“Your Highness, wake up! Your Highness!”
“Oh God, how long has she been like this?”
“Oh, it hasn’t been long. She asked me to wake her up after an hour, but no matter how much I tried to wake her up, she wouldn’t get up.”
Hemion spoke; her voice was trembling as she paced back and forth.
Zenid, who had rushed after receiving the message, placed her hand on Rohiriel’s forehead with a serious expression.
It wasn’t just a slight fever; she was scorching hot as one could; it was a literal burning ember.
“Is the doctor not here yet? I don’t know why everyone’s so slow.”
To the anxious words of Zenid, Hemion also continued to cast worried glances toward the entrance.
Before long, the door opened with a bang, and Dr. Barmid and the assistant chief physician came in together, immediately starting to examine Rohiriel.
“Cold water and dry towels!”
“How in the world did she get such a high fever……. What kind of antipyretic should I use?”
“What about the fever reducer with Fragrant Mushroom and Levitz stems? We have some prepared medicine.”
“O… okay, let’s try that medicine for now.”
The two physicians discussed and continued to check on Rohiriel’s condition.
Just as the examination was almost over, the door opened again with a forceful push, and someone rushed in.
“Rohiriel!”
It was Julion.
He breathed heavily with a worried expression on his face.
The assistant chief physician stepped aside slightly, allowing Julion to approach closer.
“What on earth happened here?”
Julion let out a sigh as he looked at Rohiriel, who was breathing heavily.
Her cheeks were flushed red, and her lips were dry. She was frowning slightly as if she were in pain, and the corners of her eyes were moist.
Just a while ago, she had a radiant face, saying, ‘See you in the evening!’with a cheerful smile.
But now, she was lying on the bed like this.
“Speak. What’s wrong with the crown princess?”
The assistant chief physician was the first to respond to Julion’s probing.
“It seems like she has a fever, your highness.”
“…a fever?”
“I heard that Her Highness fell into the water. Perhaps due to her recent busy schedule and accumulated fatigue, her body couldn’t handle it and a fever broke out.”
Julion furrowed his brows uncomfortably, looking at the assistant chief physician, who was explaining with his head lowered.
It didn’t make sense.
Moreover, Rohiriel seemed to be in a serious condition, suffering from a significant illness.
It couldn’t be just a fever.
“Does Dr. Barmid share the same opinion?”
Julion pushed aside the assistant chief physician and asked Dr. Barmid this time.
The assistant chief physician went to the corner with a troubled expression, dampening a towel with cold water.
After a moment of contemplation, Dr. Barmid opened his mouth with a troubled face.
“It seems… due to an underlying condition.”
“That illness.”
The ear of the assistant chief physician, who was placing the cold, dampened towel on Rohiriel’s forehead, twitched.
As he did not know that Rohiriel had an underlying illness, he couldn’t help but feel unjust.
Dr. Barmid continued the explanation.
“Yes, Your Highness. As stated by the Assistant Chief Physician, recent overexertion may have played a role. Moreover, the underlying condition she possesses seems to have exacerbated the severity of the manifested fever.”
“In the end, it’s just a fever?”
The assistant chief physician, who was listening, sharply interjected.
Then, upon receiving Julion’s cold gaze, he lowered his head again towards the wet towel. At that moment, the assistant physician, who had gone to fetch the medicine, returned.
“I have the medicine you asked for…… Oh, Your Highness!”
The assistant physician confidently entered, but upon seeing Julion’s stern expression, she froze.
Taking the medicine from the assistant physician, Dr. Barmid spoke.
“Your Highness, we’ll start the treatment first.”
“Understood. Go ahead.”
Watching the medicine flow into Rohiriel’s mouth, Julion washed his face dry.
Only then did he realize that his hands were shaking. He clenched his shaking hand tightly, as if trying to shake off the uneasiness.
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
The bizarre incident involving Yeffa spread rapidly throughout the entire empire.
There were many ladies on the boat who had witnessed the events firsthand. The rumors spread like wildfire, and the Empress formally held the Duke of Cassian responsible.
The attention of the entire empire turned to Cassian.
