This Time, I Am A Mob's Potions Teacher Who Has Become Engaged To The Mastermind Of The Otome Game - 8
“Noël, we really should call a doctor, don’t you think?”
But Noël, lying in bed, refused both the doctor and the antidote.
Even though it was clear he wouldn’t get any better this way, he insisted he’d be fine and stubbornly wouldn’t budge.
“A poison like this isn’t a problem. I’ve built up resistance—I’ll be fine soon.”
“Resistance to poison…?”
If he had resistance, that must mean he’d been ingesting small doses of poison since he was young.
It hit me all over again just how much Noël had suffered throughout his childhood.
“Noël, please… Let’s at least take the antidote, okay? The ingredients are in the prep room—we can go back to the academy and make it together.”
My voice trembled—pathetically.
When I thought about everything he’d endured in the past, the helpless anger boiling inside me made it hard to speak without yelling. I had to fight to keep my tone calm, even though my throat felt tight.
“I don’t want to let Noël stay here.”
“I want to go to the prep room soon and drink the tea you brewed, Leticia.”
“I don’t want to send you back anymore. You could just stay in my room from now on if you want.”
“Uh-huh, maybe choose your words a little more carefully?”
“Why?”
I mean, I wasn’t saying anything weird.
And yet, for some reason, Noël’s face flushed bright red.
“Why do you think?”
He shot back a question instead of answering.
“If you don’t say it, I won’t know.”
“If you’d understand without me having to say it, my life would be a lot easier.”
“You’re making fun of me again, aren’t you?!”
“Hey, girl! Don’t go yelling next to your master when he’s trying to rest!”
Jill came in, puffed up with annoyance and scolding me.
Excuse me, but your master just made fun of me for no reason, thank you very much.
“I’m worried about him. I don’t want to send Noël back to a place where people just watch him suffer, where they let him drink poison and do nothing.”
Even though they knew there was poison, his stepmother still served it to him, and the servants just silently watched.
How can they do something so cruel so casually? I’ll never understand how they think.
“I understand how you feel, Leticia. Sorry for teasing you.”
Noël’s hand gently covered mine.
“It’s okay. There are people who care about me.”
“Really?”
“Really. The servants may not be able to act openly, so maybe they looked like cruel people to you.”
Not able to act openly—what does that even mean?
If someone is poisoned and you just stand by, they could die. How is that okay?
Besides, in the game, Noël said, ‘I thought it would be easier to die, but they wouldn’t let me. My emotions, my voice, my thoughts—everything was taken from me.’
He remembered his past, believing that no one ever heard his voice.The Noël before me must have gone through those same painful experiences.
And yet, instead of saying how much it hurt, he chooses to defend the servants.
“Noël, promise me something. I want you to tell me how you really feel. When you’re hurting, I want you to say it out loud, without holding back. I want to do everything I can for you—so please, let me hear your heart.”
I don’t want him to bottle up his pain or sadness anymore.
I don’t want to see him suffer.
“So… don’t suffer alone, okay?”
“Th… thank you.”
Noël covered his eyes with his other hand.
He fell silent, biting his lip.
“Noël, you really don’t feel well, do you? Shouldn’t we call a doctor?”
“No, I’m fine. I just got something in my eye.”
As if something in your eye would make you bite your lip that hard.
I wanted to point it out—but something about the moment stopped me.
So I stayed quiet, watching him.
He remained like that for a while, his other hand still gently resting over mine.
◇
“…Sorry.”
Noël’s ears were red with embarrassment.
Well, that’s understandable—anyone would be embarrassed if someone saw them sleeping.
Right after claiming he just had something in his eye, Noël ended up falling asleep.
When he woke up, the awkward look on his face made me chuckle a little.
Since he had fallen asleep with his hand still on top of mine, I couldn’t move and had no choice but to sit there watching his sleeping face while chatting with Jill and Mika.
Still, he hadn’t snored, mumbled in his sleep, or tossed and turned at all—it really made me realize again just how well-mannered he was, down to his sleeping posture.
“Don’t worry about it. More importantly, how are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling much better.”
Indeed, his complexion looked significantly improved.
As I sighed in relief, there was a knock at the door.
When Noël called out, a butler entered the room.
“Miss Bellecour, the lady of the house requests your presence.”
“For Leticia?”
Noël immediately frowned, clearly displeased.
“Tell her I said no—if she wants to talk, she can do it with me there.”
“No, I’ll go.”
It’s not something I can avoid forever, facing my future mother-in-law. And she did say there was something she wanted to talk about.
I still haven’t heard what that is.
“I’ve been meaning to speak with her properly.”
“But—”
“Enough. Noël, you just stay in bed and rest, alright?”
I gently removed the hand that was holding mine.
When Noël tried to sit up and stop me, I bound him to the bed with a spell.
“You brat! What do you think you’re doing to my master?!”
Jill yelled angrily, but I decided to pretend I didn’t hear him.
“Noël, just rest properly, okay?”
“How am I supposed to rest when I don’t know what kind of trouble you’ll get into alone?”
“How rude.”
I stuck out my tongue playfully, and Noël glared at me with a look of deep resentment.
“…Don’t eat or drink anything she gives you. It might be poisoned again. And whatever she says, just let it go in one ear and out the other. Also…”
“Yes, yes, yes, I got it already.”
If I let him keep going, we’d be here all day.
I turned to the butler, who had been watching us with a dumbfounded expression, and asked him to escort me to Noël’s mother.