Time of the Blind Beast - Chapter 53

At Ezekiel’s firm declaration, Paulina turned her gaze to the master of the house and the maid he had pointed to.

He was angled in such a way that the afternoon light filtered through the half-drawn curtains, casting a slant of brightness. The side of his face bathed in light was elegant, while the side cloaked in shadow was intense. Even amid the blood, sweat, and grime of war zones, it was easy to see why he had become such a figure of fascination—he was like a carefully painted portrait.

And behind the man, standing a step back in the shadows, was a strikingly serene beauty—the maid. She had also been the one who guided Paulina to the drawing room. She seemed girlishly young in one moment and more like a refined lady in the next. Despite her delicate features, her appearance made it hard to guess her age. Moreover, she was the rare kind of person who, upon seeing the burn scars covering the majority of Paulina’s face, neither screamed nor recoiled in disgust.

She was the one…

“Because Rose will be by my side.”

The man who exuded arrogance and coldness from his very first impression, his tone, and demeanor had referred to the woman—Rose—with unparalleled gentleness.

“Isn’t that right, Rose?”

Ezekiel slightly curved his lips as he sought agreement from the maid.

Ordinarily, someone who had recently lost their sight would struggle with spatial awareness, and being unable to read expressions, they would often display awkward movements and emotions. But Ezekiel wasn’t like that. Especially when the loss of sight was sudden, it often left people consumed by shock and rage, unable to manage themselves—but Ezekiel showed no such instability in how he interacted with the maid.

In every respect, Ezekiel simply wanted to be the one and only man for her.

They weren’t just master and maid.

From the start, there had been a subtle tension between them that went beyond such a simple relationship.

Still, surgery was a different matter. Paulina shook her head, hoping Rose would help persuade him.

“Regardless of Miss Rose’s presence, opium is necessary.”

“It’s not.”

But Ezekiel was just as firm.

“It is.”

“It’s not. Didn’t I say Rose is all I need?”

Ezekiel, who insisted on undergoing surgery without opium, and Paulina, who said the surgery couldn’t proceed without it—neither backed down. With no agreement in sight, Rose quietly pondered, unable to carelessly take sides.

From the surgeon’s perspective, Paulina’s concern to eliminate as many risks as possible was entirely valid. But considering the hardship Ezekiel had endured to overcome withdrawal symptoms, Rose could also understand his dread of opium.

Rose asked quietly, “If he undergoes the surgery, will he really regain his sight?”

“If no unexpected complications occur, I believe he will.”

“And even though it’s a difficult surgery, there’s no chance of failure?”

She repeated her question in the same tone.

It was natural to feel uneasy about the effectiveness of such an uncommon procedure. In fact, most patients remained skeptical until their condition had worsened to near blindness before finally seeking out Paulina. It was one of the unintended reasons she had grown so accustomed to complex surgeries.

Paulina responded with a doctor’s clarity, “To be perfectly honest, if someone claims a 100% guarantee of success, that person is a fraud. However, when it comes to eye surgery, there’s no doctor in all of Astrie who has more experience than I do. I only perform ophthalmic surgery. I’d say if I can’t do it, then no one in Astrie can.”

“I see…”

There was a slight pause between the movement of her lips and the actual voice that emerged. Perhaps because of that, there was something subtly off about Rose’s answer.

Paulina grew a little curious and observed her more closely.

Did she not want the surgery to succeed?

Just like most patients, the clearest emotion Paulina sensed from Rose was fear. But beneath the worry and sorrow, there was also a quiet resignation.

Resignation?

Why would she be resigned? Why would a woman who loved him feel resigned about the man regaining his sight?

No, that couldn’t be it. She must be mistaken.

Paulina pushed away the vague sense of unease from her mind.

“Why are you so fixated on only doing eye surgery?”

Ezekiel’s question came at just the right moment.

Most doctors handled multiple fields. While they might have expertise in one, it was rare for someone, as Paulina described, to focus solely on a single type of surgery.

“Even among surgeries, one that doesn’t involve blood?”

“No. If someone becomes a doctor and is afraid of blood, that would be nonsense. In fact, I’ve had experiences where I bled quite a lot myself.”

“Then why?”

Paulina brushed her hand over the burn scars that had ravaged her skin. “You may not have noticed since Miss Rose didn’t show any surprise, but I have severe burn scars on my face.”

Paulina’s tone was plain. Though she was confessing the story of her completely disfigured face, she did so without any intent to elicit pity or sympathy—she was simply stating facts.

“Around eight years ago, there was a fire at the school. Apparently, some kind of science experiment in a nearby lab sparked it, and as the fire spread, it eventually reached the medical department.”

Rose’s eyes widened. “My goodness…”

“At the time, I had fallen asleep in an empty lab. Since no one realized I was missing, the other students all evacuated, and I only woke up after inhaling thick smoke. By then, the fire was already raging beyond control.”

“……”

“The lab was in a secluded spot, and it didn’t have any windows. There was nothing but fire in every direction, and I couldn’t even see the door because of the smoke—I really thought I was going to die. But then, suddenly, one of my classmates came running in, looking for me.”

Rose said carefully, “You must have been very close friends. To run into a burning building to save you like that…”

“Well, rather than close friends… we were rivals. Always neck and neck, competing with each other. He was the top student among the boys, and I was the top student among the girls. Because of that, people treated us like representatives of each group, and there was a bit of a pride battle. Even now, I often hear that I sound stiff and intimidating when I speak as a doctor—but that habit came from university. Since there were so few female students in the medical department, everyone tended to change their tone to avoid seeming weak.”

The medical training school was a place for students who had graduated from general schools like Rose’s and wanted to pursue deeper studies, usually by recommendation of the headmaster. Since it only accepted a small number of gifted students, pride-fueled rivalries were bound to happen.

“So I suppose he was the first to notice I was missing… Anyway, that was the first time we ever held hands. Before that, every time test scores came out, he’d try to shake hands and I’d swat his hand away because I found it so annoying.”

Even in the midst of a serious story, one part stood out to Rose more than others. Perhaps Paulina had been the only one who saw the other as just a rival.

Rose looked down at her own hands.

She wouldn’t have known it before, but now she did. After recognizing her feelings, Ezekiel couldn’t seem to leave her hands alone. He would constantly hold and squeeze them, intertwining their fingers. Even during intercourse, or when they woke up together in the morning, their fingers were always entangled.

“There wasn’t time to think about our usual discomfort. We just held hands and ran for our lives. The problem was, the building began to collapse. Flames burst toward my face, and there was no way to avoid them. My classmate had it even worse—a shard of debris struck his eye. When he couldn’t open his eyes anymore, he pushed me forward, telling me to go first.”

“How did you escape?”

“From that point on, I don’t remember much except that I was the one who ended up dragging him. We ran through the flames, not even knowing which direction we were going, and somehow ended up outside. Luckily, there were a lot of people from the medical department nearby, so we received emergency treatment right away… but as you can see, the scars on my face remained. As for me, well, I had it bad, but my classmate’s injuries were worse. He had severe burns, and because of the embedded debris, he completely lost his sight.”

“Ah…”

Rose chose her words cautiously.

“Then… you must have graduated alone.”

“No. My classmate had an exceptional memory. He could recite entire books after reading them once. I, on the other hand, was the hardworking type, studying by sheer repetition. So even though he lost his sight, the professors didn’t want to expel such a promising student. They made an exception for him to take his exams orally. We continued competing for the top spot until we graduated together.”

Paulina gave a wide grin. “And then we got married.”

It was the first time she showed a truly refreshing smile.