A Terminally Ill Villainess Refuses To Be Adopted - Chapter 11
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The next morning.
After eating a much thinner bread soup than yesterday, I asked.
“Ray, did you not sleep last night?”
“I slept well.”
I tilted my head.
Is it just me? I think his voice has softened a bit.
‘No, don’t let your guard down.’
Nothing could have changed in one day. Even if he’s a cute kid, don’t forget that Raven is a kid who can break your neck right now.
‘Did he feel a little better after getting some sleep?’
But there was something I wanted to poke, so I asked as if passing.
“Just in case. Last night……”
“I slept very deeply.”
Hmmm?
Even before I finished speaking, I turned my head and stared at the little villain. And asked with a nonchalant expression.
“Are you the one who covered me with the blanket?”
“…..”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, why are you hiding it?”
Oh, this will become a habit. Being comfortable with Raven like he was a friend.
‘He’s so stiff, he doesn’t even know himself.’
As I pretended to be talking to myself, Raven’s face showed embarrassment. But for a while, the boy began to pretend he didn’t hear me with a sullen look on his face.
I had to try to hold back my laughter. He pretended to be vigilant, but his eyes were already filled with a little bit of resentment over my prank. On the other hand, it was also reassuring.
Actually, I thought about it for a while when I was writing my memories last night.
‘Maybe, it might be more advantageous for my survival to just make up my mind and drive Raven out.’
I don’t think we need to live together.
‘I can just give him some money and bread that can go all the way to the North family.”
But I quit because I thought it would make things more complicated.
I have no money to give and all I have is imperial citizenship, but how can I just throw out the scarred Raven like that?
‘If I hadn’t brought him home, it was another story.’
So, my final conclusion was that it would be the fastest and most peaceful way to just take care of him for a month or two and then send him back.
It’s not okay if the kid goes wrong, and now that I look at it again, it seems that I made a good decision to do so.
I can’t believe he lost so much of his vigilance against me in one night?
Isn’t that quite a hopeful sign?
‘But I guess this just goes to show how difficult he’s lived until now.’
…I’m glad it’s not the real Evelyn who’s by your side right now.
I looked down at the young villain who did not look at me while eating silently, then kindly said.
“Ray. Thanks. Thanks to you, it wasn’t cold. Actually, I was just bringing this up to say thank you.”
After Raven pressed his lips and his forehead scrunched up, he gave a small reply only when it was time for me to drink tea.
“It didn’t mean much.”
“Yes, I know. Still.”
Anyway.
It seems that this young villain is not used to expressing honest emotions.
‘All right. If it’s like this, I can live with Raven without a problem.’
Now, it was my turn to do work related to the treatment of my illness.
‘I don’t know about anything else, but I can only buy medicinal herbs when a slave trader comes, so I need a replacement.’
It would be nice if I could get a potion to heal Raven’s wounds as well.
With that thought, I peacefully took a sip of tea.
So, today’s goal is a low-level potion maker’s house.
And,
‘I wish I could get the [Bard] grass there instead of the slave trader.’
It was the first step to cure my disease.
***
As soon as I finished eating, I told Raven I was going out.
“I’ll be back, so if someone knocks on the door, never open it and pretend there’s no one here. Understand?”
I was afraid that the slave trader would come early due to a whim. However, Raven frowned, having understood this as a potential threat.
“Why do I have to do that?”
“…You said I wasn’t that vigilant last time, what are you saying now?”
“……”
Raven averted his eyes as if he had nothing to say back.
“Anyway, never, never open it. It’s a promise!”
“……It’s suspicious.”
Oh, I emphasized it too much.
I stuttered and stopped talking, and with a sigh, I told him the half-truth.
“Ray, do you know the Athos Merchant Guild?”
Raven’s golden eyes turned towards me with an unknown light.
“I know. Why there?”
“In conclusion, one of the merchants there comes here from time to time, and he…”
There is no branch from Athos in this small <End Village>.
Instead, a merchant would come out from the nearby branch of a large <End Village> and go from house to house selling things. I was going to say for him to not come any more this time, but I usually buy things that are not in this town from the merchant.
“He’s aiming for me.”
Raven made a strange expression for a moment. He seemed bewildered and even uncomfortable.
‘Cof, yes… I see’ I watched him muttering quietly, then I concluded lightly.
“Because I have citizenship, he can’t even kidnap me recklessly, and it seems like he’s trying to make me owe a lot of debt, umm. I don’t know what other bad thoughts he’ll have when he sees you…”
“…Okay.”
“Nice. Good boy.”
Reassured, I was about to brush his hair once, but Raven, who hated it, swept his head away. His gaze continued to be felt behind my back as I went outside.
I’m a little worried, but what can I do?
I have to go out for a bit today.
That’s because we can’t go out together.
I walked as fast as I could from the house located on the outskirts of the village to the center of the village.
***
There were two main settings I worked on in <The Resolve of a Fallen Saint.>
The first is about the [Eight Treasures.]
And the second one was related to my illness.
Of course, I wasn’t professional enough to create a whole world.
But still.
‘I put as much effort as possible into things related to the main characters.’
That’s why I remember the name of Evelyn’s disease, which appeared in the side story that revolves around the generation of the children of the Main Characters.
“Krad.”
I was already starting to run out of breath. Although the disease had not yet fully developed, the suffering it caused was considerable. Not only pain but also the general body functions gradually decline…
When the body starts to extensively break down, people will die in the shape of a skeleton.
‘It wasn’t Evelyn who suffered from this disease in the side story.’
The Male Lead of the side story was afflicted with this disease, and what he found while he was treating himself was the records of Evelyn.
It was very fortunate that the scribe who recorded everything in the North family even wrote about Evelyn who had already died. In other words, referring to the life of Evelyn, he got a hint on how to cure his illness.
And that.
‘It means that my disease and the disease of the Side Story’s Male Lead are the same.’
The disease called ‘Krad’ was a disease that only mixed races could get.
To talk about this disease, we have to talk about the overall situation of the continent. But most important of all, this is a setting where people of different races live in hiding.
Naturally, the number of mixed-race people was decreasing, and the distinct mixed-race people gradually faded from generation to generation.
That is the current situation.
‘Although there are places where their blood is thick and still has strong power, like the North family or the Aigar royal family.’
Usually, the human energy was bound to grow bigger and bigger. However, in the meantime, some children were born with strong and complex energy akin to a mutation.
Among such children, the Krad is the disease that blight the children whose body is out of balance because the energy of the exotic race is too strong.
‘It’s a time when people don’t even know that the children they bore were of mixed race.’
The Bridium Empire and the Kingdom of Roman.
These two countries, which were the powerhouses of the continent, rejected mixed races.
Because of this, the mixed races either drifted into the Aigar Kingdom or the Flower City of Elkasa, or had no choice but to hide their identity.
As a result, the discovery of the disease was slow.
‘It was a rare disease in the first place.’
The existence of this disease that blights mixed races and the treatment procedures to heal it would only be known to the next generation.
‘The cause of the disease and the cure are all discovered by Shan and Liliana.’
(Note: The Leads of the Side Story)
And the side stories revealed that Evelyn was a half-elf.