A Story of a Noble Lady Who Was Ravaged by an Incurable Disease and Covered in Bandages All Over Her Broken Body; After Healing Her, She Turned Into a Stunning Beauty and Started Desperately Courting Me - Chapter 23-24

Chapter 23: A Few Days Later

A few days later, sometime past noon.

Just like always, I was out helping Alicia with her rehab in the front garden of the Elfemina house.

Alicia was happily walking around the garden using her one-handed cane.

Compared to the beginning, she’d gotten way more used to walking, and lately she looked like she was really enjoying rehab every single day.

“Okay, how about we call it a day for today’s rehab? Good job, Alicia-san.”

“Yeah, got it. Thank you so much for today too, Setsuna-sama.”

A few hours passed after that, and today’s rehab wrapped up without any issues.

When I told her good work, Alicia gave me a gentle smile and answered like that.

(Yep, Alicia-san’s face looks really calm and peaceful now.)

The old Alicia—the one who used to finish rehab drenched in huge drops of sweat, gasping for breath and looking like she was in pain—there wasn’t even a trace of that anymore.

Plus, during today’s session, she was able to walk freely all around the garden just using her one-handed cane.

At this rate, probably pretty soon…

“I was watching you really closely all day today, and you’re walking so much better now, right? You’re not getting out of breath like before either, so your body’s recovered a ton, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I can walk way more than I used to. But this is just the mansion’s garden—there’s no other people or obstacles around, and if I fall the ground’s all soft dirt so there’s no chance of getting hurt. That’s probably the only reason I can walk like this. If it was outside the mansion… I’m kinda worried whether I could really do it or not…”

“Ah, yeah, that makes total sense to be worried about. Okay then—how about pretty soon, as part of rehab, we try going for a walk together in the streets of the royal capital?”

“Huh? Together with you in the royal capital streets, Setsuna-sama?”

“Yeah. Well, of course only if we can get Gilbert-sama’s okay first, but what do you think? If it’s alright with you, wanna go for a walk through the royal capital streets as rehab practice?”

“Ah, yes—I’d really love to go! I haven’t been able to go to the royal capital streets in forever, so yes, I definitely wanna go together!”

“Cool, got it. I’ll check with Gilbert-sama later to see if he’ll give permission for us to go out. If he says yes, let’s head to the streets together!”

“Yes, understood! I’m really looking forward to walking around the city with you, Setsuna-sama!”

When I suggested it, Alicia’s eyes started sparkling like crazy as she answered. She looked super excited about being able to walk through the royal capital. Alright, gotta make sure I get permission from Gilbert no matter what.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to walking around the royal capital with you too, Alicia-san. So don’t worry—I’ll definitely get Gilbert-sama’s approval.”

“Hehe, I’ll be waiting expectantly then. And really, thank you so much for helping me with rehab all this time. It’s no exaggeration to say that thanks to you, Setsuna-sama, I got to this point way faster than I ever thought. I’m seriously overflowing with gratitude toward you.”

“Nah, my help was nothing special. If anything, the reason you’ve been progressing this fast and steady is because you’ve been giving rehab your all every single day. And if you keep going at this pace, I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before you can walk freely anywhere you want.”

“Really? Hehe, that’d make me so happy if that’s true.”

I told Alicia that.

Right now she was walking solidly on her own two legs, even if she still used the one-handed cane. She barely wobbled anymore, and she’d pretty much reached the point where she didn’t even need my support.

At this rate, probably in another month or so my help would be completely unnecessary and she’d be able to walk on her own just fine.

(Things have gone super smoothly with rehab so far, and it’s really great that Alicia-san’s about to be fully healthy again.)

Of course, there was still that whole “curse magic” thing hanging over her right now, but trustworthy adults like Rufus and Gilbert were looking into it, so that should be fine.

That’s why I left the curse magic stuff to Gilbert and the others to handle, and I just focused all my energy on the job I was given—supporting her rehab.

And because of that, Alicia had gotten this energetic and healthy-looking, which made me seriously happy.

But…

(But if that happens… then my role here is probably gonna end pretty soon, huh…)

My job was to help Alicia with rehab. So once she could walk freely without any help from me, that’d be it—my role would be over.

Then I’d probably head back to my little hometown in the countryside, and the time I could spend hanging out with Alicia like this might only be a little bit longer.

When I thought about it like that… it kinda made me feel a tiny bit lonely…

“…? What’s wrong, Setsuna-sama? You look kinda spaced out? Are you feeling sick or something?”

“…Huh? Ah, n-no! It’s nothing! I was just zoning out for a second! I’m totally fine health-wise, so don’t worry!”

“Oh, okay? That’s good then. But it’s still pretty chilly out these days, and catching a cold would suck, so how about we head back inside the mansion now, Setsuna-sama?”

“Yeah, good idea. Alright then… here, go ahead.”

“Ah… yes, thank you…”

squeeze…

“…Hehe, thank you like always, Setsuna-sama. Shall we head back to my room?”

