Time of the Blind Beast - Chapter 12

Chapter 3: Sleepless Night

The man’s daily routine, without ever leaving the mansion, was quite simple. But it was far from stagnant.

Even when he was leaning back lazily, intoxicated by the opium-laced wine, he would suddenly spring up and roam the first floor. Having grown so accustomed to pushing his body to the limit as a soldier, it seemed his body moved by inertia, even when drugged.

Rose followed him closely and, whenever he seemed unsteady, quickly moved to support him.

She had never seen him sleep in, either, because he was a light sleeper, waking at the slightest sound. It took him a long time to fall asleep, and even when he did, it was shallow, leading to chronic sleep deprivation.

Rose soon learned the reason for this.

“An enemy’s ambush always comes when you’re asleep.”

He had once casually remarked while accepting the sleep tea she had brought him. In fact, the day Rose injured his eye, he had been asleep. It happened while he was briefly relaxing at home, a rare moment away from the battlefield. To him, even his home couldn’t be a place of rest.

That night, Rose also tossed and turned, unable to sleep, as if his insomnia had been contagious. It was a long night.

The rain was pouring down relentlessly from the morning again.

It was common for the weather to be gloomy when the seasons changed. It shifted from rain to sleet, and sometimes fog covered the ground. Outside the window was mostly gray.

Rose looked up at the sky beyond the curtains. Thick, dark clouds completely obscured the sun, making it as dark as dawn. Fortunately, there wasn’t thunder or lightning this time.

“Major, the doctor has arrived. He’s been shown to the drawing room.”

The mansion received visitors every few days. All of them were doctors. Every doctor in the area had visited the mansion at least once, and now they were bringing in well-known doctors from other regions.

So far, every doctor who had visited had examined his eyes, shook their heads, and left.

On the days when doctors came, all the servants kept their heads down and moved quietly. It was because Ezekiel would spend the whole day immersed in alcohol and drugs, having dismissed all the doctors as fools and quacks.

When that happened, Ezekiel wouldn’t overlook even the smallest mistakes made by the servants and scolded them sharply. Even Rose, who had just started as a laundress and hadn’t had much contact with Ezekiel, could sense the tension that filled the mansion. It was precarious and nerve-wracking.

Rose calmly tidied up his appearance. Ezekiel didn’t lower himself for her, and of course, he had no way of knowing how much taller he was than her, so she often had to stand on tiptoe.

As she reached up to smooth his disheveled hair, she glanced at his expression.

…What was this man thinking when he met with the doctors?

The doctor visiting today was actually the second one since she had become Ezekiel’s personal maid. She hadn’t even seen the first one. After hearing about the accident and symptoms during the interview with Madam Serva, that doctor had waved his hands and refused to examine Ezekiel.

“I don’t know how to make blind eyes see again. Maybe those fantasy writers would suggest attaching someone else’s eyes, but… that’s something straight out of a gothic horror novel. As a doctor, I can’t even imagine such a thing.”

Rose had only heard this story through Madam Serva. If the doctor couldn’t help, he should have just said so and left, but instead, he had treated the situation like it was a scene from a fantastical novel, which had made the normally gentle Madam Serva unusually furious. She had even warned Rose to be careful not to let Ezekiel hear of it.

“Rose, do you know how many doctors there are in the world? If we keep searching, we’ll surely find one who can cure his eyes. Don’t you agree?”

Madam Serva had sought Rose’s agreement.

Rose hesitated, unable to respond right away. Even though it was just a simple “Yes,” it felt like a thorn was stuck in her throat.

It was as if she had been struck by a sudden realization.

That’s right. Until now, Rose had never even considered the possibility that Ezekiel’s eyes could be healed.

Even though she had heard that every doctor in the northern region had visited this mansion at least once, and despite the fact that she had come to this place certain of his whereabouts, she had never counted on the possibility that his eyes might recover.

Why was that?

Was it because she had witnessed Akenaus’s malice right before her eyes? She might have had a sinister belief that the poison used by the brother trying to kill his sibling wasn’t something that could be easily treated, rendering Madam Serva and Ezekiel’s efforts futile.

