Not a barbarian warrior.

‘Her mouth corners definitely turned up…’

Clea, who had seen the faint smile for just a moment, subtly moved away to keep her distance.

Eugene, bound all over his body, barely turned his head to speak to Lorena.

“Um… Lorena? Is this really necessary? Don’t you think it looks a bit strange?”

“N-No…! You said it hurts a lot even with the slightest movement… Fixing your posture like this will help you recover faster…”

Clea glanced at Lorena’s mouth again.

‘Her mouth corners again…’

She took a full step back to the side.

Eugene, thinking he had no choice but to endure for now, spoke to Clea who was standing awkwardly.

“I’m embarrassed to greet you in this state.”

As Eugene spoke politely, Clea first bowed her head and apologized.

“I’m really sorry about yesterday. It was dishonorable to duel in that manner from the start… As Sir Bernard said, it was rash to draw swords so hastily…”

“It’s alright. The misunderstanding has been cleared up and you’ve apologized again like this. Moreover, Sir said he would teach me swordsmanship yesterday, so I’m rather pleased.”

“Is that so… The Sir said he’d teach you swordsmanship… Well, that’s good…”

Although Clea apologized to Eugene, she hadn’t completely dispelled her doubts about his identity.

The technique Eugene had shown yesterday, the Snake’s Shadow, wasn’t something that could be mastered just by stealing glances, as he claimed.

However, she couldn’t say “I still suspect you” in a situation where she came to apologize, so she just acknowledged Eugene’s words and moved on.

She showed the basket in her hand and said:

“These are things Sir Bernard sent for you, saying he’s sorry.”

The basket contained herbs used for treating wounds and pain, soft bread and smoked meat, and a heavy-looking money pouch.

Eugene, trying to suppress his desire to check how much was in that pouch, politely said:

“Please tell the Sir I’m grateful for his excessive consideration.”

“I will do so.”

Lorena received the basket on behalf of Eugene, who couldn’t move.

“By the way, what happened to the two people who came with Lorena yesterday?”

The two people Eugene was referring to were Old Man Malika and the shop owner from the blacksmith street.

Lorena’s face, who was examining the herbs in the basket behind them, suddenly turned pale, but Eugene and Clea didn’t notice at all.

“They rested briefly in the guild building, met with Sir Bernard, and then left. Fortunately, they weren’t injured.”

“I’m glad nothing happened to them.”

Lorena, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, let out a deep sigh of relief.

“It seems you haven’t been in Carlisle for long, may I ask how you became acquainted with those two?”

“It’s nothing special. The situation was so urgent that I just asked them to call anyone who knew me, even a little.”

As Eugene explained calmly, Clea tried to hide her surprise.

‘To have gained the favor of those two in such a short time… How on earth did he butter them up?’

It was quite remarkable that the two craftsmen, who weren’t interested in anything other than making things, had stepped up to vouch for Eugene’s identity.

“Then, may I ask what kind of relationship you have with this magician here…?”

“That’s…”

Before Eugene could open his mouth, Lorena interjected from the side.

“Eu-Eugene is my housekeeper…”

“…?”

Clea tilted her head at the magician’s unexpected interruption.

“He-He’s really my housekeeper…”

As Lorena spoke again, Clea turned her head to look at Eugene.

It was a silent signal hoping he would respond to this cold joke for her.

However, Eugene was seriously nodding as if he couldn’t deny it.

“…You can’t be serious…?”

“…Somehow it ended up that way.”

“…”

Clea silently increased her distance from Lorena a bit more. No one noticed how subtle it was.

‘They say all magicians have some quirks… But this isn’t just quirky, it’s close to madness…’

What kind of crazy woman would use a proud barbarian warrior as a housekeeper?

She wanted to shout that this was nonsense, but she barely managed to keep her lips sealed.

She inwardly changed her assessment of Lorena.

The adjective ‘manic’ was added in front of ‘magician with remarkable skills’.

‘I need to get out of here quickly…’

Clea fiddled with the handle of the sword on her belt and quickly wrapped things up.

“W-Well. I don’t know what circumstances led to this, but it seems I asked something unnecessary. It’s not polite to keep bothering a patient, so I’ll be going now.”

“Ah, thank you for coming despite your busy schedule. I’ll visit the guild when I’m fully recovered.”

“Alright. See you later.”

Clea moved her feet hurriedly like someone with urgent business. Refusing to be seen off, she disappeared in an instant.

With only Lorena and Eugene left in the bedroom, she spoke first.

“…I-I’ll change your bandages later. Let’s have a meal first…”

As Lorena was about to take the basket to the kitchen, Eugene spoke worriedly.

“Are you going to cook? Can you manage alone?”

“I’ll try my best… Don’t expect too much…”

A little while later, she brought a plate of steaming soup.

Thanks to the generous amount of meat Clea had brought, oil was floating on top.

