Mone And Roze’s Wounds

“Please, come in. I will open the window.”

Shitoen opened the door wide and invited me in.

“Excuse me…”

Now that I thought about it, this might be my first time in a girl’s room.

Ever since I was old enough to remember, I had been thrown into places like a military academy for children, dormitories, and an army school….

I had spent plenty of time in men’s rooms, but I might never have seen a woman’s room…!

I timidly stepped inside.

Shitoen must have opened the window.

The wind brushed softly against my cheeks and flowed behind me.

“Huh? What is the matter, Prince Saryu?”

Seeing me groaning with my face covered by my hands, Shitoen spoke in a puzzled voice.

No, um…. This room smells like you….

It smells so much like Shitoen…. What is this? Was this place sealed away for several years? Is it a royal tomb? Did you put guards here because you feared grave robbers? Her parents!

“There aren’t any chairs… or anything. Um, please use this cushion.”

When I gently lowered my hands, my face felt hot. Shitoen was too busy preparing a place for me to sit and such to notice that.

For the time being, I entered the room and put my hand on the doorknob.

…Um. It was fine to close this, right…? We were husband and wife, after all…? It was fine for us to be alone together at my wife’s family home, right?

In a closed room.

“Shitoen. Should I… leave this open?”

Even so, I timidly asked her.

“Eh? Ah. I will close it.”

She hurriedly tried to come closer, so I slammed it shut. Good. Now there were no intruders.

Only Shitoen and I were in this room!

After gaining a strange sense of accomplishment, I looked around the room….

And was shocked by the sheer number of books.

On the north and south walls, there were built-in bookshelves that seemed to reach the ceiling, and an enormous number of books were stored there.

There was a large window on the east side, and beneath it were shelves that seemed to contain clothes, as well as a desk decorated with small items. It was only a guess, but although small items were displayed there now, when Shitoen had been here, it might have been filled with documents and notes.

There was nothing that looked like a bed, so I wondered if her bedroom was separate.

“Um… Prince Saryu?”

“No, um. I was just thinking that the books were amazing.”

When I pointed, Shitoen lowered her face shyly.

“It is not a very girlish room…”

“No, no, no! I was impressed that you had studied since long ago.”

I approached and looked at the bookshelves, but… I did not understand Tania’s language at all.

As I gazed over them, I found what looked like a picture book on the bottom shelf.

“May I look at it?”

“Of course. Which book is it?”

She came trotting over and peered in from beside me.

When I sat cross-legged on the floor and opened the picture book, Shitoen raised her voice happily.

“How nostalgic. They still kept this picture book. I used to read it often.”

“I see.”

We looked at the picture book together, and Shitoen explained the story to me and talked about the tutor who had given it to her. I listened with little nods while flipping through the pages.

But Shitoen, who was right beside me, let out a soft sigh.

“What’s wrong?”

I raised my face.

Shitoen, who was sitting with both hands and her bottom flat on the floor, hesitated for a moment and said, “Um…”

I stayed silent and waited for her to start talking.

“It is about Mone-san and Roze-chan.”

“Mone and Roze?”

Unexpected names came up.

“The first thing I thought was strange was their wounds.”

“You mean the wounds they suffered when they were attacked by bandits?”

Shitoen nodded.

“Mone-san had a deep cut on her right arm. Roze-san had shallow slashes on her back and left arm.”

“You said Mone’s wound came from protecting Roze, right?”

“Yes. But that is probably a lie.”

“A lie?”

I was surprised and my voice came out a little louder, but Shitoen nodded without minding it.

“If someone is slashed by another person, they develop what are called defensive wounds.”

“Defensive… You mean wounds made when defending yourself?”

“Yes. For example… suppose Prince Saryu were to slash at me. And if I did not have a weapon, like Mone-san… Prince Saryu, please, try slashing at me.”

Ehh…. Even if it was just pretend, I did not like it, but for the time being, I made a hand-chop and slowly brought it down toward Shitoen’s head.

Shitoen opened both her palms as if to block my hand-chop and thrust them out as though trying to push it back.

“Ah.”

I muttered without thinking.

Of course.

There was no need to wait to be deeply cut.

Normally, like Shitoen, someone would try to protect their head, face, or body with their hands or palms, wouldn’t they? They would open their palms like this and try to push it back….

