Chapter 9
“Cough! Cough!”
It started again. I hurriedly covered my mouth and collapsed to the floor.
“Cough! Cough!”
Damn it—the coughing didn’t subside easily. It would relentlessly cling to me until I coughed up blood at this rate.
“Madam! Madam!”
Ria panicked as she patted my back. Sensing something was wrong, the other attendants and escort knights quickly rushed toward me.
“Are you alright, Madam?!”
“Get the madam to the carriage immediately!”
“Send out word at once!”
Some people were flustered, while others moved in an orderly fashion. Before I knew it, I was being carried on the back of one of the escort knights.
Even while being carried, the coughing would not stop.
The inside of the hotel turned chaotic. The usually courteous staff also rushed over in shock at the situation.
“Wouldn’t it be better to take her to a room first? We can call a nearby physician!”
I couldn’t even tell how many people were crowding around me. It was a commotion I had never experienced in my previous life, and it left me flustered.
If I could just hold out a little longer, it would settle down again.
“I… I’m fine…”
I spoke in a weak voice to the knight carrying me. The knight stopped walking toward the hotel room and focused on my words.
“Pardon? Please say that again, Madam!”
“Cough! It’ll… get better in a little while.”
“What do you mean by that?! We cannot simply stand by and watch you suffer like this!”
Who said this was a fatal illness?
The knight spoke as if I were on the verge of dying. If I just held on for a moment, I’d be fine again like nothing had ever happened.
“Take her to a hotel room first, and call a physician!”
“No, there’s no need to call a physician.”
A cold voice cut through the confusion among the staff.
“With the kind of doctor you’d call here, I don’t expect much in terms of skill.”
That low, emotionless voice.
“Ah—Your Excellency!”
There was only one person here who would be addressed as “Your Excellency.”
“Take my wife to the room quickly. I’ve already brought a physician.”
“Yes, sir!”
Even as I heard Kaion’s voice, my coughing did not stop.
“Cough, cough…!”
He brought a physician?
I had no idea why he had returned after leaving, nor how he had come back to this hotel. And bringing a doctor along with him…
After reaching the room, the escort knight carefully set me down on the bed.
Kaion, who had followed to the room, stood beside the knight.
“Cough, cough!”
Even while coughing continuously, Kaion’s piercing gaze made me tense up.
“Well? Why are you standing there instead of stopping her coughing?”
At his words, the man beside him stepped forward. This must be the physician Kaion had brought.
The doctor rolled up my sleeve, took out an injection, and administered it immediately. Within about a minute after the injection, the coughing subsided.
“As expected of a physician from the Imperial Hospital.”
Seeing the coughing quickly calm down, Kaion spoke with apparent satisfaction.
“I’ve taken emergency measures for now. I will proceed with a thorough examination and prescribe medication according to the results.”
“Very well.”
“I will prepare the necessary equipment and return shortly.”
The physician left to fetch his equipment. Once he was gone, only Kaion and I remained in the room.
Kaion silently stared at me with his characteristic emotionless eyes. An uncomfortable silence hung between us.
Something seemed to bother him, as he suddenly glared at the open window. Then he walked over to it.
He must be closing it.
Crack.
As he shut the window, a sudden breaking sound rang out. The wooden frame in his hand had been crushed.
“…Damn it.”
He muttered under his breath. It seemed he had tried to close it too quickly and ended up breaking it.
Kaion breaking things was something that occasionally happened even in the original story. It wasn’t intentional—his large build and immense strength made it inevitable.
Just look at those densely packed muscles all over his body.
For someone like him, breaking and replacing things was routine.
I knew that about him… but why did it feel so intimidating when he approached me with that body?
“The wind will keep leaking in.”
Kaion glanced at the window as if displeased, then sat down on the empty space beside my bed. His presence seemed to fill the entire spacious room.
“Pull the blanket up properly.”
“Y-yes.”
I wasn’t even that cold, but I pulled the blanket up to my neck as he said.
