She hadn’t slept at all.
Elodie blinked, her face pale and haggard.
Her eyelids kept drooping shut, but she fought through the exhaustion with sheer willpower. And after what felt like two whole weeks, she had finally finished reading A Beginner’s Guide to Herbalism for Our Children.
Even though she had failed to get closer to the Third Young Master, at least she had accomplished sothing.
They say understanding people is harder than studying.
And truly, it was.
It was difficult just to run into him, let alone build rapport.
Wasn’t it common for beastfolk to feel an instinctive sense of fondness toward mbers of the Ratson family?
Then again, Karon was a Basilisk—a bloodline that had kidnapped and cursed a Ratson. It seed his instincts ant nothing in the face of his lineage.
"Well, at least I can do so light treatnts now."
Not only that, she had managed to make potions that boosted courage, herbal sachets to ward off nightmares, and even…
"Khh…."
"Oh my."
Squirrel gasped as she watched Elodie, who had been dozing off, finally slump forward and smack her forehead against the table.
"Did you stay up all night again?"
Carefully, she lifted the small girl—who had already begun snoring softly—and gently laid her down on the bed.
Elodie let out a drowsy hum, making no effort to even try opening her eyes.
"She’s been like this for days now…" Squirrel murmured in concern.
She was still so young. Maybe the change in environnt had made it difficult for her to sleep.
The thought made her heart ache.
"Would you like to see Doctor Packer?"
Doctor Packer?
'That na sounds familiar.'
Elodie’s curiosity stirred just enough for her to crack her eyes halfway open.
"Nugunde. (Who’s that?)"
"Hmm, he was the forr Duke’s personal physician."
The forr Duke’s physician?
And he was still alive?
"Ah, I an, he was the personal doctor of the current Duke’s daughter—the mother of the young masters."
"Ah…"
Liana Valkyrisen.
Eisen’s daughter, and the mother of all three young masters, including Edmund.
She had died in an accident not long after inheriting her title.
Along with her husband.
That was why her children were now referred to as the young masters.
If she calculated the tiline properly…
‘She died around five years ago.’
Back then, the eldest of the young masters had only been ten years old. With no other option, their grandfather, Duke Eisenhartz Valkyrisen, had been forced to reclaim his position as Duke.
That was why people referred to Liana Valkyrisen as the forr Duke.
Squirrel’s expression darkened for a mont, lost in mories. But she quickly shook it off and continued.
"Anyway, I heard that Doctor Packer was the one who treated the Young Lord’s insomnia."
"Edu-munteu-neun jam-eul mot-ja? (Edmund can’t sleep?)"
"He suffered from nightmares. But after undergoing the doctor’s unique sleep therapy, he stopped having them. These days, he sleeps just fine."
Nightmare prevention?
I can do that too.
Elodie thought of the herbal sachet she had hastily thrown together the night before.
"But what kind of thod did that doctor use to drive away nightmares?"
Dreams were the unconscious mind at work.
Interfering with them was supposed to be the domain of the gods.
Even priests often received divine revelations through their dreams.
Unless Doctor Packer was from the Ratson lineage, he shouldn’t be able to manipulate dreams directly.
"It seems like just being near Doctor Packer is enough to provide comfort."
Well, that made sense.
If soone found peace of mind, their nightmares would naturally fade away.
Elodie let out a long yawn at the anticlimactic conclusion.
"If that’s all it is, he’s just a regular doctor who happens to be good at his job."
So why did she feel like she had heard his na before?
Unless he was so renowned genius doctor or had developed so groundbreaking dicine, she wouldn’t have any reason to know his na.
"Was he famous for a miracle cure? Or was he a big na in high society?"
Elodie tried to dig through her mory, but exhaustion swallowed her whole before she could find an answer.
"Ang jae-wo-jodo dae. Jollyeo… (You don’t have to tuck in… I’m sleepy…)"
"Oh my, just go to sleep already."
Squirrel chuckled and carefully pulled the blanket over Elodie, making sure to tuck it in securely.
