have the same thought and chuckled awkwardly.

"Usually, they don’t really try to kill each other, but today their emotions must be heightened."

"R, really?"

"We can’t just let a murder happen, so let’s go and stop them."

To speak of murder so calmly. He really is from the La Pierreon family. I followed Phineas, my mind wandering. As Phineas stepped forward and flung open the door, a head of red hair charged towards us.

"Setsi?"

It was Cersia who had leaped into Phineas’s arms.

"Uncle!"

Cersia’s voice trembled like a wave. As I approached, I saw that her face was pale with fear.

"Celph, Celph!"

Cersia’s lips trembled as she uttered Celphius’s name. My body reacted before my mind. I rushed past the two and ran into the dining room.

'Something must have happened!'

As I headed towards the parlor, I saw Terdeo’s back, kneeling on one knee on the marble floor. The scene before him was shocking. Celphius, looking as if all the blood had drained from his body, was writhing in pain.

"Cel, Celph!"

As I ran to Terdeo’s side, the smell of blood hit my nose. Celphius’s blood had soaked the floor in a chaotic mess.

"Why, why is this happening?"

Celphius was clutching his chest as if trying to tear it apart, groaning in pain. I reached out to hold him, but Terdeo firmly stopped me.

"Leave him. Moving him will only cause more pain."

Unlike my shock, Terdeo remained calm. Even as his nine-year-old nephew, or rather, adopted son, writhed in pain before him, he seemed composed.

"Ch, chok!"

"Why, why is this happening? Did someone poison him? I thought he was immune to poisons!"

Celphius’s beautiful face was stained with red blood. I stomped my feet in frustration. I shook Terdeo’s shoulder hard, urging him to do something. Terdeo looked up at me with a bland expression.

"There’s no need to be surprised."

"But the child is like this, and you’re talking about...!"

"It’s a common occurrence for us."

What?

"What do you mean? A common occurrence?"

"I told you that there’s toxicity in his blood."

"..."

"The toxicity is so strong that it can eat away at internal organs, or if his body is weak, he can’t handle it."

His calm gaze seemed to scold me, as if saying, "Didn’t I always tell you?"

"My brother died the same way."

Terdeo’s words made my heart plummet into the depths of the ocean. I had only thought that the poison was there, that he was cursed. I never imagined that the curse was eating him from the inside.

"Many children died before they could even take their first steps in this world."

"..."

"It’s not something we find surprising anymore."

Terdeo looked at Celphius, who was writhing in pain, as if he only wished for the suffering to end soon.

"Why, why..."

"Why?"

Terdeo gave a self-deprecating sneer. He murmured in a chillingly low tone.

"I’m curious too."

He clenched his fists so hard that the cuff button on his sleeve snapped off.

"If he bites his tongue or bangs his head while convulsing, what then? At least we can help prevent that!"

I shouted and roughly shook my wrist free from Terdeo’s grip. I grabbed Celphius’s blood-soaked hand without hesitation. The sound of footsteps running towards us came from behind Terdeo. It was Phineas and Cersia, who had taken longer to bring the medical bag from the guest room.

"Celph...!"

Phineas, who had run over, dropped the bag and pulled out two tightly sealed glass bottles. Given the situation, they must have been Celphius’s medicine. There was no time to wait. As Celphius’s screams grew louder, my patience wore thin.

"Please, quickly..."

"The roots and leaves of dried marshmallow plant are boiled. The coldness will reduce the burning pain."

"Is it medicine? Will he be okay if he takes it?"

Phineas shook his head as he mixed the liquids in the bottles to the correct dosage.

"This will only slightly reduce the pain. There’s no cure."

No cure. The words hit me like a bolt of lightning. I held Celphius, who was still writhing in pain, tightly in my arms. Phineas, seeing my expression, gave a bitter smile and handed me the finished medicine bottle.

"I told you. We couldn’t even find a way to reduce the pain, let alone a cure."

Is this what he meant by the pain? Is this the kind of pain that comes periodically? I bit my lip and took the medicine bottle from Phineas. My blood-stained hands trembled. Celphius was still lying on my knees, suffering. My hands trembled uncontrollably, even more so than before. No matter how hard I tried, the trembling wouldn’t stop. Then, a large, rough hand gently enveloped the back of my hand.

