Chapter 486 - Bed-rotter

Scarlett woke to the gentle scratch of a quill across paper, accompanied by the faint sounds of movement elsewhere in the mansion as the household went about its business. She remained in bed for some time, listening to it all and indulging in the warmth trapped beneath her quilts and the soft give of the pillow beneath her head.

She honestly wasn’t sure when she had last allowed herself to simply lie there like this.

How long had she been asleep? Had she missed anything big? Had Evelyne made it back safely? Had half the capital burnt down in her absence?

A bunch of questions rose to the front of her mind, urging her to get up immediately and find out. It was what she would usually have done.

Today, she couldn't be bothered.

Let it all burn.

The sentiment came surprisingly close to being genuine.

Her breathing slowed as she let her thoughts drift, and the rhythmic scratching of the quill gradually lulled her back towards sleep.

When she woke again, the scratching had stopped, though she barely registered its absence before slumber reclaimed her. The process repeated itself several times after that. Scarlett remained vaguely aware of time passing, but her mind seemed content to linger in that indistinct space between waking and dreams, never quite holding on to either for long.

When she finally surfaced into full awareness again, the scratching was back. This time, it was accompanied by the savoury aroma of warm food and the faint, fragrant scent of chamomile.

Scarlett still didn't feel like moving.

She waited for sleep to take her once more, but this time it refused to oblige. Eventually, her stomach made its opinion known as well with a dull pang of hunger that twisted through her abdomen.

At first, she considered simply waiting it out. The hunger would fade eventually. But as her thoughts gradually sharpened and wakefulness settled more firmly, she didn’t have much choice but to accept that she wouldn’t be falling asleep again anytime soon.

She lingered in the comfortable apathy that had overtaken her for as long as she could, but eventually hunger and thinning patience won out.

Her eyelids dragged themselves open. It proved more of a battle than Scarlett would have expected, but soon enough, the embroidered canopy above her bed came into focus. She stared at it for several seconds before attempting to move. Her limbs were sluggish to respond, but she managed to shift out of the warm hollow she’d made beneath the covers and sit up with her back resting against the upholstered headboard.

Her gaze travelled across the chamber towards the small table positioned before the curtained window and the woman seated there.

Rosa smiled at her.

“Morning, sleepy-red. Pleasant dreams?”

Scarlett studied her.

Rosa held a quill loosely between ink-stained fingers, with a small black smudge marking one cheek as if she had absently scratched at an itch there. A light shawl hung around her shoulders, its woven patterns only barely distinguishable under the warm glow of a candle standing on the table.

Scarlett’s eyes moved past her.

A disorderly stack of papers lay spread across one side of the table. Beside them sat a wooden tray bearing a large plate of food and a covered cup.

Rosa glanced at the meal, then back at Scarlett.

“Hungry?”

She set the quill aside and slipped the shawl from her shoulders before picking up the tray. Crossing the room, she sat on the edge of the bed next to Scarlett.

“Here you go,” she said, carefully settling the tray across Scarlett’s lap. “The house special, delivered by the house special. Tonight’s distinguished selection consists of roast chicken, buttered potatoes, glazed carrots, fresh bread, and—because the chef gave me a look when I suggested skipping it—a small helping of peas. Accompanied by a cup of chamomile tea, which is supposedly good for sleep.”

Scarlett watched her catalogue the meal without comment.

Finally, Rosa pointed at herself.

“As for me, I’m just me. Hope it doesn’t disappoint.”

A few moments passed.

Scarlett lingered on the woman before eventually lowering her attention to the tray. She picked up the knife and fork that came with it and cut into the chicken first.

It was good.

She'd barely eaten a proper meal in the last day or two, and her body seemed keenly aware of that fact now that she actually had food in front of her.

Rosa just stayed seated at the bedside while Scarlett ate, seemingly content simply to watch.

“Is there a reason you are in my chambers?” Scarlett asked after finishing a portion of the chicken. She set down her cutlery and picked up the cup of tea.

It was slightly cooler than she preferred.

Unfortunately, her mana channels still weren’t in any state for her to casually correct that with pyrokinesis.

“There are plenty of reasons~” Rosa half-hummed, winding a lock of brown hair around one finger while her other hand flicked idly towards the teacup. A faint spark of violet light flashed from her fingertip, and Scarlett felt the cup warm slightly in her hands. “I suppose how serious they are depends on how you’re feeling.”

“Tired,” Scarlett replied.

“Then there are only two. First off, someone needed to deliver the food. Secondly, we were worried about you.”

Scarlett paused with the teacup near her lips and looked at Rosa. “I heard you writing in here earlier as well. You have been here for some time.”

“Earlier?” Rosa’s eyebrows rose in mild amusement. “Amy, that was more than half a day ago. I'd brought breakfast up in case you woke and wanted something.”

