Chapter 14
The next day, the Emperor still did not wake up. Eventually, the physician summoned Chloe. Although he had eyes and ears and roughly guessed what might have happened between the Emperor and her, considering her wounded heart, the physician’s own life was more urgent to consider than dealing with the situation.
He didn’t want to become the scapegoat for causing the Emperor’s death by overdosing sleeping pills. Moreover, it was not entirely his fault. Most of the risky sleeping pills the Emperor took were made by him, and what she made was a combination of herbs that couldn’t possibly cause more than mild discomfort.
Anyway, seeing that she was skilled enough from the made pills, he desperately needed a colleague to consult with.
“…Only these two types of pills were empty?”
“Yes. Given the circumstances, His Majesty seemed to have taken the two types of sleeping pills I made in the early morning, and then, Lady Edant’s sleeping pills during the day.”
Ralph cautiously answered, trying his best not to meet her eyes. As a human, seeing the redness around her eyes that clearly indicated she hadn’t slept all night made him feel guilty.
Of course, even if he heard her slightly hoarse voice, his conscience couldn’t help but ache.
“Did you check if there would be any problem if the pills were taken together?”
“The sleeping pills His Majesty demanded were already dangerous on their own and should not be taken together. However, there have been no such problems so far, and because His Majesty ordered them so strongly…”
He trailed off at the end, but the conclusion was that because they had been prescribing toxic concoctions under the Emperor’s orders, they didn’t know if that was the cause or not.
Chloe wanted to snap at him, asking if he was calling that an explanation, but she restrained herself, pretending to be a sick lady.
“Moreover, there seems to be nothing wrong with his body even though he’s just asleep. He’s really just asleep.”
In defense of the physician’s explanation, Chloe looked at Luke lying on the bed. Apart from his cracked lips and bruised jaw, his breathing was steady and his complexion was calm.
Other than that he was in a deep sleep, there was no other conclusion.
Furthermore, Chloe was a pharmacist, not a physician. While she could mimic a physician, she naturally couldn’t keep up with them in prescribing medications.
“…It seems worth considering the use of an awakening agent.”
“Certainly, right?”
The physician’s face brightened slightly as if he agreed with his own opinion.
“If the effect of the drug is not too strong, it might be worth a try to wake him up. I’ve selected some mild herbs to use. Would Lady Edant like to take a look?”
Although he had already made the prescription, it seemed that he lacked confidence. She picked the mildest herbs among the physician’s prescriptions and reassured him not to worry.
In fact, others besides the physician had thought until then that he had just slept well by chance. It hadn’t even been a day. No, if you count, it hadn’t even been a day since yesterday afternoon until this morning.
“Why… won’t he wake up?”
As the day passed, evening arrived, and finally, through the night and into the early hours of the next day, the physician began to write his will with a face that seemed to be dying.
If one were to nitpick, it seemed more like a contract for the murder of his friend who introduced him to the imperial position rather than a will.
“The payment for the contract, is it his entire estate…?”
Chloe, exhausted from staying up for two nights, gently tucked the will, stuck to the physician’s cheek as if he had fainted on the sofa from the aftermath, into his coat pocket.
Smoke from the incense burner on the bedside table, filled with herbs for awakening, was rising. Chloe added more herbs from the pouch the physician had prepared and closed the lid. The bittersweet scent that emanated was strangely familiar. Chloe furrowed her brows momentarily.
It was kefia, the herb used when making painkillers. It was mainly used as a painkiller due to its effect of disrupting the nerves and deceiving the brain, but it was rarely used because it was unusually expensive for its effectiveness. Of course, it could also be used as an awakening agent…
“To use this as an awakening agent, you need to take it when you’re awake to have an effect.”
She opened the lid of the incense burner again. Did she put it in wrong? But she was sure she was supposed to put this pouch in…
“…!”
With a sharp thud, the bedside table and incense burner tumbled to the ground as if kicked by someone. As ashes and embers scattered, she quickly moved back to avoid them, and a rough hand from behind grabbed her waist and pulled her back.
“Your Majesty?!”
Her lips touched the wax-covered imprint on the neck. He murmured lazily with lips buried in her neck, his voice deep and sleepy.
“Run…”
***
Thud!
At the sharp noise, the physician, Ralph, who had been sleeping, blinked his eyes open. And instinctively, he sprang up, then almost collapsed when he felt his head spinning, barely holding onto the sofa.
