TPCFE 09

Chapter 09

“Are you scared? There’s no need to be so surprised. Those two are always like that.”

The family physician, Ayla, had approached me at some point and whispered quietly.

“Huh?”

“Whether positive or negative, Cain is pretty much the only person who can get a reaction out of Vael. From Vael’s perspective, Cain is the only guardian he’s had since he was four years old. And from Cain’s perspective, Vael is the nephew he cares about most in the world.”

“……How did that happen?”

Luciela suddenly became curious and asked.

“Well, it probably has something to do with the fact that the time Vael’s father died was around the same time Cain was incorporated into the direct line of the family. According to Cain himself…”

Ayla looked up at the empty air as if trying to recall something.

“When he first received his baronial title and came here, Vael was apparently the only person who needed Cain.”

“The only person who needed him…”

“After Vael injured his legs, he became much more sensitive, which is why things have gotten this bad. But even so, they don’t seriously hurt each other.”

She added that with a pitiful expression.

So that was it.

Was this some kind of twisted and tangled way of expressing affection?

“What about you, Ayla?”

“Me?”

Luciela nodded.

“Come to think of it, that was around the time I met Cain too. I…”

Ayla stared into the air for a moment before giving a small laugh.

“Let’s just say meeting those two changed the direction of my life a little.”

She offered no further explanation.

But that wasn’t what mattered to Luciela.

“Uh, wait. Are you thinking of getting in between them?”

Ayla’s eyes widened when she saw Luciela taking a step toward the two men.

“Yes. I don’t have much time.”

There was only one thought that had managed to push its way into her mind amid this dangerous situation.

The kabocha pumpkin soup she had worked so hard to make was getting cold.

As a chef, that was something she simply could not tolerate.

Luciela quietly, but firmly, stepped between the two men who were confronting each other.

“Um… how about you eat first and fight afterward?”

In an instant, the heavy pressure dominating the room abruptly disappeared.

Vael’s sharp gaze slowly turned toward her.

“It has a lot of very, very expensive ingredients…”

“Take it away. I don’t need it.”

Vael cut her off harshly.

The boy’s fierce eyes stared straight at Luciela.

Luciela frowned.

He didn’t need it?

Who decided that?

I ground through nearly all my mana making this.

I even carefully picked out the kabocha that looked like it would be the sweetest!

“I said take it away.”

Tik!

Before Luciela could even respond, Vael casually swung his hand and knocked the tray away.

She quickly regained her balance, but the bowl of soup tilted, sending its contents splattering in every direction.

About half of the soup spilled onto the tray, while yellow liquid covered the back of Luciela’s hand and splashed onto her clothes.

Perhaps he hadn’t intended things to go that far, because for a brief moment, Vael’s eyes trembled slightly as he looked at her hand.

However, when she didn’t scream—and perhaps after confirming that the liquid remaining in the bowl had cooled enough that it wasn’t hot—his expression returned to its usual coldness.

“What kind of insolence is this?!”

Cain shouted furiously.

Vael continued to glare at him with a rebellious expression.

“I’ve had enough experiments done on my body. If you were only trying to treat me out of curiosity, shouldn’t you be satisfied by now? Other than Ayla, no one has actually helped.”

At the words ‘experiment’ and ‘curiosity,’ Cain’s face twitched slightly.

“One bite.”

Cain endured his anger and tried again.

“Just try one bite. I guarantee the taste.”

“No way.”

Vael shook his head as if he couldn’t trust him in the slightest.

“You’ve mixed all kinds of medicines together and forced me to put all sorts of disgusting things into my mouth.”

“Vael.”

“Do you think someone with paralyzed legs doesn’t have taste buds? I said I don’t want to eat it, so why…”

“This time is different.”

He looked at Luciela’s kabocha pumpkin soup and spoke again.

“It has effects beyond the taste…”

“Blegh.”

Perhaps because he disliked the word ‘effects,’ Vael looked straight at Luciela and pretended to vomit.

Wow.

Luciela bit her lip as she watched him.

The guy Mom had thought of as the protagonist of the game was acting like such a childish brat.

It was childish enough to make her shudder.

The problem was that Luciela was around the same age as him.

That childish mockery hit harder than she expected.

In other words, Luciela was annoyed.

“Even the food made by Vellaon’s head chef doesn’t suit my taste very well, so what could this girl possibly—Huh?”

Vael’s eyes suddenly widened.

Something warm and comforting had been shoved directly into his mouth.

“I have a limit to how much I can tolerate. Eat it before you say anything.”

