Mad Rosetta - Chapter 127

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Rosette Gone Mad
Chapter 127
The Child of Confession (10)
When I emerged from the backyard, just as he had said, the floor inside the house bore what looked like animal tracks scattered here and there.
It was a moment when I felt oddly proud of myself for hiding, considering I might have been struck dead by a bear’s front paw or devoured alive by a wolf.
“Step back, Rosette.”
In an instant, the purple curtain billowed.
I flinched in surprise and stumbled backward. It was right around then that he drove his sword through the center of the curtain without hesitation.
With a sharp tearing sound, something darted swiftly from beneath the curtain.
“Grrr… Yip!”
“…”
“Yip! Grrr… Yip!”
Short legs and a bloated body.
A pointed snout opened to reveal teeth, displaying extreme wariness.
And the strips of jerky tangled in its fur revealed the culprit who had stolen my meal.
“…I’ve seen this creature somewhere before.”
As the tension eased, Sing’s blade tip lowered toward the floor.
Just as he said, it was a creature I’d seen before.
“…Is this that raccoon from last time?”
“…”
I was so dumbfounded by Sing’s question that I couldn’t even respond.
It was a raccoon.
That filthy, pig-like raccoon from before—the one supposedly too disgusting to eat.
Beyond relief, I felt utterly deflated.
I had trembled in fear for hours, never imagining that the source of my terror was merely this small creature.
“…I thought its size was unusual. It seems this one has such a voracious appetite it even steals human food.”
Sing said this, then drove it out the door with sharp “shoo! shoo!” sounds.
Only after the creature disappeared, still crying harshly, could I finally collapse onto the sofa.
Since I had been crouched beside the hot spring, the hem of my dress was thoroughly soaked.
With each movement, the wet fabric clinging to my calves felt uncomfortable.
“Still, it’s fortunate. There don’t seem to be any other creatures.”
Even after locking the door, he didn’t seem reassured, checking the bedroom once before finally approaching me.
Regardless, exhaustion had overtaken me, so I spoke with my head resting against the sofa’s armrest.
“You know… if we meet that beast again, let’s steal its food.”
“My, you seem quite upset.”
“Do you have any idea how long I was stuck in there? It’s been… look! Over four hours of hiding.”
“I told you that was the right thing to do, darling. Don’t be so upset.”
“If I’d known it was just some raccoon…”
“Ha, you think you could have handled it alone? That would have been difficult.”
“What?”
I glared at him with eyes narrowed to slits, and he tapped the floor lightly with the tip of his boot.
Whether he was pointing out the wreckage of the house or something else entirely, I couldn’t discern his meaning, so I remained silent.
“Look at the footprints, darling.”
“What about them?”
“…Don’t you think the tracks left by a raccoon are rather unusually large?”
He tilted his head with a smile playing at his lips.
I slowly traced my gaze to where Sing’s leather boots were planted.
Footprints far exceeding half the size of his feet were scattered throughout the room.
These were unmistakably the marks of some other beast—not a raccoon or wildcat.
My eyes widened as I looked up at him, and he lowered himself to meet my gaze.
“As I said, you were wise to hide.”
“…Did I nearly die?”
“Well. A wild beast is unlikely to spit you back out simply because you taste unpalatable… Possibly, yes.”
The thought that I might have been devoured alive by some mountain creature sent a chill down my spine.
As I trembled, his expression—which had been smiling—gradually hardened.
“What… what is it? Why do you look like that?”
Had he discovered something?
As I pressed him with a frozen expression, he pointed at my right wrist with one finger.
“When did this happen?”
“…Ah.”
The back of my hand, stretched out beyond the sofa, had already taken on a deep purplish hue.
The bruising was vivid as a mackerel’s back, and the swelling was taut as though I’d been struck hard by someone.
It seemed likely this wound had come from when I’d wielded the kitchen knife against Sing and received a blow in return.
“Why, I was brandishing that kitchen knife earlier, remember? I think it happened then.”
“…Darling, try to put strength in your hand.”
