Chapter 5
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Chapter 5
The bright pink hair, like asha petals, and light green eyes resemble a bud.
The girl he met for the first time today has a small body and features that stood out. She was the only one who sided with him in this large duke castle and told him, ‘you are the person I need.’ He whispered with a sigh.
“She didn’t call me a monster.”
Iellie wasn’t afraid of him at all. Instead, she just treated him as a ‘person’ with equal eye level.
“Let’s meet again tomorrow…”
Zachary, who muttered absentmindedly, blushed his cheeks. He raised his hands and tried to cover his eyes. Even so, in front of his eyes still flashed the image of her smiling face. Zachary bit his lips gently, ‘What do I do?’
“…My wife, huh?”
The boy, who had always lived as a monster in the duke’s Castle, had no immunity to affection.
He swallowed his breath. Iellie, who smiled softly, was much sweeter than the candy that was as large as his fingernails on the tip of his tongue.
At least one of Iellie’s words seemed to come true. Zachary already needed her.
***
Iellie returned to her own room. The moon was sinking, and dawn was approaching. She lay down and collapsed on her bed.
While recalling what had happened today, she smacked her cheeks and crumpled her eyebrows.
“You’re crazy. You’re so crazy. Are you seriously insane?”
She wanted to live in this complicated world comfortably, but her life seemed to be going wrong already. Her own husband, Zachary, for some reason, was hated by the Duke. However, she wrapped around such a boy, and with her eyes wide open, she even talked back toward the Duke.
‘But…’
How could she pretend not to see and did nothing when he was making that look? Zachary looked like a boy who was abandoned alone in a black tower made of ice.
She recalled the cool gaze he made as though he didn’t believe anyone would save him. ‘Because he’s the only successor to Hessenweitz, I thought he would have been raised with a lot of love and affections.’
Regardless, the reality was completely different. He seemed rather lonelier than her on her first visit to the duke’s house.
‘…Why does everyone say that he is a monster?’
A boy who seemed unfamiliar with even the slightest consideration he received. A boy who was full of scars and only suppressed his pain…
Zachary got used to the pain so much that it seemed as though he didn’t even realize that he was sick.
“It’s funny. I’m the only person in this place that sympathized with the successor of the duke, who is comparable to the royal family.”
Iellie burst into laughter. Anyway, she decided to meet him again tomorrow, so she had to sleep now. As she closed her eyes, the fatigue crushed her whole body, and she fell into a dark sleep in an instant.
For the people in the duchy, the room of the Heir Apparent was as far as a forbidden space.
In fact, the fact that the Heir Apparent spent in the house itself was rare since he was fighting an impossible battle under the command of the duke. The maids only cleaned his room quickly when he was away. So, usually, the Heir Apparent’s room was surrounded by a lonely silence.
But recently, there was a girl with pink hair who walked in and out of the room like it was her own.
“Good morning!”
Iellie entered the room and exclaimed cheerfully. She walked straight to the curtain where the pure white sunlight was pouring out.
“Are you still sleeping? You are a late sleeper.”
She looked back and narrowed her eyebrows. Although it was true. Zachary enjoyed oversleeping lately. Iellie glanced at Zachary, curled up in his bed and wrapped up in a duvet like a cocoon, and smiled.
‘He looks like a little child like this.’
Zachary, who mumbled a little after hearing her voice, dug into the blanket. When the blanket was removed, he frowned his eyebrows tightly.
“Hey, how long are you going to sleep? Wake up!”
“…Ah.”
The cool pair of eyes he met first thing in the morning was glaring at him. Zachary drowsily tilted his head.
“When did you come in?”
“Just now.”
The boy, who asked in a locked voice, nodded. It was lucky since he was feeling much better now, but today, he had a job to do.
Iellie smacked Zachary’s back.
“Wake up, already!”
“No, I’m up… I already woke up.” Zachary, who had been rubbing his eyes, peered at Iellie, putting strength in his gaze.
With a bloody smile, she picked up the ointment and bandages. For the shy boy, she had been seeing a doctor since the morning.
“Your doctor wants me to apply this ointment starting today. The proportion of medicinal herbs changed.”
“Oh, really?”
Zachary slowly blinked. The expression of sharp alertness from the moment he first met her had long since disappeared.
Looking at the childish face, she recalled that the boy was only fifteen years old. ‘A young man with a face that had never seen the world.’
