North x Northwest

“Linhardt Eichendorff. He’s Edgar Eichendorff’s cousin. Edgar uses the surname Retiro within the Empire, but here we just call him by his original name… Anyway, normally his Majesty the Emperor personally dispatches governors to take care of local administration when the lords are unable to manage the lands, as it was in Edgar’s case, so it’s kind of funny that Edgar’s cousin actually became the governor of this region.”

“…”

‘That’s what she’s saying, but it’s hard to really believe it. The Marquess is being treated as a parasite in his own house? Should I really simply accept that and stay here comfortably?’ 

Lil became lost in her thoughts, paying no mind to Levi who had begun preparations to draw her blood. 

‘Apparently, Sagastar didn’t reveal that I’m Liloa, and it also seems that Ed kept silent about me being a pirate captain. So, are or aren’t my crew being held as ‘pirates’? Or is it just that Levi is oblivious to the operations of the Navy? But didn’t she seem quite close to Ed?’

“Linhardt is Edgar’s only friend. So please be nice to Linhardt even if you don’t feel like trusting him.”

“…”

While talking, Levi shook her head a few times. She then continued explaining the situation in the residence without any signs of suspecting Lil.

“Now, it’s time to move rooms. This is actually just a boudoir* next to the laboratorium, we’ll go up to the third floor soon.”

“The Admiral… No, where is Ed now?”

“…Ed? Edgar? Well, I guess he’s in his cabinet? Or library? Or perhaps he’s stuck in the music room. Oh! If he’s in the music room, then he must be feeling down. Edgar can be stuck there all day when he’s feeling depressed.”

“..?”

Lil wondered whether or not to doubt the information she received so easily. 

‘Doesn’t this doctor know what I could do to this residence’s lord if she gives me information about his whereabouts just like that?’

“Ah. He may perhaps be taking a bath. He enjoys hiding himself alone in there as well. But no one can enter… Oh well, yes, you may go in of course.”

“…What?”

“Yes?”

“..?”

‘Did she just casually tell me I could enter? How could she say that with such a natural and straight-looking face?!’ 

Lil couldn’t understand why Levi thought she could simply barge into Ed’s bathroom. However, seeing Lil’s stunned face, Levi became much more flustered than her, causing her to eventually shout loudly.

“Doesn’t Edgar like you?!”

“..!”

Lil barely held herself back from screaming. Even though to her, it was nothing more than a ghost story that was as good as nonsense, Lil couldn’t remain calm at all and she embarrassedly touched her hot face.

“Oh, my God! Are you sure you two aren’t in that kind of relationship? I thought you were at least lovers? So earlier at dawn, that wasn’t a lovers spat? It was just… a normal fight?”

“…”

Levi immediately grabbed Lil’s hand and asked worriedly.

“…Are you kidnapped?”

“..!”

‘What is this, what kind of misunderstanding is this?!’ 

Lil awkwardly shook her head. 

‘I don’t know what the hell this woman is thinking, but it’s not!’

However, Levi didn’t seem to buy Lil’s passive denial. Lil quickly calmed herself down. She then attempted to determine her situation and come up with a good response, but Levi was rather eager to answer herself.

“No, this madman! Do you need me to send a message to your family?”

“…”

“Oh god, what did he do?! This is so… so crazy! Really! Where are you from? I need to call someone right away!”

Levi paced back and forth in front of the bed. 

‘Is this attitude of being apologetic, as though she’s ashamed of her family’s faults, a play or sincere? If it’s a play, I need to see through it. And if it’s sincere, I have to take advantage of it. The only reason why I stayed at this mansion until now is so I can obtain the blueprints for Gualtiero.’

“It’s all right. You don’t have to send a message to anyone.”

“Oh, is that so? That’s a relief then. I was so surprised.”

“By the way, can my body handle going outside of the residence? Like in my current state, would I be able to move by myself?”

‘Of course, I could’ve lied about sending a message to my family. If I used that excuse, I perhaps could go out. The only concern is that for some reason, it seems that Doctor Levi will misinterpret my words as an excuse to leave. Wording it like this, I now feel like she’s going to give me an answer from a doctor’s standpoint, probably, telling me something like doing indoor exercises instead because I’m not in good shape…’

“Well, if it’s a walk in the garden, it’s worth trying. But you can’t simply go outside. You need a carriage to leave the grounds and I can’t allow you to do that yet. You need to make sure that you’re absolutely stable for at least two weeks, okay?”

