LP 2.1 The Lizard with a Tied Tail

‘It’ was looking at Kosha, glowing in the darkness as if it had been waiting for this very moment. They were in an old, dimly lit archive filled with the smell of paper.

So, in the end, it was because of Lucian that Kosha encountered ‘it’.

Mylotte, feeling a deep weariness, looked at the middle-aged man trembling as he prostrated himself on the floor of the office.

And also at the blond man who was glaring at him, perched on the edge of the desk as if leaning against it.

Judging by those fingers that nervously tapped against the glass and then pulled away, his lordship was undoubtedly desperately suppressing the urge to smash the man’s head in with it.

As for whether the man had committed such a head-smashing-worthy offense, well, not exactly. But even if he were to be hit, he wouldn’t have much to say in his defense.

If one had to assign blame for the ‘incident last night’ that had caused such an uproar, it would technically fall on this man.

This man was, in other words, Lucian’s apothecary.

Last night had been such a blur. Mylotte, perpetually overworked, had barely managed to catch his breath and close his eyes for less than two hours when a frantic servant woke him, saying ‘Eydrick’ urgently needed him.

That guy isn’t the type to summon people recklessly in the dead of night…? Still half-asleep and only in his robe, Mylotte went out to find Eydrick truly standing in the reception room, visibly agitated. Seeing the usually composed young knight in such a rare state of panic made Mylotte’s sleepiness vanish instantly, thinking something major must have happened.

And when Eydrick relayed that ‘there’s a problem with his lordship,’ a chill ran down Mylotte’s spine.

When he realized, following Eydrick, that their destination was the Mage’s quarters, and when he saw Lucian collapsed on the shabby floor of that room, for a moment he thought the Mage had finally shown his true colors and murdered his lordship.

Of course… it didn’t take more than the time to blink three times to realize it wasn’t that serious a situation. Absurdly, his lordship was sleeping very deeply and soundly. And in the Mage’s arms, no less.

The Mage wore an expression of utter helplessness, yet he was holding his lordship as carefully as if he were a treasure chest. Sitting on the cold floor with a thud, he had Lucian’s upper body resting on his own thighs. He had even neatly covered him with a blanket from the waist down.

‘…What in the world is going on here?’

Mylotte asked, and the Mage, looking like he might cry at any moment, answered with surprising composure.

‘He was too heavy for me to lift him onto the bed.’

Obviously, that wasn’t what Mylotte was asking about.

From what he heard, Eydrick had also been woken from sleep by the Mage’s urgent knocking. He had been staying in the adjacent room, having set up temporary quarters there to keep an eye on the Mage. It seemed the Mage, unable to handle the situation, had knocked on the wall to wake him.

Eydrick, after confirming his lordship’s condition, had decided it wasn’t something he could handle alone and thus reported to Mylotte.

After somehow moving Lucian to a bedroom, Mylotte interrogated the Mage. He pressed him on why he was there and what he had done, but the Mage hemmed and hawed, unable to give a proper answer.

However, his noticeably swollen lips and flushed cheeks somehow suggested… a certain specific activity.

Anyway, Lucian woke up just before dawn, as the Mage had assured he would.

Unlike his retainers, who had been thrown into chaos by the sudden incident and had to stay up all night, he seemed to have slept very soundly. His already smooth complexion was particularly rosy.

Mylotte watched from the side as memories of the previous night resurfaced on that glowing face.

He looked a bit dazed, then frowned as if thinking something complicated, and then his face hardened terribly. He immediately ordered the apothecary who had prepared last night’s sleeping draught to be brought before him.

And now, he was interrogating him. On the charge that the sleeping draught he had prepared and delivered last night had failed in its duty.

“Y-your lordship. If you would just give me one more chance.”

Unable to bear the suffocating atmosphere, the apothecary finally began to plead in a trembling voice.

“I didn’t anticipate… I had no idea tolerance would develop this quickly. Give me a chance, and today I’ll definitely make the potion stronger—”

“Enough.”

His hand clenched the glass so tightly it seemed he might crush it. His voice was locked in a weighty tone to match. The babbling apothecary made a strange ‘hueuk’ sound and bowed his head.

“Spouting such nonsense…”

Lucian swallowed a curse between his teeth and habitually ran a hand through his hair. It didn’t take long for the predetermined order to fall.

“Get rid of him. Find a new apothecary.”

That was the conclusion. Two knights dragged the prostrate man out as if arresting him, and Mylotte let out a short sigh.

“…Finding a trustworthy and competent apothecary is difficult. It will take some time.”

His tone suggested he wasn’t entirely sure if things needed to go this far.

And to be honest, Lucian partly agreed with that view.

But it was also true that he was in a foul mood. Enough to want to grab anyone and indiscriminately blame and hold them responsible.

It was true that potions generally didn’t work well on him, but he hadn’t expected the sleeping draught, carefully commissioned, to show its limits this quickly.

When he opened his eyes last night, his surroundings were dark. He should have felt alert in this unexpected situation, but the first thought that actually came to mind was different.

How the hell does that guy… know if the Mage is having trouble sleeping?

What are the two of them doing… No, is the Mage really having trouble sleeping… I should go check myself.

Rational thoughts that this was excessive or unnecessary held no power whatsoever. On the contrary, the fact that he had been suppressing this urge all day only became clearer by the moment.

The locks on the servants’ quarters from the outside were all the same for security reasons, and Lucian, of course, had the key. In his potion-induced, drowsy state, he roughly shoved his feet into shoes, found the key, and headed for that room….

What happened next, he didn’t remember well.

No, actually, he did remember.

To make an excuse, he did what he felt he had to do. An excuse to whom? He didn’t know himself, but anyway. At the time, with the lingering effects of the sleeping draught, he even briefly wondered if he was dreaming again in his hazy state.

But it was too soft and damp to be a dream….

Stop.

Lucian closed his eyes and tried to force that utterly useless thought out of his mind. Please, stop thinking about it. What does it matter if it was damp or whatever?

Didn’t that Mage tremble as if something terrible had happened to him and then knock him out completely? And dared to use magic to do it.

Of course, thanks to that, Lucian had enjoyed a rare, deep, and dreamless sleep, but that was that.

Rather, because he slept so deeply, he could feel even more clearly that last night’s incident wasn’t some shallow dream. With a cruelly clear mind.

“So, what do you plan to do about tonight’s potion?”

Mylotte asked again.

At this point, Lucian should have hesitated a little. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of something. But… he had some doubts about whether it was truly an appropriate decision, or, more precisely, whether it was appropriate to bring it up at this moment….

“…There’s someone who can put a person to sleep just fine without any potion, so what’s the problem?”

But his deliberation was short, and the words jumped out quickly. Well, he didn’t really have any other options anyway.

Or perhaps he had no intention of looking for other options.

“Huh? Are you saying you’ll borrow magical power again?”

Mylotte asked back with a frown. Wasn’t the reason he had to go through all this trouble in the first place precisely because of that magic? Its safety hadn’t even been verified.

It was obvious Mylotte wanted to list all those problems right then and there, but Lucian cleanly ignored it.

“That guy, where is he now?”

Where else would that Mage be but his own room? Mylotte answered his lordship’s pointless question with a sense of resignation.

“He’ll be in his room, I suppose. I was informed he fell asleep earlier.”

“Asleep?”

The repeated question had a sharp edge. His reaction was as if such a thing were impossible.