“Blood!” he shouted. “Where’s the rest of them?!”
“I cleared the area. How did you do?”
“We pushed ’em all out~.”
“We gave them a pretty thorough beating~. They won’t be back again for a long time~.”
“I see.” Blood looked from his men, to Alice, back to his men again.
Alice wasn’t sure Elliot even noticed her. He nodded at Blood, clearly impressed. “Nice! You offered them an opening and lured them into the mansion so we could take ’em down. I was so fed up with their crap—”
“Elliot, you handle the clean-up. I have other business.” Blood gripped the hand on Alice’s good arm. “Come, young lady.”
“Huh? But Blood…” Elliot’s bursting pride slowly drained from his face.
Alice groaned involuntarily as Blood dragged her to her feet, but she had no time to object or resist. Her mind spun from the throbbing pain in her arm. She lost all track of what he was saying.
Elliot’s ears twitched curiously. “Hey, Blood! What’s that woman—hggh!”
One blow from Blood’s cane sent Elliot crumpling to the ground.
“Out of my way,” Blood snapped. “I just told you to clean up. Do it.”
Blood pulled Alice past his fallen second-in-command and back toward the mansion. Once inside, Alice was surprised to see them headed for his room. She stumbled behind him.
He finally dragged her to his sofas and released her. “Sit down,” he ordered.
“No, um…”
“Young lady?” In response, Blood mimed how he’d just beaten Elliot with his cane.
Alice shrank back from the threat and dropped onto the sofa. “I-if you insist.”
Blood fetched a small box from somewhere. His face tight with annoyance, he tossed aside his jacket and hat and sat next to her.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“First aid. What does it look like?”
He flipped open the box. Alice’s eyes fell on a white bandage and a small bottle filled with medicine.
“R-right,” she breathed. “Then you’ll just patch me up?”
He tugged off his gloves. And then Blood Dupre, head of the Hatter Family, feared Mafia boss of the Country of Diamonds, gently applied first aid to the Outsider on his couch.
Alice stared fixedly at his profile, not sure this was really happening. He leaned over her wound as he cleaned it. His blue-green eyes locked on his work as a bothered sigh leaked from his lips.
Oh my God.
“…You look like you want to say something,” he said thinly.
Alice swallowed. “I just…didn’t expect you to do something like this for me. Don’t you think helping other people is pointless?”
Confronted by the same words he’d used when Alice had saved his maid, Blood’s mouth snapped shut.
Alice had jumped out from her hiding place of her own free will. It wasn’t Blood’s fault she was shot. And considering what Elliot had said, she’d gotten in the way of some plan that had been doing fine without her.
But Blood didn’t answer Alice’s comment. He didn’t even seem annoyed that she’d blundered into his plan. He just softly ran his bare fingers over Alice’s blood-smeared arm.
“I need to use the disinfectant,” he murmured. “This will sting a little.”
“Okay… Ow!”
Alice clenched her teeth, swallowing a hiss as her injury burned. Blood reduced his pressure on the wound.
After washing the dirt and blood away, he wiped her down with clean gauze. Maybe it was because he was good at this, or because he’d lightened his touch, but the pain started to drain away.
“……”
The atmosphere around them felt very different from the last time she’d been in the room. She couldn’t describe it. Things felt…a little awkward.
Her eyes fell to his fingers, normally hidden under his gloves. They were long and slender, but angular. Masculine.
How can his fingers look that good when he’s wiping up blood?
He finally finished securing the gauze. He paused.
“In the other countries, did you…”
Alice’s eyes snapped up at his sudden murmur. “Huh?”
He didn’t meet her gaze. Only his lips moved.
“I just wondered if you did something similar for the Blood Dupre of the other countries. You know—recklessly jumping in front of a gun.”
Alice winced. “No way—I’m no hero. I got caught up in dangerous situations because of him, sure, but I never jumped into the line of fire or anything.”
He let a breath out through his nose. “I thought as much. Something like that would be suicidal. And I doubt the me of the other countries would be so fond of an idiot.” A mysterious, confused look filled his eyes as he dragged his gaze around Alice’s face.
“Then…why did you try to protect me?” he asked at last. “You did the same thing for my maid the first time we met. You’re irreplaceable. Risking yourself for us is pointless.”
Alice sighed. “God, I’ve heard that argument so many times in this world. Even the ‘you’ of the other countries said it to me. You’re replaceable, you’re replaceable.”
She threw up her good hand. “I don’t care. You and your maid are both living people, so protecting you isn’t pointless to me.”
“It is pointless,” Blood insisted. “Someone can replace her and even me, and nothing will change. Your view is only warped because there’s no replacement to take your place.”
Maybe Blood meant to make the statement brutal, like when Alice had protected the maid…but his voice came out much softer than expected.
He gave the bandage one more tug. Alice couldn’t figure out his thoughts as he brought his face closer to the gauze.
He brushed his lips over it.
Alice froze. She stared at him, shocked, as he looked up from her wound and flashed a knowing smile.
“B-Blood,” she breathed.
“I assume that’s something the Blood Dupre of the other countries wouldn’t do. Thank you, Alice.”
“……”
Did he…just call me by my name? While thanking me?!
Maybe the actions didn’t mean that much on their own, but together… It seemed like he was finally getting a little closer to her. Feeling welled up in her and spread a smile across her face.
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re wounded. What are you smiling for? Unless you like pain…”
“No!” she blurted back. “I hate things that hurt! I just thought that…this situation didn’t end up all bad.”
“You’re a strange young lady.”
Alice met Blood’s dubious words with a smile as she stood from the sofa. Her arm throbbed slightly, but nothing bad enough to concern her.
“I should thank you for the first aid,” she said. “So, well…thank you. Do you mind if I go back to my room now?”
Blood was a busy man, so she figured she’d leave while she was ahead. But as she walked back to the door, he called out to her.
“Wait. There’s one thing I want to say first.”
Alice turned. He stood in front of the sofa, the medicine box still clutched in his hand.
“Yeah?”
“You’re on leave from your job while that heals.”
Alice blinked. “Huh? It’s not bad enough to get in the way of—”
“Your wound won’t just heal in the next time period—not yet, anyway. Don’t tax yourself.”
“……”
“Well? Will you take the leave?”
Phrasing it as a question rather than an order was probably him trying to be considerate. She softened.
It’s weird seeing him so open and honest, she thought. But that’s nice every once in a while.
“Thank you,” she answered at last. “I’ll take you up on that.”
“Mm. You should take me up while there’s still something to take.”
Alice couldn’t argue with that. She nodded…
A smile floated across Blood’s lips.