episode_0116

The next day.

Scratch, scratch.

Tia drew lines on the paper she held.

Now, there wasn’t much left of the ‘potentially effective medicines’.

So far, she had painstakingly made and tested nine medicines, but none had been effective.

Only one remained.

…

Perhaps due to the continuous failures, Tia’s expression was grim.

With all the previous failures, the probability of the last medicine working was very low, and she seemed consumed by the thought, ‘What if this doesn’t work either?’

Still, she had to grasp at this last straw.

She emptied all the bottles that had contained the medicine and washed them thoroughly.

It was a grueling time, reading the manufacturing method and preparing the ingredients.

Before long, Tia had acquired skills that surpassed my own.

If someone told me to make ten medicines I’d never made before in just three days, I would have flared up, asking how that was even possible.

Even with abundant ingredients, the process is incredibly difficult and arduous.

Because it’s a battle where you have to sit in front of that hot furnace, staring at the flames until your eyes hurt, and even a brief nap isn’t allowed.

Yet Tia accomplished it without any complaint.

Though signs of exhaustion were clear, her determination to save me remained like an unextinguished ember, continuously burning.

She quickly learned to prepare ingredients and could do it cleanly without any issues.

She even performed several procedures simultaneously to save time.

Tasks impossible with normal concentration, Tia accomplished like a superhuman.

As the sun began to set.

The last medicine was created.

Tia sighed and briefly closed her eyes.

With trembling hands, she picked up the medicine bottle and approached me.

As if to reassure me, she spoke in a warm voice.

“Don’t worry, Ritsu. Even if this medicine doesn’t work… I’ll never give up.”

Those words weren’t for me.

They were hope she was forcing into her increasingly exhausted self.

Whipping herself on, vowing never to give up on me, on Ritsu.

…It was a spell to somehow keep living.

Trickle.

The last medicine trickled into my lips.

And finally, a reaction occurred.

Twitch.

A pale hand twitched.

…!

Tia saw it too.

As if to prove the reaction she’d just seen wasn’t an illusion, her chest rose and fell, and her eyes darted about.

Like a larva just before hatching.

I thrashed wildly, signaling that I was still alive.

“You did it…! Ritsu… you’re alive…!”

Tia’s eyes welled up with tears.

Her piteous voice held an indescribable joy.

She already knew I was alive, but the emotion of seeing the proof with her own eyes seemed different.

This wasn’t the time to stand still. She immediately opened the book describing ‘this medicine’ and began to read.

“That’s right…. There’s no mistake. The potency of the Enbus has intensified….”

Paralysis symptoms caused by increased toxicity.

The more she read, the more questions arose.

Tia muttered.

“But why? I definitely took the Dienbus, but it returned to how it was before detoxification?”

Poor Tia had no way of knowing that Fosao was the reason.

But her ‘sensitive senses’ formed a frighteningly astonishing deduction despite having no clues.

“Someone… interfered.”

Recalling how I continuously coughed up blood and my symptoms didn’t improve… it meant that detoxification hadn’t proceeded normally since then.

Tia fell into deep thought. Her eyes were searching for the culprit.

…She’s almost there.

If Tia is as smart as I think, she’ll surely realize Fosao is the culprit.

Because all suspicious actions pointed to that man.

The herbs he’d given me as a discharge gift.

It was entirely plausible that he’d coated them with poison, wasn’t it?

However….

Surprisingly, her deduction went completely awry.

“Mister Marvin… Aunt Merid….”

Where there’s suspicion, hatred is always close by.

Tia hadn’t shown it much until now, but she hadn’t forgotten the suffering those two had put her through.

No, she couldn’t.

Considering it from Tia’s perspective… it actually led to the conclusion that Marvin and Merid were suspicious.

Didn’t it also make sense that Marvin and Merid had pushed me off the cliff, then framed Tia?

Especially since she had once overheard the two of them ‘conspiring’ to banish Tia.

It was natural for Tia’s suspicion to point in that direction.

“…Alright. Those two aren’t here now…. All I need to do is write a letter to the Court Physician-nim and find out the cure….”

Fortunately, she hadn’t lost her reason to the point of being blinded by revenge.

Tia immediately began writing on the letter paper.

The content described her current predicament, how she had administered Dienbus but its effect had not vanished due to some poison, and asked how to cure it.

It was accurate.

Now, if only she could receive a reply to this, Tia could revive me.

It was as she was sealing the letter with melted candle wax.

Thump!

The door suddenly thumped open, and Fosao entered.

That pig-like man panted heavily and shouted.

“Tia!”

“…Mister?”

“G-Go outside and see!”

His gestures were extremely urgent.

Tia opened the door and stepped outside.

The moment she crossed the yard and came to the main gate.

…!

She saw the villagers rushing down to the lower village.

It was strange.

With Taildon soldiers escorting them, people were following behind in a line.

All of them had terrified expressions.

She asked Fosao, who had followed her out.

“What’s going on?”

“W-Well… I don’t know the exact details, b-but….”