Iellie clicked her tongue. Although she was two years younger than Zachary, he felt like her younger brother, with memories of her previous life. She opened her mouth.
“I have to change the bandage today, anyway. So, I’ll just put on a new one.”
“It’s okay. I can apply the ointment myself.”
“Don’t be stubborn. What are you going to do about the wounds on your back?”
“…”
With a single sentence, Iellie turned Zachary into a mute. Clattering steps, she pulled a chair and sat down. Iellie, who laid the ointment and bandage on her lap, stretched out her hands.
“Let’s start with your arms.”
“Hmm.”
Zachary gently extended his arm. Picking up the scissors, she cut off the bandage with a cautious face.
“…Does it hurt?”
“It’s all right. It’s tolerable.”
“What do you mean it’s tolerable…” Iellie swallowed a sigh that was about to escape. The badly split wounds were painful to even look at. The wound was so convoluted to the point of fainting for a child.
He had such a wound on his whole body, yet he didn’t budge a single eyebrow. With regret, she sanitized the wounds and applied new ointment with delicate hands.
“…Uh, isn’t it supposed to be like this?”
Iellie had an embarrassed face. Seeing her expression, Zachary squeezed his cheeks, holding and held back his laughter.
Bandages that weren’t properly knotted fluttered and drooped under his arm. Eventually, the boy burst into laughter.
“You can’t bandage.”
“Noisy. There must be things that people cannot do, I’m a human.”
She replied with a sulk and pulled the bandage tightly. This time, he screamed briefly as he was hurt. “Ack!”
“It’s punishment for making fun of other people.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. Give me the bandage.”
Zachary, who said so, accepted the bandage from Iellie’s hand.
She was looking curiously at what he was going to do, and he skillfully knotted the bandages. She felt her heart throbbing. ‘How many bandages had he wrapped on his own…’ How much he had to go through to be living his life this way…? Iellie tried to pretend to be calm and opened her mouth.
“Now, turn around.”
When he heard that, Zachary slowly turned around, above the scarred waist, there was a new cut from the beast’s nails.
The boy fluttered his shoulder as she applied the ointment over his wounds and felt itchy amid the pain. While applying the ointment, she thought about how many battles he had to fight to get this many scars.
“…Zachary, what is this scar?”
At that moment, Iellie’s face hardened. There was a large scar across his entire back. Rather than a brutal wound, it seemed to be an old scar that was from a sword wielded by a man.
Zachary’s face, which had been showing a comfortable expression this whole time, turned white in an instant. ‘No, that scar…’
“Don’t look!”
With a sharp shout, Zachary pushed Iellie. She looked confused.
“Why, why are you doing that?”
He stared at Iellie with guarded eyes.
‘No, what am I doing?’ The boy looked at her with desperate emotions. He seemed to be a little conscious. His face turned red.
“Sorry. I’m sorry. That’s…”
“Zachary, are you all right?”
“…It’s nothing.” He shook his head, hurriedly lowered his shirt, and stepped back.
‘What, is there a story behind the scar?’ Iellie was confused and peered at the boy again. She stretched out her hand first to calm him down.
“Well, I don’t know what the story is, but… Calm down first, okay?”
“I’m sorry, but this is…”
Zachary looked desperately at her eyes, frozen firmly in his seat. Iellie felt her heart aching as she tried not to offend him. He stuttered.
“This is… I mean…”
Explaining this scar, Iellie would certainly look at him in disgust. Just as his father, the duke, had been.
The dark blue eyes filled with despair recounted the distant past.
This scar was the most obvious evidence that he was a monster, and it was the original sin that he had to take upon his father’s endless hatred and resentment.
“Hey.”
“I-I…”
Panic, Zachary avoided her gaze. Iellie, glancing at this face, spoke with a sigh. “If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.”
Huh? After hearing the unexpected words, he raised his head. He thought she was going to press him with questions about the scar. Yet, she only shrugged her shoulders and said in a cheerful tone.
“Some people might have a past that they don’t want to reveal.”
“…Iellie.”
“So, if you don’t want to say, you don’t have to. I’m all right with that. But…”
Iellie, gazing at Zachary with a confused expression, released the bandage. Afterward, she added. “I still need to wrap the bandage around your waist.”
“…”
“Could you sit back? You can put the shirt to your waist.”
Hearing so, he stumbled, carefully corrected his posture, and sat down. As she bandaged his slender waist, Iellie gently bit her lips. How hard did Zachary have to go through to survive his life here?
