Chapter 5.5

When her crying finally stopped, he lifted her up in his arms.

“Ah!”

“It’s okay. I won’t drop you, so don’t tense up.”

Without realizing, she had tensed her body.

At his words, she relaxed and leaned her head against his chest.

He carried her out of the basement.

As they emerged from the basement, the inside of the house came into view.

She shifted her eyes around, looking at her surroundings.

The area was splattered with blood, yet strangely, there wasn’t a single corpse.

‘Where did all the bodies go?’

Perhaps noticing her question, Feroza spoke.

“I cleared everything away so you wouldn’t see anything horrible, Ellie.”

“Ah…”

Wherever he stepped, glass shards crunched underfoot.

They stepped outside into the ruined yard, and all she saw was a dark forest.

Knights standing nearby lit the area with magic lamps, but it wasn’t enough.

Still, she didn’t want to spend the night here.

She glanced at Feroza.

He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, then spoke to another knight.

“The warp scroll?”

“Here it is.”

A knight handed Feroza a scroll.

Ellie rolled her eyes and asked quietly,

“What’s that?”

“Oh, it lets us move instantly to wherever we want. If I tear this, we’ll go straight to the mansion.”

Feroza looked up and gave orders to those around.

“Collect all the evidence carefully and leave no trace.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Report when you’re done. I’ll go ahead.”

He tore the scroll on the spot.

A bright light filled the area, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

For a moment, she felt the wind swirl, then the light faded.

Still unable to open her eyes right away, she heard Feroza’s voice by her ear.

“Ellie, we’ve arrived. You can open your eyes now.”

At his words, she slowly opened her eyes.

The forest from before was gone; now she was at the entrance of the mansion’s main building.

She looked around blankly before finally speaking.

“…We really got here instantly.”

“Yes, Ellie. We’re home. You can relax now.”

At his words, she realized she’d been holding herself stiff.

Only then did she relax her body and fully lean into Feroza’s embrace.

Just then, hurried footsteps approached, and a tearful voice called out.

“Miss!”

She turned her head quickly and saw Roni.

“Roni…?”

Roni stood in front of her and started crying big, fat tears.

“R-Roni. Why are you crying?”

“I was so worried, Miss…”

Ellie hesitated, then reached out and gently stroked Roni’s cheek with her finger.

Sniffling, Roni suddenly grabbed Ellie’s hand and widened her eyes.

“Oh my, Miss! Your hand…! And your feet are a mess!”

Tears welled up in Roni’s eyes again and rolled down her cheeks.

“Let’s go inside quickly, Miss. I’ve prepared everything for you.”

How could she have prepared everything, not knowing when I would return?

What if I never came back?

She swallowed the question without asking.

Roni led the way, and Feroza followed behind.

As they entered the mansion, her parents came into view.

“Ellie…!”

What surprised her most was her mother.

Her mother only ever saw her as a prospective bride to be put on the marriage market, so seeing her cry felt strange.

Her mother hurried over and carefully took Ellie’s hand.

“We were so worried, Ellie. The Grand Duke said he would definitely bring you back, but… if you hadn’t returned by morning, we were going to file a missing person report.”

Her mother dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief from who-knows-where.

Then her father bowed his head to Feroza.

“Thank you for saving my daughter, Your Grace.”

“Thank you so much.”

Her mother bowed as well.

But her younger brother, Rahil, was nowhere to be seen.

He didn’t have much presence, but he was still her brother, so she couldn’t help but wonder. Roni whispered quietly,

“Young Master went down to the estate for a while.”

“I see.”

Then it couldn’t be helped.

She nodded quietly, and Feroza spoke.

“It would be nice to share the joy of reunion a bit longer, but as you can see, Ellie is quite injured and needs urgent treatment.”

“Ah, yes! I’ll send for the attending physician right away.”

Her father nodded hurriedly, and Feroza climbed the stairs.

“This way, Your Grace.”

Roni rushed ahead and opened the door to Ellie’s room.

He walked in without hesitation and very carefully laid her down on the bed.

Roni, watching nervously, said she would check the bathwater and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving only Ellie and Feroza in the room.

He knelt down on one knee in front of her, gently took both her hands, and examined them.

She hadn’t even noticed, but her palm was crusted with blood from being cut by shards of glass.

“…You’re quite hurt.”

“Oh, um… It’ll be fine once it’s treated.”

This time, he lifted her foot and began to examine it.

Embarrassed, she wiggled her toes, but even that stung, making her flinch.

As he checked her injuries, he suddenly looked up at her.

“I’m sorry, does it hurt?”

“No, it’s not because of you, so don’t be too surprised.”

Her soles were surely covered in wounds. After running barefoot over rough stone floors, it would be strange if they weren’t.

But why should Feroza apologize for that?

There was someone else responsible for her condition.

Just then, there was a knock, and the door opened.

Seeing the white gown, she knew it was the attending physician her father had promised to send.

He looked a bit disheveled, perhaps from being woken up, but his eyes were sharp.

“Are you the attending physician?”

“Yes. May I examine the wounds?”

Feroza looked at Ellie, and she nodded slightly.

He moved aside, and the physician took his place.

“You’ve been cut deeply. First, I’ll disinfect the wounds. It’ll sting, so please bear with it.”

“Mm.”

Her hands trembled at the mention of disinfectant.

She couldn’t bear to watch the liquid being poured, so she turned her head away.

