Miss, It’s Just a Cold

Chapter 35: It’ll be fine.

Lately, something feels off.

I’m sure something happened, but I can’t remember what it was.

If someone asked if I’d always been strange, I wouldn’t have much to say to that. But regardless, this unsettling sense of disconnect felt unpleasant.

I thought I had been talking to Emily, yet the notebook and pen were no longer in my hands. The cuts that had just covered my arm moments ago had inexplicably multiplied.

I wrapped my arms around myself, trembling slightly, and then took my medicine.

I didn’t take painkillers.

It did hurt a bit, but I thought it might be because of this.

After all, even that old man said to take only one per day.

If that old man ever got sick, he should just invent painkillers that could be taken three times a day.

I stepped into the bathroom, unwrapped my bandages, washed up, and then got into the large bathtub.

Whether water got into my wounds or not wasn’t something I cared about.

It was my body, so I figured it was my business, but either way, it didn’t matter.

At that moment, I just wanted to soak my body in warm water.

The wounds stung, but since my head already felt like it was going to burst, it wasn’t all that hard to endure.

After lightly washing myself, I rewrapped the bandages, loosely covering the wound on my forehead with my hair, and put on a dress.

Today was the day Aria would be waiting for me outside the house.

If she didn’t show up, I’d just lock myself in my room, which wouldn’t be so bad.

Still, since I’d received a letter in the morning saying she’d be visiting around noon, she’d probably come.

Unless she wrote that letter just to tease me.

Some days, you just don’t feel like moving your body, and your legs feel even heavier than usual.

Today was one of those days.

Even so, I dressed in a light outfit for going out, wandered around the garden looking at weeds and wildflowers, and tried drawing.

Lately, it seemed the garden hadn’t been cared for at all, as weeds had grown everywhere.

Maybe because my arm was injured—or perhaps because I had intentionally messed it up—I couldn’t draw well.

The hand holding the pen trembled uncontrollably.

While sketching a petal, my grip weakened for a moment, and the pen dropped to the ground.

Sighing, I bent to pick up the pen, and that’s when I heard someone calling me from behind.

“Emily.”

“…Ah, looks like you’re here.”

It was Aria.

Even though she wore a simple outfit for going out and a hat to avoid drawing attention, her beauty couldn’t be hidden.

In fact, the slight concealment made her seem even more charming.

I stood up, tucked the notebook and pen into my arms, and stepped outside the house.

Mother liked me mingling with people who had considerable wealth, so she didn’t stop me from meeting Aria.

She would prattle on about making sure that girl’s arrogance didn’t rub off on my behavior, though.

Still, it was nice to be able to leave the house.

If I were alone, I wouldn’t have gotten past the garden—the very spot I’d been observing the flowers and weeds.

“…Hey, what’s with those bandages?”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just go somewhere far from the house.

Your mansion’s parlor, or maybe your lavish—or perhaps plain—room. If not, even that place with the awful cakes will do.”

“Your words…”

“Let’s just go, please.”

“…Alright.”

Aria nodded with a deeply concerned expression.

As if she were genuinely thinking about this as her own problem.

Do you need this level of empathy to be the protagonist?

For someone like that, though, there were so many men hovering around her.

Not that it was any of my business.

Aria put me in her carriage and took me to her mansion.

Today, instead of the parlor, it was her room.

Why had she called me here alone without Ernst this time?

Considering she seemed to rely heavily on Ernst for any matters concerning me, as she had mentioned my illness before.

“Sorry for telling Ernst about your condition last time without asking.”

“Well, it’s fine. It’s understandable if you were worried.”

“…That’s not the reaction I expected. I thought you’d at least yell at me.”

“I live more according to the emotions that rise up each day than by reason or logic.

And right now, I feel strangely calm. So it doesn’t matter.”

“How convenient.”

“It just seems that way. Living by your emotions is more of a hope than a reality. At home, I was always so suppressed that I was practically crushed.”

The room was tidy.

It was enormous, but it had just the essentials. There wasn’t a single section unnecessarily decorated, making it seem even more beautiful.

How many of my rooms could fit in here?

