* * *
As Zavad frowned and was about to say something again, Daniel bowed deeply toward him.
“I would also like to ask this favor. Please send Ranshel-nim. I know it is a presumptuous request to make regarding someone who has not long risen from a sickbed, but there is no one who can perform this task better than Ranshel-nim right now.”
“I have been very healthy the whole time, so you don’t need to worry….”
He wanted them to stop making a perfectly fine person lie in bed.
However, Zavad didn’t seem to have any intention of yielding.
“How many times do I have to tell you no? I have no intention of sending my servant. Ranshel still needs to recuperate.”
“No, I have never been this healthy, so why are you doing this?”
“Why are you doing this? I told you to lie still, so why don’t you listen?”
“Because you keep stopping me even though I can do it!”
If they didn’t find evidence of heresy at the prayer meeting, there was no way to stop the Archbishop from expanding his power.
The Archbishop was just waiting for an opportunity to question the current Saint’s qualifications and kick him out.
In the worst case, Frey could lose the position of Saint, and even the Holy Emperor could be ousted, leaving the Temple to be swayed by the Archbishop’s hands.
Then, not only the Empress, who had always been supported by the Temple, but also Zavad, who was engaged to the Saint, would inevitably be negatively affected one after another.
Therefore, infiltrating the prayer meeting with Daniel and securing evidence of heresy was more important than anything else at this point.
Naturally, it was much better for two people to cooperate than one, if possible.
But Zavad kept holding him back and was about to blow this precious opportunity.
It was a choice that made no sense.
Here, he should obviously send Ranshel.
Although he had kept him in the Vershel mansion saying he wanted to watch his progress, Zavad surely knew that Ranshel was fine now, didn’t he?
“Can you not understand words anymore? Are your ears blocked?”
“You are the one who is being unreasonable, Young Master!”
While the argument between Ranshel and Zavad continued, Frey, who had been listening silently, added weight to Ranshel’s opinion.
“I also want to receive Ranshel’s help right now. I am sure he can do well.”
“Are you joining in now too, Saintess?”
Zavad let out a scoff as if he was dumbfounded.
“I don’t know what has clouded your judgment, but Ranshel is a no. He will surely just be a hindrance without doing anything properly.”
“I wish the Young Master would trust Ranshel just this once. Ranshel must want to be of help to the Young Master too.”
“I do not need help from a servant!”
Unable to hold back the anger he had been suppressing, Zavad shouted.
He pushed his chair back roughly, stood up, and grabbed both of Ranshel’s shoulders as he stood before him.
“I told you it’s enough if you just stay still. Don’t act out when you’re lacking, and just please stay quietly stuck here! Just eat those sweet things you say you like and roll around on the bed in this room.”
“…….”
“You just have to do nothing. Is that so difficult?”
It felt cold inside, as if he had drunk ice water.
Those burning red eyes looked adamant, as if they wouldn’t allow even a small opening.
It was clear he really meant that he didn’t need Ranshel’s help.
He had always called Ranshel stupid and dim-witted.
Ranshel knew that well too.
That’s why he got scammed, fell into debt, and couldn’t even protect his young sister.
But Ranshel wanted to help Zavad.
He wanted to be someone who gave him strength.
But Zavad said he didn’t want that.
Ranshel was someone who couldn’t give him even a bit of trust.
Zavad doesn’t need him.
The more he chewed on it, the more sorrow surged.
Ranshel wanted to protest.
He wanted to assert his opinion and persuade him logically.
But what actually came out were unrefined words and a trembling voice.
“Am… Am I that stupid? Is that why you can’t trust me?”
He didn’t want to cry again.
It was funny and shameful to cry out of sorrow when he wasn’t a child.
Ranshel, with reddened eyes, clenched his clothes tightly and opened his trembling lips.
“Because I’m foolish and uneducated, I’m cumbersome… and annoying, so you don’t want to see me anymore? Is that why you keep me here… and don’t let me go out?”
“……That’s not it.”
Visibly losing his momentum, Zavad scattered his gaze in all directions in perplexity and ruffled his hair.
“I mean, for you, such, things are….”
Zavad, mumbling slowly with shaking eyes, fell silent with his gaze lowered.
Then, after a while, he clenched his fists so tight that veins popped out on the back of his hands, lifted his head, and spoke.
“A servant getting hurt is because the master is incompetent. I don’t want to be an incapable master.”
“…Me getting hurt is my fault, not your responsibility, Young Master.”
Ranshel thought this happened because of his own immaturity in not knowing they would try to use him, not Zavad.
But Zavad looked rather bewildered when Ranshel replied calmly.
“I’m not trying to blame you….”
“No, you are right, Young Master. I acted stupidly.”
“…I told you that’s not it.”
A long and heavy breath flowed from Zavad’s mouth.
He roughly swept back his disheveled hair with his palm and frowned.
Then, he continued in a much lower and calmer voice.
“…When I say you’re stupid, it doesn’t mean you are lacking. Just, because you are too naive….”
“……What?”
“This world is full of purely unpleasant and disgusting things, but you don’t know such things well. Those things you meddle with here and there and talk to are all bastards who don’t deserve it.”
A bit of irritation mixed into his calmly spoken words.
“Why do you smile so much at worthless things? Why do you take their side? The person you should help must be someone who can pay you a fair price. I am the only person like that for you, but you keep forgetting that.”
“…….”
“That’s why I said you’re stupid. You… need to know the world a bit better.”
Ranshel couldn’t even reply and just blinked.
No matter what, he must have lived in the world longer than Zavad.
Had he been thinking this while looking at him all this time?
Naive?
‘I was only thinking about sucking your lips….’
Zavad added while looking at the dazed Ranshel.
“…It means I didn’t say it to hurt you. Listen carefully and just accept it.”
Because of his guilty conscience, his tears went right back in.
Ranshel, who was nodding obediently, paused at a thought that suddenly occurred to him.
“…But can’t you just speak a bit more nicely?”
“Why should I, to a servant who doesn’t even listen? Just filter it and hear it yourself.”
“No, why are you trying to control my brain? It’s something you can handle by watching your mouth, Young Master.”
Just as their voices were about to rise again, Frey clapped his hands—Clap—to focus their attention.
“First… shall we have a cup of tea?”
“…….”
While the two were making a fuss, Daniel had already prepared a tray with a tea set and was waiting.
They sat side by side at the table.
Ranshel stood behind Zavad out of habit but was grabbed by the arm and seated in a chair.
“Don’t stand there groaning again for no reason, just sit.”
“I told you I was never that sick….”
However, no matter how much Ranshel protested, Zavad didn’t seem to listen even with the back of his ear.
How long did he intend to treat a person like a fake patient?
‘…Is he that worried about me?’
* * *
