"You… Young Master…! You were so young back then…! How can you remember…?!"
Marceline gasped, clenching both her hands to her chest.
"It's not like I remember much… It's more like I get the feeling that he was carrying me a lot… Enough to make my mother laugh when I asked her about it later. Apparently, Gerard had to be scolded for carrying me everywhere, because a child that age should move around on its own for proper development."
"...my miscarriages affected our whole family… My father-in-law was so overprotective about every child back then. It's just that my body wasn't handling the harsh climate of the north well… In a way, our community being banished all the way here was a tiny blessing amidst the horrible situation… A-anyhow, my father-in-law will be so happy that you remember him!"
Rotsard said hesitantly, cautious about failing even the potential expectations Marceline had of him, but the woman seemed touched by even those slivers of memory, and even with still reddened eyes, she nodded with a soft smile.
"I'm sorry for keeping you from what you intended to do here, Young Master."
Marceline, despite the momentary overflow of feelings, was a person with a good head on her shoulders, and she kept returning to the important matter, to not inconvenience the young noble.
"O-one more question first…!"
"Yes…?"
That made Rotsard flinch, and he gasped, making Marceline straighten her back and ask in slight surprise.
"It's about someone who also used to carry me a lot… Well, rocking me to sleep when I cried. Besides Gerard…I think it was a woman… When I asked, my mother looked confused and suggested that it might have been one of the faes that always lingered around her, but that doesn't feel right… The only fae that would even resemble a human was the snow-lady, and I remember warmth… And, she didn't smell like fae, it was more like…"
Rotsard started explaining, shifting from side to side, sounding almost apologetic to a degree, but then, as he spoke, he froze up for a second, only to sharply turn his head back to the carriage.
The scent.
Its memory was so familiar that it made chills run down his spine.
"Oh, I believe that I can help you with that."
"!!!"
Marceline furrowed her brows for a moment, but then she perked up and declared≤ causing Rotsard to turn right back to her so fast he almost snapped his own neck.
"You do? But… even my mother didn't know…"
"I believe that happened the one time the whole community, without very few exceptions, suffered from a terrible food poisoning because of a fragment of a gedwyld-afflicted monster's corpse getting into our water supply."
Rotsard muttered awkwardly, but the woman shook her head and explained with conviction.
"Who were those exceptions…?"
"Your parents, you, and the orphaned girl who was learning medicine from your mother. She used to often watch you when your mother was tending to the particularly gravely wounded."
Rotsard asked, and Marceline responded without skipping a beat.
What she said made sense. Rotsard had always known his mother was a respected healer, mainly because of her affinity with faes, but she also did her share of research on normal medicine.
…hearing that she had an apprentice, though, was news to him…
Or was it? Relying on foggy memories from way before he was six years old wasn't the most reliable way to ascertain the objective truth.
"Then, about that girl. What happened to her?"
Rotsard tilted his head and asked… fearing the answer but still daring to hope that he was mistaken.
"After you were taken, she got engaged to the blacksmith's son, but he died after an accident in the forge. The poor thing never got over it and didn't even think about finding another partner… But now she's faring quite well for herself and became a nurse at the Royal Academy. She used to send in a lot of money each month, even though we've told her time and time again that she should focus on herself because we're doing fine on our own… Oh, but it's been a few months since she stopped, so I assumed that she finally realized that it's fine to live her life how she pleases. Maybe even found herself a new man. It would be lovely to have her show up one day, brought in by a strapping young lad…~ Ah…! Please forgive me for babbling, Young Master!"
Marceline said, getting quite cozy with how she talked, and hurriedly called herself out and bowed apologetically.
"..."
Rotsard's expression darkened and tensed up, but definitely not because of just the way he was casually spoken to.
"..."
"Young Master…? You don't look so…"
Then Rotsard faltered back, causing Marceline to step forward and ask with concern.
"I'm sorry…"
*thump*
"Y-YOUNG MASTER?!"
Rotsard whimpered, stumbling back and hitting his back against the carriage, causing Marceline to call out in panic and reach out to him.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm so… so sorry…!"
*thump*
But no matter what the woman did, Rotsard succumbed to despair, sliding down the carriage's side and plopping onto the ground, curling up into a fetal position while apologizing again and again, and the second wave of despair hit him multiple times harder than when he first discovered the commoner nurse's body.
"...I'm sorry… Lila… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
His chin trembled so much that it looked like it was about to fall off, the corners of his lips dropped as if weighed down with lead, and he spoke her name out loud for the first time.