CH 5

“Rosie, you are amazing.”

Schulva said with delight.

“It’s something I never thought of…”

“Well… Everyone must be happy that Brother has become like this, it’s impossible for them to do good things.”

Rosie spoke casually and sat down next to Julian’s bed again.

Julian blankly looked at Rosie.

…Then, Rosie prepared these documents not because she was greedy for money…

Schulva muttered anxiously.

“But what should we do, Lady Rosie? It’s likely those people will come to you as soon as the documents are ready. Will you be able to hold on…”

“It’s still better than Brother.”

To that, Rosie calmly replied.

“I know at least that I must never give this money away. I’m not a patient.”

Strangely, Julian felt that his toes were ticklish.

In fact, when people flocked to him and shouted for him to sign, his head felt like it was going to explode.

Maybe the doctor did not say ‘absolute stability’ for nothing.

Then Rosie… Did she think that he, a patient, might not be able to rest because of money?

That’s why she took it all?

Julian couldn’t bear to speak, but Rosie smiled and said,

“Okay, now that the urgency is settled, let’s have a ‘real’ conversation.”

Julian looked at the little girl sitting next to him just like she did before the uproar.

“First of all…”

Rosie sighed lightly and spoke softly. It was a pitiful look.

“Ung, I’m so sad, Brother. My heart is breaking and pounding, I wonder why this happened to us. Seriously, what am I supposed to do now?”

Julian stared at Rosie. And he sighed once and honestly replied.

“…Isn’t it too late to say that, little one? You seem to know all too well what to do.”

“I think so too. But things weren’t so good for me to just watch and then grieve over the real tragedy. Understand that. And it’s not ‘little one’, but Rosie.”

“But don’t be too logical and affirmative…”

Julian felt that his backbone was aching, so he unconsciously clicked his tongue. After thinking for a moment, he said,

“Well, anyway… I realized it’s a bit dangerous here. First of all, thank you.”

He cleared his throat as he looked at the girl, who looked too small to be 12-years-old.

“I… I’m leaving here anyway, but you can follow me if you want.”

He ran his fingers through his hair once, mustering his best expression and added,

“It’s not as nice as living in the county, but first of all, there won’t be people like that, and until you become an adult, at least…”

Rosie didn’t respond to that.

Instead of looking at Julian’s efforts of trying to be cool, she stared at his legs wrapped in bandages and asked abruptly.

“When will your body be completely healed?”

“Hey, little one. Who the hell do you resemble that you don’t listen to others?”

At those words, seriousness appeared on Rosie’s face. And after a few seconds, she answered with a bright face.

“Ah, I am like Brother. Brother doesn’t listen to me and keeps calling me ‘little one’.”

“…….”

Julian was speechless again.

Looking at the smiling Rosie, he told her what he had heard from the doctor earlier.

“It will take months to even walk right. I heard you can wield the sword better than anyone else in the empire, but it seems difficult to go back to that time. And no promises can be made about your memory loss.”

Actually, he couldn’t remember that he had learned swordsmanship, so he didn’t feel like he lost something.

“Swordsmanship or something like that, it’s fine. When I’m all healed, will I be able to cut meat?”

“Meat? …Not humans?”

In any case, the doctor said that he would be able to run a butcher shop once he was healed. Julian sincerely thought that was enough.

“I wonder if it might be better to just go to the village where I used to live and recover. I think it will be better if people like that just keep coming.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. It will never happen again.”

Rosie smiled brightly at Julian’s words. Then she continued, as if it would be a reassurance.

“Brother has lost all his property and is a penniless dog. There is nothing to rip off.”

“…Thank you for making me broke, little one.”

“Eh, you’re welcome. This is really no big deal. Brother has done a lot for me so far. So you don’t have to say thank you for this much.”

It was a serious answer full of useless sincerity.

Suddenly, Julian was at a loss as to how he had raised this child in the past.

“And Brother, don’t ever think about leaving.”

Rosie held onto Julian’s hand and said,

“Brother is our grandfather’s favorite grandchild, so it’s safest here.”

“I heard when those people came in with a lot of papers…”

“They came here with documents. If you had been outside, they would have brought a knife.”

“…….”

Julian swallowed dryly at Rosie’s sharp words.

Then Schulva cautiously intervened.

“By the way, Lady Rosie, who hasn’t seen much of the world yet, would also look like easy prey in their eyes, so how would you respond…”

“Ah. Don’t worry, Schulva.”

Rosie replied with a sullen face like she was deeply concerned.

“I don’t know much about what I can do… so I have no choice but to respond with the abuse of power by those who have it.”

Abuse of power?

‘…Did I hear wrongly?’

Julian’s lips parted as he looked at the frail-looking little girl.

‘Hey…’

Although they had only recently met, Julian was able to roughly evaluate this girl.

‘…Strong?’

It was the instincts of a thug in a rural village who had had some gang fights.

‘The little one’s sincerity made her tough.’

While Julian blinked, Rosie tilted her head slightly and said,

“Then rest well, Brother. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Huh?”

“I’d like to stay longer, but… I feel like the people are coming back. Probably holding documents that roughly changed Brother’s name to my name? Also, Brother has assigned me a lot of teachers, so I have to take classes in the afternoon.”

Rosie lightly waved her hand in goodbye. And she lowered her voice and whispered.

“Remember, Brother. We have no trusted relatives here.”

“…Huh?”

“Don’t worry though.”

Rosie smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

“I will protect you.”

“Huh?”

“Thank you for waking up.”

“Huh?”

“I knew it would happen soon, but… Thank you though. Actually, I missed you very much.”

At the end of her voice, which had only been calm, there was a slight sob mixed with it.

After that, Rosie stood up straight and left the room with documents in her arms. The back of the girl walking out was so small… Julian unknowingly let out a sigh.

Then he flinched when he registered what he just did and lay down on the bed again.

“Huh.”

He closed his eyes and muttered to himself.

“Why are you coming back tomorrow to a dog that lost all its possessions?”

And it was ridiculous for such a small child to say ‘I will protect you.’

However, strangely… the words of ‘See you tomorrow’ that Rosie lightly left lingered in his ears.