Chapter 81
The next day.
Bjorn informed us that he had finished his business and would be returning to the capital.
“Evan, I’ll see you in the capital soon.”
“What does that mean?”
Bjorn, who was saying goodbye to Evan at the castle entrance, simply smiled meaningfully and held back his words.
Next, Bjorn stood before me, greeting me with a gentle smile.
“Thank you for your hospitality. When you come to the capital, I will treat you.”
“Thank you. Then please be careful on your way back.”
It was the moment I shook his outstretched hand and exchanged pleasantries.
He whispered in a voice low enough for only me to hear.
“Be careful of Delos. It seems he’s been on edge lately, and you never know where the sparks might fly.”
My eyes widened at the sudden mention of Delos.
Before I could ask anything further, Bjorn got into the carriage and waved goodbye with that bright smile as he left the duke’s territory.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
At the same time, in the imperial palace.
“Ahhh!”
Crash. Bang!
With a scream of rage, the sound of furniture breaking and shattering echoed through the room.
“Why the hell is this junk even here?!”
“I-I apologize!”
The attendant nearby, turning pale, quickly removed the vase and stepped back.
After causing such a ruckus, Delos was panting heavily, as if he had quickly run out of strength.
At that moment, an attendant hurriedly entered the room.
“Y-Your Highness, the medicine you asked to be brought…”
“Did you make the medicine and bring it? I said you only needed to bring it, so why did it take so long!”
Delos raised his voice again upon spotting the box in the attendant’s arms.
He clicked his tongue and sneered at the attendant, who was bowing his head and repeatedly apologizing.
“Ugh, enough. Get out of here. You all leave too.”
As soon as his words finished, the attendants in the room quickly left like a receding tide.
Thud.
The room was left empty.
“Ha…”
Delos, with trembling hands, rummaged through the box the attendant had brought and pulled out a bottle of medicine.
He hastily emptied all the contents of the bottle and then forcefully threw it against the opposite wall.
Crash.
Glass shards rained down on the floor once more.
Delos collapsed onto the only undamaged piece of furniture in the ruined room—the bed.
His rough skin and bulging veins in his eyes showed that his current state was far from normal.
Delos reached out toward the ceiling.
The ring on his thumb reflected the light, emitting a brilliant glow.
But it should have shone much more splendidly than this.
Staring blankly at it, Delos cursed harshly between his lips.
He knew that his remaining magical power was dwindling, that he could only barely survive on the medicine.
At this rate, he would lose even the position he was barely holding onto to that arrogant brother of his.
“That absolutely cannot happen.”
At that moment, Delos abruptly stood up.
‘I need to hurry and get that thing the guy told me about before.’
The image of the man, whose expression was always a smile that made it impossible to understand what he was thinking, flashed in his mind, causing him to involuntarily frown.
But what could he do?
They were already in the same boat, so it was up to him, a high-ranking individual, to show some generosity.
Soon, Delos left the room with hurried steps.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Since Bjorn left, I’ve been thinking a lot.
Setting aside the matter of uncovering the identity of the herbs, his attitude, as if he knew something about me, was particularly concerning.
“But it’s hard to ask him directly.”
If I suddenly asked if he also knew the future, and he replied with a confused ‘What do you mean?’, I would have nothing to say.
“First, it’s important to find out what this herb is.”
If it was something he needed to ask me discreetly to avoid others’ eyes, it was clearly directly related to the emperor’s illness.
As I was carefully examining the herbs, Joy came to my office.
“You said you had something urgent to show me. What’s with the herbs?”
“I wanted to ask what effects these might have if taken together.”
“Hmmm?”
Joy slowly began to examine the plants that Bjorn had asked to be investigated last time.
Since Joy also made potions, he was likely knowledgeable about herbs, so I decided to ask him first.
After some time passed, while inspecting the herbs, Joy tilted his head and asked me.
“These two are used to make potions that boost stamina, but I don’t know what this one is. It’s definitely not something that grows in the empire.”
The herb that Joy said he didn’t recognize was the very same one I was seeing for the first time.
With a voice full of curiosity, Joy asked what it was.
Since I was also unable to provide an answer, I could only reply that I was planning to find out from now on.
The best expert I could consult about these plants, no matter how I thought about it, was just one person.
“I need to send a letter.”
“To whom?”
“To my mother.”
Since the place where the Belvian Academy was located was far from the empire, this unidentified plant might have come from there as well.
Moreover, there was no better excuse to avoid suspicion than a daughter sending a letter to her mother.
I immediately enclosed the herbs along with a letter that contained my greetings to my mother.
Given the distance, it would probably take some time for a reply to arrive.
“Sylvia Feldro?”
At that moment, I heard Joy quietly mumbling as he looked at the name written on the letter.
“This person is a pretty famous doctor, right?”
“That’s right. She’s skilled with herbs, so she might recognize what these are.”
“Huh. I realize how amazing my customer is every time something like this comes up.”
After finishing his words, Joy playfully chuckled and grabbed a cookie from the table.
“What’s with that tone? So you don’t feel that way usually…?”
I was about to retort, knowing Joy was joking, when he interrupted.
“Customer? What’s wrong?”
“Ugh.”
Before I could finish my sentence, Joy sensed something was off and came closer to me.
But I couldn’t answer his question.
An overwhelming pain covered my entire body to the point where I couldn’t say a word.
“Ugh…”
As I intermittently exhaled, I eventually lost consciousness and collapsed to the floor like a snapped thread.
“Customer!”
The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was Joy rushing towards me in a panic, and then complete darkness enveloped me.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
I felt extremely dazed.
Where am I right now?
No matter how much I looked around, I was standing alone in a space that was completely dark.
At that moment, an unfamiliar voice echoed through the vast space, belonging to someone I couldn’t identify.
“I love you, Hila.”
“I love you too.”
I turned my head to follow the voices of the unidentified man and woman, but all I could hear were their voices.
“What do you want to name the child?”
“Hmm, if it’s a daughter, I’d like to name her Estelle; if it’s a son, I’d like to name him Iris.”
The voices sounded like a happy moment shared by an unknown couple.
Hearing the name Iris, I realized that the owner of this voice was Iris’ mother.
So, is this a memory of that woman?
At that moment.
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.”
The voices of the lovers whispering sweet nothings disappeared, and the woman’s sobbing began to fill the space.
Her weeping was so mournful that even I, just listening to her voice, felt my heart ache.
What could she possibly be so sorry for?
I wished I could see something in front of me.
“Customer.”
“Uh? This voice sounds familiar.”
As I was suddenly focused on the unfamiliar voice, I opened my eyes wide when I heard a familiar voice.
“Wake up a bit. How long are you going to stay asleep?”
“Joy? Where are you?”
I turned my head this way and that as Joy’s voice echoed around me.
In that moment, I felt a sensation as if my body was sinking, and it felt like my consciousness was flying away somewhere.
“Ugh! Customer? Are you finally awake?”
As I lifted my trembling eyelids, bright light filled my vision along with familiar faces.
