Chapter 28
Will He Put It In?
A cool evening breeze slipped through the gap in the carriage window. The market outside was lively. People moved about busily, each preoccupied with their own affairs—some smiling, others looking grave.
Cedric broke the silence.
“I can see traces of spring.”
I looked out at the market scene once more. Everywhere, the last remnants of spring mingled with the beginning of summer. Seasonal spring ingredients were being sold at discounted prices, and summer fruits I had never seen in the Kingdom of Lundra were on display.
“Yes. Summer is beginning.”
The carriage rolled past a fruit shop. Among the stacked crates, I saw cherries piled high. It was early summer in Owen—the season when cherries were at their best.
Come to think of it, earlier Cedric’s eyes really had looked like ripe cherries.
My thoughts drifted back to a few hours ago, when Cedric and I had been poring over the catalog together. The ceremonial uniforms worn by people of the past floating through my mind, the realization that Rachel truly loved clothing.
And also—those moments when I would lift my head from the catalog and meet Cedric’s cherry-colored eyes.
As the fruit shop owner transferred cherries into another crate, a few rolled out. Two or three round cherries without stems bounced across the market road.
“Yes. The beekeepers who have finished collecting honey have come out to the market to sell it.”
I noticed vendors selling honey, with jars stacked high—something I hadn’t paid attention to before.
“Princess, may I have the carriage slow down for a moment?”
I remembered that something similar had happened before.
“Are you going to suggest that we walk back to the ducal residence again?”
It was like that day we had gone out to eat, when I couldn’t adjust to Owen’s unfamiliar food and ended up vomiting on the way back. Cedric gave a small smile, as if he knew exactly what I meant.
“The market looks pleasant. I thought it might be nice to take our time and enjoy the view.”
Through the small window connected to the driver’s seat, Cedric instructed the coachman to slow the carriage.
At the end of Cedric’s gaze out the window were large jars of honey and honey dippers.
Honey… would he put it in his ginger tea?
I vomited again at dawn and in the morning. It had already been several weeks.
This time, it wasn’t because the food didn’t agree with me. The people of Owen described my condition as “having been struck by the heat.”
I liked eating, but I hadn’t wanted to experience heatstroke.
After being struck by the heat, I couldn’t even place a damp cloth on my forehead. It only made my head feel more dizzy.
The physician who came to examine me said that I was particularly weak against heat. He talked about my pulse and my mana and such, but I didn’t understand medicine or magic very well, so I simply took it to mean that I was someone who didn’t handle heat well.
In early summer, I went to Shop Mémettir to escape the heat. I deliberately chose the hottest part of the day and sat there under the pretense of looking at dress designs.
Knowing that I suffered badly from the heat, Mia told me I was welcome to come to Shop Mémettir anytime without hesitation. Thanks to that, I bought a lot of dresses—cool ones with exposed shoulders, lots and lots of them.
But now, I couldn’t even go to Shop Mémettir anymore. As summer deepened, my vomiting grew worse by the day.
I learned for the first time that heat alone could make someone vomit. I found myself thinking that I had learned more new things in just a few months in Owen than I had in all the years before.
All I could do was wait for summer to pass, shut inside a room where sunlight was blocked by curtains.
Curled up in the small sitting room attached to my bedroom, I repeated the same routine each day: drinking ice water made with a magical freezer, waiting for the sun to set so the surrounding temperature would fall.
If I ate something, I vomited. I woke even while sleeping. There was nothing I could do.
Someone knocked at the door. Two neat knocks that brought to mind a large, orderly hand.
“Please come in.”
I answered while lifting my upper body from where it rested against the sofa’s back. My voice came out hoarse. My throat was damaged from vomiting, so I couldn’t speak loudly—but Cedric always managed to hear my small voice.
“Princess, how are you feeling today?”
Cedric entered with a maid. The maid was carrying a tray with a bowl of porridge on it.
“Good morning, Your Grace.”
I greeted Cedric. During the time I had stopped leaving my room, Cedric came whenever he had time to check on my condition.
“Good morning, Princess. I know your stomach hurts, but the physician said you must eat at least a little.”
