I saved his life, but he became obsessed with me

Because the space was a repurposed warehouse without windows, the only exit was the door leading to the pharmacy. In a hurry, I pulled a bedsheet over my mouth and nose, grabbed the doorknob, and tried to get out.

“Ouch, hot!”

The heated doorknob burned my palm. The scorching heat felt like it was searing my skin.

Ignoring the pain, I managed to open the door. As I stumbled out of the bedroom, I was met with the sight of the pharmacy’s interior, ablaze and raging with fire.

The wooden pillars supporting the roof were engulfed in flames, crackling loudly. The sound of the fire whipping through the air filled me with terror.

I had to get out of there somehow. Though it was a pity to see all the medicinal herbs burning, I couldn’t be sure I would even survive.

The falling embers from all directions made it difficult to escape. I had inhaled too much smoke and was feeling dizzy.

“I need to stay conscious….”

Just as I forced myself to take a step, a burning wooden pillar fell, bringing down the grandfather clock and shelf against the wall, which collapsed onto me.

“Argh!”

The clock’s pendulum made a hollow sound as it swung.

I tried to move, but the weight of the debris on my back pinned me down. The toxic fumes from the fire blurred my vision. The will to escape was fading. There was no way out.

All I could do was watch helplessly as the carefully maintained medicinal herbs turned to ashes in the fire.

Ding, ding.

The grandfather clock, seemingly determined to fulfill its final duty in the face of the flames, struck twelve times.

‘It was decorated with a golden dragon….’

The grandfather clock, which my great-grandfather had received from the imperial family for his significant contributions, was adorned with a golden dragon symbolizing the emperor.

‘What an absurd situation….’

〈Jane was crushed under a huge dragon. And with a calm expression, she spoke to me.〉

It seemed that the ominous dream Ian had mentioned during our visit to the palace was coming true. Even as my consciousness faded, I found it laughable. What a ridiculous way to die….

Was my final line predetermined, like in Ian’s dream?

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to make medicines for you anymore. As you can see, this vicious dragon….”

It was a pity that there was no audience to witness my last words.

‘Ding, ding.’

I heard the clock tower in the square striking the hour from a distance as I let go of the last thread of my life.

 

* * *

 

Come to think of it, was there a fire at the pharmacy? I thought that was the end of my life….

“Where am I?”

I was quite surprised to find that I wasn’t waking up in my small, old room. It was an unfamiliar space.

“I think I fell asleep on my bed as usual…. Ow, my head hurts.”

As I sat up, I felt the bed I had been lying on. Unlike my rough, straw-stuffed bed, this one was soft and smooth, made of goose feathers and silk. This was no dream.

“Who on earth brought me here… oh my god! You scared me!”

A large man, as big as a bear, was sitting in a chair next to the bed with his arms crossed, sleeping. It was amazing that I hadn’t noticed his enormous presence immediately.

“Who is this guy?”

He was someone I had never seen before. I prided myself on having met many people while running the pharmacy for years, but I had never seen someone this large.

“I couldn’t possibly forget someone with such a strong presence.”

I carefully recalled what had happened before I fell asleep. But I couldn’t remember any reason why I would wake up in a place like this.

“Why am I here, anyway?”

Was I kidnapped? That didn’t make sense; there was no clear motive for such a crime. What could they possibly gain by moving me here quietly?

I was about to wake the large man to ask why he had brought me here when a woman entered the room. Dressed in a light blue dress embroidered with white patterns, she had her curly blonde hair loosely tied.

The dress, though not overly ornate, was stylish and indicated that she was a noble. As she entered, she made eye contact with me sitting on the bed.

Her expression twisted, and tears welled up in her large eyes. Then she ran to me, exclaiming, “Claire! You’re finally awake! I knew it!”

“I was so worried you’d never open your eyes. Thank you for coming to your senses.”

She buried her face in my lap and began to cry profusely. Her sorrowful crying was so intense that, though I didn’t understand the situation, I patted her shoulder to comfort her. Anyone would think a dead person had come back to life.

Why is she crying so much? The man, awakened by her sobs, looked at me with a pitiful smile and, in a hoarse voice, said, “Did you come to see me? But I’m not ready to let you go yet.” He spoke words I couldn’t comprehend.

“Instead of making that face, could you comfort this lady? If she keeps crying like this, she’ll exhaust herself.”

The man, who had a dazed expression as if he had seen a ghost, muttered something about it being a dream and then burst into tears, much to my surprise.

With his long arms, the bear-like man hugged both me and the woman clinging to me, sobbing loudly.

Their tears and snot made my hair a mess, and I felt like I was suffocating. But their crying was so sorrowful that I just let them hold me.

Just as I thought I might actually suffocate, they finally let me go.

With red, swollen faces from all their crying, they muttered, “Thank goodness… really….” I couldn’t ask why I was there while they were in such a state, so I had to wait for them to calm down.

“Excuse me….”

“Claire, sniff….”

“Claire, boohoo….”

I tried to speak when they paused for a hiccup, but the two of them began sobbing again, their tears flowing like a waterfall.

It was a bizarre sight to see them laughing while crying. Completely bewildered by the intense reaction of these strangers, I could only roll my eyes around.

Will they stop crying today? Feeling awkward, I waited for them to calm down with a very embarrassed posture and expression.

After what felt like an eternity of crying, they finally stopped. It wasn’t so much that their tears stopped as they had dried up.

“So, where am I? Why did you bring me here?”

“Claire?”

The man’s voice cracked like metal, sounding almost like a scream.

“Oh my goodness! We need to call the healer.”

I didn’t understand what was strange about my question, but the two of them looked at me with confused expressions and called for a healer.

The healer, summoned by them, examined me and repeatedly murmured, “It’s a miracle. The wounds have healed perfectly. What a miracle…. Oh, God….”

“Wounds?”

I blinked in confusion. Had I been injured?

“But Claire’s response is strange.”

The woman spoke to the healer in a worried voice.

“What do you mean?”

Before she could explain, I calmly asked them, who were expressing their emotions so strongly.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but can anyone calmly explain why I’m here? And, I think I need to go home now. I have a lot of work to do.”

The healer looked at me with wide eyes and carefully asked,

“Miss McCain. Do you not remember anything that happened?”

McCain? Claire? The names they were calling me were strange. I had never been called those names before. Naturally, since my name wasn’t Claire McCain.

Thinking they might be talking about someone behind me, I turned to look. There was no one there. Pointing at myself, I asked,

“Claire? McCain? Are you referring to me?”

“Do you really not remember?”

“Claire, don’t you recognize me?”

“Could it be that she doesn’t know who she is?”

The woman, her eyes welling up with tears again, asked me. I felt guilty seeing her like that, even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. But I couldn’t claim to know what I didn’t.

I asked them, who seemed to know me, in an awkward voice,

“Have we met before?”

The intensity of their reactions to my question was overwhelming.

“Oh my goodness. She’s really forgotten everything. Claire….”