Chapter 65
“What do you mean Jack’s not doing well?”
Just yesterday, he’d seemed perfectly fine.
My heart tightened with unease, and I asked urgently. Ho-yeon’s ears drooped as she replied.
“He suddenly developed a fever last night. I couldn’t leave my post, so for now I’ve only given him emergency care.”
Her explanation made sense. I had told her not to leave the orphanage when I wasn’t around, and Leonard hadn’t had lessons yesterday or today.
“…I need to go see him right away.”
Anxious, I rushed inside and headed for the second floor. Ho-yeon followed behind me.
When I flung open Jack’s door, all the children—who hadn’t been visible before—were gathered inside.
“Director!”
Roddy spotted me first and threw himself into my arms. Only then did the other children realize I had arrived, and they turned to me.
“Director…”
“Why are you only here now! Jack’s acting really strange!”
Chloen cried out, his voice trembling.
Still holding Roddy, I walked toward Jack’s bed. The children parted to make way.
“Haa… ngh…”
On the bed, Jack was breathing with great difficulty.
His hair and pillow were drenched with cold sweat, and his lips, parched from labored breathing, were dry and cracked. A damp towel had been laid across his forehead.
“Since when has he been like this…?”
I asked Chloen, who shared the room with Jack. Chloen struggled to hold back tears as he answered.
“I… I don’t know… He was fine at dinner… but later in the night I heard weird sounds, and when I woke up, he was… Director, he’s going to be okay, right? Please say he’ll be okay… we can’t live without him…”
Chloen clung to me desperately.
It wasn’t just him. All of the children looked deeply afraid.
This was a different atmosphere from when Ren had been sick—and I knew why.
Because Jack was absolute to them.
To the children, Jack was like a god. The fact that someone like him was sick in bed naturally filled them with dread.
I placed my palm on his forehead, where the cold sweat had already dried.
Too hot…
Even hotter than Ren’s fever. The alarming heat startled me, but I forced myself to stay calm.
If I panicked, the children’s fear would only grow worse.
“Ho-yeon, I’ll stay here with him. Go bring a physician. If you don’t know the way, hire a coachman to guide you.”
“Understood. I’ll go immediately.”
Ho-yeon hurried out.
I turned to the children next. Their faces were stiff with tension.
I gave them a small smile and spoke gently.
“Don’t worry. It’s just a simple cold. Once he takes medicine and rests, he’ll be fine.”
“Really…?”
“Of course. Trust me, okay?”
When I asked, Chloen gave a tiny nod.
I looked at him with pride and said,
“If it’s noisy, Jack might wake up, so wait outside. Chloen, sleep in the next room tonight.”
If it was contagious, it could be dangerous.
“…Okay…”
At the thought that Jack might wake, the children tiptoed out of the room.
Chloen, the last to leave, kept glancing back with worry. I smiled, waved, and silently mouthed, It’s okay. Only then did he step out.
Click.
The door closed, and left alone, my expression hardened as I looked at Jack.
“Hff…”
He was still breathing painfully.
“Jack… what on earth is happening to you?”
Why had he fallen sick so suddenly? Had he been unwell before but hidden it from me?
My mind filled with dark thoughts. I took his hand—it was burning hot.
“Please, don’t be sick… When you’re sick, it feels like my heart is being torn apart.”
Lowering my head, I held onto his hand.
The physician arrived surprisingly quickly. His face was pale when he reached the orphanage.
He was being carried in Ho-yeon’s arms—that alone explained how he’d gotten here.
When I looked at her, she flinched and spoke nervously.
“I thought this would be faster than a carriage.”
She was right. It hadn’t even been thirty minutes since she left.
“I’m not blaming you. You did well. Thank you for the trouble.”
It was praiseworthy, not condemnable.
I approached the still-shaken physician and spoke.
“Sorry for the rough treatment. We have an urgent patient and must’ve startled you.”
“Wh-what on earth! To be snatched up and leapt across rooftops…”
“I understand your shock, but the child is very ill. I’ll pay you handsomely—please, take a look at him.”
At my urging, the physician glanced at me. I knew from his eyes that I must have looked frantic.
“…Very well. The patient comes first. Where is he?”
I quickly led him to the second-floor room.
The moment I opened the door, a wave of heat washed over us. His fever had climbed higher.
The physician’s face tightened as he began examining Jack.
While he worked, I asked Ho-yeon to look after the children. Then I waited.
The examination dragged on for a long while.
Finally, with a heavy sigh, the physician straightened. I rushed over.
“How is he? It’s not something serious, right?”
“…The problem isn’t whether it’s serious—I don’t even know what it is.”
“You don’t… know?”
My eyes shook as I repeated his words. He avoided my gaze, wiping his sweat.
“In twenty years of practice, I’ve never seen a case like this. I cannot identify these symptoms.”
“What do you mean…”
The world seemed to go dark before my eyes. He couldn’t even name the illness.
“Please, check once more.”
“I’ve already examined him several times. The result is the same… I’m sorry.”
With those words, as heavy as a death sentence, the physician left the room.
Too stunned to even see him out, I collapsed into a chair.
What is happening?
This scene hadn’t existed in the original story.
Or maybe it had, but since Jack was only a side character, it was glossed over.
My mind reeled. I leapt up, ready to find another physician—but then froze.
A faint pressure held onto my fingertips.
“…Director…”
“Jack? You’re awake?”
“Yes… you came back…”
“Yes. Don’t talk too much; your throat must be dry. Just wait, I’ll bring—”
“Don’t… go.”
Jack pulled my hand tighter.
Startled, I stared down at him. His hazy brown eyes looked up at me.
No—was there a faint violet tint in them?
But before I could look closer, his eyes closed again. Even so, his grip did not loosen.
“Stay with me… it hurts more when I’m alone…”
“Ah…”
His barely audible murmur made me let out a sigh.
It hurts more when I’m alone.
I knew better than anyone what that meant.
I had left the orphanage, and since then, I’d always suffered alone.
No… even at the orphanage, I never let it show when I was hurting.
Because I was the eldest. If I faltered, the others would waver too. So I endured, smiling as though I were fine.
Jack is the same.
He was so much like me. Maybe that’s why I felt such a strong connection to him.
It’s already late… the hospitals will be closed by now.
The sun had long set. In this world, too, hospitals closed at night. I couldn’t bring back another physician right now.
If only Duke Creyman’s household were closer—they would have their own physician.
But distance was an issue, and even sending a letter would take too long. Besides, Ho-yeon didn’t know the way. And if a beastkin like her appeared suddenly, the guards might attack.
So the only way to ask for help would be to go myself, with Ho-yeon’s assistance. Yet Jack’s words—stay with me—weighed heavily on my heart.
“….”
In the end, I sat back down beside him. Jack gave a faint smile of relief.
“What on earth is going on…”
I dampened a fresh towel and laid it across his forehead.
Why isn’t the fever breaking, even after the medicine?
If anything, his temperature seemed to be climbing. The towel dried out faster than before.
“I had… a dream…”
“A dream?”
He nodded faintly.
“A dream about my parents.”
“….”
“I don’t really know their faces… but it felt nostalgic. And when I woke up, the fever suddenly began.”
In other words, there had been no warning signs—only that dream of the late emperor and empress.