“Yeah, sure.”

So like usual, we walked back into the mansion holding hands tightly together.

—

Chapter 24: Helping a Kid Who Got Hurt

A few days later, in the afternoon.

After I finished helping Alicia with her rehab for the day, I was just wandering around the royal capital streets by myself, taking it easy.

The reason was pretty simple—when the day finally comes for me and Alicia to walk around the city together, I wanna be able to escort her properly and make sure she feels safe.

So I was strolling super casually through the streets on my own, slowly building a mental map of the whole royal capital in my head.

After walking around the city for a while…

I got a bit tired from all the wandering, so I came to this forest park in the royal capital, plopped down on a bench, and just chilled for a bit.

“Mmm… nice weather today, huh…”

I looked up at the sky and muttered that to myself. It’s been getting warmer lately, so maybe bringing Alicia to this forest park together would be nice.

“Alright, when we go walking around the city together, I should plan a route that includes this forest park too… huh?”

Right then. I happened to spot a little girl way deeper in the park—she was collapsed on the ground and crying. Nobody else was around her.

I jumped up from the bench right away and hurried over to her.

“Ugh… sniff… hic…”

“You okay? What happened?”

“sniff… huh…?”

I walked up to her and spoke really gently. Even though she was still crying, she slowly lifted her face and looked over at me.

“What’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?”

“Y-yeah… sniff… I was rushing home and… I tripped on a rock and fell… and then… ugh…”

“Oh man, that must’ve hurt a lot. Hey, can you let big brother take a quick look at the injury?”

“Y-yeah… sniff… okay… it’s right here…”

“Thanks. Oof, you scraped your knee pretty bad, huh. Yeah… this looks super painful. But don’t worry—this is something big brother can fix right away. Can you hang in there just a tiny bit longer?”

“Huh? Y-yeah… I can hang in there…”

“Good girl. Alright then… Recovery magic, Heal.”

“Huh…?”

poof…

As soon as I said it, the scrape on the girl’s knee started closing up super fast right in front of us. In no time all the scratches and marks were completely gone.

“Eh… w-wow! The wound’s gone! My knee doesn’t hurt at all anymore!”

“Nice, nice. Anywhere else hurting besides the knee? Everything else okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine! Nothing hurts anymore!”

“Phew, that’s good. From now on, try to be a little more careful when you’re running around so you don’t get hurt again, okay?”

“Okay! Thank you, big brother! Bye-bye!”

“Yep, bye-bye.”

After that the girl thanked me and ran off toward home. I waved at her back and muttered to myself.

“Yeah… kids really look best when they’re bright and full of energy, don’t they.”

“Yeah, you’re totally right, Setsuna-san.”

“…Huh?”

While I was waving at the girl and mumbling that, all of a sudden I heard someone call my name from behind.

I spun around in a panic—and there was Rufus, the royal capital’s guild master, standing right there.

“Ah, R-Rufus-san! Hey, good to see you!”

“Hi. Good to see you too, Setsuna-san. Out for a walk by yourself today?”

“Yeah, pretty much. I just finished Alicia-san’s rehab for today, so I figured I’d take the chance to wander around the city a bit. But honestly, running into you here in the park when you’re always so busy with work is kinda surprising. Is this a break time for you right now?”

“Yeah. Originally I was supposed to have a meeting with the knight order at this time, but it got suddenly rescheduled. So I ended up with a little free time before my next thing, and I decided to stop by the forest park to relax. Then I spotted you from far away, so I came over to say hi.”

“Ohhh, gotcha, that’s how it happened. Thanks for coming all the way over just to say hello.”

Apparently Rufus had some sudden free time and dropped by the forest park. She saw me here and came over to greet me.

You can really feel how much she cares about proper manners and stuff. As expected from a noble, huh.

“Hehe, still… I’ve heard tons about you from Gilbert-sama, but… you really are an incredibly kind person, aren’t you, Setsuna-san.”

“Huh? Wait… d-did you maybe see what just happened?”

“Yeah, I watched the whole thing. I saw you helping that little girl. The way you spoke to her so gently to calm her down, patted her softly, then used recovery magic right away to heal her… hehe, I thought to myself how truly kind and wonderful you are.”

Rufus smiled at me really warmly while she said all that. Looked like she’d seen everything from when I was healing the girl’s knee just a minute ago.

“Huh? R-really? But like… if you see a kid crying, anyone would help, right? I was just doing the normal thing anyone would do.”

“Hehe, that’s exactly what people mean when they say someone’s kind. And if the world had a lot more people as kind as you, Setsuna-san… hehe, I bet it would turn into a really wonderful place.”

“N-no no, that’s way too much praise, haha. But still… thanks for saying that. Um… so yeah… thank you, Rufus-san.”

I felt my cheeks heat up a little from all the compliments Rufus was giving me, but I still managed to thank her properly.