The maid placed the porridge tray on the table. My throat felt scratchy, and I didn’t particularly feel like eating, so I gently changed the subject.
“Brother Daymond will be arriving today.”
“Yes. He should have reached the capital by now.”
Cedric replied while checking his pocket watch.
Daymond, who had said he would come to Owen via Roneiss and the Duchy of Ron, had sent word by letter a few days earlier that he would arrive in Owen’s capital today.
Not long ago, I had been excited to see Daymond and his entourage. Now, I was worried. Would Daymond be all right in the heat? How shocked would he be to see my cheeks hollowed from vomiting so many times?
Seeing his younger sister suffering after being sent to a foreign country would surely upset him.
But if I refused to see him without a convincing reason, Daymond would exercise his impressive imagination and conjure up terrifying scenarios in his head.
Just as Cedric said—if I ate, I might look a little better when I met Daymond. I reached out and began to eat the porridge little by little.
Perhaps because I had vomited since dawn and my stomach was empty, I began to feel hunger I hadn’t noticed before. I finished all the porridge on the tray and even drank a full cup of water.
Cedric said nothing and waited until I finished eating. The maid who had been waiting nearby took the tray with the empty bowl and left the room.
“I’m sorry, Princess.”
Cedric apologized suddenly. His face was dark.
“What do you have to apologize for, Your Grace?”
I deliberately spoke in a brighter tone. Eating the porridge had genuinely given me a little strength. I didn’t want to worry the master of the house.
“That I’ve been so helpless—it’s truly…”
Cedric paused, taking a breath. He hesitated over his next words.
“…distressing.”
I smiled at Cedric. Wanting to look healthy, I tried to pull the corners of my mouth up as much as possible.
“I know you’ve done your best. You even found such excellent curtains that block out the light so well.”
I extended my index finger and pointed to the curtains he had obtained not long ago.
Where my fingertip pointed hung dark green curtains. They blocked the sunlight almost completely, helping at least a little to keep the room from heating up.
“Not at all.”
Cedric closed his eyes. His eyelashes cast shadows beneath them. He looked deeply troubled.
It was rare to see such an expression of distress on him.
As I watched Cedric with his gaze lowered, I suddenly laughed. This time, it wasn’t a forced smile meant to make him think I was healthy. My solar plexus had suddenly started to itch.
I was sick, Cedric was distressed—and yet I was laughing because my chest itched. Did heatstroke burn one’s brain as well?
Apparently, itchiness in the chest was also part of being struck by the heat. What a vicious illness. How did people living in hot places manage every summer?
“The doctor said it’s nothing serious. You know that. It’s just common heat sickness.”
Common only in the southern regions, that is.
“Yes.”
Cedric’s reply was brief.
“It would be a problem if this kept happening, but seasons change, don’t they? I’m really fine!”
I raised both arms, fists clenched and elbows bent—a gesture meant to show strength. Cedric looked at me quietly, then turned his head away.
The maid who had taken out the porridge tray returned with a large fan. Cedric told me to rest and left the room.
And then, the heat that had tormented me for weeks was resolved in an anticlimactic way the moment I saw Daymond. No—rather, the moment Yuri arrived with Daymond.
Daymond’s party arrived at the ducal residence. After paying their respects to the Emperor, the delegation came straight to the residence. Cedric and I received them in the small sitting room attached to my bedroom.
The moment Daymond saw how pale I had become, he couldn’t close his mouth. Normally, Nanesha would have stopped him for being impolite—but she didn’t this time.
I felt a little embarrassed, wondering if I really looked that bad. I raised a hand and pressed my lips together.
Thankfully, Prince Daymond of the Kingdom of Lundra did not commit any further rudeness toward the duke. He composed his expression and greeted him.
“Duke Deirton, it has been a long time.”
“I greet the prince of the most beautiful land.”
As always, Cedric used flawless Lundran etiquette. Thinking about it now, he seemed quite well-versed in foreign customs. When dealing with me, he never once fell short of proper Lundran manners.
For reasons I couldn’t quite explain, Cedric’s courtesy in front of Daymond made me feel proud.
