The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 61
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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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【Chapter 61】
Fortunately, the incident scene wasn’t far from the Special Tax Bureau building.
Thanks to the department staff discovering her quickly, there was no harm to Rianel’s health.
Asil conveyed the doctor’s opinion.
“He said that with sufficient rest, she can recover without any aftereffects.”
“Well, that’s fortunate at least.”
“At least her life was saved…”
Moreover, Vanessa, who had been controlling Rupert, was also arrested while loitering around the scene, and Rupert’s brainwashing was lifted too.
Looking at the results alone, the case itself was resolved positively.
“By the way, isn’t Lady Violen really creepy? Where did she pick up information about the Team Leader’s allergy to prepare something like that?”
Wilbrin shuddered, and Til rubbed her arms that had broken out in goosebumps.
“Exactly.”
Moreover, sacred flowers weren’t something you could easily obtain.
You had to donate a large sum to the temple to barely receive a few stems.
Yet Vanessa had made sacred flower concentrate and poured it on Rianel.
The venom and malice of wanting to drag down her opponent even if it meant ruining her own life was enough to make one’s teeth chatter.
Just as she was shaking her head.
Wilbrin looked at Asil and felt puzzled.
The corners of Asil’s mouth, who had delivered the unfortunate news, were subtly turned up.
‘Doesn’t this person like the Team Leader?’
It was strange.
While talking about his beloved’s misfortune, far from being anxious, he was acting like the most leisurely person in the world.
‘He looks exactly like a well-fed beast.’
“Bureau Director, did something good happen to you by any chance?”
Asil let out an “Ah,” exclamation, then smiled so brightly it seemed to light up the surroundings.
“I personally fulfilled a wish I had been longing for.”
If the Bureau Director, who was usually good at managing his expressions, was acting like this, it must have been quite a joyful occasion.
“Ah, um. I see.”
Wilbrin decided not to dig into her superior’s affairs. The less you know about such things, the better.
However, a few days later.
Wilbrin came to resent her past self for not inquiring more thoroughly.
“The Team Leader is staying at the Bureau Director’s mansion?”
Asil’s excuse was plausible.
Since there was no one to nurse Rianel, who lived alone, he had moved her to his mansion, which had the most space and the best conditions.
‘Isn’t that obviously just a pretext?’
Wasn’t he using nursing care to manipulate the person he liked?
“She agreed to it herself.”
If that was the case, there was nothing to be done, but.
‘He planned it, he definitely planned it.’
Wilbrin shook her head inwardly.
The Bureau Director’s intentions were obvious.
‘Will the Team Leader be alright?’
When one’s body is sick, even strong people become weak-hearted.
She was worried that Rianel might fall for the Bureau Director’s schemes.
* * *
Meanwhile, Rianel was.
Enjoying luxury while ordering around the mansion’s owner like a servant.
“I’ve set the room temperature to be slightly cool. Instead, you seem to prefer heavy blankets, so I brought this one. Do you like it?”
“An appropriate temperature that helps with sleep and hygienic bedding. I like it.”
“I’m glad you’re satisfied. Oh, when you were unwell, Master, you used to enjoy stew with a small amount of meat, so I prepared some. How is it?”
Asil placed a small table next to the bed and set a bowl containing clear stew on it.
A savory and warm aroma pleasantly circled around Rianel’s nose.
As she brought the bedside table closer, she could see the thin stew with its savory aroma.
“The meat pieces are small and the amount is appropriate, so it should be less burdensome on the stomach. Thank you for your consideration.”
When Rianel tried to sit up, Asil quickly approached and helped her by placing a pillow behind her lower back so she could sit.
“Your hair must be bothersome. I’ll tie it up for you.”
“I can do it myself.”
“With those hands?”
Asil stared at Rianel’s hands. The swelling hadn’t completely gone down, and they still had a reddish tinge.
When the sacred flower concentrate had spilled. These were traces from instinctively raising her arms to block it.
The reason Rianel had taken sick leave was also because of these hands. She couldn’t grasp anything with them.
“I’ll do it for you.”
Rianel had nothing to say and closed her mouth.
Asil, standing behind her, gathered her hair.
“You prefer it slightly loose, right?”
“Yes.”
She naturally thought he would tie it clumsily or not know how to do it.
But Asil moved his hands a few times and quickly created a ribbon knot.
“You look skilled.”
“I practiced.”
Rianel’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“I wanted to tie it for you at least once someday.”
Asil was kind. The favors he bestowed were timely and appropriate for a patient, making life comfortable.
However, seeing him stick to her side like a goldfish’s tail, Rianel began to reconsider her choice.
