STM 11

“What do you want to say?”

Unlike her frail appearance, her voice was authoritative. She kept working even as she questioned me. Lantuya ignored me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I continued watching her for a long time, but she showed no reaction. In the end, I spoke first.

“Nice to see you.”

“What’s your business?”

Her formal tone didn’t sound like respect for an elder of the family but like a polite wall meant to keep distance. I glanced at the chief aide beside her and made my request.

“You have to hear this alone.”

“That’s not possible.”

The chief aide objected right away, and Lantuya sided with her.

“If you can’t say it in front of my chief aide, then just leave.”

“You’ll be the one who’s embarrassed.”

She paused. Her hand, which had been moving busily, stopped, and she lifted her head. Our eyes met for the first time. I tried to stay calm, but my body refused to relax.

“It’s just one sentence. If you hear me say it once, you’ll understand everything.”

She stared at me for a while, as if weighing my words. I worried she’d refuse, but she raised her hand toward the aide.

“Step out for a moment.”

“Matriarch…”

“Count to twenty exactly, then come back in.”

The aide accepted the order reluctantly and left, though before closing the door, she made sure to glare at me.

How many disasters did this guy Lu cause for even the chief aide to look at him like that?

Click. As soon as the door shut behind me, Lantuya lowered her eyes back to her papers.

“Say only one sentence.”

Her voice made it clear she didn’t want to hear more than that. I nodded. One sentence would be enough to end this. I opened my mouth slowly.

“Doctor Kim.”

Her pen slipped from her hand. She lifted her head slowly. Inside her wide gray eyes, shock and countless emotions tangled and surged like a storm.

I gave a proper greeting to the first intelligence operative to settle in Tubain.

“Hello. I’m the new operative who arrived yesterday.”

***

There was no 911 in this world, but something similar existed. Probably private 911 at best.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The moment she heard my words, Doctor Kim collapsed, eyes open. I reached out in panic, but before I could touch her, the bells started ringing.

The many small bells in the room must have been there to signal whenever her health became critical. Someone threw the door open and people rushed in.

They quickly laid Doctor Kim flat, made her swallow several medicines, then placed the dome-shaped device from the desk against her mouth. It seemed to work like an oxygen mask. But there was no time to marvel at it.

I knew she was frail, but this frail? I didn’t expect her to faint the instant she heard me. I stood frozen in shock as the people surrounded me.

“What on earth did you say to the matriarch?!”

The chief aide’s accusation hit me like a whip, but I couldn’t speak.

How could I explain? That her master fainted because I told her she was from another world, and that I was too?

If I said that, the aide would faint too. All the trouble I went through, all the work I’d done, would mean nothing.

“I can’t say.”

“You can’t say? After everything you’ve done to upset the matriarch, you made her collapse and now you won’t explain?!”

The furious aide barked an order to the guards beside her.

“Take him out right now.”

I had no chance to argue before hands grabbed both my arms. I hated being touched, so I fought back on instinct.

“Let go!”

But the guards were much taller and stronger than me. I couldn’t break free.

“I’ll walk on my own, so let go!”

No matter how loud I shouted, the hands dragging me didn’t loosen. They pulled me toward the door like a sack of luggage. Then, a completely unexpected voice broke through the chaos.

“…Let him go! Cough, cough…”

Everyone turned to the fallen woman. The chief aide reacted first.

“Matriarch!”

“Let… go. Ugh…”

Doctor Kim, now barely conscious, gasped for air and managed to speak.

“Let go of my brother, you bastards!”

And then she fainted again.

***

It took a full week for Doctor Kim to recover enough to hold a proper conversation. She woke up occasionally during that time, but every time she did, she called for me.

And she clutched my hand and cried her eyes out. Because of that, the others who didn’t know the reason stared at me in shock.

What did you do to our matriarch?

They looked as if they suspected I had poisoned her or something. Fortunately, skilled healers and magicians surrounded Doctor Kim, and they confirmed that I hadn’t used any poison. But then, what followed were confused stares aimed at me.

Why would the matriarch act like that toward that troublemaker?

I felt just as frustrated as they did. I couldn’t explain anything, while Doctor Kim grew restless every time I wasn’t nearby. And whenever she saw me, she would grab my hand and cry again.

She cried so sorrowfully that the doctors worried it might harm her health and even tried to pull me away from her by force.

At that point, I needed to come up with some kind of excuse for my presence, but fortunately, I didn’t have to invent a melodramatic story. News had arrived from the resort I left.

“What? The resort was attacked by a monster?!”

“Dear heavens, the former Head and Madam died because of monsters too, and now this again… No wonder the matriarch was so shocked!”

I didn’t say a word, but that was how everyone interpreted it. They thought Lantuya had fainted from the trauma of almost losing another family member to a monster.

Thanks to that misunderstanding, everyone understood why Doctor Kim kept wanting me near her. She couldn’t rest unless I stayed within sight, so I ended up dozing off in her room for a week, taking care of her like an attendant.

That must have softened the hearts of the household. The looks they gave me gradually changed, and after a week, everyone treated me politely. Even the head housekeeper spoke differently.

“Young Master Lu, the guest you brought from the resort woke up briefly today.”

When I finally got a proper night’s rest in my own room after Doctor Kim’s condition stabilized, that good news reached me. Because I was now well received, the guest I brought with me was also treated with the utmost care.

Fortunately for her, the Adeye family was home to the continent’s finest healers. Even though no one knew her exact illness, they all did their best to treat her.

The spirit must be overjoyed. It had been visiting me every day, fluttering about and worrying endlessly about Petal.

“And the matriarch said she’s ready to speak with you, so please bring her after breakfast.”

I stopped eating mid-bite. It was news I had been waiting for, but I couldn’t feel purely happy.

“How’s her health?”

“About the same as usual.”

If “usual” meant the time she fainted after hearing me speak a week ago, then…

“If I say something shocking again, will her condition worsen?”

“What are you planning to say?”

The housekeeper’s once-gentle eyes turned threatening like a wolf’s. I felt suffocated, unable to explain anything that would make sense.

This is bad. She fainted just from me calling her Doctor Kim. If I explain why I’m here… she wouldn’t die of a heart attack, right?

“I won’t die. Don’t worry, and speak comfortably.”

We met again in her study after breakfast, just like last time. The difference was that the oxygen device now hung around her neck instead of resting on the desk, and countless medicine bottles sat nearby within reach.

I watched all of it with a heavy feeling, and then Doctor Kim asked me,

“Since you came straight to me, does that mean the scroll I sent through the Eye of Hell reached you safely?”

“Yes. Not completely, though. I heard most of it was badly damaged.”

She seemed satisfied with that answer and let out a breath of relief.

“I didn’t expect it to arrive in perfect shape. I’m just glad my attempt worked.”

“But how did you survive? Back when you came here, you didn’t know how to pass nanobots through, right? I heard it was an insane experiment where you just tried implanting them without any proper method.”

It was shocking that she even managed to survive an unlinked implant like that. Even if she wasn’t entirely well.

“It was a miracle.”

Doctor Kim turned her gaze toward the air, reminiscing about the past.