The Familiar of Fate: Chapter 34 – I didn’t expect this(4)
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Fate: “So, are you still going to keep playing this game?”

 

I tried to speak to Liza in as cold a tone as I could strain my throat to release, but I was also maintaining the flame on my finger. I had already pressed the flame into the joint of her left arm and seemed to have made a small burn, which at least proved that I could do some damage…

 

-Still, though, I have to threaten her like this since I don’t have enough mana to keep this flame maintained for long. In other words, I would if I could but I can’t...at least not right now. 

 

I drew my head up from her ear, where I had kept my peripheral gaze locked on one of her eyes, but when I looked at her face, although in pain, she still didn’t seem to be feeling any fear.

 

I let out a short sigh and began to speak again while making an angry gaze.

 

Fate: “Are you seriously looking down on me this much? You’ve already heard what I did to my mother, right?~”

 

Again, trying to threaten her doesn’t seem to have had any effect, but she seems to be recovering from the pain of the burn, although I’m pretty sure that’s just adrenaline. She seemed to turn her gaze away to contemplate for a moment before turning her head to face me again.

 

Liza: “Currently, I think you’re the one who’s looking down on me, aren’t you master? Though, to answer your question, I am not, nor have I ever looked down on you.”

 

I clenched the area around the burn with my left hand, causing her to wince in pain. I was sure that this had to be some sort of ploy by my parents that her pain was none of my concern.

 

-I can’t believe anything she’s saying...anything could just be sweet words meant to entice me into marking an early grave!

 

She moved her left arm out of my right hand’s grip, which I let her do since there was nothing she could possibly do to stop me...However, all she did with it was gently squeeze my left hand that was holding her burn. I squeezed the burn a little tighter, but she made no attempt to forcefully remove me from it…

 

Fate: “What are you playing at? I can’t imagine that anyone in this mansion would want to be a servant, much less a friend of trash like myself...So why do you continue to keep up the act?”

 

-Nobody wants to make friends with the ‘disease…’ In my past life, nobody wanted to talk to me and nothing’s changed! So, would you kindly just give it up already!?

 

I continually convinced myself that she couldn’t be telling the truth, that this was some sort of scheme that she or someone else cooked up to work me like a slave...However, deep down, I wanted to be wrong this time…

 

In addition, I pressed into the burn further, elicting more pained looks from her at which I spread the smile across my face as far as I could. Puss began to pool and form sores under her loose skin, making it look like the arm would pop at any moment.

 

Fate: “Come on, just give it up already!”

 

However, she did not give me any of the responses that would affirm my suspicions and instead continued to hold my hand. 

 

Liza: “I would not mind... dying this way, my lord. However, I don’t think... you’ll find another attendant such as I…!”

 

-Is she cunning or just slow-witted, tell me!!!

 

I ceased the flow of mana to my flame, making sure to save enough mana to make another should it be warranted. I removed my hand from her burn and forced myself to stand, at which point I finally remembered the pain that I had been forcing myself to tune out. 

 

Suddenly, Liza pushed herself up from the ground using her uninjured arm and tore some cloth from the cuff of her sleeve using her teeth. She wrapped the cloth around my injured fingers and tied them tightly before meeting my stunned frown with a bright smile.

 

Liza: “See? You didn’t fight back and now it should just take a few days for those scrapes to heal. However…”

 

She gazed towards me with a seriousness that I couldn’t ignore.

 

Liza: “Please refrain from injuring yourself like this in the future, I’ll get in trouble if you’re not in good health!”

 

I was completely dumbfounded. Not only was she ignoring her burn and the marks on her skin from where I’d pinned her she was, instead, tending to my injuries!

 

I shot a gaze towards her arm, hoping to elicit some response that would tell me if she at least had some degree of sensibility towards her own wellbeing. Liza looked at her burn but didn’t seem perturbed.

 

Liza: “Ah, I think I’ll get a chewing out over this later, but I can just pass it off as a mistake in the kitchen so you don’t need to worry…!”

 

Fate: “Enough! Why are you so vested in forging a friendship with me that you’re putting up with what I just did?! Why are you trying to hide what I’ve done to you?! Finally, why did you even want this position in the first place?!”

 

My words seemed to have struck home as the smile faded from her lips and was instead replaced with a depressed frown. This change of face truly shocked me, even while I was grilling her flesh, she never seemed to give off this negative atmosphere…

 

-She doesn’t give in to torture and she gets this depressed when I ask her for a logical reason, why she would want to serve me or be my friend?! Seriously who the hell is this oddball? 

 

Liza: “My mom...barely ever has time for me. My father has long since passed...Every single child in the manor and its related parties, judge me on my height and looks alone…”

 

-I don’t care about this pitiful speech, get to the damn point already!

 

I realized that I was internally acting like a brat, but I didn’t care right now. She had suddenly gone into a monologue about how sad her life was...Was I supposed to care about the life of someone else in my situation?

 

Liza: “However, I heard of you, my lord...An outcast just like me, who apparently did such horrible things that his family disowned him, a firstborn son! In your situation...I thought that you wouldn’t have many people that you’d trust or want to be friends with. Being friends with you isn’t just an achievement, it’s the first time I’ve felt like I held the advantage in a situation!”

 

I growled a little to put on appearances but was inwardly stunned at her herculean leap in logic. 

 

-Being a friend with the disease of a noble family classifies as an achievement?! I feel like there’s a lot that she left out of that story if being friends with me is something to be proud of…

 

Liza: “But if you don’t want to be my friend, then we’ll just go with the distant master and servant relationship...or I could always report you if you’d like?”

 

Liza began to walk past me, towards the door. However, before she could turn the handle, I stopped her and gripped her wrist. She smiled and cocked her head to the side, seemingly wondering what I was going to do.

 

-I can’t believe I’m going to do this!

 

I let go of her wrist but bade her wait a moment. Walking over to the dresser, I retrieved an item from a spot underneath it, which I had hidden to prevent anyone from taking one of the few possessions I owned.

 

The item I retrieved was the tin of ‘salve’ that I had received from Jacob after my previous escape attempt, which I had kept thinking that I would at some point use it for myself. I certainly didn’t expect to be using it so soon and certainly not like this…

 

Fate: “Haahhhh...Please come over here, Liza.”

 

She walked steadily over to me and waited for my orders. However, I simply opened the tin of salve, scooped some between my fingers, and rubbed it on her burn. I made sure to rub it across the injury thoroughly, covering the entire wound to make sure it healed.

 

-Why am I doing this for her?! She just threatened to rat me out and I don’t owe her anything, so why am I…?!

 

I quickly closed the tin and threw it under the dresser while giving her a cold glare, she, however, was radiating with her idiotically-cheeky smile.

 

Fate: “Now get out...and don’t think that I healed you out of the kindness of my heart! You are not to breathe a word of this to anyone, especially Jacob or my mother! Do you understand?”

 

Her smile lowered to a normal one and she closed her eyes. She bowed to me for a moment and began walking to the door again, but stopped for a moment and turned back.

 

Liza: “I won’t tell on you, but you’ll have to behave better if you want any more snacks!~”

 

She quickly shut the door, leaving only a dumbfounded me alone in the room, contemplating what I had just done.

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