For Romantic Superpowers - Chapter 53 - Question

#53. Question

The flames were raging. It was hot. Her eyes stung from the smoke. Her body was immobilized. No matter how much she struggled, it was useless.

– Is anyone there?

Tears flowed incessantly from her eyes like a waterfall. But no matter how much she sobbed and screamed, it didn’t reach anyone. There was a faintly remembered face when she thought it was over. If this is the end. She misunderstood him, she didn’t know he was worried about her and got angry. She’s sorry. She wanted to say it so badly. To him, looking down at her with a gaze full of apology.

“M-Mr Per…th?”

“Lady Lia, are you awake?”

Lia blinked her eyes only a couple of times. She couldn’t distinguish whether the current situation was a dream or reality. Sensing that well enough, Perth explained first.

“Lady Lia, you’ve been lying like this for two days straight. It must be quite confusing for you.”

Looking down, Lia saw that Perth was holding her right hand tightly with his bare hands. Even more astonishing was that Lia, unconsciously, was also holding Perth’s hand tightly. As consciousness returned, she loosened her grip.

But Perth didn’t let go of her hand. She seemed to be lying in some sort of infirmary. Lia blinked and looked around. As things other than Perth came into view one by one, memories before collapsing resurfaced.

“What about Mr. Kevin?”

Only then did she remember that Kevin was more injured than herself. Lia tried to get up, but Perth stopped her.

“He’s perfectly fine. He was blessed with a resilient body. Those wounds, though severe, will heal quickly with just a few scars left.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

Relieved but at the same time, Lia’s expression darkened. Kevin’s injuries were all the result of her indecisiveness. Perhaps if she had been the one injured, it would have been less painful.

“I’m sorry, Lady Lia.”

The apology came unexpectedly. Lia turned her head towards Perth. He was bowing his head.

“Why are you apologizing, Mr. Perth?”

“If I had arrived a little sooner, none of this would have happened….”

He seemed to be suffering, perhaps blaming himself.

“But weren’t you the one who came to rescue us? I remember seeing your face at the end.”

Lia reached out her hand unconsciously. It was an action she didn’t even realize she was doing, wanting to comfort him. But lying down, her hand couldn’t reach him. Instead, Perth, noticing her action, took her hand and pressed it against his face. Feeling the warmth on her fingertips, she felt a bit relieved. Perth also smiled slightly.

“Come to think of it, you’re barehanded.”

Touching his face, Lia realized a profound fact. He, who had always disliked physical contact, was directly placing her hand on his face and even covering it with his bare hands.

“Yes, I’ve decided not to avoid it anymore.”

His gaze sharpened for a moment. Even in this moment of connection, painful memories were rampant within Lia. How intense those memories were, they kept repeating in her mind throughout her collapse. 

This was also a punishment for himself. Why couldn’t he have rescued her a little faster? He didn’t even know if he could have predicted the pain she would endure using his abilities. This might have been the price for continuously rejecting his abilities.

Lia couldn’t quite understand what it meant to no longer avoid. But she could sense that something had changed within him. Whether in a positive or negative direction.

“What about the others?”

“They’ve been imprisoned in the dungeons of the Hiver Castle for now. Count Hiver will take care of their disposal.”

“Disposal….”

Their faces were still vivid in her mind. Thinking of the malicious faces troubled her. She didn’t want to bring up words like disposal casually. Then, the image of Shu-shu flashed through her mind.

“Shu-shu… What about the girl who was with the man who kidnapped us?”

“She’s been identified as an accomplice and is being searched for.”

“But she’s still a child?”

“Even if she’s a child, she was involved in the kidnapping.”

Perth, saying this, was as cold as ever. The sharp gaze behind his glasses seemed to indicate that there was no room for negotiation.

“But that girl… it might not have been intentional. She might have been deceived or threatened by her father.”

Of course, Perth knew the whole story. The girl was picked up from the streets by someone pretending to be her father. Being an alcoholic, he pretended to be kind while coaxing the girl into begging for food and money. Despite this, the girl was happy to have a family, and a father figure, unlike other children. 

All of this was discovered by grasping the man’s face. He was someone who had been using the girl’s innocent heart to do all sorts of dirty deeds. It was the same with Lia’s abilities. As soon as he learned of the plant abilities, he immediately thought of selling her off. 

Lia’s understanding of considering the girl a victim was also understandable. The child could never have made a judgment about whether what she was doing was a crime or not. Moreover, parents were supposed to be absolute figures. Nevertheless, Perth couldn’t forgive the girl. Despite overlooking all the wrongs the girl had committed, one thing was clear. She broke her promise to keep Lia’s abilities a secret.

