That Woman's Husband

At the very bottom of the note, a telephone number had been written.

It was not a number Arkan recognized. It was no easy feat for an ordinary household to keep a telephone at all, after all. Just as Cecilia had said, it was now certain that her husband was a man of considerable rank.

I'd better not show her this.

Arkan, who had been glaring at the elegant cursive, hastily threw the note into the fireplace the moment he heard sounds from the bathroom.

Before long, Cecilia emerged from the bathroom, toweling her damp hair. Before she could find the smell of burnt paper strange, Arkan brought up the topic he had been saving.

"Hey, Sissy."

"Yes?"

Tapping the salad plate on the table with his fork, he said, "You knew this salad had gone bad, right? Sometimes you leave spoiled food lying around, and if the animals accidentally eat it, it could make them sick."

"The salad's spoiled?"

"No, wait—actually, don't eat it anyway."

When Cecilia snatched the fork from his hand, Arkan turned pale and tried to stop her.

"I had no idea. That it was spoiled……"

Murmuring those words, Cecilia somehow looked like a person struck by a devastating shock. With a feeble smile, she carried the salad plate over to the trash can.

"My sense of taste is a little dull, you see……. If it's gone off, I should throw it out."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Arkan turned around, gripping the back of his chair, and frowned. It was only natural—if she couldn't even tell spoiled food from fresh, there was clearly something wrong with her sense of taste.

Leaving his mounting suspicion behind her, Cecilia tipped the rest of the salad into the trash. Nagi, coiled up dolefully asleep in front of the fireplace, lifted her head, startled by the sound of the lid snapping shut.

But Cecilia, still holding the empty plate, had drifted into staring blankly out the window.

A woman who looked to be about her age pushed a baby carriage along the boulevard in front of the hotel every morning. Today was no different.

Where did she go, day after day, with her child in tow……?

「Cecilia!」

Her attention caught by the woman crossing the crosswalk, Cecilia failed to notice Ruby hopping about at her feet.

「Cecilia, play with me! I'm bored! It's play time now!」

Even so, she pressed her nose nearly against the glass and peered down outside. Ruby, who had been pacing back and forth at her feet, finally gave up, changing his mind and waddling over to Arkan instead.

The carriage and the woman soon turned into an alley, vanishing from Cecilia's sight as well.

She's gone…. When she sighed and turned back to the room, Ruby and Arkan were sitting on the floor playing a game of tossing pebbles back and forth.

"Ruby really likes you, you know."

Arkan answered without taking his eyes off the pebble he'd tossed into the air. "Pardon?"

"Most people keep their distance from crows, saying they're bad omens. So Ruby's used to being disliked—but I think he's happy that you treat him without a shred of wariness."

"Ah, I love animals. In fact, I knew another witch besides you for a very long time."

"I'm sorry—what?"

Hearing this, Cecilia couldn't help but be startled. And small wonder—as a witch herself, she had never once encountered one of her own kind in her life, apart from Aida.

There was no such thing as witches being commonplace in this city……

Could she be someone Aida knows? Or family?

Just as Cecilia narrowed her eyes and studied Arkan's face, he—as though something he had forgotten suddenly surfaced—reached for a pebble on the floor and abruptly struck his knee.

"Oh, that reminds me—smallpox might be making a comeback. They say Count Winterhall has come down with it and is in quarantine. We'll have to be careful when we go out."

At those words, Cecilia's soul briefly left her body.

"I'm sorry—wh-what? Smallpox…… who?"

"Count Davion Lewis 'Thistledown' von Winterhall. It was in this morning's paper."

Arkan tilted his chin toward the newspaper lying on the bed.

It was only when she heard Ruby's caw that Cecilia, frozen in shock, finally returned to reality. She scrambled across the room so frantically she nearly tripped over the trash can, snatching up the newspaper and spreading it open.

She didn't need to search for an article about Davion. It was flaunting itself right at the front of the paper.

Yet the moment she finished reading the article, Cecilia sensed something off about it and tilted her head.

And no wonder—Davion had been vaccinated. She had heard that Duchess Thistledown, coddling him as she did, never let a single vaccine pass him by.

But if the story had made the papers like this…… then whatever ailed him, smallpox or not, it had to be something serious.

Could it be because of me?

Deflated, Cecilia sank onto the bed, her face drained of color. At her alarming reaction, Arkan hurriedly rose and asked, "Are you all right?"

"It's nothing. I must just be a little tired."

Cecilia answered, pressing a hand to her forehead. Unexpected stress came crashing down on her, until at last her head began to ache.

"Have you taken your medicine?"

"Yes. Everything, before I got in the bath……"

Her voice trailed off.

"Ah."

Feeling something trickling, she pressed a hand beneath her nose—and found her fingertips slick with a red liquid.

Oh no. Arkan rushed over and pressed a tissue beneath her nose to staunch the flow. In their field of vision, Nagi could be seen slithering in haste toward the bathroom, fleeing the smell of blood.

Thankfully, the bleeding stopped quickly. Arkan threw the bloodied tissue into the fireplace and returned, helping Cecilia lie down on the bed.

"There, lie down. You'll feel much better after some sleep, I promise."

She had been through major surgery—what was a nosebleed compared to that? Cecilia managed a smile meant to say she was fine. But that didn't mean she could forget what the article said and drift off comfortably.

She tossed and turned until the sun went down, and finally, seizing the moment when Arkan stepped out to buy dinner, she sprang up from the bed.

「Ruby.」

Ruby was perched on the perch they had made for him by the window, watching the crows pass by.

「Were you calling me?」

Affection welled up in his black eyes as he turned toward her.

「If it's no trouble, could I ask you for one favor?」

「Of course! Just say the word!」

Excited, Ruby's tail feathers shook back and forth just like a puppy's wagging tail. Cecilia unlatched the window and said, 「Davion's sick. Fly to the estate and find out how he's doing—that's all. You especially have to check whether any red spots have broken out on his face.」

「That's strange. Didn't that male and you break up?」

「We did. But I can't help worrying. I don't think I'll sleep a wink otherwise.」

「Humans really are complicated.」

The moment the window swung wide open, he beat his wings powerfully and called out, 「I'll be back before morning!」

「Oh—and don't let him catch you!」

「Got it! Don't worry!」

Only after Ruby had shrunk to a tiny dot and vanished did Cecilia close the window.

And so Ruby left the hotel behind, gliding through the jet-black sky as though swimming through it, and in no time at all reached Winterhall Estate on the north side of the city.

Davion's bedroom window stood wide open. Beyond the curtains swaying in the breeze, there was no sign of anything moving.

Quiet. Sick humans do turn in early.

Thinking of Cecilia's grandmother, who had always lain abed in her little cottage, Ruby cautiously slipped into Davion's bedroom. Sure enough, someone lay in the bed, pulled up under the covers to the very top of their head.

Cecilia told me to check the male's face….

Taking care not to make a sound, Ruby crept toward the bed in a mincing walk. But then an unforeseen variable caught him by the ankle.