‘He’s handsome…….’

Back when I was living as the adopted daughter of House Devore, I occasionally had the opportunity to attend banquets.

But I had never seen a face as beautiful as a statue.

His sharp nose. His masculine jawline. His deep-set eyes.

Every feature came together in such an unreal harmony that he hardly looked human.

For a moment, I wondered if he might be a character from the original novel, but that seemed unlikely. There had never been any mention of a black-haired, black-eyed man like him in the story.

Still, there was something about his aura that made him difficult to approach, so I couldn’t simply admire his appearance.

I felt as though I couldn’t breathe.

Had I really needed to talk to him?

Just as I was belatedly regretting it—

Huh?

A breeze blew past, carrying the faint metallic scent of blood to the tip of my nose.

It was a strange smell, somehow different from human blood.

Where had I smelled it before?

It was definitely……

“Ah! Wait a moment!”

Finally remembering what the familiar scent was, I hurriedly grabbed him.

“Is that monster blood?”

“And if it is?”

The man answered as casually as if he had just said, ‘One plus one equals two.’

His complete indifference made my eyes widen.

“Then this isn’t the time to be standing around! You have a scrape on the back of your hand……!”

This was no time to stand there spacing out.

If monster blood seeped into a wound, the flesh could rot!

Fortunately, the man didn’t seem to have any other serious injuries, but I couldn’t let my guard down. If the blood got into that tiny scrape on the back of his hand, it could become a serious problem.

‘Disinfectant and ointment, quickly…….’

The intimidating presence he had displayed moments ago was the last thing on my mind.

I stepped in front of him so he couldn’t leave and hurriedly pulled out everything I needed from my belongings.

But unlike me, who was frantic, the man didn’t seem to realize the seriousness of the situation at all.

To make matters worse, he kept trying to pull his hand away.

‘He’s not some clueless little kid. He’s a grown adult!’

I couldn’t help but start nagging him.

“Tsseup! Please stay still. What are you going to do if monster blood gets into the wound? Are you worried it’ll hurt? If the wound gets infected, it’ll hurt even more later. And once that happens, crying your eyes out won’t help!”

“Who said anything about crying? It’s unnecessary. It wouldn’t have much effect on me anyway—”

I shot him a very stern glare.

Normally, that look was enough to make all the children in my village obediently listen to me.

And, just as expected—

“……Hah.”

The man let out a hollow laugh, then seemed to give up and quietly let me treat his wound.

Although his eyes seemed to be asking, ‘What in the world is this woman?’

‘But I don’t have time to worry about that right now.’

I couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.

Just as I did with rebellious children, I treated the wound quickly, before he even had time to feel any pain.

Hmm. Good.

Now I could finally relax.

When I released the man’s hand, he seemed to notice something strange and looked down at the back of it.

“Not bad, right? I made the ointment myself.”

“You did?”

“Yes. I’m an apothecary.”

During our brief conversation, the slightly swollen area had already gone down.

The pain must have eased considerably as well.

The man continued examining the back of his hand in surprise.

I couldn’t help but smile proudly.

To be honest, I took quite a bit of pride in my medicine.

The medicines I had made had always been particularly effective.

‘But was I being too nosy?’

Once I had calmed down a little, embarrassment finally caught up with me.

I had stopped a grown man like this, after all.

‘Ugh. But I couldn’t help it. It’s a professional habit.’

I had always been unable to ignore injured people, but it had gotten even worse recently.

All because of the children in the village.

“I’m hurt!”

“It hurts here! Please treat me!”

If only they would just tell me honestly.

Instead, the children always tried to hide their injuries.

And then the wounds would only get worse!

So I had developed an unconscious habit of never being able to walk past someone who was injured……

‘Although the person in question doesn’t seem bothered at all.’

I looked up at his face for a moment.

Despite having his robe covered in monster blood, he looked perfectly calm.

‘Could he be a monster hunter?’

Unlike the capital, there were apparently a lot of monsters around Winterwald.

The original novel had several episodes related to this as well—stories about the Duke’s knights or the Duke himself going out to subjugate monsters.

This man seemed to be one of those people.

Once I thought of it that way, his extraordinary presence from earlier made sense.

If that was the case, then as a good citizen of the Empire, I couldn’t just stand by either.

“Here, I’ll give this to you! It’s very effective.”

“I’ll compensate you.”

When I held out the ointment, the man immediately reached inside his robes for something.

“Why would you compensate me for something like this? You don’t need to. Just be more careful next time so you don’t get hurt.”

“I don’t like being indebted to others.”

Indebted?

For a little jar of ointment?

I waved both hands.

“Really, it’s fine. You make a living by hunting monsters, right?”

The man paused, then nodded.

Just as I expected.

“Then just think of it as a small token of appreciation. Actually, my village was in danger because of monsters a few months ago, too.”

