It Seems Like The Infamous Trash Can is Right Here! - Chapter 4
She was also the reason I’d been dragged back to the Lubarque capital after fleeing to a foreign monastery with my life on the line for three years.
“So, what about the outing you planned for today?”
At her personal maid Ilina’s question, Vivian replied with a bright smile.
“Of course I’m going. I think I can last three or four hours easily.”
Vivian wasn’t chronically ill; she was merely weak, had freak indigestion and was prone to colds and often fainted if she pushed herself too hard.
“Are you sure it’s wise? You really shouldn’t overdo it.”
“Sasha is here. What’s there to worry about? She’ll heal me if I faint. Isn’t that right, Sasha?”
“Of course. Just call on me whenever you feel unwell.”
“See? Didn’t you hear that?”
Ilina looked at me with a resigned smile as she straightened her posture after Vivian’s assertive nod.
“There’s no need for you to keep standing there. We’ll call if you’re needed, so go on.”
“Yes, then I’ll be off.”
I took a few steps back from the bed, clasping my hands in front of me, and offered a bow in the ceremonial manner of the Order before turning to leave.
“When is that priestess supposed to leave the mansion?”
“Who knows? Brother will handle it however he sees fit.”
Just as I was about to step out, I couldn’t help but let out a wry smile at the conversation I overheard.
Honestly, I didn’t understand why Vivian even needed a resident healing priest. Wouldn’t a regular physician be enough?
Back at the monastery, everyone who sought me out was desperate for a miracle.
Parents donating their entire life savings to save their dying child, husbands willing to work as laborers in the monastery for years to heal their wives, even people bringing in severed limbs or coming with holes in their stomachs.
Helping those people every day has at least given me a sense of purpose.
Here, though I was handsomely compensated, I often wondered what I was even doing.
It’s not as if Lionel cared deeply for his sister; he barely seemed to pay her any attention.
In the novel, too, he maintained that indifferent stance, remaining an observer. Listening to their occasional conversations, they seemed more distant than strangers.
‘Not that their sibling relationship is any of my business.’
Had I not been dragged back to the capital, the very center of the novel’s plot, I wouldn’t care what the two of them did or didn’t do. If only it hadn’t been me chosen as the healing priestess for this place…
‘How could I escape?’
Just living in the capital, where the Crown Prince resided, felt like it was draining me day by day.
I had hoped that getting close to Vivian might give me a way out, but two weeks in, we had only just progressed to using each other’s names.
For some reason, Vivian’s maid Ilina didn’t seem to like me much, either.
‘Not that I did anything to offend her.’
Thanks to that, I hadn’t even been invited to a single tea time or luncheon, so any hopes of getting closer seemed far off.
And with danger looming ever closer…
‘Somehow, I need to get out before the male protagonists start appearing at the mansion.’
It was while I was walking the hall in contemplation, just as I reached the stairs, that I heard it.
“Priestess.”
A low, cold voice sounded from above.
I froze and looked up, catching sight of a tall man descending the stairs, his long legs moving with a fluid grace.
The moment I saw him, my heart began to pound so loudly it made my head ache.
It was as though I could smell that dark scent of blood again, the memory of our first encounter as vivid as ever, leaving me paralyzed every time we met.
“…Hello, Your Grace.”
Clenching my trembling hands, I greeted him.
Lionel Luanax.
The young Duke with a sensual beauty that testified to his shared bloodline with Vivian, a woman who could ensnare the Empire’s most powerful men.
He was impeccably dressed, as if ready for an outing at any moment.
Some of his sleek, dark hair had fallen across his forehead, and, finding it bothersome, he brushed it back carelessly as he strode toward me with long strides.
As he closed the distance, with the agile yet imposing figure of a snow leopard prowling the monastery’s snowy back mountains, I felt as though my existence was swallowed up by his shadow.