‘There are many scars. The treatment must have been incomplete. How painful it must have been…’
A duke who neglected his son as if he wished his son would die. And a tranquil duke castle where no one comes to see their young master.
She wasn’t sure how he had lived his life thus far.
“…Is it their hobby to exploit minors?”
Oops, she made a mistake. Her sincere words popped out of her mouth without going through a strainer. In addition, she clearly spoke with an incredibly sarcastic tone. No matter how angry she was, she shouldn’t do that. With a reproach, Iellie bit the tip of her tongue.
Zachary peeked at her. In a cautious tone, he asked.
“Why are you mad, Iellie?”
She made eye contact with Zachary with a stunned expression.
Fortunately, he had been gazing at her face for a few days to be able to understand her expression a little. Her expression right now meant, ‘Isn’t this stupid?’
“No. Why are these people using you for dangerous things? It’s juvenile abuse!”
“…Juvenile abuse?”
“Yes! So, it’s natural to get angry with your life on the line!”
After expressing her anger, Iellie suddenly looked down at Zachary. She asked back in a sulky voice.
“More than that, Zachary, aren’t you angry?”
“Well…”
As a habit, Zachary, who tried to answer ‘because I’m a monster,’ shut his mouth tight. He instinctively predicted that she would jump at him with her arms if he said that out loud. Fortunately, Iellie didn’t pay much attention.
“You’re my legal husband, anyway! Don’t you think I should have sided with you?”
Legal husband. Your side. The boy stopped at those words. Wanting to ask her something, he took a deep breath and spoke.
“Then, you… Are you thinking of me as a family?”
“Legally, you’re a family, right?”
Zachary’s words were blocked by the casual answer. The woman who changed his bandages soon rolled her eyes.
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Chapter 5
The bright pink hair, like asha petals, and light green eyes resemble a bud.
The girl he met for the first time today has a small body and features that stood out. She was the only one who sided with him in this large duke castle and told him, ‘you are the person I need.’ He whispered with a sigh.
“She didn’t call me a monster.”
Iellie wasn’t afraid of him at all. Instead, she just treated him as a ‘person’ with equal eye level.
“Let’s meet again tomorrow…”
Zachary, who muttered absentmindedly, blushed his cheeks. He raised his hands and tried to cover his eyes. Even so, in front of his eyes still flashed the image of her smiling face. Zachary bit his lips gently, ‘What do I do?’
“…My wife, huh?”
The boy, who had always lived as a monster in the duke’s Castle, had no immunity to affection.
He swallowed his breath. Iellie, who smiled softly, was much sweeter than the candy that was as large as his fingernails on the tip of his tongue.
At least one of Iellie’s words seemed to come true. Zachary already needed her.
***
Iellie returned to her own room. The moon was sinking, and dawn was approaching. She lay down and collapsed on her bed.
While recalling what had happened today, she smacked her cheeks and crumpled her eyebrows.
“You’re crazy. You’re so crazy. Are you seriously insane?”
She wanted to live in this complicated world comfortably, but her life seemed to be going wrong already. Her own husband, Zachary, for some reason, was hated by the Duke. However, she wrapped around such a boy, and with her eyes wide open, she even talked back toward the Duke.
‘But…’
How could she pretend not to see and did nothing when he was making that look? Zachary looked like a boy who was abandoned alone in a black tower made of ice.
She recalled the cool gaze he made as though he didn’t believe anyone would save him. ‘Because he’s the only successor to Hessenweitz, I thought he would have been raised with a lot of love and affections.’
Regardless, the reality was completely different. He seemed rather lonelier than her on her first visit to the duke’s house.
‘…Why does everyone say that he is a monster?’
A boy who seemed unfamiliar with even the slightest consideration he received. A boy who was full of scars and only suppressed his pain…
Zachary got used to the pain so much that it seemed as though he didn’t even realize that he was sick.
“It’s funny. I’m the only person in this place that sympathized with the successor of the duke, who is comparable to the royal family.”
Iellie burst into laughter. Anyway, she decided to meet him again tomorrow, so she had to sleep now. As she closed her eyes, the fatigue crushed her whole body, and she fell into a dark sleep in an instant.
For the people in the duchy, the room of the Heir Apparent was as far as a forbidden space.