Although things had been quiet lately, monster waves had occurred unusually often over the past three years.

Without people who subjugated monsters, we wouldn’t have been able to live this safely.

I placed the jar of ointment back into his hand and smiled slightly.

“We’re always grateful for your help. Thank you.”

“……Are you from another region?”

“Ah, yes! I have some business to take care of around here.”

“What kind?”

“Hmm, I’m looking for a job…… I suppose you could say that.”

Of course, that was just a convenient lie.

“Oh, right. Do you know how to get to the Duke’s estate?”

“If you go up that hill over there.”

I looked in the direction he indicated with his eyes.

A mansion as enormous as a castle came into view.

Wow.

I couldn’t help but gasp in admiration.

“Thank you for telling me!”

The man gave a small nod.

‘What an unusual man.’

His attitude seemed rather unfriendly, yet he answered every question I asked.

But the strangest thing about him was how unbelievably calm he was.

‘How can he be so unfazed despite having that much monster blood on him?’

Even a monster hunter would normally be horrified.

Oh, right.

I’d forgotten the most important thing.

“You should never underestimate even a small wound! It could become infected and rot. You were lucky this time, but next time, it could become a really serious problem!”

I put on the fiercest expression I could manage.

However—

“Hah.”

The man merely lifted one corner of his mouth in what looked suspiciously like a mocking smile.

Hmm.

That was supposed to be my secret weapon.

Apparently, it wasn’t very frightening.

The children in my village always listened when I made this face……

Well, I suppose it wouldn’t work on an adult.

‘Sob. But he didn’t have to laugh.’

I was being serious.

Putting my embarrassment aside, I finished saying goodbye.

“Anyway, goodbye!”

The man was about to walk away when he suddenly stopped, as though he had remembered something.

“……I believe the Duke’s estate will soon be recruiting a healer.”

Huh?

Before I could even ask what he meant, the man left after tossing out that one short sentence.

I stood there for quite a while, turning his words over in my mind.

‘I was wondering how I could meet Cain.’

This was it!

By then, the man had already gone some distance away.

He murmured quietly to himself.

“How interesting.”

A simple ointment had produced such an astonishing effect.

He looked down at his hand.

The man—or rather, Cain—was the head of House Ashellen.

A family possessing immense power and astronomical wealth, with influence comparable to that of the Imperial Family.

But the most distinctive characteristic of House Ashellen was their dragon blood.

They were the only people in the Empire who carried the blood of dragons, and their physical constitution was fundamentally different from that of ordinary humans.

As a result, ordinary medicines had absolutely no effect on members of his family.

Even if they brought in a physician from the Imperial Palace, it would be difficult to achieve an effect this powerful.

‘Just who is she?’

The woman, completely unaware that he was watching her, was absorbed in looking around the streets.

Her slightly curly pink hair fluttered in the breeze.

“……Hah.”

Even after seeing her again, she was truly a peculiar woman.

For one thing, she hadn’t been frightened by him.

And then there was the fact that she’d treated him as though he were some little child……

There was no way to explain it simply by saying she had a bright and innocent personality.

Cain looked down at the back of his hand once more.

The scrape that had been there earlier had completely healed.

Even taking the regenerative abilities granted by his dragon blood into account, this was still far from ordinary.

There was something about her that bothered him.

Before he knew it, his eyes were naturally following her.

Cain attributed the reason to her skill.

‘It would be better to bring her to the estate immediately. She should be able to help Jayden.’

Even if he didn’t have an ailing nephew, the ointment alone was already sufficient reason to bring her into the Duke’s household.

Cain made up his mind and was just about to approach her when—

“What is it, Melody? Did you come looking for me with Auntie?”

“Woo!”

A tiny child had been bouncing around playfully before suddenly throwing herself into the woman’s arms.

……Her younger sister?

‘They look exactly alike.’

As though they had been made from the same mold, their pink hair and sprout-like eyes were nearly identical.

Cain eventually stopped walking toward the woman.

‘I’ve given her the information. She’ll come.’

He watched the two of them for a moment before returning home.

And so, he arrived at the Duke’s estate.

His aide, Conrad, hurried over to greet him.

“Your Grace! You’re back!”

Cain handed him the robe he had been wearing.

He often wore it when going out to subjugate monsters as a way of stretching his body and getting some exercise.

Once he removed the magical artifact he had been using for disguise, his hair instantly changed to a silvery color like spun thread.

His black eyes turned crimson.

His already inhuman appearance became even more otherworldly.

Even though Conrad should have been accustomed to it by now, he still looked up at his master with a brief expression of awe.

But, true to his cold dragon-blooded nature, Cain didn’t answer.

He simply headed straight toward his study.

Then, just as he reached the door, he suddenly stopped.

“My lord? What is it?”

“Put up an announcement. We’re recruiting a healer.”