The objective situation wasn’t on Ezekiel’s side, either. Despite the many doctors that had come, not a single one had started any treatment. Many of the mansion’s servants, although they didn’t dare say it out loud, thought it was a waste of effort and money.

And…

Rose swallowed briefly.

She wasn’t ready to imagine such a clear future just yet. If—really, if a miracle happened and he regained his sight, she wasn’t confident she could handle the explosion of anger that would follow.

From Ezekiel’s perspective, he would undoubtedly desire the chance to regain the life he had lost along with his vision far more than a maid to care for him forever.

It was ultimately a cowardly escape from the responsibility she bore as the one who had harmed him.

Rose could only manage a small nod. Even with this passive agreement, Madam Serva’s determination flared.

“I won’t give up.”

True to her word, Madam Serva didn’t give up. She raised the consultation fees and brought in more doctors. When the doctors from the north couldn’t help, she expanded her search to doctors from the east, west, and south. She even asked for referrals from the doctors who had already visited.

The doctor visiting this time was a timid-looking young man. Although he had passed Madam Serva’s interview and entered the drawing room, he couldn’t sit still and kept glancing around. It seemed he was intimidated by the somber atmosphere of the mansion, with its black curtains blocking out all daylight. Furthermore, the patient he was about to treat was once a famous war hero. Even a doctor who had seen all sorts of patients would find this case challenging and daunting.

“It’s an honor to meet the hero of the War of the Roses in person,” the doctor said, standing up quickly as he spotted Ezekiel and Rose.

Without Rose’s help, Ezekiel strode across the drawing room and sat on the examination couch.

“Oh…”

The doctor couldn’t hide his admiration. Rose understood his amazement. When she first started working at the mansion, she had also been surprised by how Ezekiel roamed the first floor. Inside the mansion, a place he knew like the back of his hand, he moved just as well as someone with sight. Of course, this was also due to the hard work of the servants, who made sure that all the furniture was arranged just right.

“Let’s begin.”

Ezekiel leaned back in the chair and gave the order.

The doctor began taking out instruments from his bag, laying them out on the table one by one. Tweezers, needles of various sizes, a curved knife, a magnifying glass, and a lamp, along with several other ominous-looking tools whose purposes were hard to guess, were lined up in front of him.

“Wait a moment.”

Rose, who had been watching from a few steps back, quickly intervened.

“You can’t use a lamp here.”

The doctor was taken aback and asked, “What? But how am I supposed to examine him without light?”

Rose hesitated. That’s true. She had instinctively stopped him because light was the mansion’s greatest taboo, but she had no idea how the previous doctors had performed their examinations without a lamp in this dark drawing room.

Ezekiel chuckled bitterly. Rose had a side to her that seemed not just diligent but also overly rigid. It was clear why Madam Serva had chosen her, a newcomer, to be by his side instead of any of the other servants.

“My maid lacks the flexibility you’d expect from a soldier’s servant. Do as you normally would.”

Rose blushed slightly and stepped back.

Unfortunately, the doctor seemed more intimidated by Ezekiel’s command to proceed as usual than by Rose’s request to refrain from using the lamp.

The doctor lit the lamp. The orange glow cut through the thick darkness. It was dazzling. Rose instinctively closed her eyes tightly. No matter how bright the lamp was, it couldn’t compare to the natural light outside, yet her retinas, accustomed to the mansion’s constant gloom, were extremely sensitive to even this faint glow.

If my perfectly fine eyes feel this way, how on earth is he…?

Rose glanced at Ezekiel.

He was a man who avoided even the faint moonlight. His bedroom curtains were always drawn twice over. And yet, he accepted the doctor’s examination without complaint. Of course, having met dozens of doctors by now, he had probably prepared himself to endure as much as possible.

The doctor brought the lamp close to Ezekiel’s eyes to examine them. Pale shadows formed around his eyes from the light.

Despite the direct exposure to the light, Ezekiel remained still. He didn’t move a finger, as if he had fallen asleep. Wondering why, Rose cautiously looked at him and was startled to see beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.

He was simply enduring it.