CHAPTER 228: DIFFERENCE

"Hey Shizune, do you want to stay here and read books?" I ask, seeing Shizune get up from her wheelchair here in the library to grab a book from the shelf. She doesn’t even ask for help, so I decide not to bother her since her being able to move around is good.

"Yes, I want to study a bit, and I’d also like to be alone to try and read the books in silence," she tells me as I nod.

"Sure, just don’t forget the schedule. In two hours, I’ll bring dinner and your sweets..."

"Meds," she interrupts me.

"Right, in two hours it’s time for your meds..." I say to her, and she nods. I let out a sigh as I leave the room, leaving her alone, only able to find Shizune’s behavior strange.

’Shizune is...acting strange...’ I think about this as I walk to the kitchen to make dinner. Shizune has been acting strangely since she woke up.

She’s always seemed and acted like a child, her mental issues, my overprotectiveness, and the lack of proper education have prevented her from maturing much. But now, she seems strangely more mature.

Normally, she would hate it if I mentioned her meds because it reminds her of her condition, so the normal thing would be for her to be complaining and talking a bunch of nonsense about how she hates everything, how she’s bored.

In short, she’s always complained a lot, like a spoiled child, and it was terrible when she forgot things, since when she forgot, she’d see me the wrong way and even throw things at me with her weak strength.

I know this is kind of part of her condition; she feels wronged, and complaining is a way for her to try to be normal, even if her complaining is just an annoyance.

’Did some medication have a strange reaction on her?’ She still complains, but much less, like 10 times less than in the past, now she sounds like someone who has genuinely matured.

What’s strange is that whenever she lost her memory partially or almost completely, she’d have outbursts, throw things, and yell at me to stay away until she got too tired.

"She wanting to read books...what a rarity..." This is another strange thing. Normally, she never wanted to touch books, saying the letters hurt her eyes because they looked like a bunch of little black blobs in motion.

Of course, maybe she just wanted to read because she doesn’t remember, but even so, it’s undoubtedly a complete novelty since not even in other times when she lost her memory did she want to read.

"..." I reach the kitchen, trying not to think about it too much, seeing the knives hanging. I quickly grab them, placing them on the table and thinking about which one to use for cooking.

This is a set of knives I bought; for some reason, knives have always attracted me in a certain way, and I’ve even had various "unconventional" uses for my knives.

Wanting to just finish this quickly, I end up grabbing a medium-sized knife. I go to the fridge, grabbing meat and vegetables that I know she won’t have a problem eating, quickly starting to cut the vegetables and throwing them in the pan.

"...Something’s not right?" I murmur, cutting the vegetables quickly but skillfully to avoid hurting myself. I can’t stop thinking about how she acted strangely, I know her like the back of my hand, and it was very different from other times.

"What’s different this time from other times she’s forgotten things? Are the meds having more effect? Will the prescription get more expensive?" I ask myself, knowing this could be a problem.

If things get more expensive, I won’t be able to afford her meds, and without the meds, Shizune can have serious problems.

"And why did she have that idea of running away?" I give a strong blow to the cutting board, which bends the knife, but without caring much about it, I grab another one.

Shizune’s idea of selling the mansion and running away together not only wouldn’t work, but it’s also not what I want. To begin with, Shizune’s parents really abandoned her, but they still have "use" for her.

If she runs away, they will certainly spend a lot of money chasing her, because as long as Shizune is being cared for and is under her parents’ responsibility, they will make a lot of money.

Something related to Shizune’s grandfather, who liked her and left a huge amount of money, which currently always goes to Shizune’s parents because they are her legal guardians.

Since Shizune has mental issues, she was not considered fit to manage, administer, or spend the money legally, but the money is hers. So if she disappears, her parents will no longer have access to this money.

Which means they’ll lose their biggest source of wealth. She may not remember, but I’ve been threatened quite a bit for knowing more about things, and her parents would certainly chase her even if it was to the other side of the world.