“What often happens is that, like I just did, a person tries to protect themselves by opening their palms, and they suffer wounds on their arms or wrists. Or they try to protect their head and get wounded from the wrist to the elbow.”

Shitoen lowered her hands and said that.

“But still…. Mone was trying to protect Roze, wasn’t she? In that case, couldn’t she have been prepared to take the wound?”

“In that case, it is often taken on the back. Because the person holds the other in front of them like this and tries to become a shield against the attacker.”

After Shitoen hugged something, she turned her back to me and curled up.

True…. That would protect the whole person better…. She could wrap them up completely.

Thinking about it carefully, that was exactly what I myself had done when we were attacked in the bathhouse. When I shielded Shitoen, I took that kind of posture.

“And despite Mone-san’s wound being extremely deep, it neatly avoided major blood vessels and tendons. Also, despite Mone-san having suffered such a serious wound, Roze-san’s wounds were almost like scratches. If someone said they were made by another person, then that might be true, but…”

Shitoen straightened herself and continued speaking while touching her chin.

“Also, Mone-san’s wound. Later, it caused a fever and made her suffer greatly from pain. Naturally it would. It was such a wound, after all. But immediately after she was injured, she was extremely dull toward pain.”

“Eh? But she fainted, didn’t she?”

“That was… probably her pretending to faint.”

“Pretending?”

My eyes widened.

Shitoen nodded.

“It is called a dropping test…. You lift the arm of someone who is thought to be unconscious above their forehead. And when you let it fall… what do you think happens?”

“What happens…? Their arm falls, right?”

As I said that, I remembered that Shitoen had indeed done something like that. Raul and I had been saying, “What is she doing?”

“If you lift the arm and let go above the forehead…. Normally, the arm falls straight down. So the arm hits the face or forehead. But if you let go of the arm of someone who is showing symptoms like fainting, but is not actually unconscious…. The arm avoids the face and falls onto the chest.”

“Ah!”

That was right. Mone’s hand had done that too.

“So I thought she was pretending to be unconscious…. But that pain should not have been something anyone could act through while pretending to faint, not normally. Which means she is thought to have taken a drug that numbed her sense of pain.”

“Numbed her sense of pain…? For what purpose?”

“To create the wound.”

At Shitoen’s words, I was left speechless.

“Then, for what purpose did they do such a thing? In the first place, why did they have to be wounded? It was to make us believe that they had been attacked by bandits. Then why did those girls have to do such a thing?”

Shitoen said all that in one breath, then sadly shook her head.

“That, I do not know either. However, I could not think that they did it voluntarily. They have no parents. And they are still young. Moreover, they are women. I think they may have been ordered by a controlling man, were unable to refuse, and were made to do it for some kind of purpose.”

What suddenly came back to me were the words Shitoen had spoken to Mone and Roze.

“That kind of future exists too. Please think about it again. If anything happens, I will definitely help you.”

Had that been her trying to show them something different from their current situation?

“I told them that I would help them if they were ever in trouble. I intend to ask my father to watch over those sisters, but…. Um, Prince Saryu.”

She looked up at me from below.

“If they ever ask me for help, would it be all right to invite them to the Kingdom of Tidros?”

“Of course.”

When I nodded firmly, Shitoen’s eyes went perfectly round in surprise.

“You answered so immediately…”

“Well, they are girls Shitoen is worried about, aren’t they? Then you should reach out to them as much as you want. I will help too.”

When I smiled at her, Shitoen stared blankly for a while, then chuckled happily.

“As expected of the Prince Saryu that I love so much.”

It was fine that she said that and looked happy, but….

How should I put it? That posture. Her posture.

This pose, with both hands on the floor, her bottom lifted just slightly off the floor, looking up at me like this as she made her request.

It was extremely bewitching………!

Seduction!

Was I being seduced for the first time in my life right now?!

Then I had to accept this…!

“Shitoen…”

Just as I gently reached out toward her shoulder…

“Ah!”

Shitoen sprang to her feet.

“Prince Saryu, if you like picture books like that, this one is lovely too!”

Saying that, she went over to the bookshelf and started rummaging around….

No….

I like Shitoen more than picture books….