Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Isabella blinked blankly, stunned by the suddenness of the situation.

A boy had climbed on top of her, roughly pinning her to the bed by the wrists. His face hovered alarmingly close.

Is this what a starving beast looks like?

His piercing teal eyes gleamed with a predatory intensity, as if he might devour her at any moment.

Then, the boy spoke.

“Who are you?”

His voice was low and icy, like a blade scraping against a block of ice. The chill in it sent a shiver down her spine. And yet… why?

Despite feeling like a helpless prey caught in front of a predator, she also felt a heat rising from sheer embarrassment. Her toes curled involuntarily. It was all because of the boy’s face.

‘Ah, he’s practically glowing with yang energy!’

Even though his face was cast in shadow with the light behind him, his luminous silver hair and refined features seemed to shine even more brilliantly.

Like a vampire seeing sunlight for the first time in centuries, Isabella instinctively shielded her eyes and shouted, “Aaah! My eyes are being purified! A fairy of light is speaking!”

“…”

Her reaction might’ve looked like she’d seen something grotesque, but her lips, once stretched into a wide grin, refused to return to normal.

A few moments passed. Cold sweat began to trickle down her back. The silence was too deep.

Cautiously, Isabella peeked through her fingers at the boy. He was still on top of her, looking down with unwavering eyes. But the sharp wariness from earlier had now warped into something else, like he was staring at a lunatic.

“Ahaha… Who do you think I am?”

The words tumbled out before she realized it, a ridiculous question even by her own standards. At that moment, Isabella fervently wished: 

‘Ah… I wish I could turn into cosmic dust…’

Quietly, she closed the gap between her fingers again. Then the boy spoke once more.

“Answer me. Who are you? And where is this place?”

His commanding tone made her flinch. Isabella nervously moved her lips and responded,

“T-This is the Hellen estate. I’m Isabella, the daughter of the family.”

“Hellen estate?”

“Yes. I found you in the Hides Mountains. You were in such bad shape, I brought you here before it got worse.”

The boy didn’t reply. But after a beat, he finally let go of her wrist.

Isabella cautiously lowered her hands and looked at him again. The boy was staring at his own bandaged wounds. 

Then, pressing a palm to his forehead, he muttered, “What a pointless thing to do… You should’ve just left me.”

“Huh?”

She couldn’t tell if he was blaming her or himself, but the disheartened tone, so lacking in any will to live, made Isabella’s eyes widen.

“Kindness can be poison.”

At his next words, Isabella blinked a few times, then answered as if it were obvious.

“But how could I just ignore a dying fairy?”

“…Fairy?”

That one word seemed to grate on him. The boy tilted his head slightly and asked, hand still against his face. With an innocent smile, Isabella raised both now-freed hands and pointed at him.

“Yes! I read in a book that fairies always emit light! They sparkle!”

“…”

Wait… did I say something wrong?

As the boy’s already tense face began twisting even more strangely, Isabella tilted her head in confusion.

What on earth was going through his mind?

He slowly pushed himself up and edged backward, like a victim trying not to provoke a dangerous criminal. Feeling like she’d caused a huge misunderstanding, Isabella knelt awkwardly and looked at him, thinking:

‘In times like this… a smile’s the best, right?’

To show she meant no harm, she mustered every muscle in her face and gave her brightest smile.

“If you move like that, your wounds will reopen. For a quick recovery, you should lie back down.”

But strangely, the more she said, the more the boy’s expression hardened and the more distance he tried to put between them.

Still, how far can someone go on a bed? Eventually, the boy stopped at the edge and extended an arm to stop her.

“That’s enough. I’ll handle it myse… ugh! Cough!”

He suddenly coughed up blackened blood and collapsed forward.

“Eek! Fairy!”

Startled, Isabella rushed to catch him and gently laid him back down. His body, already weakened by the venom of a creature akin to an avagon, was suffering from extreme aftereffects. His lungs had become dangerously fragile.

She quickly tilted his head to prevent the blood from entering his airway, then dampened a towel and wiped away the sweat and blood.

“Ugh…”

In obvious pain, the boy didn’t resist her touch this time. Seeing that, Isabella bit her lip hard.

‘Patients need complete rest… That’s what I learned…’

She had boldly claimed she would care for him, yet now it felt like she was doing more harm than good. The guilt weighed heavily on her.

As if to atone, she spent the entire night at his side, wringing water from the towel until her small hands swelled, never leaving him.

