Despite what must have been considerable pain, the woman shoved me away with a cold, expressionless face and shouted.

“Don’t move too much. The fabric stuck to your back might tear away.”

“Since when did you care about any of that? You’ve lived comfortably your whole life without a care for whoever your family killed!”

It had not been a comfortable life. I had never had a family worth missing, the way this woman had, and in fact the very people who had made my life most miserable were the ones who carried the name of family.

But I had no desire to make excuses. Pain is relative for everyone.

When she lost everything and broke down, I had been occupied with worrying about my own uncertain future. It was impossible to fully share in another person’s suffering. All I could do was put out the fire and call a doctor, so that a familiar kind of pain would not leave its mark on her.

The soldiers pushed through the crowd as the doctor arrived.

“Over here! Over here!!”

I raised my hand high and turned to call out to the doctor.

The doctor made a quick assessment of the woman’s injuries and immediately gave the order to move the patient, and I offered my lodgings. In the middle of the commotion, one of the soldiers came over and draped his cloak over my shoulders. Only then did I feel the exposure at my back, and when I looked down, I found that the rough way I had torn at my skirt hem had left my back and waist somewhat uncovered.

It was not too much skin, fortunately, but I could not make any more of a spectacle of myself, so I gratefully pulled the cloak around me and headed inside.

Perhaps because of the injured woman, the crowd parted easily. Before going in, I turned around and bowed my head to thank those who had cooperated.

A makeshift treatment area was set up in the sitting room. Even after receiving pain medication, the woman bit down on a thick piece of cloth, and each time a piece of fabric was peeled from her back, she broke out in a cold sweat. Knowing that pain well myself, I found the memory surfacing just from watching, and sweat ran down me in turn.

The treatment finally ended, and thick bandages were wrapped around the woman’s upper body. When I offered her a comfortable tunic to replace her burned clothes, she accepted it without protest.

“They say we need to monitor your condition for a few more days. If you do not live too far, please come here to receive treatment.”

When I carefully suggested she return, the woman let out a hollow laugh and shook her head. Did she think I was pitying her? Was that why she was displeased?

“Are you all right yourself?”

Having calmed down somewhat in the meantime, the woman glanced at me and asked.

“Pardon? Oh, this wound. I’m fine. It’s healing.”

“No, that too, but I meant the scars. Seeing them in person, they really are dreadful.”

“Ah.”

She must have seen the scars on my back through the torn opening in my clothes.

“I thought he only burned enemies alive, but it seems he burned his own family too.”

To be precise, it was not my father but my stepmother and Lewian. A heated iron rod was one of their preferred instruments of t*rture.

“When I only heard about it from others, I thought, how bad could a few scars be, she’s just appealing for sympathy over nothing. But seeing it in person, well.”

I knew what I looked like. The scars on my back in particular were too horrific to describe. So I understood why the woman clicked her tongue instead of finding words.

“Truly despicable people. Why did they do that to their own family.”

“Because I am a cursed existence.”

“Cursed? From where I stand, your being cursed is a blessing. If you truly caused Rodencia’s downfall, there is no greater blessing than that. You should have been born a little sooner. Could have brought that wretched Rodencia down faster.”

My mind went blank in an instant. Someone could think of it that way. For some people, Rodencia’s fall could be a blessing.

“Was I being insensitive? Still, for you it was your home country…”

The woman did not finish her sentence. Hanna, who had been watching from behind, suddenly stepped forward and struck the woman hard across the cheek.

“It’s not insensitive, it’s rude!”

Neither I nor the woman who had been struck could make sense of what had just happened, and we both sat with our mouths open, when Hanna stepped in front of me and shouted again.

“Are you out of your mind? You tried to kill someone you don’t even know by pouring oil on her, and now you have the nerve to say what? That her being a cursed existence is a blessing? What happened to your family is truly terrible, but Miss Lucian is not your punching bag! Do you have any idea what this person’s life has been like because of that prophecy?”

Hanna did not actually know much about my life. The years of t*rture that had worn me down came before I met her. But I knew that every time she helped me bathe or dress, Hanna handled the area around my back with the most delicate touch, the kind of care one might give to a butterfly’s wing that would crumble at the slightest pressure.

Even after that outburst, Hanna still seemed unsatisfied, continuing to fume and work her lips.

Right. That’s right. This woman. She came here to burn me to death, didn’t she?

In the past I would have latched onto the single word blessing and let everything else wash over me, but right now, the presence of a girl who was angry on my behalf mattered far more than the opinion of a stranger.

I gently held back Hanna, who was clenching her fist to launch into another round.

“Thank you. For taking my side.”

Hanna looked up at me with a worried expression, clearly not fully convinced, but she soon accepted my intention and stepped aside.

“I’m sorry. That you went through something so terrible because of my family.”

When I bowed my head and apologized without resistance, the woman flinched as though pricked by a needle and looked away.

“Thank you for telling me my existence is a blessing. I had never thought of it that way. But I also dislike pain. And burns in particular, I find truly unbearable. The process of forming these scars was more dreadful than what you can see.”

If my very existence was a curse, why was I born? I had never had any attachment to life.

But right now, looking at Hanna still fuming, a thought suddenly comes to me. Even if I were to die, I should not burn to death. In the past there was no one who would be shaken by the sight of me in a wretched state, but now there are a few faces that come to mind.

Hanna and Elren. Elise, who had apparently sent letters the entire time I was unconscious. And perhaps Heliones as well.

I could no longer treat myself as carelessly as I once had.

“So you want me to feel sorry for you? You went through something that terrible, so we call it even? Or do you want me to be grateful because you saved me? My husband and my son are both dead. Do you think I have any reason to live?”

An apology could not dissolve layers upon layers of resentment. And to her misfortune, I was not even the one who had brought tragedy upon her. No matter how much she vented at me, it would not bring her peace.

“I don’t pity you, and you don’t need to pity me. We each just live carrying whatever measure of tragedy we’ve been given.”

“Carrying it? Living lavishly in this grand estate your ex-husband provided, and you call that carrying it? Have you no…”

Thud. This time Elren cut her off by setting the burn ointment the doctor had prepared down hard on the surface in front of the woman.

“This is burn ointment. I will speak to a nearby clinic, so see that you receive treatment until the wound heals completely. I will raise the matter with His Majesty and confirm whether your late husband and son received honors befitting their sacrifice.”

The neat, elderly gentleman fixed the woman with a look that could have drawn blood without a blade, and she seemed to have nothing left to say, accepting the medicine without protest.

“Should you cause a disturbance like today’s again, I will formally press charges for defamation and grievous bodily harm.”

“Grievous bodily harm?”

At the woman’s question, Elren came to my side and lifted my hand to show her.

Ah, when did I get burned? Was it while putting out the fire?

I had not been aware of it before, but now that I knew, a familiar throbbing pain made itself felt.

To have not noticed this. I must have been quite out of my mind.

“Since the burn came from a fire you set, a straightforward charge of bodily harm might serve better.”

“That woman did that on her own…”

“Get out. Get out of here right now.”

Elren was always composed and unruffled. A perfect model of a gentleman who had carried out his duties without wavering even in the face of a nation’s rise and fall. That same man now fixed the woman with a gaze sharp enough to cut her in two on presence alone.

There was no explicit threat in his words, but the meaning was unmistakable. Leave this instant, or face consequences. It was a manner of speaking difficult to imagine from the Elren who ordinarily showed respect to women regardless of their station.

But thinking about it now, the elderly gentleman who was always composed in the face of most things had been willing to show anger and set aside his own dignity, whenever it was for my honor.