Mad Rosetta - Chapter 53

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

 

Episode 53

 

Cowardly Man (5)

 

* * *

 

“Huff…! Cough! Hack, ah…!”

 

As soon as I opened my eyes, excruciating pain shot through my throat.

 

My mouth was parched as if I still hadn’t escaped from a fire scene, and my entire body stung and throbbed.

 

When I tried to get up hastily, dizziness and nausea overwhelmed me.

 

Just as I was about to collapse off the bed, someone firmly caught me as I raised my head.

 

“Rose! Coco! Try to come to your senses, alright? Can you recognize who I am?”

 

“…Ah, Father.”

 

I looked at Father’s face, pale as death yet still gripping my shoulders.

 

I couldn’t distinguish whether this was the time when Mother had passed away, or after I had escaped from the shop.

 

Because it was no different from Father’s haggard appearance when I faced him after losing Mother.

 

If I hadn’t seen Penny and the other children behind the physician who was sternly scolding me that it wasn’t time to get up carelessly yet, I would have mistaken it for a dream.

 

“Well, at least you woke up in just a day. What on earth happened? When I heard the news, how much, how much…”

 

“Fa, Father. Sob, I…”

 

I remembered the day Mother passed away.

 

I was certainly going to say that. But the moment I properly met Father’s eyes, I had to fold away that resolve completely.

 

The emotion dwelling in Father’s eyes was close to terror.

 

The helplessness of someone who nearly lost both wife and child in the same accident.

 

To Father, who was so frightened, I couldn’t burden him with the worry that Mother had been murdered by someone, at least not right now.

 

At that moment, I desperately grasped Father’s trembling hands like someone suffering from tremors.

 

“Fa, Father. I’m fine, cough! I’m fine. Look… urgh.”

 

“The lung damage could be severe, so you shouldn’t speak so hastily, Lady.”

 

“…An, anyway. I’m perfectly fine.”

 

“You are not perfectly fine. Please just lie down.”

 

…That cold physician, honestly.

 

If that man was saying it to that extent, it really meant it was serious, so I just kept my lips pressed together while not letting go of Father’s hand.

 

Then Father let out a sigh like a lament with reddened eyes.

 

“He’s right. I heard the detailed circumstances from Bonita and the Montague Duchess, so Coco, you should prioritize taking rest.”

 

But what could you learn from hearing it from them?

 

I opened my lips wanting to confide something, but soon closed them again.

 

Even if the suddenly flying arrow could be proven since the shop owner saw it with me, I couldn’t think of any way to present the pine resin powder as evidence.

 

‘Come to think of it, what happened to the proprietor.’

 

When I asked Father, who was about to leave with that thought, an immediate answer came back.

 

“That man is doing well at the Internal Infirmary of the Security Bureau, so don’t worry. There are questionable points in his statement, so it will take quite some time to understand the full story.”

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

“…According to that man, he owes you his life.”

 

“Haha, is that so?”

 

“Are you in your right mind?”

 

“…Huh?”

 

I looked at him with a dumbfounded expression, not understanding the context.

 

Father had his brows furrowed with a very displeased face.

 

“You saved someone’s life, so did you think this father would be proud?”

 

“…”

 

“I told you to protect the weak as a noble and fulfill your responsibility for public order. When did I ever tell you to recklessly gamble with your own life?”

 

“No, no… Father?”

 

“If at least you were exceptional in martial arts like the knights, I might have understood. But you don’t even know your place and run around like a moth to flame?”

 

“…”

 

“Now I see that you, Coco, don’t understand the weight your surname carries at all. Spend 2 weeks in confinement reflecting on yourself.”

 

I was so dumbfounded that my head went blank for a moment.

 

What? Excuse me? Father?

 

I was left speechless by Father’s ice-cold rapid-fire scolding and could only lie in an awkward position on the bed.

 

Even in this bleak atmosphere, I found the physician and Penny, who were diligently changing gauze, admirable.

 

Rosetta Coco’s first time in life. I really received a confinement order.

 

* * *

 

“Then rest well, Lady.”

 

“…”

 

“…I’ll say it again, you must absolutely rest-”

 

“I got it.”

 

“Yes, then.”

 

Even though I glared at her venomously, Penny didn’t mind and left the room with the physician.

 

…How should I put it, aside from feeling completely defeated.