In fact, the fact that the Heir Apparent spent in the house itself was rare since he was fighting an impossible battle under the command of the duke. The maids only cleaned his room quickly when he was away. So, usually, the Heir Apparent’s room was surrounded by a lonely silence.
But recently, there was a girl with pink hair who walked in and out of the room like it was her own.
“Good morning!”
Iellie entered the room and exclaimed cheerfully. She walked straight to the curtain where the pure white sunlight was pouring out.
“Are you still sleeping? You are a late sleeper.”
She looked back and narrowed her eyebrows. Although it was true. Zachary enjoyed oversleeping lately. Iellie glanced at Zachary, curled up in his bed and wrapped up in a duvet like a cocoon, and smiled.
‘He looks like a little child like this.’
Zachary, who mumbled a little after hearing her voice, dug into the blanket. When the blanket was removed, he frowned his eyebrows tightly.
“Hey, how long are you going to sleep? Wake up!”
“…Ah.”
The cool pair of eyes he met first thing in the morning was glaring at him. Zachary drowsily tilted his head.
“When did you come in?”
“Just now.”
The boy, who asked in a locked voice, nodded. It was lucky since he was feeling much better now, but today, he had a job to do.
Iellie smacked Zachary’s back.
“Wake up, already!”
“No, I’m up… I already woke up.” Zachary, who had been rubbing his eyes, peered at Iellie, putting strength in his gaze.
With a bloody smile, she picked up the ointment and bandages. For the shy boy, she had been seeing a doctor since the morning.
“Your doctor wants me to apply this ointment starting today. The proportion of medicinal herbs changed.”
“Oh, really?”
Zachary slowly blinked. The expression of sharp alertness from the moment he first met her had long since disappeared.
Looking at the childish face, she recalled that the boy was only fifteen years old. ‘A young man with a face that had never seen the world.’
Iellie clicked her tongue. Although she was two years younger than Zachary, he felt like her younger brother, with memories of her previous life. She opened her mouth.
“I have to change the bandage today, anyway. So, I’ll just put on a new one.”
“It’s okay. I can apply the ointment myself.”
“Don’t be stubborn. What are you going to do about the wounds on your back?”
“…”
With a single sentence, Iellie turned Zachary into a mute. Clattering steps, she pulled a chair and sat down. Iellie, who laid the ointment and bandage on her lap, stretched out her hands.
“Let’s start with your arms.”
“Hmm.”
Zachary gently extended his arm. Picking up the scissors, she cut off the bandage with a cautious face.
“…Does it hurt?”
“It’s all right. It’s tolerable.”
“What do you mean it’s tolerable…” Iellie swallowed a sigh that was about to escape. The badly split wounds were painful to even look at. The wound was so convoluted to the point of fainting for a child.
He had such a wound on his whole body, yet he didn’t budge a single eyebrow. With regret, she sanitized the wounds and applied new ointment with delicate hands.
“…Uh, isn’t it supposed to be like this?”
Iellie had an embarrassed face. Seeing her expression, Zachary squeezed his cheeks, holding and held back his laughter.
Bandages that weren’t properly knotted fluttered and drooped under his arm. Eventually, the boy burst into laughter.
“You can’t bandage.”
“Noisy. There must be things that people cannot do, I’m a human.”
She replied with a sulk and pulled the bandage tightly. This time, he screamed briefly as he was hurt. “Ack!”
“It’s punishment for making fun of other people.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. Give me the bandage.”
Zachary, who said so, accepted the bandage from Iellie’s hand.
She was looking curiously at what he was going to do, and he skillfully knotted the bandages. She felt her heart throbbing. ‘How many bandages had he wrapped on his own…’ How much he had to go through to be living his life this way…? Iellie tried to pretend to be calm and opened her mouth.
“Now, turn around.”
When he heard that, Zachary slowly turned around, above the scarred waist, there was a new cut from the beast’s nails.
The boy fluttered his shoulder as she applied the ointment over his wounds and felt itchy amid the pain. While applying the ointment, she thought about how many battles he had to fight to get this many scars.
“…Zachary, what is this scar?”
At that moment, Iellie’s face hardened. There was a large scar across his entire back. Rather than a brutal wound, it seemed to be an old scar that was from a sword wielded by a man.
Zachary’s face, which had been showing a comfortable expression this whole time, turned white in an instant. ‘No, that scar…’
“Don’t look!”
With a sharp shout, Zachary pushed Iellie. She looked confused.
“Why, why are you doing that?”