Fosao began to explain haltingly.

Lord Kintop of Taildon had suddenly sent soldiers to Breezedon, demanding they ‘repay their debt’.

It seemed to refer to the promise I had made with Lord Kintop when I borrowed firewood.

Naturally, the people of Breezedon, who knew nothing of this debt, strongly protested, but there was no village elder left to protect them.

It seemed Mister Marvin had stepped forward, claiming to be Breezedon’s village elder now, but he could do nothing in front of the ‘contract’ the soldier presented.

Of course, they couldn’t read.

As they were dragged away by the Taildon soldiers, the people shouted.

“Th-That was Ritsu’s doing! It has nothing to do with us!”

“Then where is Ritsu? Didn’t you say he was dead?”

Lord Kintop, who had remained silent while I was confined to my sickbed, immediately took action the moment he heard news of the funeral.

This meant that, for Taildon, Breezedon was no longer worth exploiting.

Thus… the forced expulsion of Tia ultimately led to the collapse of the village.

One person was reflected in Tia’s bewildered eyes.

It was Aunt Sherry.

Now an elderly woman, Aunt was following the soldiers with slow steps.

She had always had difficulty moving and rarely left the village.

“…Aunt.”

Even after her banishment, the only villager Tia missed most was Aunt Sherry.

She had always been gentle and kind.

Above all, she was the grateful person who had taken her in and raised her in place of her deceased birth mother.

“Aunt!”

It was the moment she was about to step forward to rescue Aunt Sherry.

Grab.

“Ah!”

Fosao grabbed Tia’s arm.

“N-No! Tia! You mustn’t get involved!”

…!

At the voice restraining her, Tia stopped dead in her tracks.

She finally realized.

If she had recklessly rushed in to rescue Aunt Sherry there, she could endanger not only the villagers but also Mister Fosao.

…

Tia silently watched the villagers being led away.

Their shadows, as if sucked into Taildon, gradually faded into the dim evening twilight.

Fosao gently pulled Tia’s arm and spoke.

“W-We should probably be careful for a while….”

***

The next day.

Fosao stayed home, not going out.

He claimed that due to yesterday’s events, the atmosphere outside was dangerous, and he would lay low at home for a while.

Tia’s worries grew.

Her medicinal ingredients were running low, and most importantly, she needed to send this letter to the Court Physician-nim quickly.

Since Fosao wouldn’t budge, she couldn’t do anything.

Rumble-rumble.

As usual, Fosao began to nap.

His snores were so loud that they could be heard on the first floor, even though he was sleeping on the second-story bed.

Tia, who had been waiting for this moment, quietly put on her coat.

Then she secretly took the letter and the coin purse tucked into Fosao’s coat, and slipped outside.

Crunch, crunch.

She stepped on the snowy path and entered Taildon.

First, Tia pulled her hood down deep. It was a habit she often practiced to avoid people’s notice.

Because her red hair was so rare, if she walked around with her hair exposed, anyone would approach her and strike up a conversation.

Contrary to Fosao’s warning, Taildon’s atmosphere was as ordinary as ever.

Though she had been secretly anxious, Taildon was so peaceful that she felt she had worried for nothing.

‘Should I go see Teacher-nim before sending the letter?’

Recently, Teacher Vincent had been continuously absent.

As Taildon prepared for war, he had been mobilized for soldier training, so there was no opportunity to meet him.

Hoping she might somehow meet him, she walked towards the communication office.

And she was walking along the main road, lost in thought.

Flap.

She saw a poster stuck on a shop.

It was on stiff parchment, seemingly newly posted just yesterday, and the paste hadn’t adhered properly, so it fluttered weakly in the winter wind.

A sudden curiosity prompted Tia to grasp the poster and examine it closely.

[Wanted]

Name – Tia Anshier

Crime – Murder

…?

The girl rubbed her eyes.

And read the poster again.

But she hadn’t misread it, nor was she hallucinating from fatigue.

It unmistakably said ‘Tia Anshier’.

How many people in this world would have the name Tia Anshier?

Tia had seen many people named ‘Tia’ before, but never anyone with the same surname, Anshier.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was likely the only one in the world.

Tia had always told me her name was special and something to be proud of.

But below that proud name of hers.

What must Tia’s feelings have been, seeing the word ‘Murder’ attached?

At that very moment, as she stared blankly at the poster.

She saw a soldier grabbing a woman right beside her.

“You, woman. Could you take off your hood for a moment?”

“Y-Yes? Why suddenly?”

The woman removed her hood.

As brown hair appeared, the soldier asked.

“Have you perhaps seen a woman with red hair?”

“Red hair? I don’t know.”

“Hmm. Alright. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Tia held her breath.

Gripping the hood she was wearing tightly, she slowly took a step.

The moment she tried to escape, as inconspicuously as possible.

Thud.

“Ah!”

She bumped into someone directly in front of her.

Slowly, she raised her head and saw eyes staring down at her terrifyingly.

It was a Taildon soldier.

He said bluntly.

“Hey, you. Take off your hood.”