Ch#108
I traced it with my fingertips. The slippery liquid had left a hideous stain on my milky-white skin. The thin fabric, soaked with blood, clung to my lukewarm flesh like tangled seaweed.
I stared down at the sight with vacant eyes, then pressed my ear against the chest stained with blood. I felt a faint heartbeat.
Only then did my frozen thoughts begin to churn again.
He gathered her up in his arms, sheets and all, and kicked open the bedroom door.
A few maids passing through the hallway at that moment froze stiff at the sight of him. Varkas let out a thunderous roar.
“Bring a healer! Now!”
My insides felt raw, as if I had swallowed boiling water. The burning heat made it feel as though my stomach were festering. After a brief moment of writhing and exhaling hot breaths, a chill set in, so cold it felt as if shards of ice were embedded in my bones.
She reached out fumbling hands and pulled at the covers. As if moved by her pitiful state, someone pulled her into a tight embrace with arms as hot as heated iron.
She let out a groan of relief at the warmth seeping into her blood, but then the fire began to rage inside her once more.
She tossed and turned, drenched in sweat. Sensing her distress, the arm wrapped around her back pulled away.
She grabbed onto the retreating presence with all her strength.
Keep holding me. Don’t leave me alone.
Whether the person understood the words that only hummed inside her mouth, the intense heat surrounded her body once again.
It was painful. Yet, somehow, it was reassuring.
She curled up inside that broad chest like a chick burrowing into a hen’s feathers.
Before long, the stabbing pain in her stomach faded, and a tomb-like silence descended. It felt as if she were soaking in lukewarm water.
How long had she been enveloped in this strangely peaceful sensation? Her hazy consciousness gradually grew clear.
Thalia barely managed to lift her heavy eyelids. Streaks of light piercing through the canopy pricked her retinas. She inadvertently let out a groan at the stinging sensation, and hurried footsteps sounded from nearby.
“Highness! Are you finally awake?”
Thalia turned her head and frowned as she saw her Nanny, who looked on the verge of tears.
The Nanny grabbed her hand and sniffled.
“Do you have any idea how worried I was? Why does this keep happening…?”
Thalia wore a confused expression. She had no idea what had happened or how.
As she pressed a hand to her throbbing forehead, the Nanny, who had been shedding fat tears, suddenly bolted upright.
“Look at me! Now isn’t the time for this. Please wait just a moment. I’ll go get the healer right away.”
With that, she went stomping out of the bedroom.
Once the surroundings grew quiet, Thalia’s mind finally began to function. She slowly surveyed the modest bedroom.
It took a few seconds for her to remember that they had arrived at a city in the East-West region. But the memories after that were faint. It was as if she had been dreaming with her eyes open.
“You’ve finally regained consciousness.”
As she was retracing the fragmented memories, a healer rushed into the room.
The woman approached the bedside, breathing heavily.
“How are you feeling?”
Thalia looked up at her with a bewildered expression and parted her parched lips. A raspy, metallic sound escaped her dry throat.
Seeing this, the healer immediately poured water into a cup and handed it to her.
Thalia struggled to push herself up and leaned against the headboard, moistening her mouth with the lukewarm water. The liquid flowing down her esophagus uncomfortably stimulated her stomach.
When she let out a dry cough from the strange unpleasantness, the healer immediately took the cup away.
“Do not drink too much at once. Your stomach has been damaged, so you must be careful even when drinking water for a while.”
Thalia furrowed her brows.
“Damaged? My stomach?”
“Do you not remember?”
When Thalia shook her head, the healer explained in a calm tone.
“Your Highness lost consciousness shortly after arriving at this castle. You have been ill for nearly two days straight since then.”
Thalia’s eyes widened, her complexion paling as a memory flashed through her mind.
It was while she was resting on the bed. A sudden, sharp pain had struck her. Unable to even think of calling for help due to the agonizing throes in her gut, hot liquid had suddenly surged up. She seemed to have lost consciousness almost the moment she vomited it out.
Thalia, caressing her still-aching solar plexus, glared at the healer with eyes like ice.
“Did someone poison me?”
“No, Highness. It does not appear that poison was used.”
The healer hastily denied it.
“It seems there was bleeding caused by a side effect of the medicine you have been taking over the past few weeks.”
“A side effect?”
Thalia shot her a look of disbelief.
The woman continued her explanation calmly.
“The reagent Your Highness was taking contained medicinal ingredients that can cause damage to the stomach. In normal cases, they are excellent ingredients that replenish energy and boost vitality… but if a patient with a weakened stomach takes them for a long period, there is a risk of internal bleeding.”
Thalia let out a mocking laugh.
“So, you’re saying they gave me such medicine merely by mistake?”
The healer’s face stiffened slightly.
She let out a heavy sigh.
“That is my assessment.”
“….”
“I have thoroughly investigated the medicine Your Highness took, and it was composed only of ingredients helpful for recovery. However, it seems the healer who prepared it was unaware that Your Highness’s stomach function was in a state as fragile as a child’s.”
Thalia narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“You seem to be strangely defending that woman.”
“I am merely stating the facts I have discovered. I do not wish for Your Highness to waste your mental strength on unnecessary suspicion.”
Responding calmly, the woman straightened her back. Then, with her characteristic composed manner, she picked up a small kettle from the shelf.
“At any rate, the healer in question will face appropriate punishment. And from now on, I will be in charge of Your Highness’s treatment.”
She then poured a moderate amount of clear liquid into a small teacup.
Thalia looked down at it with wary eyes. The woman offered a faint, bitter smile as she explained.
“It is honey tea infused with a small amount of herbs to aid stomach recovery. Sipping it slowly will ease your discomfort.”
Thalia reluctantly accepted it. However, she didn’t feel like putting it to her lips.
Staring at the lukewarm tea for a long moment, Thalia asked in a tight voice.
“The medicine I’ve been taking until now… are you certain it wasn’t poison?”
“I cannot completely rule out the possibility that other ingredients were mixed in at some point… but if that were the case, traces of poison would have remained in your body. However, Your Highness showed no symptoms of poisoning.”
“Then….”
Is Varkas all right?
She started to ask but bit her tongue. She didn’t have the confidence to come up with a plausible excuse for how he had ended up taking the medicine prescribed for her.
Thalia moistened her dry lips. Varkas had also been taking that medicine little by little.
Was there truly no side effect for him?
Unable to shake her anxiety, Thalia spoke fretfully.
“That medicine… it wouldn’t cause any problems if a healthy person took it, right?”
The healer gave her a curious look but nodded.
“That is correct. In a normal case, it would actually be beneficial for recovering one’s strength.”
Thalia’s shoulders slumped in a wave of relief. Then, suddenly feeling a sense of self-loathing, she let out a hollow laugh.
It was absurd that she felt more relieved by the fact that he hadn’t been poisoned than by the fact that her own life wasn’t being targeted.
Thalia wiped her face weakly, her cracked lips trembling.
“Varkas….”
Where is he now?
How did he react when he saw me collapse?
She swallowed the questions rising to her throat and lay back down on the bed.