Not that I wanted to find out what would happen if I didn’t.
“Why… why did you come back?”
I had seen him leave earlier—so why had he returned? I still didn’t fully understand this situation.
“You said you usually leave for at least a month once you go out. But only a few hours have passed.”
I pulled my arm out from under the blanket and pointed at his wristwatch. It was a way of saying, Wasn’t this person always strict about time management?
Kaion’s gaze locked onto the finger pointing at his wrist. His expression wasn’t bright. Rather, it was somewhat intimidating.
Did my finger offend him?
“You sound displeased.”
He raised one hand and reached toward my finger, which was still pointing at him.
Huh—was he going to crush my finger like that window frame?
My finger twitched, but it was already too late. He was about to grab my hand.
I couldn’t even run away here.
But he didn’t seize me roughly. Instead, Kaion carefully took my hand. His grip was so gentle it was almost imperceptible.
He awkwardly guided my hand back under the blanket. The movement was stiff and unnatural, as if he were afraid he might break it if he handled it wrong.
“You said you were cold.”
It was both a relief and a surprise that the feared situation hadn’t happened.
“Make sure your arms are covered properly too.”
He, of all people, had the coldest voice and gaze. If I felt cold, it was probably because of him.
Though given his life experience, perhaps a warm tone and gentle expression wouldn’t suit him either.
“I didn’t leave earlier just to go out—I went to bring a physician. I planned to depart in the afternoon after bringing them.”
“Eh? A physician?”
So that was his intention from the start?
“The physician from the Imperial Hospital you saw earlier. Because they’re affiliated with the Imperial Hospital, the procedures are strict. It’s faster if I go myself. On the way back, I heard you were here, so I came directly.”
“What about the other doctor who came last time?”
I remembered there had been a physician who ran several tests while I was unconscious.
“He was an incompetent man who couldn’t even determine the cause of your illness.”
“……”
It didn’t seem like incompetence was the only issue. Even in my previous life, no matter how advanced the equipment used, they couldn’t identify the cause of my condition.
But Kaion seemed convinced that the doctor lacked skill. He added irritably, “Having a license doesn’t mean you can be trusted.”
“Then why couldn’t you endure such a short time while I was away and came all the way here?”
He questioned me as if interrogating me.
Why did it feel like a student caught sneaking out by a teacher? I had simply had lunch at a restaurant.
“You’re still not fully recovered.”
“The cook is still traumatized from yesterday and can’t even enter the kitchen. How am I supposed to eat at home?”
“Then I should tell the cook to pull himself together.”
That trauma was because of you, you know? I was dumbfounded by how he only made the situation worse.
“I should also tighten discipline among the servants who left a still-ill patient unattended and allowed them to come all the way here.”
“Pardon?”
“Have they become too lax while I’ve been away? It seems the servants have grown careless.”
What is he talking about?
“For the time being, I think I should stay in the capital and not leave.”
“What did you say?”
If you stay, the servants will only feel more uncomfortable.
Forgetting his earlier instruction to keep the blanket properly on, I pulled my hand out and grabbed his hand. It was an attempt to persuade him.
“Didn’t you already call a physician from the Imperial Hospital? I’ll be fine from now on, and something like today won’t happen again. The doctor will prescribe medicine!”
I desperately held his hand with both of mine.
“The servants might also feel uneasy if you’re here. They’re already scared from what happened yesterday.”
But my persuasion didn’t work.
“Fear makes people easier to handle. That’s not a bad thing.”
“That’s not it, you—!”
“And the fact that I left was not the servants’ fault. They tried to stop me!”
Still, my words didn’t reach him.
“Oh, isn’t there a banquet coming up soon? It’s been a while since I attended one.”
“Pardon?”
“If I show my face after so long, His Majesty will be pleased.”
So he meant he was planning to attend the banquet as well?
“There are still several days until the banquet!”
“And? Is there a problem?”
I was left speechless.