“Breakfast?” Scarlett glanced down at the tray. “Then this is…?”

“A very late supper.”

“What time is it?”

Rosa shrugged. “Haven’t checked recently. Probably getting close to midnight. Allyssa started worrying you were worse hurt than we realised. There was even talk of sending for Raimond or another healer.”

“I am fine.”

“Are you?”

A note for anyone reading here: NovelPhoenix supplied the copied chapter without permission, while its author publishes there.

Scarlett was silent for a moment.

“No. But I will recover.”

“That, I don't doubt.” Rosa chuckled softly. “I just figured something had to be properly wrong if you were taking this much shut-eye. Either that, or you got body-swapped while you were gone. But I’ve already checked thoroughly enough to rule that one out.”

Scarlett’s gaze sharpened.

Rosa’s finger stopped halfway through another turn around her hair. She slowly released the lock, a trace of chagrin entering her smile.

“Sorry. Joke.”

“I assumed as much,” Scarlett said.

Silence settled between them again as Scarlett took another sip of tea.

Rosa regarded her for a while.

“You okay?” she eventually asked.

“You have already asked that.”

“No, I asked how you were feeling and whether you were fine. That’s the first ‘okay’ to pass these lips of mine today.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Probably. Mostly depends on whether you'll give me the same answer or not.”

Scarlett closed her eyes, savouring the warmth of the cup between her hands. She took another sip before setting it back down on the tray.

“I am feeling oddly…lethargic,” she said.

“Lethargic?”

“Yes. I find that I have very little motivation to care about anything at the moment.”

“That's not very you.”

“Perhaps not. Or perhaps it is.”

She’d had periods like this in the past. Especially after her sister had moved out. Times when she hadn’t cared much about anything and had simply gone through the motions from one day to the next.

But it had been a while since she’d felt tired in quite this way.

“Do you know why you’re feeling like that?” Rosa asked.

Scarlett opened her eyes and shook her head. “No.”

Maybe it was simply a consequence of her exhaustion. Maybe the inherent ambivalence of the Scarlett part of her was asserting itself more strongly than usual. Or maybe it had something to do with the dream she’d had.

She couldn't say.

Regardless, it would probably pass eventually. If it didn’t, she would just have to push through it.

Scarlett picked up her knife and fork again and resumed eating. Rosa watched her for a while longer before eventually rising from the bedside and returning to the table. She draped the shawl back around her shoulders and reclaimed her quill, rolling it idly between her fingers as she looked over the paper in front of her.

“What is it that you are working on?” Scarlett asked.

“A ballad,” Rosa answered.

“About me, I presume?”

“Presume away. You’ve never been one to shy from being overweening.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Does the minstrel lose sleep over one sour face in a hall of smiles?”

“I do not know.”

“Answer’s yes. We’re all deeply insecure.”

“I see.”

Rosa laughed, seemingly more to herself than to Scarlett, and leaned over the table. Soon, the soft scratch of her quill against parchment filled the chamber once more.

Scarlett continued with her meal.

“How’d things go at the palace?” Rosa asked after a while.

“Are you asking that while already knowing the answer?”

“No, mostly asking because I kind of care. Something’s wrong with me like that.” Rosa kept writing. “Also, I don’t actually know the answer.”

“Then what about what you told Fynn?”

“That was about the extent of what I knew. There was surprisingly little written down about what happened at the palace itself. Don’t ask me why.”

“Hmm.”

Scarlett’s gaze rested on Rosa’s back.

“It was a mess,” she eventually said, reaching for the tea again. “Very chaotic overall. For one, it seems the emperor may be dead and that the empire will soon be facing the matter of a new ruler. I assume you have already heard about the attack itself from Lady Withersworth, but that is far from everything. I learned that Eidolon had been communicating with the emperor for some time and had apparently entered into some form of accord with him regarding the empire’s survival. In addition, it appears to possess several distinct identities, though it remains unclear how separate those identities truly are from one another. It is equally unclear whether Eidolon is solely an enemy or something that can, under certain circumstances, be negotiated with.”

“Did you meet with it yourself?”

“Yes and no. I did not encounter it in person. Yamina and I were isolated in a separate space during much of what occurred. However, I did receive the book the emperor had been using to communicate with Eidolon, and there were two messages waiting within it.”

Rosa turned partly in her chair to look at her.

“Where’s that book now?”

“I hid it before returning here. We can retrieve it tomorrow, once I have had the opportunity to speak with Yamina about how best to handle it.”

Before falling asleep during the carriage ride back, Scarlett had made sure they stopped long enough for her to conceal the book in an out-of-the-way alley. Barring someone specifically being able to track it, she wasn’t worried about anyone stumbling across it by chance. And if someone could track it despite that precaution, keeping it on herself wasn’t something she wanted anyway.

“Hmm. Alright.”

