~Chapter 18~
‘It must be chaos over there.’
I hadn’t been to the palace yet, but I could easily imagine the situation.
I wasn’t sure how the doctor had sent the letter, but there must have been a huge commotion since they probably said I was in danger.
There was a time before when I went out for work and twisted my ankle, and it caused a big fuss.
And now, I was in this state.
I glanced down at my body and sighed softly.
If they saw me like this, things would probably get even more chaotic.
Even I could see how much of a mess I looked like right now.
But I figured it would take some time before we could go back to the palace.
While I was looking over my body, I noticed Latryne and Seri staring at me blankly, which made me feel embarrassed, so I said something without thinking.
“…Latryne, you bought me these clothes, and now they’re completely ruined.”
Hearing me call him ‘Latryne,’ the doctor’s eyes widened as he looked between Latryne and me.
In response to what I said, Latryne answered:
“It’s fine. If it’s ruined, I’ll just buy you new clothes.”
“It’s okay! Mommy is still pretty!”
“…”
Like father, like daughter. They really talk like rich people.
I should probably teach him not to say things like that carelessly…
“Haha, well, why don’t we head inside the villa first? It looks like both of you are injured, so you should get treated.”
The doctor laughed as he spoke.
Hearing that, Latryne and I, along with Seri, headed toward the villa.
I was glad the doctor was here.
Even though I hadn’t said anything, I’d been worried about Latryne’s injured leg.
But just as we were about to enter, we heard some voices in the distance, making us stop.
I was the first to react, since I had pretty sharp hearing.
“Doesn’t it sound like there are people nearby?”
I turned my head and asked, and Latryne responded:
“There aren’t any people living around here, though…”
“I know, but it sounds like people talking, doesn’t it?”
At that, Latryne seemed to notice the sound too.
When we listened closely, it sounded like more than just a few people, which was strange.
Finally, Latryne handed Seri over to me and went to check out where the voices were coming from.
I couldn’t just stand still either, so I followed him a bit, but suddenly, I saw a group of people coming toward us and froze in surprise.
“What the… I heard you were caught in a landslide and fell, but you seem perfectly fine.”
The person at the front of the group got closer to us and spoke right away.
It was someone I knew all too well.
I responded to the person:
“Your Highness? How are you here?”
It was Ered, wearing a uniform fit for a prince, unlike the last time I saw him.
Of course, he was a prince, but Ered rarely wore clothes like that, so it was a bit surprising.
Ered shook his head as if he was disappointed by my question.
“I rushed here because I heard you were in danger, but the first thing you say is ‘how did you get here?’ I’m hurt, you know?”
“No, that’s not what I meant… Wasn’t the road blocked?”
“We cleared the way. I figured it might be tough, so I brought a lot of people with me. With both the head of the imperial knights and a duke missing, how could we not do anything? It doesn’t look like it’s too serious though, so that’s a relief.”
Hearing that, I looked behind Ered at the people he brought. They all looked exhausted, as if they’d been through a lot.
“They’re so weak. All it took was clearing one path, and they’re that tired.”
Ered seemed like he hadn’t done much himself, but didn’t he notice the resentful looks behind him…?
“Still, you must’ve gone through a lot. It couldn’t have been easy to clear the path.”
“Well, it’s good to see you’re both safe. You don’t seem to be in perfect shape, though… Can you head back to the palace right away? The emperor is really worried.”
I looked over at Latryne.
I didn’t mind going back to the palace right now, but I wasn’t sure if Latryne was okay, so I turned to him to ask for his opinion.
“I’m fine. It’s not an emergency, so it might be better to go to the palace and get proper treatment.”
Latryne, catching my glance, spoke.
Ered nodded.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. So, we should head to the palace, right? It’s a relief that things didn’t turn out worse. But… Litya… You don’t look so well, are you okay?”
“…Ah…”
Suddenly, Ered pointed his finger at me and spoke.
Until that moment, I hadn’t been thinking much about it, but only then did I realize how bad my condition had gotten, and like a comedian in a gag show, I collapsed right on the spot.
