Chapter 171 – Crossed Minds (4)
Do you like it? Embarrassed feelings make me forget words. Rather than not expecting…… It would be appropriate to say that I do not know how to answer.
The elf’s way of speaking was as direct as that. The figure with both arms outstretched as if asking for a hug is alien, as if seeing another being.
Is that all? Her red eyes her were lifeless, like muddy water, and her lips her were dry.
The silver hair of her, which was always neatly arranged, was also messed up. A few strands of hair sticking out from his bangs covered the middle of his forehead of hers, but the elf didn’t even think to remove them.
Also, no matter how you look at it, it couldn’t be considered normal.
“Hug…….”
Theorad was silent, so the elf narrowed his eyes and wept. The intermittently trembling shoulders his look pitiful.
“Hug me…”
Any way you look at it, it’s stupid. An action that a normal elf would never have asked for felt strange.
After staring at the elf for a while, Theorard let out a low sigh. It was because I could roughly guess why the elf was revealing his bare face.
“Sure.”
Theorard took a step forward and hugged the elf tightly. The elf also hugged Theorad’s back and felt the cozy warmth. The elf rubbing his face against Theorard’s chest his smiled bashfully.
“Ehehe…….”
It was hard to believe that he had been crying until just now. Excluding other emotions, pure joy bloomed on the elf’s face his.
Perhaps this is not foolishness, but true intentions. However, it was hard to see that the emotions the elf was expressing now came from a sound mind.
However, I have no idea what to do right now. As Theorard patted the elf’s back with a bitter smile, he heard urgent footsteps in the distance.
“Viscount Theorard…… !”
Hearing the voice, it was Roylen. It was probably because the servants were making a fuss and rushing around, so he woke up and came out.
She stops when Roilen hurriedly approaches her, wondering if something big has happened. Roylen wiped away the cold sweat when she saw the elf in Theorad’s arms.
“Ha…”
The shocked face changed to a relieved one.
“I’m glad you seem to be in good shape. I was surprised that something was wrong.”
“…… Are you in a state of mana exhaustion?”
You know right away too. Roilen nodded her head at Theo Rad’s prediction of her.
“That’s right. Even if she saved her from the night of quarantine, the consumed mana would not return intact. It’s normal to wander between death and death for about three days…….”
Roylen looked at her elf in admiration. It was because she knew that it would be virtually impossible to move her steps as soon as she woke up as long as she suffered from mana exhaustion.
“I don’t know if it’s because he has excellent mental strength or if he’s born strong, but it’s a miracle that he came out of the room by himself and came here.”
“It sounds like there is no problem with your health.”
“If you ask me, yes. However, mentally, he is still a child…….”
“How long will it take to recover?”
With bruises on her arms and thighs, she couldn’t keep an elf here forever who couldn’t even stand properly. Theorard glanced at Roylen and murmured again.
“She asked how long it would take to recover.”
“Yes? Oh It doesn’t take long to recover naturally. It usually takes about a week for her to be back to normal.”
It’s usually a week. I’m glad it wasn’t that long. Theorad nodded his head and pulled the elf’s body back.
The eyes of the elf who raised his head were blank. He seemed to be asking why I didn’t hug him more, but he couldn’t bear to listen. It wasn’t that I couldn’t hold you all day.
“Let’s go back to the hospital room. You should get some more rest.”
The grumpy elf shook her head.
“No…”
“Don’t let me stay by your side. Will that work?”
“Theorard? Then, yes. Great.”
A pure reaction comes with a heavy burden. Theorard smiled awkwardly, grabbed the elf’s hand, and turned to Roylen.
“First, I will take care of you. However, it is realistically impossible for me to spend a week alone with the elves, so I hope that Professor Roylen will select a reliable woman for me.”
“Yes. We will try to select a woman who is skilled at handling work among the servants.”
“Thank you. Then…”
Theorard bowed his head and took the elf to the hospital room.
The elf, whose body had not fully recovered, hesitated, but because Theo Rad supported him every time, he did not have any difficulties walking down the hallway.
Theorard arrived at the hospital and put the elf on the bed.
…… Of course, there was no way the elf would lie still.
“No……!”
The elf somehow raised his upper body and leaned against the back of the bed. The reason was that if he lay down, he would fall asleep without realizing it, and if he did, Theorard would leave.
She is a high-handed woman anyway. Theorad, who had been looking at the elf in a rather empty mood, suddenly made a scary expression. She deliberately distorted her face in a savage way.
“If she said no, why not continue listening to her? Even if you are not in good spirits, you are the slave and maid of the Deharm family.”
Roilen said that the mental state of the elves right now is no different from that of a child, so she is educating them at eye level.
A week is not a long time, but it is also not short, so it was to prevent the elf from doing something strange and getting hurt.
“Do not leave the hospital room without my permission until your condition improves. You shouldn’t move too hard. This is a job for you, but it is also a job for me. Did you understand?”
Strict, solemn, serious. Others were so overwhelmed by her spirit that they nodded their heads even if they didn’t understand. Hana her elf tilted her head and only smiled down a thread.
“Yes. I love you, Theorard.”
I guess I didn’t understand anything. Theorard, who had been embarrassed for a moment, let out a blank laugh without even realizing it. It was because the Elf’s smiling face was better than she thought.
