Our Make-Believe Ends Here - Chapter 33

Volumes I & II are available uncensored on ko-fi!

First, he succeeded in getting an urgent physician to attend to her. During a meal with his parents, he deliberately brought up what had happened that day and managed to extract the necessary action.

If she were an ordinary maid, it might be different—but Luirene was a servant brought into the household at his grandmother’s request. Since the old lady was the one receiving her care, the Marchioness couldn’t simply kick her out or fire her on her own authority. So Hitaon had anticipated that if his father heard about this, he would have her treated immediately.

Thanks to that, first aid should have been administered—but for days, there was no word from Luirene. If you count today, it had already been three days since she disappeared. The same woman who had visited Grandmother’s bedroom every day, rain or shine, even when her throat was so tight from a cold she could barely speak.

‘…Damn it.’

The fact that he couldn’t see her condition with his own eyes was devastating. That small back view of her collapsed on the floor, gasping—he couldn’t forget it.

It wasn’t a wound to be taken lightly. Her delicate flesh had split open, her white skin covered in red lines.

Even if she’d received treatment, what if it got worse? What if bacteria entered the wound and caused an infection?

He knew he still needed to be cautious. His mother had withdrawn her certainty, not her suspicion.

But this time, his patience didn’t last three days. Like an unswallowable thorn constricting his throat, anxiety scratched at the inside of his chest.

He couldn’t stay like this. Fortunately, the man before him wasn’t the scrupulous stickler Mikale, but the freedom-chasing wandering knight, Linjo. A guy who had run away from home because he hated privilege and aristocratic thinking—there was no chance he’d meddle in something like this.

“Linjo.”

“Yes~”

“Come to my bedroom tonight. As quietly as possible.”

“You mean without anyone noticing? Understood!”

Leaving the shooting range, Hitaon deliberately took a long way back to the mansion. He saw the long vertical window on the side of the third-floor library. That was probably the window connected to Luirene’s room—the one that had been filled with thick, dense energy on that night not long ago. It seemed feasible to slip through. He carefully gauged the footholds for climbing over and the protrusions to grab.

That evening. Linjo came to him. Whether due to the instruction not to be seen, he came through the window instead of the door.

“What should I do?”

“Take off your clothes.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Swap clothes with me, and guard my bedroom while I’m gone.”

“Aigoo, you startled me.”

Linjo, who had been covering his chest with crossed arms like a man who’d been assaulted, relaxed and quickly stripped off his knight’s uniform.

“If someone comes to my bedroom while I’m gone, keep them from entering however you can. No one can know I’m not there.”

“Where are you going at this hour? Are you stepping out?”

“No. I’ll be inside the mansion. There’s something I need to check without anyone knowing.”

For a moment, Linjo seemed to show interest, but then immediately returned to his usual indifferent demeanor. “I see. Understood~”

Still, unable to shake his anxiety completely, Hitaon offered a reward: a plate of honey-pickled fruit—something Linjo loved and often stole from the dining hall—if he pulled this off safely. Linjo’s eyes sparkled like a cat in front of fresh fish.

“Loyalty. I will stake my life on ensuring no one notices a thing.”

“Good work.”

Hitaon, having quickly put on Linjo’s discarded uniform, escaped the bedroom through the window instead of the door.

Thanks to climbing in and out regularly, his landing was smooth. Fortunately, the surroundings were dark. Linjo and he had fairly similar builds; from a distance, anyone would assume it was him because of the uniform. Hitaon moved with confidence.

Before going to Luirene’s room, he stopped by the underground storage. Since childhood, he had sustained quite a few injuries from swordsmanship training, and he remembered that the attending physician kept long-term medications there. Entering the cool interior, Hitaon relaxed once he confirmed no one was around.