“Mom!”
“Litya!”
“Captain!!!”
I wished everyone wouldn’t fuss so much since I was okay.
But I didn’t have the strength to say that.
In the end, I was carried like a limp doll all the way to the palace.
As soon as we arrived at the palace, I was scolded by Phaedris and placed in a special room made just for me, where I received treatment from the palace doctor.
I already had a lot of work to do, but Phaedris ordered me to stop everything and focus solely on recovering.
I knew Phaedris cared a lot about me, but I didn’t expect this kind of reaction.
“Do you even care about your own body?”
“Well…”
“If you come back injured like this one more time, I won’t let it slide.”
“I’m sorry…”
Why was I being scolded when I was the one who got hurt?
Of course, I knew Phaedris was scolding me because he cared for me like a little sister.
But the issue wasn’t just Phaedris.
“Captain! I heard what happened! You mustn’t leave!”
“Captain! How could something like this happen! You need complete rest!”
“Captain!”
‘If I hear the word “captain” one more time, my ears might fall off!’
From my knights to the palace officials, everyone who knew me came to visit and made a big fuss.
I just wanted to be alone.
At this rate, I wasn’t going to heal.
Finally left alone, I started opening the letters piled up beside me and reading them one by one.
The doctor who examined me told me I’d need at least a month of rest.
Even though I recovered pretty quickly, when I asked if that could make a difference, the doctor said:
‘The wounds you have now are the result of relying too much on your fast recovery and pushing yourself too hard. You absolutely must rest.’
I had no words to argue against that.
A month of living like this…
Just imagining it felt suffocating.
As soon as we arrived at the palace, Seri and Latryne went to the Priscillia family’s residence in the capital.
I hadn’t seen them since, and I was starting to miss them.
‘I mean, I do need to rest since I’m pretty hurt… but with people constantly visiting and making a scene, how can I really rest?’
I thought about going to my own residence near the palace or back to my family’s estate to rest.
But since I rarely used my residence, there was no staff to take care of it or look after me, so Phaedris rejected that idea.
I even sent a letter to my eldest brother, the head of the family, asking if I could go home…
‘Since you left, we haven’t prepared a separate room for you yet, and even if we did, I’m not sure the environment would be the best for your recovery. I think it would be better for you to stay at the palace, where the conditions are ideal, just as His Majesty suggests.’
I sighed and set down the letter I was holding.
It was from my brother.
I mean, I’m your only little sister, and I want to come home… Isn’t that a bit harsh?
But I understood why my brother responded that way.
He was always so busy with work that he didn’t have the time or resources to prepare a room for me.
And since I was being so well taken care of at the palace, he must have thought it was best for me to stay here.
Even though he couldn’t have me home, he did send lots of things to the palace for me.
Expensive ingredients, luxurious pajamas, and other clothes to change into…
The cooks said they would prepare meals with the ingredients he sent.
‘Even though I’m favored by the emperor, this feels like too much…’
Of course, I was a highly skilled knight, recognized across the country.
To be more specific, Litya Alpres was such a person.
And being from a duke’s family, I was treated with even more care.
After putting my brother’s letter back in the envelope, I picked up another letter that had arrived for me.
I checked the name on it, and though it was familiar, it felt strange to see it.
‘Latryne Priscillia.’
A letter from Latryne? Feeling a bit excited, I carefully opened it.
After struggling to deal with all the visitors in this special room, I missed Latryne, realizing I hadn’t seen him since then, so I sent him a letter.
I had sent the letter this morning, and already the reply had arrived.
There wasn’t much in the letter I had sent.
Since Latryne and I had grown closer, I had just written about small things in my daily life.
I mentioned that the doctor said I needed to rest for a month and that I was getting tired of dealing with all the visitors.
Wondering what Latryne had written, I opened the letter and smiled as I read it.
It seemed that Latryne had also been caught and forced to rest as soon as he arrived at his estate.
The letter mentioned how he wanted to stop being cooped up and that he would come to visit me once he felt better.
It wasn’t intentional, but Latryne and I really seemed to have a lot in common.