He stared at Iellie with guarded eyes.
‘No, what am I doing?’ The boy looked at her with desperate emotions. He seemed to be a little conscious. His face turned red.
“Sorry. I’m sorry. That’s…”
“Zachary, are you all right?”
“…It’s nothing.” He shook his head, hurriedly lowered his shirt, and stepped back.
‘What, is there a story behind the scar?’ Iellie was confused and peered at the boy again. She stretched out her hand first to calm him down.
“Well, I don’t know what the story is, but… Calm down first, okay?”
“I’m sorry, but this is…”
Zachary looked desperately at her eyes, frozen firmly in his seat. Iellie felt her heart aching as she tried not to offend him. He stuttered.
“This is… I mean…”
Explaining this scar, Iellie would certainly look at him in disgust. Just as his father, the duke, had been.
The dark blue eyes filled with despair recounted the distant past.
This scar was the most obvious evidence that he was a monster, and it was the original sin that he had to take upon his father’s endless hatred and resentment.
“Hey.”
“I-I…”
Panic, Zachary avoided her gaze. Iellie, glancing at this face, spoke with a sigh. “If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.”
Huh? After hearing the unexpected words, he raised his head. He thought she was going to press him with questions about the scar. Yet, she only shrugged her shoulders and said in a cheerful tone.
“Some people might have a past that they don’t want to reveal.”
“…Iellie.”
“So, if you don’t want to say, you don’t have to. I’m all right with that. But…”
Iellie, gazing at Zachary with a confused expression, released the bandage. Afterward, she added. “I still need to wrap the bandage around your waist.”
“…”
“Could you sit back? You can put the shirt to your waist.”
Hearing so, he stumbled, carefully corrected his posture, and sat down. As she bandaged his slender waist, Iellie gently bit her lips. How hard did Zachary have to go through to survive his life here?
‘There are many scars. The treatment must have been incomplete. How painful it must have been…’
A duke who neglected his son as if he wished his son would die. And a tranquil duke castle where no one comes to see their young master.
She wasn’t sure how he had lived his life thus far.
“…Is it their hobby to exploit minors?”
Oops, she made a mistake. Her sincere words popped out of her mouth without going through a strainer. In addition, she clearly spoke with an incredibly sarcastic tone. No matter how angry she was, she shouldn’t do that. With a reproach, Iellie bit the tip of her tongue.
Zachary peeked at her. In a cautious tone, he asked.
“Why are you mad, Iellie?”
She made eye contact with Zachary with a stunned expression.
Fortunately, he had been gazing at her face for a few days to be able to understand her expression a little. Her expression right now meant, ‘Isn’t this stupid?’
“No. Why are these people using you for dangerous things? It’s juvenile abuse!”
“…Juvenile abuse?”
“Yes! So, it’s natural to get angry with your life on the line!”
After expressing her anger, Iellie suddenly looked down at Zachary. She asked back in a sulky voice.
“More than that, Zachary, aren’t you angry?”
“Well…”
As a habit, Zachary, who tried to answer ‘because I’m a monster,’ shut his mouth tight. He instinctively predicted that she would jump at him with her arms if he said that out loud. Fortunately, Iellie didn’t pay much attention.
“You’re my legal husband, anyway! Don’t you think I should have sided with you?”
Legal husband. Your side. The boy stopped at those words. Wanting to ask her something, he took a deep breath and spoke.
“Then, you… Are you thinking of me as a family?”
“Legally, you’re a family, right?”
Zachary’s words were blocked by the casual answer. The woman who changed his bandages soon rolled her eyes.