"Still better than not giving it."

It was Terdeo’s hand. Terdeo held my hand and removed the handkerchief from Celphius’s mouth. The white handkerchief was now soaked in bright red blood. Terdeo opened Celphius’s lips with ease and poured the medicine into his mouth. The bitter smell of the dried herbs spread. Celphius’s face contorted with each swallow, but he drank the medicine to the last drop, as if he was used to this situation.

"Celph, it’s okay."

Even after drinking all the medicine, the situation didn’t change as Phineas had said. Celphius continued to vomit blood and cry out in pain, and there was nothing we could do. I could only comfort him, repeating that he would be okay, as if it were a spell. ***

"Is he okay now?"

Celphius had been in pain for half a day and finally fainted as if he had fallen asleep. Terdeo carried the unconscious Celphius and moved him to the bathroom calmly. He washed the blood off the child’s body and changed his clothes before laying him down on the bed.

"Since he’s been through it once, he should be fine for a while."

I looked at Celphius’s pale face and quietly brought my finger to his nose. Thankfully, he was still breathing.

"It’s best to let Celph rest. I’ll have someone patrol every hour."

Terdeo nodded at my suggestion. I gently stroked Celphius’s hair and left the bedroom. Only after leaving the bedroom did the tension release from my body. My muscles, which had been tense the whole time, relaxed, and my whole body ached. Especially, my legs felt weak with relief after the shock, and I collapsed on the spot. Terdeo, who had followed me out, knelt down in front of me and met my gaze.

"Are you okay?"

Are you okay? The question made my lips tremble involuntarily.

"Celph."

"Yeah."

"I thought he was, I thought he was dying."

I couldn’t be okay. I thought Celphius was dying right before my eyes. I couldn’t be okay after seeing such a scene. Terdeo looked at me, still covered in blood and unwashed, with a calm expression.

"It was reckless."

"..."

"In that state, even you could die if you got too close. I told you that, but you still touched him and held him. It was very reckless."

"..."

"But."

Terdeo slowly reached out and wiped the blood from my cheek with his thumb.

"You were amazing."

I had the strange feeling that he was faintly smiling. The fear and anxiety quickly dissipated. I felt like I might cry, but I held back. Terdeo composed his expression and helped me up from the floor.

"First, you should wash up. You know that everything on your body is poison, right? If you don’t want to see a corpse, it’s best to wash up alone without any help today."

That’s true. I might be fine, but it could be fatal for others.

"I’ll do that."

I nodded, looking down at my blood-soaked dress. I couldn’t wash it myself, and I couldn’t ask anyone else to wash it, so I would have to burn it. Thinking of this, I suddenly remembered the blood-soaked parlor.

"What about the parlor? Celph’s blood is still there."

Terdeo, who was escorting me to the bathroom, seemed to find my concern unnecessary and said nonchalantly.

"No one was allowed near the parlor while I was talking to Cersia, so it’s fine. The butler will replace all the furniture in the parlor with new ones today. The old furniture is already burned, and he will handle the floor himself."

The speed at which they handled the situation was as if they had anticipated it.

"It’s not a rare occurrence, so there’s no need to worry."

The way he said it so casually, as if it wasn’t a rare occurrence, strangely touched my heart. Are all the people of the La Pierreon family dying like this?

"Your maid wasn’t there either, so there’s no need to worry."

I stopped walking and stood still. Terdeo, who was escorting me, also stopped.

"Why?"

Terdeo, looking puzzled, came closer and examined my legs.

"Did your legs give out again? Can you walk?"

If everyone in the La Pierreon family is like this, then Terdeo must be the same.

"Terdeo, when did your brother pass away?"

Terdeo, who seemed to understand the meaning of my question, moved his gaze from my legs to me.

"Are you worried I might die?"

The idea of the person in front of me dying was something I had never even considered.

"Now that I think about it, you said you would be surprised if I got hurt or was in danger. Your expression now is exactly that of someone who is surprised."

Terdeo, unusually, started to talk about trivial things. But when I showed no reaction, he clicked his fingers and gave a hollow smile.

"You want to know when he died, right?"

"..."

"It was right around my age."