Chapter 302 Tail Therapy
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Ten days had passed since I gave her the prosthetic arm, and Betty was still having a hard time using it while she took care of Tris and Pius. She had a strong wish to do her best, so she learned faster than I had expected. It was still far from moving like her old right arm, and she could only grab things with a stiff motion, but it was a big step. At first, the joints only twisted like a worm.
With both hands now in use, she could help with more work little by little. Before, Betty had looked cornered by her own need to work hard, but now she smiled and seemed to enjoy it. I hoped she would grow in skill and in heart, and one day return to her people with her head held high—though since she crossed the border in secret, that would have to wait until she went back to the kingdom.
”Haah… I feel so low.”
While Betty’s mood was rising, mine was sinking fast. This afternoon, Espera, an Inquisitor from the Theocracy, would visit the house. Two weeks had passed since last time, and now that the clinic was calm again, she wanted to come give a formal greeting. From her first visit, I doubted she wished to be friendly, and I felt this would not end with just a greeting.
”If she says anything, it will be about the elves…”
Strange to call it lucky, but many people still tried to dig for news about elves, so our ties had not changed. There was nothing for the Inquisitor to poke at. And even an Inquisitor would not push too hard on a noble of another country… I hoped.
Knock knock.
”Yes?”
I answered at once, but no voice came from the other side. That was odd. Visitors always said their name. I stared at the door until it slowly opened. A pair of beast ears popped through the gap, and a moment later Betty peeked in.
”Betty? It’s rare for you to come to my study. What’s wrong?”
”Um, I heard Neil-sama is very tired.”
”You came to help? Thank you, but this is paperwork. There isn’t much you can—”
”Betty.”
”Hmm?”
”Neil-sama, you said Bearty again. I told you before to call me Betty.”
I scratched my head, trying to hide my awkwardness. The sharp mood she had when she refused help was gone. Now she was friendly, and her ears and tail moved with her feelings in a cute way. The women in the house fell for her at once. Even Diana, who had been against taking her in, was caught brushing Betty’s tail a few days ago, looking very guilty when I saw her.
”This time, I don’t need to say anything, since Neil-sama already feels the danger. So I don’t need to act strict… that’s all!” Diana had said.
Watching her lately, I felt she had spoken hard words only because she was my attendant. Without that, she was softer than me.
”Neil-sama?”
”Ah.”
Her face was close before I noticed.
”You went quiet and looked deep in thought. Is something wrong?” Betty asked.
”No, not really. I just…”
”Just?”
Her head tilted and her ears twitched, and I smiled.
”You’ve changed a lot since the start, Betty.”
”Ah! You said Bearty again! Why won’t you call me Betty? Do you hate it?”
”I don’t hate it. It’s just… some people look at me like, ‘He never called me by a nickname.’ It scares me.”
”Do you mean Sia-nee? I don’t think Sia-nee cares that much, Neil-sama.”
She called Sia “nee,” like an older sister. Betty had grown close to the women so fast that she treated them like family. I had thought she was Diana’s age or older, but she was one year younger than me. I asked if she would call me brother too.
”Neil-sama is not family. You are my master,” she had said.
It felt a bit distant, but since we had no formal contract, it made sense. We did not have many ties, and most people avoided nobles from the empire anyway.
”Neil-sama!”
”Hmm?”
”You were thinking again. Work stops for now!”
”It wasn’t work this time…”
”No excuses! Mei-sama told me to make you rest!”
”Mei did?”
”Yes. She said there is an important talk this afternoon, so I must help you rest and clear your head.”
”I see… but why you, Be— Betty?”
Her cheeks puffed when I started to say Bearty, so I fixed it, and her tail wagged.
”Because only I can do this! Here.”
”…What is this?”
”A brush.”
”And what am I meant to do with it?”
She handed me a brush. I stared, confused. Betty turned around and held out her tail.
”Go ahead.”
”Oh… I see.”
Among the women, brushing Betty’s tail had become a kind of tail therapy. It helped them relax.
I looked at her fluffy tail and thought. My work was moving slowly, and a break might help. But this was still part of her body, and touching a new friend’s soft and maybe private part so easily felt strange.
She did not know what I was thinking, but she saw me hesitate and looked sad.
”Do you hate my tail?” she asked.
”…It will get fur all over the papers. Let’s move to the sofa.”
”! Yes!”
With a face like a lost puppy, she made it impossible to say no. The moment I gave in, Betty lit up with a bright smile and moved to the sofa with her tail swaying. Her tail hit the stack of papers and knocked some down, but she was too happy to notice, so I only gave a small smile and sat beside her. She placed her fluffy tail on my lap.