Chapter 5The bright pink hair, like asha petals, and light green eyes resemble a bud.The girl he met for the first time today has a small body and features that stood out. She was the only one who sided with him in this large duke castle and told him, you are the person I need.' He whispered with a sigh.She didn't call me a monster.Iellie wasn't afraid of him at all. Instead, she just treated him as a person' with equal eye level.Let's meet again tomorrowZachary, who muttered absentmindedly, blushed his cheeks. He raised his hands and tried to cover his eyes. Even so, in front of his eyes still flashed the image of her smiling face. Zachary bit his lips gently, What do I do?'My wife, huh?The boy, who had always lived as a monster in the duke's Castle, had no immunity to affection.He swallowed his breath. Iellie, who smiled softly, was much sweeter than the candy that was as large as his fingernails on the tip of his tongue.At least one of Iellie's words seemed to come true. Zachary already needed her.***Iellie returned to her own room. The moon was sinking, and dawn was approaching. She lay down and collapsed on her bed.While recalling what had happened today, she smacked her cheeks and crumpled her eyebrows.You're crazy. You're so crazy. Are you seriously insane?She wanted to live in this complicated world comfortably, but her life seemed to be going wrong already. Her own husband, Zachary, for some reason, was hated by the Duke. However, she wrapped around such a boy, and with her eyes wide open, she even talked back toward the Duke.But'How could she pretend not to see and did nothing when he was making that look? Zachary looked like a boy who was abandoned alone in a black tower made of ice.She recalled the cool gaze he made as though he didn't believe anyone would save him. Because he's the only successor to Hessenweitz, I thought he would have been raised with a lot of love and affections.'Regardless, the reality was completely different. He seemed rather lonelier than her on her first visit to the duke's house.Why does everyone say that he is a monster?'A boy who seemed unfamiliar with even the slightest consideration he received. A boy who was full of scars and only suppressed his painZachary got used to the pain so much that it seemed as though he didn't even realize that he was sick.It's funny. I'm the only person in this place that sympathized with the successor of the duke, who is comparable to the royal family.Iellie burst into laughter. Anyway, she decided to meet him again tomorrow, so she had to sleep now. As she closed her eyes, the fatigue crushed her whole body, and she fell into a dark sleep in an instant.For the people in the duchy, the room of the Heir Apparent was as far as a forbidden space.In fact, the fact that the Heir Apparent spent in the house itself was rare since he was fighting an impossible battle under the command of the duke. The maids only cleaned his room quickly when he was away. So, usually, the Heir Apparent's room was surrounded by a lonely silence.But recently, there was a girl with pink hair who walked in and out of the room like it was her own.Good morning!Iellie entered the room and exclaimed cheerfully. She walked straight to the curtain where the pure white sunlight was pouring out.Are you still sleeping? You are a late sleeper.She looked back and narrowed her eyebrows. Although it was true. Zachary enjoyed oversleeping lately. Iellie glanced at Zachary, curled up in his bed and wrapped up in a duvet like a cocoon, and smiled.He looks like a little child like this.'Zachary, who mumbled a little after hearing her voice, dug into the blanket. When the blanket was removed, he frowned his eyebrows tightly.Hey, how long are you going to sleep? Wake up!Ah.The cool pair of eyes he met first thing in the morning was glaring at him. Zachary drowsily tilted his head.When did you come in?Just now.The boy, who asked in a locked voice, nodded. It was lucky since he was feeling much better now, but today, he had a job to do.Iellie smacked Zachary's back.Wake up, already!No, I'm up I already woke up. Zachary, who had been rubbing his eyes, peered at Iellie, putting strength in his gaze.With a bloody smile, she picked up the ointment and bandages. For the shy boy, she had been seeing a doctor since the morning.Your doctor wants me to apply this ointment starting today. The proportion of medicinal herbs changed.Oh, really?Zachary slowly blinked. The expression of sharp alertness from the moment he first met her had long since disappeared.Looking at the childish face, she recalled that the boy was only fifteen years old. A young man with a face that had never seen the world.'Iellie clicked her tongue. Although she was two years younger than Zachary, he felt like her younger brother, with memories of her previous life. She opened her mouth.I have to change the bandage today, anyway. So, I'll just put on a new one.It's okay. I can apply the ointment myself.Don't be stubborn. What are you going to do about the wounds on your back?With a single sentence, Iellie turned Zachary into a mute. Clattering steps, she pulled a chair and sat down. Iellie, who laid the ointment and bandage on her lap, stretched out her hands.Let's start with your arms.Hmm.Zachary gently extended his arm. Picking up the scissors, she cut off the bandage with a cautious face.Does it hurt?It's all right. It's tolerable.What do you mean it's tolerable Iellie swallowed a sigh that was about to escape. The badly split wounds were painful to even look at. The wound was so