“I’ve been trying since earlier, but it hurts too much.”
I replied with mild irritation, raising my arm to show him.
Even the slightest movement sent sharp, throbbing pain through it—I couldn’t so much as clench a fist.
To be honest, the pain was worse than when I’d heard my ribs were broken years ago.
“…I’m just going to press gently, darling.”
“Wha— Ahhhhh!”
Before I could even finish my whimper, he pressed firmly on the injured area with a grave expression.
An indescribable agony flooded through me, and I reflexively seized his hair in a tight grip.
I nearly wept from the pain.
“…This is serious. The bone appears to be damaged.”
“What… what?”
“The swelling obscures the shape somewhat, but nothing seems twisted… It’s likely a fracture.”
I released the hair I’d been gripping and asked again, and he regarded me with concern etched across his face. His disheveled hair, now standing in all directions, was almost comical.
I’d mentioned that the pain showed no signs of subsiding, and if the bone were indeed damaged, that would certainly explain it.
It was then that I found his reflexes—capable of inflicting a fracture in a single blow—somewhat terrifying.
Sing let out a guilty murmur, looking as though he’d been defeated.
“I’m sorry, Rosette…”
“…Yes. It’s fine.”
“And now I’ve even damaged your hand…”
But if you hadn’t, you would’ve ended up as someone who’d been cut by their own lover…
Recalling what had happened in the backyard, I felt a chill run down my spine.
Had I not knocked the weapon from my own hand, I would have wounded Sing and suffered extreme anguish.
The aftermath of such a serious injury would have been beyond description.
His response in defending himself was entirely justified, so I sat up from my reclined position and forced a bright smile.
“Well, anyway, you’re quite late today, aren’t you? You met with His Majesty?”
“You should visit the clinic, darling. Right now… Damn it, I can’t take you down there myself.”
Ah, I’d stepped in it.
I sat awkwardly on the sofa and watched him.
The outside had long since grown dark, and because of what had just transpired inside the house, he seemed to be deliberating whether to descend the mountain alone.
The staff member who brought dinner had come and gone long ago, so there was no one to help.
It seemed they’d come while I was hiding and simply left when they found no one.
“…Let’s wake up early tomorrow and get you examined, darling. For now, it’s better to at least secure it temporarily.”
Having decided on his own, he sprang to his feet.
I was admiring his figure as he selected a dried log from the pile of firewood and began splitting it with his sword.
At his murmur that he needed a suitable cord, I quickly pulled the waist tie from my dress and held it up, calling out.
“How about this? Isn’t this what you need for a splint?”
“…Yes, this should work.”
Apparently satisfied, he carefully extracted just the gold ring from my waist tie.
Then he fashioned a temporary splint from the flattened wood and secured my hand and arm with it.
Crouching before me, his meticulous movements looked so serious that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“If I tie it too tightly, it might actually restrict blood circulation, so I’ll just wrap it this loosely for now.”
“Yes. But looking at it this way, I feel just like a wooden doll.”
“…Even in a situation like this, my darling remains so cheerful.”
“I’ve broken ribs before—what’s a crack? It’s just inconvenient that it had to be my right hand… but what can you do.”
“…You. I’m asking because you seem too naive. You’re not ambidextrous, are you?”
At his sudden question, I shook my head.
“No, I’m not.”
“Then how will you write letters?”
“Well, since my hand is like this, naturally I’d ask the children to…”
“…”
“…”
His expression darkened.
I was left speechless, standing there stupidly with my mouth agape.
I couldn’t entrust the intimate correspondence I’d exchange with Sing or Sergio to someone else to write.
With the final battle so close at hand, having my right hand completely shattered meant I’d need to find another way to communicate.
“…Return my wrist.”
“Sigh….”
“Return it!”
The next day. We sought out a nearby Clinic as soon as we opened our eyes, and received a diagnosis that matched Sing’s assessment—the bone appeared to be fractured.
For someone who had cowered before a mere raccoon, the outcome was rather anticlimactic.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————