Holding onto the handle of the spoon sticking out of Vael’s mouth, Luciela said,

“……”

Vael glared at Luciela with piercing eyes, and Luciela met his gaze just as fiercely.

Gulp.

As the two exchanged stares, Vael’s throat moved slightly, apparently swallowing a few drops of soup.

The next moment, Vael’s expression changed.

Like ice melting, the cold light in his eyes slowly softened.

Then his jaw moved ever so slightly, and his fierce blue eyes gradually widened in surprise.

“It’s… sweet.”

“Of course it is. I made it with the finest kabocha pumpkin.”

“It’s not just sweet. There’s something deeper…”

Vael took the spoon from her hand.

Then he put another bite into his mouth.

And another.

Crunch.

This time, it was bread.

The moment he bit into it, the crisp crust cracked between his teeth, followed by the soft, chewy interior underneath, stimulating his mouth.

Vael instinctively savored the texture and closed his eyes.

Clink, clink.

The hand holding the spoon gradually increased its speed, and his eyes grew wider and wider.

Ayla and Cain watched him with their mouths hanging open, frozen in place as though they had seen a ghost.

“Vael is… eating food with his own hands.”

“……I can’t believe it, even seeing it with my own eyes.”

The bowl was emptied in an instant.

“What did you feed me?”

Vael muttered.

“The taste is one thing, but my body…”

As if he had sensed something, he clenched both hands tightly and exerted force throughout his body.

For several seconds, nothing changed.

Once again, Vael frowned and concentrated his strength somewhere in his body.

Twitch.

“Oh my!”

Ayla was the first to notice the tiny movement.

“Vael, your legs…”

Twitch.

There was no doubt.

Vael’s supposedly paralyzed leg had trembled ever so slightly for a brief moment.

Cain also stared at the movement with a dazed expression.

Was this real?

Had it really worked?

Was the miracle he had spent years searching for actually something that existed in this world?

‘Just what is this girl…?’

His gaze suddenly turned toward Luciela.

But she wasn’t looking at Vael’s legs.

She was looking somewhere else.

Above Vael’s head, into the empty air.

“……”

Luciela stared intently at the status window she had brought up above Vael’s head once again.

Ah.

So that was how it worked.

The buff could strengthen the muscles in his legs, but the real cause was…

Pop.

Suddenly, the world around Luciela tilted violently.

No.

It was Luciela’s own body that had tilted.

Apparently, the fifty minutes were up.

“……!”

“Whoa?”

Cain and Vael, startled, caught her, but Luciela’s body went completely limp as all her strength drained away.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Did you pass out? Your complexion…”

Vael’s eyes, which had regained their sharpness, immediately turned toward Cain.

“Uncle, what’s wrong with this girl? Did you do this to her?”

“That’s not it! She did pass out when I first met her, but she had clearly recovered her stamina…”

“Why did you bring someone here immediately after she had already passed out once, then?”

Cain bit his lip tightly.

He had a point.

Cain had been so eager to let Vael meet her that he had rushed things.

He should have let her rest for a week before bringing her here.

“What was her condition like when you arrived at the kitchen?”

Ayla asked as she placed a hand against Luciela’s forehead.

“She looked fine. She did become pale suddenly after cooking, though…”

Cain let out a sigh filled with guilt.

“Was it because of the cooking?”

Vael’s eyes trembled.

Up close, Luciela looked especially small and fragile.

Even more so than Vael himself, who had been unable to leave the house for years because of his illness.

She was even filthy.

Had she not even taken a bath after arriving, and instead cooked for me until she passed out?

The heavenly taste still lingered in his mouth.

It felt as though he could sense the effort of someone grinding their own energy completely into the food.

Without realizing it, Vael carefully brushed Luciela’s forehead.

“Hmm?”

At that moment, he felt a tremor in the hand he was holding.

Vael’s eyes widened as he looked closely at Luciela’s face.

He saw a pair of green eyes, half-open.

She wasn’t fully awake.

It seemed the noise had brought her consciousness halfway back.

“You… idiot. Did Uncle threaten you? Stupidly…”

“Quiet. Listen to me. I saw it earlier…”

Luciela muttered with her mind still hazy.

“What… what do you want me to listen to?”

Vael instinctively leaned closer, bringing his ear right next to her lips.

Vael flinched for a moment, but he didn’t move away.

“You have toxins building up in your body. If you don’t detoxify them, you’ll be in serious trouble.”

Luciela spoke.

Ayla, who had been listening, looked at her in surprise.

“This isn’t something food can fix. At least, it can’t be fixed through food alone.”

“What does that…”

“Sorry.”

Having finished speaking, Luciela completely passed out.