2. Why should it be me?
“Would you like to take a look at the product?”
A neutral voice, neither male nor female, called out to Edelis.
“Okay.”
Lehan was barely able to stop the bleeding and was only bandaged with a few herbs. The caretaker called the guide who was waiting outside and instructed him to wake Lehan up. Then, the gladiator who was also standing outside ran over and brought a bucket of water.
“No, that… … .”
Before Edelris could stop him, Lehan was splashed with cold water. The caretaker smiled broadly as he spread his cloak wide to prevent Edelis from getting splashed with water. However, Edelris could not look favorably on the caretaker who, instead of providing proper treatment, was just throwing water on someone who had lost a lot of blood and collapsed.
“Cough! Cough!! Ugh!”
As Lehan coughed and opened his eyes with difficulty, his golden eyes appeared before her. Lehan grimaced in pain, perhaps because he had only applied herbal medicine without even using any painkillers.
“Lehan, are you okay?”
The caretaker asked if the dying man was okay, leaving only the lifeline attached. Lehan looked around to assess the situation before giving a short answer to the caretaker’s question.
“Yes.”
“That’s what he said. Then please take a look, Miss.”
Edelis was dumbfounded. Even without recalling the match that Lehan had played just a moment ago, Lehan was in a situation where he couldn’t even say that he was okay.
She wanted to demand treatment for Lehan, but she wasn’t in a position to say anything. If she left Lehan alone, he would die soon. If that were the case, would the future change? Or would the future change if she took him and saved him?
‘Even if Lehan dies and the future changes, it’s still unsettling… It’s like he died in my place. And even if I don’t take Lehan with me, if I survive, then nothing will change in the end.’
No matter what, I concluded that taking Lehan to the Count’s house for treatment was the best option. Furthermore, I knew that the contents of the book were true, but there were no clues other than ‘Lehan’.
“I don’t have to look any further. How much will it cost?”
Edelis spoke, trying hard to hide her trembling voice.
“I guess we can’t get a good price because he’s injured. But there are many viewers who want to see him die. There are quite a few people who lost a lot of money because of Lehan… … .”
I felt like vomiting as I watched the manager laughing and talking in front of the person concerned without hesitation in order to get even a penny more. Moreover, since Lehan’s life seemed to be in danger, I didn’t have time to listen to all his ridiculous stories.
“I’ll give you as much as you want, so blurt out as much as you want.”
* * *
Edelis, who had been warmly escorted by the caretaker, was heading to the count’s residence with Lehan. While Edelis was still undecided on what to do with Lehan, and Lehan was struggling with what to say, Lehan was the first to speak.
“Why did you bring me here among so many gladiators?”
His cold voice reached Edelis. He tried to hide his pain, even as cold sweat ran down his face.
She couldn’t tell Lehan that, “His name came up in her book and she was destined to die in his hands, and he is an important person to her.” So she mixed truth and lies and spun around.
“Your name came out gloriously from the audience. They said you were really talented.”
“Then what should I do for you?”
Edelis flinched for a moment. It seemed as if she had been caught not yet deciding what to do with Lehan.
“… … I heard that gladiators are usually taken along as escorts.”
Lehan stared at Edelis’s ambiguous answer.
“Then wouldn’t it be much more profitable to hire knights as escorts or buy adult gladiators instead of a child like me?”
Edelis couldn’t answer Lehan, who only said the right things. At least it was better to buy another healthy gladiator than a dying one.
‘But what should I do? What I need is not another gladiator, but the main character of the book, ‘Lehan’!’
In fact, he might not save her life later, but she felt at ease thinking of it as an investment. She thought that if she treated Lehan, the main character in the novel, well, it wouldn’t have a negative effect on her later.
She even felt that it might play a decisive role in helping her avoid death. However, Lehan spoke coldly with a blank expression on his face.
“There are places where I can be more useful than escorting…”
“… … Where is it?”
“Assassination.”
Lehan spoke as if to say that it was time to stop talking about the main topic. However, Edelis was startled and quickly waved both her hands in denial.
“Absolutely not! That’s dangerous.”
In response to her, Lehan had an expression that said he didn’t know what Edelis was talking about.
That was understandable, since gladiators were taken to do dangerous work rather than to accompany their masters to live with them.
Especially since gladiators had unclear status, they were usually used as expendable items. However, contrary to Lehan’s expectations, Edelis was ready to live with Lehan.
‘My life is on the line, so I can definitely live with you.’