Brush in my right hand, tail on my knees, I had no way back. I took a breath and began to brush. The brush slid through her fur without getting stuck, maybe because the women brushed it every day. Her tail was full and warm for this cold season, soft like a cloud. I felt my mind calm at once, and my worry about touching a woman so freely faded. As I brushed in silence, her tail swung left and right in my arms.
”Oh, sorry, did that tickle?” I asked.
”No, it’s not that. My tail moves when I feel happy. I love getting brushed,” Betty said.
”You do?”
”Yes! I love it so much I asked everyone to brush me, but Mei-sama warned me that too much would hurt the fur. She told me only twice a day.”
”So I’m using one of your two precious times. I should thank the others for sharing… and thank you too, Betty.”
”Then please brush me a lot as a reward!”
That would defeat the limit Mei set, but I didn’t want to spoil her joy. So I brushed slowly and with care.
Only her happy humming and the soft sound of the brush filled the room. After a while, I asked, “Hey, back in your village, did your family brush your tail like this?”
”Eh? Why do you ask?”
”No big reason. I was just curious.”
It was a lie. I wanted to see how she felt.
Betty did not hate her people, but lately she changed the subject when they came up. If I was right, she had begun to want to stay in our frontier settlement.
I had told her she must go back before her illegal entry caused trouble. But that would mean leaving us. Many places refused Lycus at the border, and if she returned, she could never see us again unless she crossed in secret once more.
Because she knew this, she ran from the topic. But we could not avoid it forever.
”…They brushed me a lot when I was small, but not at all lately,” she said.
”That’s because you thought you would never be seen as grown-up if you acted soft, right?”
”Heh, yes. But it meant nothing.”
The warm mood broke, and my hand stopped. I searched for words, but she spoke first, in a small voice.
”I’m thankful to you, Neil-sama.”
”Thankful? For what?”
”For helping me see something important. I believed I could do everything others could with one arm. But when I left the village, I saw how much others had helped me. I couldn’t do things I believed I could, and I felt so sad. Then you gave me a chance to try again, and this arm. When I used it for the first time, I learned how helpful a second arm is. I finally understood why my people felt sorry for me.”
”Betty…”
”I’m fine. I don’t feel sad now. With this arm, I can do more and was trusted with more work. I feel proud. And I see how foolish I was back then. Even if the arm was just a stick that could only hold or help a little, it still would have helped me. But I refused to use it because I didn’t want to accept my loss. I said I wanted to work hard, but I looked away from the most simple hard work of all—filling my missing part. You made me see that.”
”I didn’t think that far. I only wanted to give you a push.”
”Maybe it was small for you. But to me, who was not allowed to try, it meant the world. For the first time, I felt it was okay to be here. So…”
She clung to my sleeve with her still-clumsy left hand.
”I know I’m selfish, and I know I cause trouble. But please, let me stay here a little longer. I may not be very useful, but I’ll do anything I can! If you wish, I would even give my body—”
”Wait, wait! Calm down! If I meant to send you away, I wouldn’t have helped you in the first place.”
”So I can stay!?”
”You can stay a bit longer. But we need a time limit, and if you don’t return yet, we must send a letter to your people. They must be worried.”
”A letter…? I’m sorry, I can’t read or write. I only know my name.”
”You can’t? Then you can think about what to say, and I’ll write it… Actually, how about this? You stay until you learn to read and write.”
”Learn to read and write? But if you write for me, I don’t need to learn.”
”If you can’t read or write, then if we send you letters later, you won’t understand them, and you can’t answer.”
”Eh?”
She looked shocked.
”There are many ways to share our feelings, not only by meeting face to face. When you go back to the kingdom, we will be far, but not gone forever. If you can’t come here, we can go to you. Well… not for a few years, since I can’t leave the empire yet.”
”…Even if I go back, will you remember me?”
”Of course.”
Our time together was short, but she cared for us like true family. We could never treat her as a stranger. To us too, she had become dear.
”I’ll study hard! I’ll learn, and I’ll write lots of letters!”
”Yes. And we’ll write many too.”
”Yes! It’s a promise!”
”Yeah, a promise.”
Seeing her smile with both relief and joy, I felt the strength to keep that promise. I brushed her tail until Espera arrived, filling myself with calm for what was to come.
Notes:
• Tris – Golarf’s daughter. The one who can’t control her azure origin.
• Bearty – Gray-haired Lycus girl from a remote settlement, ran away from overprotective family, appears after collapsing from exhaustion, becomes the girl Neil protects and mentors.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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