༺ Clean Up ༻
“……”
Rubbing her sore eyes, Yuriel glanced at the clock.
3:40 A.M
Ferzen, who was resting peacefully on his bed, had his body covered in ointment.
No……
He wasn’t sleeping peacefully by any means.
Even in his sleep, he appeared to be suffering from the pain of his injuries as his face was contorted into a tight frown, and as he turned, he would sometimes let out a painful groan.
Creak.
The doctor who entered the room looked at Yuriel in astonishment.
“I’m here so that I could call on someone just in case his health deteriorates.”
“It’s not like he is in a critical condition…….”
The doctor then came to his side and applied an injection, probably full of painkillers.
Then, after a while, Ferzen’s face relaxed.
“You should also get some shut-eye, as you will probably be busy tomorrow morning with the interrogation and investigation…….”
“I’m well aware.”
“I must’ve overstepped my bounds…..I apologize.”
Bowing his head to her, the doctor left the hospital room.
Now left alone, Yuriel put her hand on Ferzen’s bed and sighed.
“Why would you, of all people, do something so useless like that……?”
No…..It wasn’t useless.
It was just something unnecessary.
“Why…..Why….! I will give you a piece of my mind when you wake up.”
Yuriel suddenly flinched as a pair of crimson eyes stared directly at her.
“Water.”
“……”
A simple and intuitive request.
Usually, Yuriel would be angry if someone spoke to her like this. However, this time, she just pouted and glared at him. She then got up, poured water into a glass, and brought it close to his lips.
Gulp, Gulp……
“……”
Yuriel felt a strange feeling budding in her chest as Ferzen quietly drank the water with her help.
Brush.
In a spur-of-the-moment action, Yuriel reached out her hand and swept the bangs of his hair that were obstructing his eyes.
Because of this sort of contact, the owner of those captivating crimson eyes frowned at her……
“What?”
But this time, his gaze didn’t scare Yuriel as there was nothing he could do to her with both of his arms like that.
Feeling a little bolder, Yuriel then put her finger on his forehead to forcibly smooth his frown.
“Cough……!”
“Ah!”
But while she was doing this, the glass of water became slightly more tilted, making it so that more water rushed into Ferzen’s throat, causing him to cough.
“Yuriel….Cough……The…..Cough….Glass……!”
“Ah, I’m sorry. It was my fault. Here, let me wipe it off for you…….”
Yuriel hurriedly got up from her seat, grabbed a towel, and carefully wiped the water that had stained Ferzen’s neck and shirt collar.
“You can’t even serve someone a glass of water…….”
“Hey, it was a mistake.”
“Yuriel, don’t you think it’s pathetic to keep hiding behind excuses like this because you aren’t capable of doing something so simple?”
“Your mouth is quite lively for someone with two broken arms……!”
“Perhaps it’s exactly because of that, but if you think you can tease me when I’m like this, you are certainly mistaken. Even a wounded beast bites back when driven to the corner.���
“Hmph……”
At Ferzen’s words, Yuriel snorted and pouted her lips a little as she wiped his neck.
“That’s enough. You should also try to sleep for now.”
“…….I was going to do that anyway, since you don’t seem to be groaning all the time anymore.”
Setting the wet towel aside, Yuriel got up and went to bed next to Ferzen. She then lied down and covered herself with a blanket.
However, after tossing around for a while, Yuriel turned her head towards Ferzen and opened her mouth.
“You know……”
“……”
“It’s not like I’m ungrateful or anything, but……Why did you do that? Are you putting on that ‘changed man’ act?”
“Funny. The maiden of the Claudia Family asked me the same thing recently.”
“Lizzy did what?”
“Yuriel.”
“What.”
“How do you even define a changed man?”
“Why are you suddenly spouting philosophical questions……As if I would know that.”
“Well……First of all, one must have to practice the exact opposite of his original actions.”
“I’m not following…….”
Ferzen smiled softly upon hearing Yuriel’s grumble.
“Yeah, so……”
“……”
“I didn’t change……I’m just doing things I’m not used to. I can’t change the way I act.”
Having said that, Ferzen closed his eyes.
Knowing that he wouldn’t talk anymore, Yuriel turned her back against him and prepared to sleep too, but……
“No…..Wait a damn second……Why did you add the act of harassing me to your list of actions then?”
“……”
“Hey…..Say something, you bastard.”
“……”
Yuriel didn’t understand his words completely.