convoluted to the point of fainting for a child.He had such a wound on his whole body, yet he didn't budge a single eyebrow. With regret, she sanitized the wounds and applied new ointment with delicate hands.Uh, isn't it supposed to be like this?Iellie had an embarrassed face. Seeing her expression, Zachary squeezed his cheeks, holding and held back his laughter.Bandages that weren't properly knotted fluttered and drooped under his arm. Eventually, the boy burst into laughter.You can't bandage.Noisy. There must be things that people cannot do, I'm a human.She replied with a sulk and pulled the bandage tightly. This time, he screamed briefly as he was hurt. Ack!It's punishment for making fun of other people.Okay, I'm sorry. Give me the bandage.Zachary, who said so, accepted the bandage from Iellie's hand.She was looking curiously at what he was going to do, and he skillfully knotted the bandages. She felt her heart throbbing. How many bandages had he wrapped on his own' How much he had to go through to be living his life this way? Iellie tried to pretend to be calm and opened her mouth.Now, turn around.When he heard that, Zachary slowly turned around, above the scarred waist, there was a new cut from the beast's nails.The boy fluttered his shoulder as she applied the ointment over his wounds and felt itchy amid the pain. While applying the ointment, she thought about how many battles he had to fight to get this many scars.Zachary, what is this scar?At that moment, Iellie's face hardened. There was a large scar across his entire back. Rather than a brutal wound, it seemed to be an old scar that was from a sword wielded by a man.Zachary's face, which had been showing a comfortable expression this whole time, turned white in an instant. No, that scar'Don't look!With a sharp shout, Zachary pushed Iellie. She looked confused.Why, why are you doing that?He stared at Iellie with guarded eyes.No, what am I doing?' The boy looked at her with desperate emotions. He seemed to be a little conscious. His face turned red.Sorry. I'm sorry. That'sZachary, are you all right?It's nothing. He shook his head, hurriedly lowered his shirt, and stepped back.What, is there a story behind the scar?' Iellie was confused and peered at the boy again. She stretched out her hand first to calm him down.Well, I don't know what the story is, but Calm down first, okay?I'm sorry, but this isZachary looked desperately at her eyes, frozen firmly in his seat. Iellie felt her heart aching as she tried not to offend him. He stuttered.This is I meanExplaining this scar, Iellie would certainly look at him in disgust. Just as his father, the duke, had been.The dark blue eyes filled with despair recounted the distant past.This scar was the most obvious evidence that he was a monster, and it was the original sin that he had to take upon his father's endless hatred and resentment.Hey.I-IPanic, Zachary avoided her gaze. Iellie, glancing at this face, spoke with a sigh. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to.Huh? After hearing the unexpected words, he raised his head. He thought she was going to press him with questions about the scar. Yet, she only shrugged her shoulders and said in a cheerful tone.Some people might have a past that they don't want to reveal.Iellie.So, if you don't want to say, you don't have to. I'm all right with that. ButIellie, gazing at Zachary with a confused expression, released the bandage. Afterward, she added. I still need to wrap the bandage around your waist.Could you sit back? You can put the shirt to your waist.Hearing so, he stumbled, carefully corrected his posture, and sat down. As she bandaged his slender waist, Iellie gently bit her lips. How hard did Zachary have to go through to survive his life here?There are many scars. The treatment must have been incomplete. How painful it must have been'A duke who neglected his son as if he wished his son would die. And a tranquil duke castle where no one comes to see their young master.She wasn't sure how he had lived his life thus far.Is it their hobby to exploit minors?Oops, she made a mistake. Her sincere words popped out of her mouth without going through a strainer. In addition, she clearly spoke with an incredibly sarcastic tone. No matter how angry she was, she shouldn't do that. With a reproach, Iellie bit the tip of her tongue.Zachary peeked at her. In a cautious tone, he asked.Why are you mad, Iellie?She made eye contact with Zachary with a stunned expression.Fortunately, he had been gazing at her face for a few days to be able to understand her expression a little. Her expression right now meant, Isn't this stupid?'No. Why are these people using you for dangerous things? It's juvenile abuse!Juvenile abuse?Yes! So, it's natural to get angry with your life on the line!After expressing her anger, Iellie suddenly looked down at Zachary. She asked back in a sulky voice.More than that, Zachary, aren't you angry?WellAs a habit, Zachary, who tried to answer because I'm a monster,' shut his mouth tight. He instinctively predicted that she would jump at him with her arms if he said that out loud. Fortunately, Iellie didn't pay much attention.You're my legal husband, anyway! Don't you think I should have sided with you?Legal husband. Your side. The boy stopped at those words. Wanting to ask her something, he took a deep breath and spoke.Then, you Are you thinking of me as a family?Legally, you're a family, right?Zachary's words were blocked by the casual answer. The woman who changed his bandages soon rolled her eyes.
