My Death Flag Shows No Sign Of Ending

Episode 14

After that, although Kazuki quietly retrieved the sword and went back to his room, maybe since he was feeling uneasy in his heart, he couldn't sleep.
After turning and tossing over the bed for quite a while, he finally got sleepy when there wasn't much time left for sunrise. Squinting and looking at the sky which was growing lighter, Kazuki thought- a little bit more, and fell into the deep abyss of sleep.

It seemed as though the abyss was very deep, and so by the time Kazuki opened his eyes, it was already past noon.
He got up as though dragging up a heavy body. There was a possibility that yesterday's damage was still remaining.

(Not to the body though)

He patted the cheek slapped by Erika. Physically, there was no pain remaining.
The pain was remaining inside the body, in his conscience.
Even though a night had passed, his heart was pained by the guilt of making a very young girl cry.

That said, even if his mouth tore, there was no way he could have said 「I didn't kill them」. That was not only to protect himself, but also for Erika.

「Fuh, worthless」

Murmuring "Can't be helped" mixed with a sigh- even this whining wasn't allowed by Harold's mouth. If this was Harold's root, Kazuki was in admiration of his mental toughness.
It was also possible that he was simply egotistic.

As soon as he stood up, his stomach which had missed breakfast and dinner indicated his hunger, but to clear his mind which was dull since he had just woken up, he decide to take a shower.
By the way, there was no bath in the Stokes mansion. Because the culture of bathing itself hadn't taken root.

It would soon be 4 months since he had possessed Harold. During that, the only time he had taken a bath was only when they had stayed the night at the Sumeragi's mansion.
That too, the large public bath which seemed like Japanese cypress baths was installed outdoors and rather than calling it a bath, it was luxurious enough to be called as a hot-spring. He swore in his heart that if he got the chance to once again step into it, he would confirm whether it was a hot-spring or not.

While craving for wanting to enter a bath, Kazuki who had showered stepped towards the dining hall to sate his hunger.
On the way, he met Juno who was walking from the opposite side in a corridor.
She stopped and bowed towards him, but there was no need for Kazuki to expressly talk to Juno who was just an attendant.

But as Erika's crying face flashed in his mind, by the time Kazuki realized it, he was already asking Juno about Erika's condition.

「How's the condition of the girl with the weak constitution?」

Before he knew it, in Harold's view, Erika had undergone a class change from sheltered girl to girl with weak constitution.
This was him being worried about her so it couldn't be helped.

「That is, today her condition has gotten worse ～. As Harold-sama had told, it might be good to consider going back to the Sumeragi territory so that she gets better ～」

Even though what Harold had called Erika was too much, without changing her expression, Juno let it go. Saved by her magnanimity, and thinking when she would get angry already, Kazuki, who was scared, secretly wiped away his cold sweat.
Returning back because of falling ill at the place they were staying at seemed like a waste of time, but since he was running around due to the situation of Erika staying being outside his expectations, for Kazuki he felt that if they returned speedily, it would be a relief. For a reason different from the one for his parents, he didn't want them to know about Clara's case.

「By the way, does Harold-sama know about the cause of Erika-sama falling ill ～?」

「As if. I'm not a doctor」