Even If You Tear Me Apart - Chapter 26
The chapters are split like this so that the TL can update more consistently over time (✿ ＞◡❛)
After dinner, Ezekiel managed to do the dishes much more proficiently this time.
Not only that, he even repaired a broken chair that had been sitting behind the stable by bringing it into the shed. It was only a matter of hammering in a new wooden peg to replace the broken one, but Iris—who had been holding a lantern nearby—was overjoyed, practically leaping with excitement.
“We’ll all be able to have breakfast together tomorrow.”
“If my brother is feeling better, that is.”
“Oh, right. Is he doing okay?”
Ezekiel shook his head. Étienne had slept through until evening, barely opened his eyes to eat some stew, then immediately went back to sleep.
It had been three days since the rain began. There was much to worry about.
With both princes missing, knights of the Arbois Duchy were surely searching without rest. If their disappearance dragged on any longer, it would become a serious problem.
Ezekiel even considered asking Iris for a map of the Quilluxia estate and attempting to backtrack their route. But he couldn’t bring himself to leave Étienne alone. Iris patted Ezekiel’s shoulder.
“He’ll get better. Summer colds usually break after exactly a week.”
“Is that so.”
“Of course, it’d be best if he recovered before then.”
There was something that had been bothering Ezekiel, and he finally asked.
“Has your father… been gone quite a while?”
“Ah.”
Iris flinched, then smiled awkwardly.
“He usually comes back before the summer rains. It’s really rare for him to be this late… but I’m sure he’s alright.”
“……”
“With this much rain, he’s probably just staying somewhere safe for now.”
The straw in the barn smelled damp. But the girl sat on it without hesitation. The candle inside the lantern flickered, sending up smoke.
“He mentioned he might be a little late this time. He went to get medicine for Henri.”
The boy wasn’t simply weak or lacking stamina. Carefully, Iris explained the illness Henri suffered from.
“Henri has mana sickness.”
“Ah.”
Now it made sense—how his fever would rise without cause. Mana sickness was an illness where the body couldn’t properly regulate its internal mana.
Some children are born with mana. If lucky, they become mages. If not, they suffer from mana sickness and often die young.
Ezekiel carefully opened his mouth.
“Becoming a mage must be… difficult.”
“It usually is.”
Iris smiled faintly.
Magic was expensive—truly expensive. Mages didn’t teach their craft to just anyone, and if they did, it came at a steep price.
Only those born with mana were eligible to even be considered, and even then, acceptance wasn’t guaranteed. Mana varied greatly between individuals.
If someone paid an enormous sum to study magic but had only a small innate mana pool, it wouldn’t matter how powerful the spells, they’d be useless.
“At the very least… some way to manage the mana…”
“I looked into that too, but it’s too expensive. And there aren’t any suitable mages nearby, either.”
Hiring a mage was also incredibly costly. The curse mage under the Arbois Duchy was considered average in skill, yet reportedly received a yearly salary equal to what Felicia Arbois spent in an entire year. It was no wonder there weren’t any accessible mages nearby.
“It’s not even something that can be solved just by having money, so we were about to give up… but then we heard about a medicine that supposedly helps with mana sickness, so our Father went far away to find it.”
“I see.”
Ezekiel glanced at Iris’s profile as she sat beside him. Through the loosely braided silver hair, her blue eyes were filled with worry.
Without realizing, he found himself wondering how much the mage in his own father’s service was paid. Could it be covered with his own money? He began to mentally calculate.
How much time had passed?
It must have been quite a while. Something suddenly thumped softly against his shoulder, and Ezekiel flinched. It was Iris’s head—she’d fallen asleep.
Ezekiel instinctively tensed his shoulder, then froze again in panic, afraid he’d wake her. But fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately… she didn’t stir.
“…Iris.”
Ezekiel quietly called her name. She didn’t respond. He considered calling her again… but stopped.
Shwaaaa…
Rain continued to fall steadily outside the barn. For some reason, the sound was comforting. Maybe because of the warmth resting against his shoulder.
***
Knights of the Arbois Duchy arrived the next morning.