"Head Maid."
A knock ca at the door.
A servant stepped inside and approached Squirrel with urgency.
"The Second Young Master is asking for you."
"?"
"Yes, he specifically requested for you."
"Really? That’s unusual…"
It was the first ti this had ever happened, so Squirrel found it odd. But if he had gone out of his way to summon her, it must have been sothing urgent.
"I’ll be back soon."
Before leaving, she bent down and gently kissed Elodie’s forehead, making sure she was still sound asleep.
***
"Hey, hey!"
"Ugh…"
"Hey, you little rat!"
Elodie’s eyes snapped open at the sound of soone calling her.
The first thing she saw was a pair of striking golden eyes staring straight into hers.
Even in the darkness, they glowed like lanterns, sharp and clear—just like the eyes of a predator. The sight startled her.
"If you're awake, hurry up and get up already."
"Edmund?"
The mont she called his na, the boy’s expression turned cold.
Wait a second.
‘There’s no way Edmund—who’s gentle by nature—would ever talk like that.’
Was this a dream?
Still half-asleep, Elodie rubbed her eyes and looked again at the boy standing before her with his arms crossed.
But the sharp, narrowed gaze didn’t disappear.
‘Oh, co on. That’s not Edmund.’
His hair and eye color were the sa, which had thrown her off.
Now that she was waking up properly, she realized that while he resembled Edmund, his overall deanor was completely different.
He was younger, smaller in height and build.
Edmund had a sharp, fox-like gaze, with his eyes slightly upturned at the corners—almost like a cat’s.
‘But this guy’s eyes slope downward.’
And yet, he didn’t look gentle at all.
Humans tended to describe droopy eyes as “puppy-like,” but no matter how she looked at him, this boy was more like a rabid dog.
Ah. Rabid dog.
It finally clicked.
‘That bastard.’
The Second Young Master, Zenovia Valkyrisen.
Elodie had seen him multiple tis at the royal palace in Silvaria.
Mostly because he would randomly crash into banquets.
And the reason she thought of it as crashing was because she was fairly certain he had never actually been invited.
Of course, no one had dared throw him out, since he was the Second Young Master of House Valkyrisen.
‘He was completely unhinged.’
One ti, he had randomly burst into hysterical laughter, smashed a champagne bottle, and swung it around.
Another ti, he had been drunkenly muttering to himself, then suddenly started a fight just because he didn’t like the way soone was looking at him.
There were even occasions when he would act perfectly normal during a conversation—only to randomly snap and start throwing punches.
Elodie rembered how he had eventually ended up on the royal palace's watchlist for causing too many disturbances at banquets.
Thinking back, when she had first seen him at the palace, he had been cocky but not completely insane.
‘I heard from the nobles that he used to be a swordsmanship prodigy.’
At so point, sothing had changed.
‘Can madness be cured?’
Elodie thought of the Ratson family’s abilities.
With enough talent, they could heal ntal illnesses as well…
‘Soday, maybe.’
But definitely not now.
Until she was absolutely certain she could fix him, she needed to stay far, far away from the Second Young Master.
‘No way am I risking my life on this lunatic.’
There was no way a rabid dog’s childhood had been anything remotely normal.
As she slowly sat up from bed, the boy wasted no ti striding forward.
Like he had been waiting for this mont.
"I don’t know if this place is a castle or a goddamn zoo, but now there’s even a tiny little rat running around?"
Beastfolk. Disgusting.
He made a gagging motion, then shuddered as he looked down at Elodie.
"Hey. Unlike the other mutts, I heard your parents were actually looking for you. You weren’t abandoned, were you? You have sowhere to go, don’t you?"
He spoke as if he genuinely couldn’t understand why she was here.
And, oddly enough, he sounded angry.
"I’m telling you nicely—get lost and go back to wherever the hell your kind belongs."
"……."
"What, you think I’m joking?"
Ah.
So this was…
Racism?
A beastfolk-hating noble?
‘Well, this is new.’
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