However, Edelis, who could not tell such a story in detail, decided to give up on persuading him with logic. If logic doesn’t work, then she can just pretend to be stupid!
“Because I like you.”
“……Yes?”
“I liked you more than the other gladiators.”
This claim does not require any evidence, as they were merely her personal subjective feelings.
‘What are you going to do if I say I like you?’
As expected, Lehan’s face was stained with confusion. Having lived a short life where he could die at any moment, he was not immune to such heart-wrenching words.
The strategy worked, as a look of confusion appeared on Lehan’s face. A smile spread across Edelis’s lips as she saw that.
“I like your hair color and also your golden eyes.”
She swallowed the words, “My future is the most important thing, though.” Hearing those words, Lehan closed his mouth in a very unfamiliar situation. Edelis smiled and spoke to him.
“Firstly, I will have you receive treatment from my personal physician. I will think about other things after you have fully recovered.”
Upon arriving at the Count’s residence, Lehan received intensive treatment from the Count’s doctor until he was completely healed, just as Edelis had promised. The servants were wary of Lehan, who was a gladiator, but they had no choice because of Edelis’s request.
‘Why on earth are you being so nice to me?’
Lehan was rather suspicious of Edelis’s consistent kindness.
He wondered why she said she liked him right after seeing him.
He thought he would be deployed to the assigned work right after arriving here, but that wasn’t the case.
He thought that it was a mission that he couldn’t perform while he was on the verge of death, so he thought that he would be sent to the scene when he got better, but that wasn’t the case either.
He thought that he would be able to escape thus place once his body got better, but strangely, Edelis kept coming to him during the day. He tried to sneak away at night, but the guards were quite strict as he was a gladiator. One day, while he was working hard to secure an escape route, a hypothesis that he had never seriously considered came to his mind.
‘Is it because you really like my looks?’
Lehan stood in front of the mirror and stared at his hair and eyes for a long time. Although he had groomed it, it was clearly rough. It was not something that would please the eyes of a well-bred noble lady. Lehan himself did not understand why he had been brought here, so he would occasionally ask Edelis. However, Edelis answered it easily as if he was asking her an obvious question.
“I said it already, its because I like you.”
There was a time when he asked her to tell him the truth, so that he would accept it without being shocked, with a serious expression. Then Edelis explained it to him in more detail.
“Lehan, I like your name, and I like your red hair. I think it goes really well with your golden eyes. I want to be close with you. Let’s get along well from now on.”
It was of no use for Lehan to say that he was a gladiator who had killed others.
“If I had known you earlier, I would have taken you out of the arena earlier. I would have taught you the value of your life… … I will teach you the value of life from now on!”
After that, Lehan had to listen to Edelis preaching about the preciousness of life for a long time.
“And if the people around you try to harm lives without permission, you should know how to stop them!”
“People around me?”
“Yeah, that’s the most important thing. You have to know how to stop other people from doing something wrong. Okay?”
“……Yes.”
As time passed and Lehan was getting better, the butler, who had been reporting on Lehan’s every action to the Earl from the moment he set foot in the mansion, called him in.
“Master, I have brought Lehan.”
“Come in.”
After the butler gave a brief report outside the door, Count Brill’s permission was granted. Lehan opened the door with a trembling heart and went in, where Count Brill, who had the same golden hair as Edelis, was sitting. When Lehan entered the room, Count Brill took out a pouch from the drawer and placed it on the desk without saying a word. Then the butler took it and handed it to Lehan. The pouch that the butler opened and showed was filled with a large amount of gold coins. It was not a lot of money for the count, but it was enough for Lehan to live on alone for at least a year.
“Take that and get out of here. With that money, you can get a small room and not have to worry about living expenses for a while.”
Only after hearing those words did Lehan become convinced that Edelis had truly brought him here out of kindness.
‘I constantly doubted where the lies began and where the truth ended.’
But instead of sending me on a mission, he wanted to send me out as soon as I got better.
And it wasn’t Edelis, who had shown him this favor, who said it herself that she liked him, but it was the count who wanted him out of this mansion.
‘That means, the young lady may not be aware of the current situation.’
Only then did Lehan felt like he had escaped the fate of a gladiator. A fate where he had to kill others continuously in order to live. Count Brill motioned for Lehan, who was standing still, to leave. However, Lehan placed the pouch he had received from the butler on the count’s desk. The count’s mouth twitched at the sight.
