"You...!"
The peasant nurse did hear him, though, and immediately gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, about to stand up and give him a piece of her mind... But she managed to compose herself, breathed out, and leaned back into her seat, relaxing her shoulders.
"What's your deal with peasants anyway?! Aren't there peasants in your family territory?! How can you hate people working for your family!"
"Spit out those words! Those are not peasants! Our people are merely of common birth! Commoners!"
The woman scoffed angrily, but Rotsard's reaction was far more visceral, taking her aback.
"So… you're saying there's a difference? Those words mean the same thing."
The nurse pointed out, looking at the bleached-blond-haired boy who gritted his teeth and looked away.
"My name is Lilla, and considering my current position, I find the way you address me, as well as your general opinion about people of the social class lower than you, as inappropriate and unbecoming of someone of your status."
"..."
After a moment, she declared, crossing her arms and proudly puffing out her chest to make Rotsard glance at her once more.
"I do not care about your opinion in the slightest, though?"
"!!!"
He said dismissively, causing Lilla's face to turn red out of anger.
"...but considering that, despite being a peasant, you didn't try to abuse your position, and instead immediately started treating Mira, my opinion about you as an individual might have improved… Congratulations, Miss… Commoner."
"Oh, come on!"
Rotsard added quietly, but despite an improvement in his behavior only a step away, he ended up with a scoff and caused the nurse to stomp her foot and groan in disbelief.
"...just so you know, the magic crystal with check-up spell does tell me a lot, so you better seriously not try anything…"
"Just make sure to get a bulk of them at hand and use them from time to time and make sure that everything is going well."
Lilla grumbled, clearly wanting to get on Rotsard's nerves, but instead of getting agitated, the bleached-blond-haired boy only nodded and then fixed the blanket so Mira's head would be properly covered.
The nurse stayed in the room just like she said, properly doing her job and observing both the patient and the well-known trash, who everyone believed to be a shameless cheater.
"...check-up… Everything's fine. En-ember. This would be the last one for the night. Any more would only be wasting the resources."
"You're the healer."
Just like every other time, when Lila, with a magic crystal in hand, reached out to Mira, Rotsard leaned away. Watching the woman activate the spells within the crystals with an upset look in his beastly yellow eyes, and would immediately close the distance once she pulled away.
There was something so tender about the way he looked at and cared for the unconscious girl that Lila couldn't help but see him in a different light.
Slightly, teeny-tiny different light, bus still.
It made her relieved.
"..."
With her hand hovering above the bed anyway, Lilla hesitated for a second and…
"..."
…placed her hand on Rotsard's head before she could stop herself.
"...what are you doing…? I'm not a patient today... Move away."
He didn't jolt back or raise his voice, merely muttering grumpily without moving an inch.
"Just a check-up. You're a patient too."
Lilla didn't respond to him and instead held a magic crystal against his temple and activated a spell without his permission, which should cause a reaction from his natural mana barrier…
…but the mana rejection didn't happen, and the spell was properly activated…
"Just as I thought. Since your internal organs got messed up, your mana is all over the place, making your natural mana barrier not work. At all."
"...if you say so, Miss Commoner…"
Nurse Lilla pointed out, but that only made Rotsard cover his face with the blanket and grumble.
"What I mean is, you didn't actually use a berserker potion during that duel, did you? In fact, you haven't used any potion since that injury."
"...!"
She suddenly declared in a matter-of-fact tone, causing the bleached-blond-haired boy to flinch, blindsided by the statement.
"That's what I thought! Without the natural mana barrier, the overwhelming majority of magic potions are simply a poison for the body. And in your current state, your body wouldn't be able to handle any of it… But that leaves me with a question…"
"..."
Lilla smiled triumphantly at the reaction that left no room for mistake, then she explained and added, leaning in while Rotsard put up his shoulders defensively, waiting for the question.
"Why would you act that way?"
"...because I'm just a piece of trash… obviously. Better forget about it, for your own good."
The woman inquired, but the boy merely shrugged his shoulders and scoffed dismissively,
"Here it is again…! Student Rotsard. Are you…? Are you perhaps acting the way you do because you have some purpose in everyone believing you are a useless piece of trash?"
Lilla squinted her eyes with suspicion and then leaned over the bed, attempting to catch a glimpse of Rotsard's expression…
"!"
"...no way…! I… I was right!?"
She hit a bullseye, and Rotsard couldn't control himself enough and flinched as the nurse made a pretty good guess. A reaction which she noticed and interpreted correctly, making her gasp.
"So…! Is it connected?! You acting like the worst scum since arriving in the Royal Academy... your injury… it must have been someone trying to kill you after all…! I knew it! Someone is after you and possibly those closest to you…! AH! Does that mean that what happened to Student Vultress also wasn't an incident?!"
"...haaa… You are wrong, Miss Commoner. Your guess is wrong. I didn't expect much from a suspected peasant, but what you came up with is below that."
…and since there was no chance for anyone to actually figure out the story about the deofol, what nurse Lilla began talking about immediately after, made Rotsard let out a tired sigh and scoff at her.
"You're doing that again! For the first two times, I couldn't figure out why you acted in a way to push others away, but now I get it! You are doing that because you don't want them to get in the crossfire of a family drama!"
"...did you replace your brain with hay halfway through the night, Miss Commoner…?"
Lilla started blabbing in excitement, as if she uncovered some top secret scam, so Rotsard tried to cut her off…
"Since you don't take action yourself, it is safe to assume that someone from your family is behind it, and you have no proof or enough standing to convince others… but… but if you had someone unrelated to you gather information independently and in secret… Student Rotsard, as a member of the Royal Academy's faculty, I will help you out!"
"...huh…? Wait, what? No! It's nothing like that! Stop with those delu…!"
"...nhhhnn…?"
Nurse Lila suddenly stood up and smacked her hand against her puffed-up chest, declaring with pride, causing Rotsard to jolt and call out, taken aback by the misunderstanding. But just then, Mira seemed to regain her consciousness and let out a weak whimper and shifted around.
"Mira? Are you okay? How are you feeling?"
Rotsard immediately dropped the issue of the peasant nurse's misunderstanding and dropped next to the black-haired girl, asking in a worried voice.