<Duke Cassian, how much will you sacrifice for your daughter?>
<Shock revelation: the youngest lady of Cassian! — The truth about Elento>
<Is the Crown Princess’s Position in Jeopardy?>
Newspapers continued to buzz about Cassian, even mentioning Rohiriel.
Today’s edition even included a speculative article suggesting that Yeffa’s actions might have been orchestrated by Duke Cassian to assassinate the Empress.
Bvel, who had brought the newspaper to his master, held his breath and waited for his reaction.
The silver-haired man sitting in the office, like a piece of sculpture, showed no response while silently reading the newspaper.
He could have laughed in disbelief or gotten angry, but his eyes remained unmoved, scanning the pages as if he were just fulfilling his duty.
Once the man finished reading, he calmly put down the newspaper.
“Is this all for today?”
A relentless voice resounded, and the silver eyes, colder than ice, focused on Bvel.
“Yes, Master.”
Bvel had been a butler in Duke Cassian’s castle for most of his life, and yet he still found it difficult to understand the thoughts of his master, Duke Cassian.
Zikriesen Cassian.
The ruler of the underworld and a duke in the empire. A figure who evoked such terror that others trembled throughout their entire being when their gazes crossed paths.
“I can’t put off my answer any longer.”
Duke Cassian spoke with indifference, lifting a quill. After dipping it in ink, he slowly wrote letters on the paper.
The reply sent to the imperial palace contained two main points.
First, he leaves the punishment for Yeffa entirely to the imperial family. Second, he willingly takes responsibility for the fault of improperly raising his child.
After sealing the letter, Duke Cassian stamped it with his insignia. Then he proceeded to write one more document.
This time, it was on black paper, and he swiftly inscribed it with transparent ink. It bore a distinct seal from Cassian’s. He then tied it to the hawk’s leg.
The hawk flew up into the sky with a flapping sound and disappeared from sight in an instant.
The duke, who had been gazing at the night sky for a moment, spoke quietly.
“Bvel.”
“Yes, Master.”
“How is the situation of the’second’?”
The ‘second’ was a place where Duke Cassian had invested heavily in recent years. However, it had recently turned into a mess due to Crown Prince Julion.
After that incident, the Duke’s mood was not very good, understandably, as the tower he had built over the years became useless.
Swallowing a sigh, Bvel answered,
“The prince’s people are still there. No noticeable movements can be observed.”
“……I see.”
The duke’s eyelids blinked slowly. His silver eyes appeared and disappeared several times.
After contemplating for a moment, Bvel cautiously added a report.
“And… recently, there have been traces of Lady Rohiriel’s involvement.”
As if the moon were obscured by clouds, shadows fell upon the once bright silver hair.
The duke closed his eyes and did not open them. As the wind gently blew, his silver hair swayed.
“Understood. You may leave.”
With the Duke’s command, Bvel bowed his head slightly and left the office.
Once again today, he couldn’t fathom what his master was thinking.
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
The northern part of Cassian territory was governed by Roxis.
The atmosphere there felt as if it were frozen, as if it were on thin ice.
The main reason was that Duke Cassian had personally sought out Liliana and provoked Roxis not long ago; the situation worsened due to the recent incident involving Yeffa, shaking the confidence of all the Cassians.
“That foolish one has caused unnecessary trouble…”
Roxis, feeling frustrated, forcefully slammed his desk. With a loud bang, the pen on top rolled down to the floor.
Instead of paying attention to the pen, Roxis even threw the stacked reports in front of him.
The paper reports were scattered, one by one, across the office floor.
“How does that prince know all my hideouts and attack them one by one?”
A recent report stated that his fifth hideout had already been destroyed.
Nothing was going well.
Since Rohiriel became the Crown Princess, everything he did turned into a disaster.
What went wrong?
As Roxis sighed in frustration, the sound of a hawk echoed beyond the closed window.
“…It’s an order from my father. Open the window.”
Kali, the attendant standing by the side, opened the window, and the hawk flew in with a gust of wind.
As usual, a small piece of paper was tied to the hawk’s leg.
Kali carefully removed the paper and presented it to Roxis.
Black paper.
‘It’s an order to prioritize it above all else.’
A gut feeling told Roxis that it was related to the recent incident Yeffa caused.
With a disapproving expression, Roxis unfolded the tightly rolled paper.