"..." I move on to cutting the fresh meat, carefully cleaning the fat and leaving the lean meat, being careful not to use too much salt, adding a minimal amount just to give a slight flavor.

"Well, we shouldn’t have any problems as long as she doesn’t do anything stupid thinking about leaving," I murmur, adding water to the pan and putting it on the stove, counting down the time.

As long as Shizune doesn’t try to leave, we won’t have any problems.

"...But if she’s become more mature...she also needs greater limits..." It wouldn’t be good if she started wandering around the mansion and ended up seeing things she shouldn’t. After all, before, she never wanted to go to certain places because of her condition, but now she might try.

I cover the pan just as I hear a sound from the cell phone. I let out a sigh, picking up the phone and seeing that someone is calling me.

"Hello?"

[How is she? You know you should give a weekly report on this, we didn’t spend money on you for you to not even do something as simple as that] A male voice speaks to me over the phone as soon as I answer.

"She’s doing well."

[Well? Is that all you have to say? You’ve been getting too bold lately, do you want to be replaced? First, you don’t send the report, and now you’re just summing everything up to ’She’s doing well’?]

"She had another memory loss, her attitude still remains similar to the past, and her mental problems continue the same," I give a more "appropriate" answer to what he wants to know.

[Great, report any improvement, and improve that attitude, that’s no way to talk to your boss] He speaks, and my heart tightens.

"Of course, I’ll let you know of any improvement..." I lie to him, and he hangs up.

"...Disgusting vermin." This is Shizune’s father, a truly disgusting man. If Shizune improves, he’s sure to make her condition worse. As long as I tell him Shizune is sick and don’t let her leave this mansion, he won’t do anything.

But if Shizune leaves the mansion and is doing better, he will certainly do bad things to keep her sick, and I can’t let that happen.

’I wonder if Shizune being more mature counts as an improvement?’ I guess he doesn’t care if I lie, as long as no one knows anything about Shizune, he’ll ignore her.

"Okay, ...okay, I’ll protect her..." I murmur, thinking about what Shizune is doing now, but decide to stop getting distracted, focusing my attention back on the kitchen.

"He’s so petty for someone who talks too much and is a complete coward," I murmur, putting a pan with garlic, oil, and a little salt on the stove to make rice.

Shizune’s father doesn’t even pay for her meds because he doesn’t want her cured or well. Surprisingly, Shizune’s illness won’t kill her if she’s left without meds.

The most that happens is she gets hurt or hurts others in an outburst, but other than that, the maximum that happens is Shizune suffering. So her parents don’t pay because they don’t see the need.

However, even though they don’t pay, they force me to say whether Shizune is getting better or not, as if the meds I pay for are something they need to monitor, even though it’s my money.

Unfortunately, I don’t really have a way to cure Shizune, and even if I had better-effect meds, I can’t afford them, and even if I could, they wouldn’t let me, since if it was proven that with meds she would get better, she could claim her freedom, getting out of her parents’ control.

Even the fact that I’m the one taking care of this mansion alone is a way to isolate information, so no one knows how poorly Shizune is really being cared for.

So hiring employees, doctors, or any kind of support is out of the question, and worse, they’ve even bribed doctors to create false exams, and the few times they’ve sent doctors here to the mansion, it was only to maintain this farce.

’It seems Shizune has the wrong idea about her parents...’ They don’t want her dead; if Shizune dies, they lose any access to the money. The fact that they don’t take good care of her is precisely to keep the money with them.

If there were many witnesses, they would be obligated to pay for real meds or it would become suspicious in some points, and with many witnesses, it’s difficult to maintain an alibi when investigated.

While with just me taking care of her, he can make up excuses that Shizune has frequent outbursts around many people, and that I’m the only one she accepts, so for safety, she needs to be alone in a controlled environment.

"Better I stop getting distracted, it’s not like he’s going to come check if Shizune is doing well." This small maturity of Shizune’s can be kept secret.