Chapter 23.2

“Dean!”

Carla’s protest was too late, however. As soon as Bertram heard him, he bounded in huge strides to Carla’s side, casting a giant shadow over her in a flash.

“I apologize for being late. I will go and chop onions immediately.”

“No wait, late and whatnot…. What’s this, when’d you get hurt!”

Blood was dripping in one, two, three drops from Bertram’s fingertips. Carla forcibly tugged on his arm, and only then did the blood pooling in his wound stream out.

“Dean you b*st*rd, you said he didn’t hurt a hair!”

“…How am I supposed to know all the specifics of a fully grown man’s body?”

“You’re impossible. Mr. Bertram, follow me. Let’s bandage this up for now. There should be an emergency aid kit at the quarters somewhere…”

“I am fine.”

“I’m not! If you don’t want to see me break my back trying to piggyback you, you follow me this instant!”

Carla grabbed the end of Bertram’s clothes and pulled. The fabric became so taut, it seemed about to rip. Bertram finally gave in and followed Carla out.

At the public sleeping quarters.

When the public farm first began operating, these quarters had been made in order to house the workers Anna had brought in.

But the odd worker had all left already, and those who decided to stay had found their own houses, so there were now barely anyone who used the quarters at all. The extent of its use could be summarized to the occasional lazy worker shirking work at the place messily.

Which meant, therefore, that it would have to be messy. However…

“…Mr. Bertram, were you the one who cleaned this?”

“Yes. You told me to use the quarters cleanly, as it was a public space.”

“You only had to use your room cleanly, not wash the whole place down! Do you like cleaning?”

“Hygiene is important in the army, after all.”

Carla almost retorted, ‘You think this is the army?’ before she swallowed it down.

She couldn’t keep throwing thorny words at someone who’d only done good for her. And besides, he was wounded.

“…Come over here. I’ll bandage you right up.”

Bertram rolled up his sleeve. On his left arm was a wound that seemed as if a wolf bit him. Black blood was pooled inside it.

“You got bit, didn’t you? Looks like we’ll need to go to the clinic. Let’s tell the chief and…”

“You only have to take out the green powdered medicine from my bag and apply it here.”

“Do you think we’re still in the midst of war? We need a doctor, not some medicine!”

“There won’t be anything better for this wound than that powder.”

For once, Bertram did not back off. It appeared as if he held great trust in the abilities of his medicine.

Well, as the esteemed young master he must be, perhaps he carried around some terrific medicine.

Grumbling on the inside, Carla wound the bandage around Bertram’s arm.

“If you feel like it’s getting infected at all, tell me immediately. I’ll drag you out to the clinic we have right next village. And don’t come to the restaurant today.”

“I can work.”

“Real funny. Next thing you know, you’ll be chopping off your fingers because your arm faltered while you were chopping onions.”

“Then…”

Here Bertram said something unexpected.

“May I go to play instead?”

Carla’s jaw dropped open at these unimaginable words.

Play?

This man, who looked as if he would have learned the military creep instead of crawling on his stomach when he was sixth months old?

Carla was so bewildered that she ended up blurting out her thoughts too honestly.

“You know how to play?”

“I only used the phrase ‘go to play’ in the idiomatic sense of visiting without a set purpose, but if you wanted a visit that had a purpose to it…. I will learn from Miss Anna on how to do so, as befits my age.”

‘This b*st*rd..?’

Swear words caught themselves at the tip of Carla’s tongue before it crawled back in.

Looking at her face, now completely screwed up, Bertram asked.

“Mrs. Carla. Do you dislike me.”

“How d*mn honest you are. Ask those kinds of things more subtly.”

“But if I did so, then you would also answer in a roundabout manner.”

“….Ha. Pretty clever, aren’t you.”

Scratching the back of her head in huge motions, Carla replied.

“To be honest, I don’t dislike you. But there are way too many uncertain factors to just be happy that a good worker’s appeared. To be frank, we don’t even know who you are, do we?”

“I am Bertram, and I was a former officer. I came to pay off my debts. I have already revealed everything that has to do with this village.”

“And that’s the problem. If you were an officer, then you should be able to go back and have a much happier life somewhere out there, but it doesn’t make sense that you crawled back in here to pay back a mere three onions. Wouldn’t that make us think you might have some other, more hidden intentions?”

The glint of vigilance that had colored her eyes the day they had first met once again appeared in Carla’s eyes.

Looking at her below him, Bertram remembered what had happened a couple days ago.

Anna had spoken to him.

‘You are harmless.’

‘Don’t try to prove your harmlessness.’

It felt as if only now did he understand what she’d meant.

Verifying anything in front of someone who held suspicions because they had no evidence was impossible.

Therefore, what was needed now would be….

“I will not speak on this any longer. However, I will continue to look after the pig, and help you with work in the restaurant onwards. I will most likely also throw my whole body into helping whatever other small errands the village asks of me.”

“Wha, what?”

“By which I mean! Please just accept who I am like that and think of me adorably!”