A week passed.

The boy would cough up blood from the slightest exertion, and his high fevers, side effects of the detoxification, were relentless. Isabella, nursing him with the utmost care, was now faced with a troubling dilemma.

“Fairy, still no appetite today?”

The spoon remained untouched. The nutrient soup was perfectly clean, as if it had never been served. He needed to eat to recover, but the boy rejected food every time. Her sighs grew heavier by the day. Still, as a caregiver, she couldn’t let her patient starve.

She scooped up a small portion and gently offered it.

“Just one bite? If you keep this up, you’ll starve to death.”

“Don’t bother. More importantly, when exactly are you going to release these?”

With clear irritation, he swatted her hand away and pointed to the leather restraints with locks secured around both his ankles. To a stranger, it might’ve looked like she had him imprisoned. But it had been necessary.

“If I didn’t, you’d run off with a sword through the window again. Don’t you remember how your wounds burst open last time? We had to operate again, twice!”

At her accusing look, the boy averted his gaze, showing at least a hint of guilt.

Sighing as if the ground might swallow her whole, Isabella picked up the untouched tray. Still unwilling to give up, she tried a mix of pleading and gentle threat.

“I’ll make something different for lunch, so you have to eat at least a bite then. Otherwise, I’m never taking off those bands.”

“…I don’t need it.”

“You absolutely do. Now get some rest.”

She firmly rebuffed his refusal and left the room. Outside, Baal was waiting.

“Still won’t eat, eh? He should be honored to receive something the young lady made herself! That rude little brat! Should I just wring his—!”

“It’s fine, Baal. People lose their appetite when they’re bedridden.”

“But still…”

She stopped the demon, who was rolling up his sleeves with murderous intent, and muttered as she looked down at the untouched food.

“…How can I get him to eat?”

Baal clicked his tongue in frustration.

“He doesn’t want it. Let him starve, I sa-aay. If he wants to live, he’ll eat eventually, eh. Don’t waste your care on that miserable human.”

Ignoring Baal’s hostility, Isabella fell deep into thought until an old memory surfaced.

‘Come to think of it, what did I eat in my past life?’

Her previous life had been confined entirely to a hospital room for eight years. From birth to death, she had survived only on IV fluids and flavorless rice gruel. Except for one time, one precious memory, when a sympathetic nurse had secretly given her something else.

A soft, golden-hued porridge made with eggs.

“That’s it! Maybe he’ll eat that!”

Excitement lit up her once-troubled eyes. But then, another problem.

‘Right… there’s no rice.’

In this empire, there was wheat but no rice. She paused in the corridor, thinking. Then abruptly lifted her head.

“Oh, whatever! I’ll figure it out as I go!”

It wasn’t like rice would fall from the sky just because she worried. Better to move than waste time thinking.

Isabella handed the tray to Baal.

“Baal, can you take this to the kitchen for me?”

“Huh? Where are you going?”

“To get some eggs!”

“Young Lady!”

She waved off Baal’s shouting behind her and dashed off. 

Before long, she arrived at the livestock yard, where beast-like magical creatures were kept. It wasn’t exactly a lush meadow, but the vast, overgrown field was almost hard to believe existed within the estate grounds. Yet the atmosphere was anything but calm.

“Moooooo!”

Boom!

Male minotaurs were clashing horns, vying for the attention of the estate’s dairy-producing females.

Whump! Whump!

“Oink, oink!”

Boar-like beasts rolled in the dirt, enjoying mud baths, while sheep monsters tangled in thorny vines struggled with their matted fur. Even cockatrice beasts strolled about leisurely with their chicks. It felt less like a ranch and more like a self-governed village.

Taking in the scene briefly, Isabella caught the fluttering of her dark veil in the breeze and headed to the cockatrices’ coop. 

A massive henhouse housed the flock of car-sized creatures. She approached the innermost nest, the one belonging to the head cockatrice, who had just laid an egg.

“Ringo! I’m here!”

“Cluuuck? (Mistress?)”

Unlike the others, Ringo was a contracted beast. Her thoughts transmitted almost like telepathy.

“Cluck, cluck? (Why are you here all of a sudden?)”

Ringo tilted her head in confusion at the unexpected visit. With a bright smile, Isabella pointed boldly at the egg Ringo was cradling with great care.

“Give me your egg.”

……

T/N: Wait… this is getting funnier, imagine asking a hen for its egg hahahaha