So she didn’t have anything to say about his reasoning, but after a moment, she realized that the act of harassing her was also included in the ‘things he didn’t do before’……
Therefore, she could only perceive his words as a pervert’s articulation wrapped eloquently.
In fact, she was so distressed by his constant teasing that Yuriel even dreamed of Ferzen touching her bosom while he lectured her about her supposed vulgarity.
However, since the man was strangely silent……Yuriel gave up and went to sleep.
And as such, the tumultuous night……
Finally came to an end.
* * * * *
“……”
As the new dawn arrived, I could notice a sudden influx of people coming and going.
“Professor Ferzen.”
“Did Her Highness request my presence?”
“Yes.”
“Good, then let’s go.”
The Imperial Knight acting as my escort, brought me to a huge makeshift tent.
Inside it, a line of knights stood proudly by Her Highness, the First Imperial Princess Elizabeth, who was seated at the center of the tent.
“You are here…….”
“Ferzen Von Scheiwg Louerg has answered Her Highness’ summon.”
Since I couldn’t move my arms, I tried to be as respectful as possible.
“Relax, Ferzen. There is no need for such ceremony…..How’s your body?”
“You don’t need to worry about this servant, Your Highness. It’s surely uncomfortable that I can’t move my arms, but as a Warlock…….”
“Is that so……”
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
Her Highness Princess Elizabeth got up from her temporary throne, then approached me and bowed deeply.
“I apologize…….”
“……”
This was something that I vaguely anticipated.
I heard that there was a lot of damage dealt to Education Building B, where the commoners were staying, but aside from that, there was no casualty to the aristocratic students.
However, this doesn’t mitigate the fact that the incident happened, and also, it was naïve to think that everything was handled cleanly……
Some will use this incident as an excuse to degrade the Imperial Family’s prestige.
But it’s precisely because of that these knights were lined up like this and the Princess herself bowed her head to me.
Even if it was foolish to take their children out of the Imperial Academy, after all the effort some aristocrats had put into matriculating their children in the first place……
But making the Imperial Family public apologize and possibly reducing the number of days until graduation was quite feasible.
“Your Highness, please, you don’t have to do this. I just did what any loyal subject of the Empire would do, and since I suffered wounds in the line of duty, it’s only right to reward me rather than apologize.”
I was the only one who was injured in the battle – A Brutein, no less.
The gravity of this situation was such that the Imperial Family decided that it would be only appropriate that their representative act quickly and apologize.
This makes it difficult for any aristocrat to complain unless I gather them to pressure the Imperial Family.
But at the same time, it would be strange if I, the one who suffered the most in this incident, didn’t make any moves.
Since it was none other than me who had a definite cause.
The Imperial Family also made this move of humbling themselves because of their debt to Brutein……
They must be very confident that I wouldn’t stab them in the back.
Besides, If I, the one who suffered the most, received such an apology from the Imperial Family, how could the other aristocrats even stir trouble and demand more compensation?
‘Since things have reached this point anyways, I should just continue to act as a loyal servant of the Imperial Family.’
In fact, I wasn’t acting per se. I was just letting Ferzen’s innate loyalty guide my actions.
“Yes, a reward……If you wish for something, the Imperial Family will provide it to you.”
“Then, please reduce the tax on my territory for a year.”
While I wanted to ask for more, considering Brutein’s obscene amount of yearly income, it was actually something substantial to reduce it for even one year.
“Is that it? I’ll exempt your territory from any sort of tax for three years.”
“What…..?”
“……You were talking about Louerg, right?”
“……”
When I refused to meet her gaze, Her highness Princess Elizabeth seemed to have noticed that I was talking about Brutein.
“……I shall speak to my Lord Father, the Emperor, so that Louerg’s tax will be exempted for the next three years. Does this qualify as a sufficient reward?”
Even after noticing it, Princess Elizabeth stood her ground and pushed for the exemption of tax to Louerg and not Brutein.
Yes, I was being too greedy.
I won’t deny it.
That was something that would be quite difficult to accomplish…..even in a situation where my arms were broken.
Still, this wasn’t so bad……
“Your Highness, if I may be so bold, I would like you to grant me one more thing.”
“Sigh…… Let me listen to your request first.”
“…………Well.”
I whisper in a way that guarantees that only the Princess heard my request.
“That……Is that all you wish?”
“Yes.”
It was such a lowly request that it was almost unfitting to be a reward for my ‘loyalty.’ As Princess Elizabeth shot me a suspicious glare, but after contemplating for a while, she nodded her head.