Probably ten, no—far more than that.

“So, what’s with those bandages?”

“If I said it was nothing, what would you say?”

“I wouldn’t say anything. I’d just take them off and check for myself.”

“……”

“Back where we used to live, there were depressed people too, weren’t there? Not to mention the high suicide rates.”

And yet, I didn’t belong to that category.

I’d been living positively then, just as I do now.

But, you see, I don’t want to die. So I do something similar instead.

When blood drips down my arm, there’s this cold, shivery feeling, and suddenly, I feel alive again.

Or when emotions become too overwhelming…

“Your forehead.”

I tried to deflect the topic, but it didn’t work. Figures—my words aren’t particularly persuasive to begin with.

“You say you’re trying to help, but all you’re doing is interrogating me like some inspector.”

“But if someone shows up with a white bandage on their forehead, what else am I supposed to think besides that something happened?”

“Well, there was a bit of shouting, and as words were exchanged, I got hit by a glass someone threw. That’s all.”

“Who threw it?”

“My younger sibling.”

Aria’s expression stiffened.

She looked like someone who had heard something they shouldn’t have.

Seeing that kind of reaction made me feel a bit hurt.

I’ve been answering everything truthfully so far, going along with the conversation without resistance. So why is she interrogating me like a criminal?

Maybe it’s because I admitted to being hit by my younger sibling.

After all, I’m weak, weaker than a sibling three years younger than me, not to mention I’m not beautiful either.

“…Can I see what’s under the bandages?”

Even as she asked, Aria slowly approached me.

I figured saying no wouldn’t stop her, so I replied with a heavily sarcastic tone.

“So you can run straight to Ernst again and tell him I got hurt like this?”

“Of course I’d tell him! He’s literally next door, and he already said he’d help!”

“What help? Next door is just next door. We don’t live in the same house; we’re just neighbors.”

“But you could stay in Ernst’s room, or at least ask him to let you stay for a day.”

“When a man and woman do that, the woman loses everyone else but Ernst as her ally.”

And my mother would kill me.

She’d probably come up with a thousand better ways to sell me off at a higher price than handing me over to Ernst. Yet here I am, a mere object, daring to decide my own fate.

“Besides, you’ve already figured it out vaguely, haven’t you? That I’m treated like this at home.”

“I didn’t think it was this bad!”

Oh, come to think of it, Ellie never got scolded by Mother.

Anyway, the wound on my forehead would disappear in about a week, and there wasn’t going to be any grand ball during that time.

Mother wouldn’t take me to any small gatherings or social events for networking, saying it wasn’t worth the effort.

“In the end, it’s just getting beaten up a bit, occasionally tied up, locked away, and ignored by my siblings.”

“And you’re saying that so casually!?”

Aria raised her voice at me, as if completely baffled.

“Then what do you want me to dooo!?”

“……”

“What do you want me to do?

Do you think you could solve it if you were in my shoes?

You were born into a perfectly respectable family as a pretty young lady, so maybe my life looks easy to you?”

It might seem worthless and pathetic, but I’ve endured it all.

I’ve tried not to die no matter what. Stop making such a fuss over a few cuts on my arm.

I can just hide them like I always do anyway.

“So, you didn’t bring me here just to talk about this. Why did you drag me out today?”

“…I wanted to listen to you.

When you speak about your worries, sometimes you find solutions. But this…”

“There’s no way this could ever be solved. Don’t worry about me. Even though it hurts, I still make sure to take my medicine every day, and I’m eating well too.”

“…Hey, I’m sorry for speaking carelessly.”

“It’s fine.”

I didn’t know when she had spoken carelessly, but since she apologized, I accepted it.

Not that I understood why.

In truth, she’s the second kindest person I’ve ever known.

She gives me food, a place to rest, and shows genuine concern for me.

As a bonus, she even treats me like a person.

She doesn’t see me as merchandise, not being a man and all.

Things are getting better every day.

Tomorrow will be better than today.

Tomorrow will definitely be better than today.

Tomorrow will be better than today.

TL Note: Rate us on NOVEL UPDATES