She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the pain, and when it came, she jerked in shock.

“Ow, wait, that really hurts!”

“There’s no helping it, Miss.”

The physician was merciless.

Feroza, by her side, kept telling her it was almost over, even though it wasn’t.

He carefully applied medicine to her palm and wrapped it with a bandage.

He also applied ointment to the bruise on her wrist.

Examining the wounds on her soles, the physician spoke.

“Your soles are quite scraped up as well. I’ll disinfect here, too.”

“…Okay.”

She sniffled and nodded.

She gritted her teeth against the burning pain in her feet.

“It’ll heal, Ellie.”

Feroza pressed her lips gently with his thumb.

She relaxed reflexively, and the physician applied ointment to her soles.

Finally, after wrapping the bandages, the physician stood up.

“The treatment is finished. Fortunately, there are no more serious injuries. However, you’re very exhausted, so you should rest in your room for a while. Be careful not to get your wounds wet, and I’ll come back tomorrow to change the bandages.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t use your injured hands or feet at all, or the wounds could get worse.”

The physician emphasized this sternly and bowed his head.

After she left the room, Feroza spoke.

“Ellie, you need to wash up.”

“Oh… Right.”

After rolling around and running in the basement, she was a mess.

She looked at Feroza, a little disappointed, knowing he would leave once she washed up, but then Feroza suddenly took off his jacket.

He rolled up his shirt sleeves to his elbows.

“Let’s go wash up, Ellie.”

“…What?”

“I’ll help you bathe.”

What was he saying?

Ellie quickly glanced at Roni.

Roni, apparently not expecting this, looked at Ellie with wide, trembling eyes.

Then, as if making up her mind, Roni spoke.

“I’ll prepare clothes for you to change into, Miss.”

Feroza smiled in satisfaction at Roni’s answer.

Roni hurried out of the room, and Feroza lifted Ellie up.

“Wait…! I can go by myself!”

“Ellie, didn’t you hear what the physician just said? You’re not supposed to use your hands or feet.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

She couldn’t argue with that, so her words trailed off.

Feroza smiled confidently and set her down at the edge of the bathtub.

Then he began to undress her himself.

“Ellie, can you lift your arms for a moment?”

“Oh, yes.”

Nervous, she complied, and Feroza’s touch was so gentle it was almost embarrassing.

When he took off her dress and negligee, she was completely exposed, her face burning with embarrassment.

It was difficult not to get her hands and feet wet.

Most of all, being washed by Feroza was extremely awkward.

“Ellie, your ears are red.”

“…It’s just hot. The water’s warm.”

She felt annoyed, thinking she was the only one conscious of him.

Muttering, she glanced away, but accidentally saw Feroza’s lower body.

He was very visibly aroused.

She couldn’t look away, just stared blankly and spoke.

“Feroza.”

“Yes?”

“Your body is honest, isn’t it?”

“It’s a perfectly natural reaction, so there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Feroza answered calmly, shrugging his shoulders.

When she just stared at him, Feroza added, as if to explain,

“I hope you know I’m not the kind of man who puts his desires before the pain of the woman he loves.”

“I never thought that.”

What did he take her for?

She knew very well Feroza wasn’t that kind of person.

Being careful made the bath take much longer than usual.

But thanks to his care, she felt refreshed.

“That’s nice…”

“Do you like it?”

“Yes.”

She mumbled happily as Feroza dried her hair.

Looking at his focused face, she spoke.

“By the way, Feroza.”

“Yes?”

“How did you know I was there?”

“Ellie, you contacted me, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes…”

She’d worried it would take days to find her, or that she’d be taken abroad before then. He’d found her so quickly it was a surprise.

“I sent people out to search everywhere. When someone’s been kidnapped by a slave trader, time is of the essence, so we had to move fast.”

“…Rozel—no, Lady Azenne?”

She was curious about what happened to Rozelia.

It wasn’t just a commoner, but a noble who had kidnapped her and sold her to slave traders.

“She’s locked up in the Imperial Palace’s underground prison.”

“Ah…”

“Lady Rokcheta is with her.”

Hearing that Diena was imprisoned too, Ellie’s eyes widened.

“They’re accomplices, so of course they’re both there.”

“…That’s true.”

“The evidence is clear, so there’s no use denying it. It’s such a serious case that they’re considering summary judgment.”

“Summary judgment?”

“Yes.”

Feroza nodded and continued.

“As you know, if a noble is injured or instigates a kidnapping… those crimes mean immediate arrest.”

“That’s… right.”

“Lady Azenne didn’t kidnap you herself, but she did order it.”

Ellie nodded slowly.

“Don’t worry, Ellie.”

He smiled gently.

“Even if Lady Azenne tries to get out of it, she won’t leave alive.”

“…”

A chill ran through her.

After drying her hair, Feroza lifted her up and laid her on the bed.

“Check tomorrow morning’s newspaper for details.”

“Newspaper?”

“Yes. There’ll be a big article on the front page.”

Feroza pressed a short kiss to her forehead.

“I have work to do, so I’ll go now, Ellie.”

“Even though it’s so late?”

“It’s something I can resolve quickly.”

He pulled the blanket up to her neck, tucking her in carefully.

“Good night, Ellie. I’ll come again tomorrow.”

Feroza turned off the light and left the room, leaving her completely alone.

She stared blankly at the ceiling, then closed her eyes and tried to sleep.