Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Volume 2
Chapter 23 : The Aftermath of the Incident
“So it was just a dream?”
Leaning against the headboard, Muen stared at the ceiling beneath the golden chandelier, and an overwhelming sense of relief rose in his heart.
He had never expected that he was still alive.
Even after being stabbed in a vital spot by that dagger wreathed in an evil god’s flame, he had somehow survived.
Had the heavens finally shown him mercy at a moment like this?
“According to the Duke, the formalwear you were wearing at the time was actually a rather fine defensive magic artifact. At the critical moment, it absorbed most of the damage for you, which was why you were able to escape death.”
“I see.”
I’m sorry, my dear formalwear.
I used to speak too loudly about you.
A weight of twenty kilos was not your flaw at all, but rather that reassuring sense of solid heaviness!
If I ever get the chance, I will definitely have you repaired and wear you again.
Not for anything else, but simply to repay you for saving my life!
“Then what about my injuries now...?”
Muen looked at his hands.
To be honest, although he had suffered such severe injuries, he could not feel even the slightest pain now.
At most, there was only a faint sense of depletion in his body.
“It was Princess Selicia.”
Ann said, “She summoned the chief healing physician of the Royal Mage Corps and personally had him cast healing magic on you, Young Master. Your injuries were healed from the very beginning. It is only because your body was too weakened that you remained asleep for so long.”
“So long?”
“Young Master, you slept for a full three days.”
“Three... days.”
Muen let out a soft breath. “That really is quite a long time.”
“Oh, right.”
At the mention of Selicia, Muen immediately tensed up and could not help asking cautiously,
“Did Selicia say anything about me?”
“Say anything about you...?”
Ann tilted her head and asked in puzzlement, “What do you mean, Young Master?”
“Well... did she say anything bad about me?”
“I wouldn’t know about that, but I do not think so.”
Ann thought carefully for a moment. “When Her Highness was leaving, she spoke with the Duke for a while. They seemed to have had a very pleasant conversation.”
“I see.”
Muen could not help letting out a sigh of relief.
He had not expected that, in the end, Selicia still had not exposed that beastly thing he had done.
Was it for the sake of her own reputation, or because... he had saved her?
“Young Master Muen.”
“Hm?”
“Although this question may be somewhat presumptuous, I still wish to ask it.”
Ann suddenly crouched down. A faint floral fragrance drifted around Muen’s nose, and for some reason, he felt that her voice at this moment carried a strange chill.
“You seem so nervous about this matter. Is it because, when you were alone in that room with Her Highness the Princess, you did something to her?”
“...No, of course not.”
Muen shook his head vigorously and said with a stiff expression, “That was Her Highness the Princess. If I had done anything to her, I’d be losing my head!”
“Is that so? I suppose that makes sense.”
Ann seemed to accept his explanation and did not press any further.
Instead, she picked up the medicine bowl in her hands once more.
“Come, drink your medicine. It’s already cooled down.”
“Can I not drink it?”
Looking at that bowl of pitch-black broth, Muen’s face, which had only just managed to remain composed, instantly fell.
“I’m afraid of bitter medicine.”
“That will not do, Young Master. The first thing you need to do now is nurse your body back to health.”
“But haven’t my injuries already healed?”
“Strictly speaking, this is not medicine but a tonic. It only looks a bit like medicine. Besides, knowing that Young Master Muen dislikes bitterness, I already put sugar in it.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“All right then...”
Muen slowly and hesitantly stretched out his hand. “Give it to me.”
Ann: “...”
Muen: “?”
“Young Master Muen, feeding you your medicine is the duty of a personal maid such as myself.”
“But all four of my limbs are working perfectly fine...”
“Young Master Muen, are you trying to take away the means by which this pitiful maid survives? Of course, if you dislike me, I can go to the Duke and resign at once.”
Ann wiped at the tears that did not exist at the corners of her eyes.
“It is only that I, a frail maid who knows nothing except how to care for Young Master, will lose my place in this world and be left to wander outside alone. And if I run into bad people, then I would have no choice but to...”
“All right, all right, I get it. Feed me, then. Please stop talking.”
Muen gave up resisting in utter helplessness.
This was a treatment fit for the Duke’s heir, was it not?
To be fed by a beautiful girl with her own hands was the ultimate dream of countless shut-ins!
“Come, Young Master, open wide. Ah—”
“Why does this feel like you’re feeding a child? Ah—”
Ugh, so bitter! Didn’t you say you added sugar?”
“Oh dear, perhaps I remembered wrongly. Come now, Young Master, one more. Ah—”
“You can misremember something like that? You’re definitely treating me like a child. Ah—”
“Do your best, Young Master. Just two more mouthfuls and you’ll be finished. Ah—”
“I already said I’m not a child! Ah—”
...
...
“Come to think of it, were there any bad repercussions after that incident?”
Muen suddenly asked.
After all, the attempted assassination of an imperial princess was no trivial matter.
In the three days he had been unconscious, it was impossible that there had been no aftermath at all.
And as his personal maid, Ann would definitely have made inquiries about such matters.
“There were indeed some consequences.”
As Ann tidied away the medicine bowl, she replied,
“First, regarding the assassins’ identities. After the Duke personally interrogated them, it seemed those people disguised as maids were not professional dead soldiers or assassins, but members of a bounty hunter organization that had long operated in Belland’s underworld and worshiped the evil god known as the King of Withering.
“It is said that as long as the money is good enough, they will do anything.”
“The King of Withering... bounty hunters...”
Muen murmured in a low voice.
In his memories, there seemed to have been no evil god with the title King of Withering in the original novel, much less a bounty hunter organization that worshiped Him.
“As expected, the limitations of a novel are simply too great.”
Muen let out a sigh inwardly.
Novels unfolded from the protagonist’s perspective.
It was impossible for them to describe an entire world in complete detail, nor could they clearly present every single event developing within it.
Which meant that once events broke away from the contents of the original novel, or strayed from the protagonist’s storyline, everything would become completely unpredictable.
“Young Master Muen need not worry. The Duke personally wiped out that organization just last night,” Ann added.
“...I see.”
Muen froze for a moment, then could not help but smile in relief.
Although events had not developed according to the original novel, precisely because of that, he was still the noble Duke’s heir.
He did not need to worry about how this matter would turn out, because naturally, there would be people to handle it for him.
“Then what about the mastermind behind the organization that hired the bounty hunters?”
“That cannot be found out for the time being.”
Ann shook her head. “All the members of that hunter organization had been placed under a curse. The moment the matter touched upon that question, they would burst into flames and die.”
“As expected... So that's how it is?”
Anyone bold enough to openly attempt to assassinate a princess would naturally never leave behind any clues.
But even a beggar on the roadside would know that those with motives for wanting Selicia dead were none other than those few factions.
“It is said that His Majesty the Emperor was furious because of this matter and personally ordered a purge of the rats in Belland’s underworld.”
“That really is...”
At this, Muen could only smile bitterly and shake his head, thinking to himself,
“It seems the underground black market is a place I definitely can’t go to for quite a while.”