She, who wouldn’t have even dreamed of a hospital room due to the cost, was staying here instead of her cramped rented room because of Rupert.
She was tired of constantly turning away him who kept visiting.
‘So I just chose the less bothersome option.’
Rianel realized that dealing with someone who maintained appropriate boundaries while being clingy was also quite exhausting.
She was experiencing the saying ‘there’s no paradise in the place you flee to.’
‘I must have temporarily lost my reason due to pain.’
Otherwise, there was no way she would have made such a foolish choice.
Anyway, now she had to remedy the situation.
“As I said before, I am not your master-”
“You’re not, right.”
“Yes.”
Asil smiled gently.
“This is a bit disappointing. You accepted me at the fire site.”
You worried about me when I got hurt, and didn’t you call me a cunning fellow.
Rianel found her student’s good memory resentful.
“…It’s a misunderstanding.”
“You were the one who said reality denial doesn’t help solve problems, Master.”
“….”
‘Right, what remedy, what remedy.’
Rianel gave up.
And she ‘accepted’ reality and entered the stage of ‘compromise.’
“…If I return home, would you forget about me?”
“Oh my. You seem not to know, but since you came to my house to receive nursing care, you can’t leave until you’re completely healed.”
Then what about after recovery?
“If you recover completely and want to leave on your own feet, I suppose there’s nothing I can do.”
Though he had absolutely no intention of that happening. He was speaking so smoothly.
“If possible, please become a tree that takes root in our home. I’ll take care of you with all my heart.”
“You’re full of dark intentions. Your desires are blatant.”
“I’m not in a position to hide anything right now. I don’t have the luxury of speaking indirectly.”
Rianel clicked her tongue.
“Why don’t you just confine me then?”
“Of course I want to, but.”
At the same time, Asil’s shadow fell over Rianel.
Just when his breath came close enough to tickle her hair.
“I think you’d hate me for it.”
He quietly stepped back.
“Actually, I’m in a rather dangerous state right now. If Master gives me even one wrong look of dislike, my breath will stop. So please don’t look at me like that.”
Asil had desires too.
Rianel was within arm’s reach.
The source of his desire to touch, to feel, to covet her.
Though he resented his master for abandoning her professorship to go to the Imperial Palace and cursed the Emperor, he hadn’t realized his own feelings back then.
Now that he had awakened to his heart.
Asil was properly facing the root of his desires.
‘Please let this moment last forever.’
Though it was surely an impossible wish.
“Actually, I wanted to throw away all the letters your family sent too….”
He had to use all his strength just to barely receive your attention.
Yet they could easily approach you and shake up your life simply because they happened to share blood in this lifetime.
That’s why it bothered him.
He worried that the letter might contain slander about him, or words to lure you outside the mansion.
He had all sorts of thoughts about whether to burn the letter or pretend he never received it and send it back.
“…But I still can’t do anything that would make Master hate me.”
Because he didn’t want to be hated.
Asil placed the letter on the nightstand.
“So I’m trying to win your heart through good deeds, so please look upon me fondly.”
He spoke such words while wearing the most harmful smile in the world.
“It would be uncomfortable for you to break the seal. Shall I open it for you?”
“I’d like to eat first.”
Right now she couldn’t even hold a pen.
Naturally, it was also difficult to hold utensils.
“Could you call a caregiver to help me eat?”
“Of course. As many as you’d like.”
Asil headed toward the door.
Just as he seemed about to leave, he turned back and sat beside Rianel.
“That would be me.”
“….”
Seriously.
Rianel squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then sighed.
“How mischievous.”
“Ahahaha!”
Still, how precious these moments were.
He picked up a spoon and scooped some stew.
“Now say ‘ah.’ Ah.”
“…Am I the only one eating?”
“I’m full.”
He had never spent a day so filled with satisfaction as this recently.
* * *
However, Asil’s perfect day didn’t last long.
“We came to visit you, Team Leader!”
Starting with Wilbrin’s cheerful voice, familiar faces appeared one after another.
“How… how are you feeling? The Bureau Director said you were fine, but it seemed wrong not to come at all. Ah, I thought about buying flowers, but I didn’t bring any in case you might be allergic to those too.”
“This is medicine that’s supposed to be good for allergies. I was careful to buy something under 10 gold.”
Mel held out a box with the general store’s emblem still on it.
Among the Tax Bureau people who had packed into the room.
Rianel blinked a couple of times upon seeing a familiar face.
“…What brings you all the way here?”
“I came with them.”
Asil frowned upon seeing Rupert.
There were too many unwelcome guests.
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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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