“…… I wish she would have smiled at me like that on a regular basis.”
Theorard stuck out her tongue and spoke to her softly.
“Don’t let me tell you old stories. Even when I was young, I often fell asleep listening to my father’s old stories…….”
*
Islands, the Imperial Palace.
Office of the Minister of Military Affairs.
─ Her Highness her the Princess. Can I come in
The voice that comes with the knocking sound is familiar. Benelia, who was reading the edict announcing the start of the war in front of her desk her, answered in a blank tone.
“Come in.”
Upon permission, the door opens. An elderly knight in uniform walks to the center of the office with an angular gait and raises a bow.
His gray hair his symbolized old age, but his two twinkling eyes his were not inferior to the guns of young people. This man was Proban, a staff officer and adjutant of the ‘Steps of Dawn’, a combat unit directly under the imperial family led by Venelia.
Benelia, who roughly accepted the courtesy of her, raised her head of her.
“What is going on?”
“Shin Provan Otaeflet, I have come with a lowly body to report to Her Highness the Princess.”
“What if you want to see it?”
“Count Leoberg of the Pelgarin family is calling in troops. With about 8,000 troops, it is believed that they will be dispatched to the islands as promised, but command will be handed over to Her Highness the Princess.”
Benelia tapped her desk her. A bit delayed, but not bad.
With the launching ceremony approaching in a month, not only his father, the emperor, but also the ministers of each department could not postpone the northern expedition.
Even if Pelgarin’s soldiers follow me and not the Emperor, I won’t be able to object. It would have been better if they had expressed their dissatisfaction. It’s because you have a reason to stand apart from the main unit and claim to be the vanguard.
“It’s smooth. What happened to the logging in Grimund Forest?”
“It is in full swing. The nomads in the suburbs are doing a better job than I thought. It was also the territory of the Devil’s Land, so it was difficult when the demons attacked, but as Her Highness said, that didn’t happen. Did you use your hand beforehand?”
“I have sent a letter to Baal.”
The simple answer makes Proban’s fluffy hair stand on end. Rather than saying that she was colluding with the devil, it was because Benelia, who indifferently said that she had colluded with the devil, came to her in shock.
“Unless you’re an idiot, you know that the Empire is going to attack you. If the Empire exerts its full force, demons in the Devil’s Land will surely die. So help me. I will stop the advance of the Imperial army. If you disregard my words, you will not escape dog death.”
There was no sign of dishonesty in Benelia’s calm demeanor of her.
“This is the gist of what was written in the letter. So they know, but they pretend not to know. Did you understand?”
“How could you say something like this to me…….”
“If I didn’t tell you, you would have doubted me. Adding delusion to doubt, it is obvious that it gave rise to distrust. So that’s what I’m telling you now. My lieutenant, Proban Otaflet.”
Benelia’s golden eyes narrowed sharply.
“It is none other than you who have been loyal to me, who is trying to create a new empire. It is you who acknowledged the tyranny of the emperor and understood the pain of the common people. Would that conviction be broken by including the devil as part of the plan?”
Provan hurriedly lowered his head.
“Could that be? I just…….”
“If the revolution succeeds, you don’t have to worry because you’ll catch and exterminate the demons residing in the empire. It means that holding hands with conflicting interests does not mean an alliance.”
Provan’s head his bowed even deeper. He doubted his lord even for a moment, because he felt insecure.
“Your Highness the Princess! Please forgive this veteran!”
“Forgiveness is a piece of cake…… That’s all right, put the position change magic circle in the place where you felled. It will be a large-scale movement, so there must be no mistake.”
“Yes! Please leave it to me!”
Provan answered loudly and raised his head. Benelia, a little burdened by that, waved her hand her. When the report was over, she gestured to go.
Recognizing Benelia’s hand gesture, Pro Ban hesitated to turn her around. It was because he remembered the recent clash between Prince Leonhard and Benelia over a promising nobleman.
“Your Highness the Princess.”
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“It’s no different. What does a man named Theorad Deharm mean to Your Highness?”
Why do they continue to meet, and after the raid, they guard their private villas with escorts? If it was for political advantage, I wanted to know the reason.
Benelia pondered for a moment on the pro class’s question, and then she answered bluntly.
“I owe you debts, so I will repay you debts. Did you get an answer?”
“Okay. I thought that maybe Your Highness liked that man rationally.”
Benelia’s eyebrows twitch. Benelia, who had secretly swallowed her saliva, glared fiercely at Frovan.
“He is a body with her fiancee. If you’re going to talk nonsense, get out of here.”
“Yes. Majesty.”
Proban, with his head bowed, formally retreats.
As Proban left the room, Benelia, left alone, took back her edict. As soon as she had to concoct a ploy to assume the vanguard of her unit her at her cabinet meeting her she would be there.
But for some reason, Theorard’s face seemed to continue to shimmer. It was because the words Proban left at the end irritated his nerves.
“Damn old man…….”
What would you do if you confused the lord you serve? After a long gnashing of teeth, Benelia nervously threw away her edict her.
“To rot…….”
For some reason, I couldn’t seem to concentrate on my political affairs today.