“I want to repay the lady who took me out of the arena.”
“And how will you do that?”
The count said it with a laugh.
“Anyway, the young lady… … .”
In the quiet Count’s office, a door opened with a bang, and Edelis came in, not hiding her displeasure.
“Father, can you explain to me what on earth is going on?”
Edelis spoke each word in anger. Her eyes turned to the Count.
“That, that… … .”
It was a completely different look from when he tried to cut Lehan off like a knife and throw him out.
“The doctor said that his health has improved a lot… … .”
“If he is feeling better, then is it okay for you to send him away without telling me?”
As expected by Lehan, Edelis did not know that the Count was trying to send him away.
“Ha, Edelis. Gladiators are inherently dangerous. So, except in very special cases, they are rarely brought in. Especially not to a noblewoman like you.”
“Lehan has already left the arena. He is no longer a gladiator!”
Edelis shouted firmly to stop Lehan from leaving the mansion.
“Even if he leaves the arena, he’s not different from other gladiators. Haven’t you heard of a gladiator who tried to kill an escort and was subdued and killed?”
As the Count’s voice grew louder, tears welled up in Edelis’s eyes. And an uncomfortable silence settled between them.
“My lord.”
Lehan opened his mouth quietly. And two pairs of eyes turned to Lehan.
“… … I don’t know what the other gladiators did.”
“So, what you want to say is that you are different?”
“If the lady hadn’t taken me out of the arena, I might be dead by now.”
Several days had already passed since he had arrived here. Considering the schedule of the arena, it would have been time for him to compete several times. And since he had not received proper treatment, he would not have recovered and would have died soon after. That is, if someone had not miraculously bought him, as Edelis had done.
“I want to stay here for the young lady who saved my life, A life which would have been lost anyway.”
The one who was most surprised to hear Lehan’s words was none other than Edelis.
At that moment, I was a little worried that Lehan might want to go out and live, contrary to my expectations. However, Lehan was looking at her father with unwavering eyes as he spoke.
Her father continued to exchange glances with Lehan.
“If you think I’m dangerous, then you can make sure to bring along a knight who can subdue me.”
Edelis honestly brought Lehan to save her life.
But she didn’t know Lehan would say this, so she felt a sense of guilt. Everything she had done for herself was for her own good… … Still, the fact that Lehan had taken her side was a great strength to Edelis.
And even though it might have been selfish at first, but now she thought that she would be kind to Lehan in the future. Lehan would also be much more comfortable living here than in the arena.
“That’s right, Father! If you’re worried, just send me another knight! You were planning on sending me an escort anyway. Lehan and I will go together.”
Edelis, who saw that the count’s eyes had softened from the beginning, tried to persuade him even harder. In fact, it was extremely uncomfortable to have several knights accompanying her.
However, if she could be with Lehan, then she would accept it even if she had been told to bring not one or two knights, but a whole troop of knights.
“Lehan is also good at swordsmanship. He was famous in the arena for that.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to assign someone else?”
“No. I like Lehan.”
“Okay. Then I will assign two knights for escorting you.”
“Okay, then the four of us will go, including the two knights and Lehan.”
The count’s expression showed that he was upset because she said she liked Lehan. However, it seemed that only the count cared about it, as both Edelis and Lehan had a look of desperation on their faces.
“Gladiators are fundamentally aimed at killing, not at protecting, like bodyguards.”
“Then please let me train with the knights.”
“Lehan grew up only in the arena, and if he goes outside, he may be exposed to crime again because he doesn’t know the ways of the world. So wouldn’t it be good to teach him how to do things here?”
Edelis and Lehan continued to try to persuade the Count. Lehan also convinced them that he would train hard and protect Edelis from the group that would harm her.
“Ha…….”
“Father, please. Honestly, if Lehan had intended to harm me, he had plenty of opportunities already. But he didn’t.”
In fact, Edelis didn’t realize it and Lehan didn’t feel the need to say anything, but there was an escort hiding within a distance who could rush in if he would have showed any signs of harming Edelis.
That’s why the count also thought Edelis’s words were reasonable. In the end, the count nodded to Edelis’s continued persuasion.
After all, there was no parent who wouldn’t get defeated by their child.
As Edelis said, Lehan and Edelis weren’t alone, and if they were with the other two knights, then they could safely protect Edelis if an emergency arose.
“If anything happens to Edellis… … .”
The count spoke to Lehan threateningly.
“Then you will be thrown away immediately.”