Rosa turned back to her papers. Scarlett took another sip of tea, watching the woman resume her writing.

“Do you know anything about that book?” she asked.

Rosa’s head tipped slightly to one side. She seemed to consider the question as she finished the line she was working on, then gave a small nod to herself.

“A bit,” she answered. “Nothing you’d like to know, though.”

“So there is nothing in particular I need to be wary of regarding it?”

Rosa’s quill paused briefly above the parchment before starting up again.

“Ehm, no, you probably should be wary. Best be your usual paranoid Red self. I’m just saying I don’t know anything that’s likely to change how you approach it.”

“Is that so?”

Scarlett could have pressed her on what exactly she meant by that, but she didn’t particularly feel like it. She had already spoken more than she’d expected to when this conversation began.

She slowly worked her way through what remained of the tea as the minutes passed, then finished the last of her meal. With the quiet scratching of Rosa’s quill filling the room, Scarlett leaned her head back against the headboard and rested her eyes.

“How did the princess fare during her first day here?” she asked in a low voice.

“I think ‘interestingly’ is probably the best way to describe it.”

“And why is that?”

“Well, Nol’viz popped up.”

“I see.”

“You don’t find that concerning?”

“Perhaps I would, had someone not already taken it upon herself to introduce the two of them beforehand.”

“Was this ‘someone’ especially dashing, darling, debonair, and dazzling?”

“No.”

“Huh. Must’ve been a different someone, then. Strange, though, because I’m almost positive I remember doing that.”

“I will allow you one of those descriptors,” Scarlett said. “Choose which.”

“Debonair.”

“That is perhaps the least applicable of the four.”

“Oh? So you admit the others fit?”

Scarlett chose not to respond.

A light, pleased laugh rang through the room.

“I didn’t stick around for most of it, so I can’t say exactly how the princess’ little meet-and-greet with the deadpan twins went,” Rosa said. “Allyssa stayed for a while, though, and according to her, they seemed to make quick friends. Now, she didn’t actually use the word ‘friends’, and from the sound of it, she spent most of the time confused by whatever they were talking about, but you have to learn to read between the lines.”

Rosa’s quill scratched louder as she drew a line at the bottom of the page. “If you manage not to sleep through tomorrow as well, maybe you can see for yourself.”

“Perhaps.”

“Other than that…” Rosa trailed off for a few seconds. “Your sister was escorted back here safely around noon by some knights. Evelyne, that is. There’s also been some unrest in the streets after what happened at the palace, but nothing too serious from what I saw. I went out for a stroll this evening and didn’t hear anything about the emperor being gone, at least. Most people were talking about that giant squid that appeared in the water. That and the Empyreal Barrier.”

Scarlett’s brow shifted faintly.

“People were worried something had gone wrong with it,” Rosa continued. “It did look pretty alarming for a hot minute there, but I think they’ve gotten whatever happened under control, because the barrier expanded quite a bit as the day went on. By the time I was out, it’d grown large enough that you could barely make it out from the ground.”

Scarlett gave a faint nod as Rosa spoke, absorbing the information without devoting much thought to any one part of it.

“Any messages for me?” she asked.

“Not that I’ve heard of. Fynn said there were some people sneaking around the estate and keeping an eye on us, but they just seemed to be here because of the princess. They didn’t get in the way.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“Well…” Rosa paused. “Kat seemed like she might want to talk to you. Pretty sure she’s been putting it off for a few days because of everything going on, but you should probably give her some time tomorrow if you can.”

“Very well.”

“Great.”

“Yes.”

Scarlett fell quiet again.

“So…” Rosa’s voice broke the silence after a while. “What now?”

Scarlett remained still for a few seconds longer before slowly letting out a breath.

“I’m going to sleep,” she said.

“You just woke up.”

“And look, it’s already midnight. How time flies.”

“You know, you’re pretty funny for supposedly being so lethargic.”

“Good night, Rosa.”

Another light laugh sounded from across the room. It was followed by the rustle of papers being gathered together, the scrape of a chair against the floor, and the soft puff of Rosa blowing out the candle. Soon after, the tray was lifted from Scarlett’s lap.

“Night, Amy. See you tomorrow, fingers crossed.”

“Tomorrow.”

Scarlett heard Rosa’s footsteps cross the room towards the door, then stop.

“Oh, and Amy?”

“Yes?”

“Just so you know, there’s been a unanimous decision. Unless the city is falling apart or the emperor himself calls for you, you’re banned from working for the next few days.”

“…Tell me that tomorrow when I actually care, Rosa. See what I have to say then.”

“Nope. I’ve carried out my duty. Night!”

The door opened and clicked shut.

Scarlett listened to Rosa’s footsteps recede down the hall, then slowly slid back beneath the covers. She settled her head into the pillow, closed her eyes, and let the lingering heaviness in her body pull her back towards sleep.