“Don’t worry. We won’t impose harsh punishment on the child even at the castle. We just need her to understand the whole story of the incident.”

That reassured Lia. Count Hiver would easily understand that the child hadn’t acted intentionally once he heard the full story of the incident. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t resent Shu-shu for breaking her promise and giving her a sleeping pill, but she was still a child. Ultimately, it was her fault for creating the secret in the first place.

“I want to see Mr. Kevin.”

“You shouldn’t move yet. Your body has been lying down for a long time, so it will strain you.”

“But….”

Perth sighed at Lia’s persistence. But he understood her desire to see Kevin’s condition for herself.

“Then, instead, I’ll go and see Kevin’s condition myself and report back to you. Would that be alright?”

“Yes…. Thank you in many ways, Mr. Perth.”

Lia bid farewell to Perth’s back as he rose from his seat. He awkwardly smiled, opened the door, and left.

* * *

This was the first time Perth had gone to see Kevin since returning to the castle. Perth had stayed by Lia’s side, making excuses. He didn’t care about any strange rumors.

Knock.

“Yes.”

He hoped the person in the room was asleep, but unfortunately, someone was awake. Perth, entering and closing the door, had his usual expressionless face.

“Are you the one who came to visit the sick?”

“You look very healthy.”

“Don’t you see bandages all over my body?”

It was difficult to find a part of his body that wasn’t injured. Moreover, he had small burns all over due to walking ahead of the flames. But ironically, the only thing he wanted to be injured, his mouth, looked perfectly fine.

“Are you sorry that your mouth isn’t hurt?”

“Oh, dear. Do you also have the ability to read minds?”

Kevin pointed to the chair beside the bed. Reluctantly, Perth moved and sat on the chair.

“How’s Lia?”

Perth choked up a bit. Of course, it was right for them to worry about each other since they were the only ones injured, but it didn’t feel right to ask about each other’s well-being as soon as they woke up.

“She just woke up. She lost consciousness due to inhaling too much smoke and using her abilities too much at once, but she has no major injuries, just some marks from being bound by chains.”

Although he conveyed that it wasn’t very painful, Kevin’s expression became serious upon hearing Lia’s condition wasn’t good.

“I see….”

After exchanging greetings, they didn’t have much else to say. Remembering one thing, Perth jokingly brought up the matter.

“Don’t you use informal speech now?”

Kevin looked puzzled until he remembered why Perth said such a thing. It was because he had uttered a resentful word immediately after coming out of the fire.

“If you wish, I can do it anytime. Aren’t you actually a senior?”

At the mention of being senior, Perth openly laughed. In terms of status, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say he was in a higher position. However, who was above or below was not a particularly important fact to Perth.

“Feel free to speak comfortably.”

“Oh, really? Then from now on, let’s use informal speech, shall we?”

He didn’t hesitate to put his question directly. Perth shook his head as if he were tired of it. It was too bothersome to catch any more clues.

“But there’s one thing I’m curious about.”

“Go ahead.”

“How did you know and find us?”

Perth looked at Kevin abruptly at the sudden question. It was to understand the intention behind throwing this question. His eyes held pure curiosity. But still, it wasn’t easy to answer easily. He didn’t want to reveal much about his abilities.

“…I happened to see two people going out to the village.”

“You were trailing us from the beginning. What’s with the coincidence?”

It was hard to deny. He already knew that he had noticed. Perth just turned his gaze away.

“…Yes. Anyway, since I trailed you, I knew.”

“But you turned back in the middle. How did you know? About the underground room where Lia and I were.”

Persistent. He hoped to pass over the fact that he trailed them roughly. But the lie was already complete. The castle guards had asked how they knew about that place. But he couldn’t tell the guards honestly that he had trailed them.

– I heard a conversation between some kids in an alley by chance. A woman and a man had gone to the house of a girl named Shu-shu, and they hadn’t seen them return, as people who disappear like that usually do. 

What he told the guards wasn’t a lie. He just added the word ‘by chance’. Of course, he hadn’t directly heard the answer from the kids. He had ‘seen’ the answer through a little leading questioning. 

“When I came to the castle, they said you two hadn’t returned.”

Perth racked his brain to fabricate the lie as much as possible.

“So, I went back to the alley and asked the kids again, and found the shack.”

Up to this point, it wasn’t suspicious. The important part was the latter part.

“That man was a spatial teleporter. He said they were the only ones who knew about the underground room, and because he used spatial teleportation, there was no trace. “

“That’s his perfect misconception.”

Just because he used spatial teleportation didn’t mean there was no trace. Everything left a memory. Only Perth could know.