Lady Devil - Chapter 104

#104

“If I were to speak ill of the knight, would the young lady perhaps get upset?”

It was a morning when the crisp air was so chilly, like the first frost, that it made my skin prickle with goosebumps. Alyona asked me as she set down a pot tightly wrapped in thick cotton cloth on the brazier. The water, which had been boiling vigorously in the kitchen, cooled and emitted hot steam, filling the inner room with a gentle warmth. The pot, which at first glance looked like it could be for heating the room, was actually a tool for the steam therapy that had become a ritual every other day since Johannes had obtained the tonic.

I knelt comfortably on the carpet-covered floor. Alyona crouched by the brazier and began fanning with her hand. With her nose fixed straight ahead as if the pot were the only thing that mattered to her, the girl pretended not to know, even though she had just asked me a question. However, I could feel her occasional glances and knew she was watching my reaction.

“Which young lady are you talking about now? You’re asking as if it’s about someone else when the person in question is right here.”

I chided the girl for her rudeness as I covered my head with a large towel. The towel covering my eyes made it stifling, but when I grabbed both ends of the towel hanging down and raised them above my head like a visor, the blushing Alyona reappeared, looking awkward. The girl rolled her reed-colored eyes to one side, noticed my gaze, and giggled.

“I appreciate your concern for me, but Johannes is doing this because he cares for me too much.”

“…Pardon?”

“Because he loves me too much.”

“Um… How can you tell?”

Alyona asked with eyes like a startled rabbit. Now it was my turn to feel embarrassed. I must have furrowed my brow without realizing it, because Alyona’s shoulders flinched as she stared at me. In an instant, the girl’s gaze, which had taken on an awkward air, fell quickly to the surface of the pot.

“Hmm, I think it’s best to use it all today. The remaining amount is ambiguous.”

Perhaps it was her intention to clear away the awkward atmosphere. Alyona rummaged through her apron pocket with unnecessarily busy hands and said as she pulled out a glass vial about the size of her thumb. When the girl poured the mercury from the vial into the pot, several drops fell, though I had thought there was hardly any left. I stared at this and asked:

“Isn’t that too much?”

“No, it’s not. The more often and the more you take of the tonic, the better. It’s just that people like us can’t afford to take it because it’s hard to obtain.”

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