 

I was breaking out in cold sweat from someone’s burning gaze that I had been trying to avoid since waking up.

 

Well, I was actually sweating from pain too.

 

【Not a trace of remorse at all.】

 

Sing sat in the chair placed beside the bed and shot out curtly.

 

On the other hand, I was too ashamed of the fact that I had cried and wailed disgracefully in front of him to retort anything.

 

And that was after days of psychological warfare.

 

Strictly speaking, being able to escape from the fire scene was entirely thanks to him, but due to my embarrassing past, I couldn’t even bring myself to say thank you.

 

【Haha, do you at least know you nearly died for real?】

 

“…”

 

【…Was my advice to take even one guard with you that amusing?】

 

Did he think I was ignoring him?

 

It was a growling voice like a beast ready to pounce.

 

Only then did I realize that he was angry.

 

“…I survived, so it’s fine.”

 

This damn mouth of mine.

 

As I cursed my own terrible way of speaking, Sing hardened his expression frighteningly as if he hadn’t been angry until now.

 

【You speak so well while unable to even assess your own wretched state.】

 

Then he grabbed my forearm and held it up for me to see.

 

Even though he didn’t press on the injured area, pain shot through immediately.

 

I tried to roughly pull my arm away from the pain, but he wouldn’t let go.

 

“What are you doing…! Cough! Ah!”

 

Damn it. Perhaps because I had inhaled too much smoke as the physician said, whenever I tried to raise my voice even a little, my throat stung and I couldn’t breathe well.

 

Even in this situation, I was afraid of him glaring at me as if he had no intention of giving in, but I had to face the reality that my condition was absurd.

 

My arms and legs were covered in gauze, and every time the burned areas touched the bed surface, searing pain followed.

 

My hair, which used to reach down to my hips, had been cut unevenly at some point and now only reached my waist.

 

‘Damn… I know, I know! But in that situation, there was no proper way!’

 

I acknowledge my mistake in carelessly dismissing Sing’s concerns.

 

But I absolutely didn’t want to see an unrelated person lose their life due to another scheme targeting me.

 

So even if thinking of the people belonging to Benitra Estate, I certainly did something I shouldn’t have done, I didn’t want to regret saving the shop owner.

 

Did I look wronged thinking this way?

 

Or perhaps feeling that we couldn’t communicate, Sing let out a softer sigh than before and said.

 

【Ask the Duke to obtain burn medicine used in the imperial palace. There should be medicine that can sufficiently heal fresh burn marks.】

 

“How do you know such things.”

 

【You, really. Sigh…】

 

As if truly annoyed by me casually asking useless questions, Sing roughly ran his hand through his hair once.

 

His upturned jade-colored eyes were extremely sharp.

 

【You seem to have completely forgotten… It would be good to remember, Rose. Your life doesn’t belong to you alone.】

 

“…What?”

 

【Since I personally brought you back to life, wouldn’t half of it be mine?】

 

A sharp and ominous aura emanated from him, like someone wielding a dagger.

 

Was I going crazy?

 

Those chilling words sounded exactly like a confession to me.

 

【Promise me you won’t do anything reckless with your life as collateral ever again.】

 

“…I’ll be as careful as I can. But do you expect those things to just die on their own if I sit around elegantly? Someday I’ll really have to—”

 

【Haha! Do you think I’m making a request right now?】

 

Sing sneered as if finding it absurd. Then he suddenly leaned forward toward me as I lay there.

 

I had nowhere to retreat further, so all I could do was stiffen my shoulders.

 

His endlessly low voice felt so chilling that it gave me goosebumps.

 

【Then from now on, every time you come back injured from somewhere, I’ll do something you’d hate. If even that’s not enough, I might move contrary to your plans.】

 

“…”

 

【Don’t forget, Rose. We’re in the same boat. If something like this happens again…】

 

“…”

 

【Then I’ll become the biggest obstacle to your revenge.】

 

A clear threat.

 

Yet what it contained was an absurd plea to prioritize safety above all, and his terribly cold eyes felt only fiercely hot.

 

‘…How can I not misunderstand when you act like this.’

 

I felt somewhat deflated.

 

Making such ridiculous threats that don’t even sound like threats.

 

Worrying about scars that might not even remain.

 

Why won’t you just say you love me?

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