“…”

“Your silence means it sucks, right? Okay, ten days then.”

“…”

“Oh hm, it’s hard to concede more. Anything more than that could result in something bad… and we won’t want that… Uhm, don’t you think so too?”

“…”

Levi, who was pretending to soothe Lil, raised her head even though her patient wasn’t complaining. Just as she was about to give the injection, she quietly rolled her eyes.

“Then… do you want to escape by any chance? Is there a place you need to contact? Have you been threatened by Edgar? If so, would you like to secretly write something behind his back?”

Lil eventually recognized that Levi’s black eyes were only filled with pure innocence. 

‘If I had been a man, I would either be considered an ally or an enemy, but in both cases, a suspicious person nonetheless, however, at the end of day a woman is only a woman. And a woman could never be a threat to Ed… That’s probably the basis for Levi’s naive trust.’

Having realised that, Lil pretended to break down and played on Levi’s thoughts.

“…No. It’s fine.”

Levi wasn’t convinced at all and muttered to herself.

“…Is she really not kidnapped?..”

“…”

From her expression, Levi was clearly wondering if she should intervene. But instead of pushing it, she tilted her head and drew Lil’s blood before eventually removing the needle. Only after that was done did she open her mouth again.

“No matter how I look at it, you don’t look too happy being here… do you feel bad about being involved with Edgar? Something like that never occurred to me due to the things he did when you were in a coma…” 

“…”

“Yesterday was the first time in a while that Edgar slept well. Over the course of the past few months, he has worked himself to the point of exhaustion. But when I came to check on him last night, he slept so soundly that he didn’t even wake up.”

“…”

Levi placed a piece of cotton on the inside of Lil’s elbow. Lil, who didn’t want to hear about Ed’s circumstances, pressed it hard for no reason, somewhat hoping that the pain would distract her.

“I may already be a doctor, but I’m still in the middle of completing advanced medicine at the Imperial Clairaut… What I mean is, under normal circumstances I would’ve been in the professor’s lab. But not too long ago, Linhardt called me to Roahn, saying that Edgar was likely to die if he continued at this rate. He told me that Edgar didn’t sleep and refused to come out of his laboratory.”

“…”

Levi rose from her seat and approached the desk. As Lil had had a peek at the content on top of it, she had a vague guess of where this was going. That premonition was confirmed when Levi picked up something like a small booklet from a pile of books. Lil had seen similar notebooks on the Bell Rock, making uneasiness settle in her heart combined with the feeling of indigestion.

Levi opened the notebook and placed it on Lil’s lap.

“With that temper of his, there’s no way he would entrust this to someone else. Actually, he barely handed it over to me when I arrived.”

“…”

[ …Body temperature measurement every 30 minutes, posture change every 2 hours, splints on wrists and ankles – checking for replacement or signs of skin injuries -, eye cleaning every 4 hours, oral and nasal cavity care every 2 hours, dietary injection 3 times… … … ]

“Edgar will be angry with me if he finds out about this, but I think you need to understand why he couldn’t sleep. A coma patient is extremely weak and vulnerable. If one’s eyes aren’t taken care of, they can go blind, and if their limbs aren’t stimulated regularly, they might not be able to use their joints properly when they wake up… Normally, he didn’t have to go this far, but because the fleet didn’t have any equipment, I guess he had to check everything one by one. There was no medicine onboard either, so he probably wanted to prevent complications before they happened. However, even considering that, this level of meticulousness is closer to obsessiveness.”

“…”

The notes, that were written every half hour, filled twenty-four hours without fail. No matter how many pages Lil turned over, every day was the same. While flipping through the notes about her insignificant body, Lil wasn’t sure what her own expression looked like right now. 

Eventually, the cotton ball fell from her arm and rolled down the bed.

“Ever since I took over nursing you, Edgar has been completely focused on your full recovery. You see, statistically speaking, patients who have been in a coma for over a hundred days, show clear signs of brain failure when they wake up. If that happens, patients are officially still alive, but can’t really live anymore. Of course, it’s a meagre statistic, but we can’t afford to ignore it. That’s why we hoped you would wake up within 4 weeks. Because after that, the possibility of irreversible damage increases steeply. It had been a race against the clock as it was crucial to provide the correct prescription as soon as possible…” 

 – – – – –

Footnote:

Boudoir: the female counterpart of the cabinet. It’s a woman’s private sitting room or salon in a furnished residence, usually between the dining room and the bedroom, but can also refer to a woman’s private bedroom. [Wiki]