“Now… Open your mouth. Say ah-. Ah-”

Eugene asked her to untie one of his hands, saying he could eat by himself, but Lorena refused, saying it wasn’t allowed.

She put the soup into Eugene’s mouth without even cooling it down.

“Mmph…!”

Feeling as if he had taken lava into his mouth, Eugene exhaled, panting.

Then his expanded lungs touched his cracked ribs, causing intense pain.

As the dizzying pain from his mouth and chest crossed, Eugene frowned, not knowing what to do.

Lorena quietly smiled as she watched Eugene. Her mouth corners were turned up more than before.

“Ah… It-It was too hot, wasn’t it… I-I’m sorry…”

When Eugene, who had barely swallowed the soup, asked her to cool it down a bit, Lorena this time scooped up a large spoonful and blew on it.

Because she blew too hard, the soup, which hadn’t cooled enough, dripped onto Eugene’s cheek.

Eugene reflexively tried to bring his hand to his face, but couldn’t move because his limbs were tied.

“Ugh…! Lorena, please wipe this off.”

“Ah…! I-I’m sorry!”

Flustered, Lorena wiped the soup off Eugene’s cheek.

Her face had reddened a bit more than before. Her breathing had also become somewhat rough.

“I-I’ll be careful…”

There were five more mistakes like this until Eugene finished the soup.

Eugene just thought it was because Lorena was clumsy at nursing.

Perhaps thanks to her devoted care, even neglecting her magic research, Eugene was able to get out of bed and move around in less than ten days.

“Ah… To think you’ve recovered this much already…”

There was a thick tone of regret in her words, but Eugene didn’t notice at all.

“The bruises have faded a lot and my ribs seem fine too. I can move around lightly now.”

“Even so…”

“You worked hard taking care of me while I was bedridden. I’ll do the housework now, so go and do your work. You said you had a mountain of things to do.”

“O-Okay… If you feel it’s still too much, let me know…”

As Lorena trudged into the room, Eugene started handling the housework, moving more slowly than usual.

A month passed very quickly in this peaceful daily life.

Eugene was humming while cleaning Lorena’s mansion.

Now that his body seemed to have fully recovered, he was moving around quickly like before.

Just as he was finishing up the cleaning, Lorena returned from a short outing. In her hand was a package wrapped in cloth.

Eugene naturally took her package and spoke to her.

“You said you had a quick errand at the market, what did you buy?”

“This is for you. Wo-Would you like to see it?”

Hearing it was a gift, Eugene unwrapped the cloth package. Inside were neatly folded clothes.

“You didn’t have to… Hm?”

As Eugene unfolded and held up the clothes, something completely unexpected was revealed.

It was an apron that looked much smaller than his build.

It had cute frills at the edges and was embroidered all over with colorful floral patterns.

“…Is this really for me?”

Smiling brightly at the bewildered Eugene, Lorena took out a floral patterned headscarf from the wrapped cloth.

Putting it on his head, she said:

“Th-This is part of the set… I-I specially chose one with floral patterns…”

“…You want me to wear this?”

“Yo-Your clothes always get covered in dust when you do housework… And we can’t have hair falling when you cook…”

“That makes sense, but still… This is a bit…”

“W-Why don’t you try it on once…? You never know… It might be su-surprisingly good…?”

“…”

He couldn’t ignore Lorena’s sincerity. It wouldn’t be polite to refuse the gift without even trying it on.

He reluctantly put on the apron in front of her.

When the cute apron with thin straps clung to Eugene’s large body, tremendous chaos ensued.

This was a combination that shouldn’t exist in this world.

“Pffft…!”

Lorena burst into laughter, unable to hold it in.

Red-faced, Eugene immediately took off the apron and headscarf and threw them away.

“Ahaha…!”

“…”

Leaving behind Lorena who was laughing so hard she was shedding tears, Eugene disappeared into the kitchen.

After finishing their late lunch like that, Lorena, sitting across from him with a satisfied expression, said to Eugene in a wheedling tone:

“A-Anyway, there’s no one else to see but me, so can’t you just wear the apron…?”

“No.”

When Eugene firmly refused, she regretted not holding back her laughter earlier and looked forward to next time.

She stared at Eugene for a while and then brought up another topic.

“Ho-How’s your body…?”

“It’s fine now. I think I’m fully recovered, so I’m planning to visit Sir Bernard soon.”

“Ah… Ah… Before that, Eugene has something to do…”

Lorena, who had been nodding, suddenly remembered something and stood up.

“What is it?”

“Wait a moment…!”

She hurriedly went into the room and came back with a flask.

Inside was a solution with a yellowish tinge.

“What’s this?”

“It’s made from the evening primrose Leshy gave you…! Let’s learn magic first before we go to the swordsmanship guild…!”

She held out the flask to Eugene with a bright face.