“Oh my…”
An involuntary groan escaped. In the chaos of his scrambled mind, the reason why he was here…
“!”
His head snapped back towards the bed where the Emperor was lying.
Please be awake, the desperate wish… the hope…
“…”
Instead of a scream, maybe he should shout.
Ralph froze as his gaze met the woman vigorously pushing against the Emperor’s arms. Unlike the woman who pushed against the Emperor’s arms while muffling her voice, the Emperor’s gaze was unfocused.
Even a passing hedgehog would see that he was still under the influence of sleep.
But why was he holding onto that woman with less awakening?
Ralph’s squeaking head shut down the thought.
He didn’t want to know about the Emperor’s private life or preferences. Really.
As the woman nestled in her husband’s arms left the room, Hayden let out a bitter laugh and turned his head towards the physician.
“What just happened?”
“Y-Yes? Ah, Your Majesty…”
Right, the Emperor! Ralph quickly turned to look at the Emperor. Sitting on the bed, clutching his head with one hand, the Emperor, thankfully, didn’t seem to have fallen back asleep. A few nervous groans followed, and the Emperor looked up.
“Painkiller.”
As he handed over the painkiller he always carried, the Emperor’s eyes finally regained some semblance of reason.
“Your Majesty. Are you okay?”
Hayden’s words caused the Emperor’s expression to furrow even more.
“You’ve been asleep for nearly two days. I thought you wouldn’t wake up-.”
“Noisy.”
The Emperor shook his head, blinked a few times, and cleared his blurry vision. Next to Hayden, there was a rather familiar knight standing. The knight, sensing the Emperor’s gaze, quickly saluted.
“Royal Guard member, Lyrtes Erwin. Your Majesty. I have come under the orders of the Chamberlain to report on the situation in the palace.”
“Report on what.”
Probably in a hurry to come back. The Emperor chuckled briefly. His head ached every time he spoke. He glanced around.
“Where’s Gideon?”
“…”
Even in his still groggy state, it was an odd silence. Hayden, seeming to try to dispel the strange silence, spoke up.
“He’s inside the mansion. Your Majesty. Should I call him?”
***
“Have you found it, Your Majesty.”
Gideon, who arrived quite some time after being inside the mansion, had finally arrived. Luke still looked at the knight, who was as calm as ever, and rubbed his jaw. He felt a slight pain from the bruise.
Was this bruise made by Gideon?
Luke recalled the voice that had been ranting about things he didn’t remember at all. So he attacked Gideon’s wife, and upon seeing that, Gideon only “slightly” pushed him away, according to Hayden.
If that was a slight push, he probably wouldn’t have said anything at all.
Turning his sore head, Luke brought up the original purpose for calling him.
“…You visited the Duke of Retentor, right? What did you cut off from the Duke’s hand and tongue?”
“For now, I only brought back a finger. The Duke expressed his desire to renegotiate.”
“Is it common to negotiate with someone who sent poison?”
Gideon replied indifferently.
“Strictly speaking, it wasn’t the Duke who sent the poison, but his son.”
“If the son did wrong, shouldn’t the parents take responsibility?”
Although the Duke of Retentor was older than Luke, he didn’t care at all. To Luke, the Duke of Retentor was nothing more than a brat clinging to his father’s glory, nothing more, nothing less.
“So it seems he’s willing to take responsibility.”
“How?”
“He expressed his intention to transfer part of his territory to the imperial treasury. He meant the entire area below the Srona River, which is the southern part of the Retentor territory, including both the mining and factory zones.”
“…Just to protect his son’s hand?”
Luke’s incredulous question was met with a nod from Gideon. The area above the Srona River was the largest and most productive factory zone among the privately owned factory zones within the empire’s southern region, which used to be the domain of the Langsher family.
“In fact, the rights to use and tax this land will be tied to the imperial family for the next hundred years, so he thought it would be impossible for his successor to do anything with that area while he’s still alive.”
“Is that your opinion, or the Duke’s words?”
“The Duke told me directly. He said that the successor is more valuable than the land that won’t be used for a hundred years.”
Luke chuckled ambiguously at Gideon’s answer. He couldn’t understand why the snake-like Duke would make such a disadvantageous negotiation, but from his perspective, the conditions were good enough to accept. However…
“So, Gideon. Do you think I should accept the Duke’s proposal?”
“Please do as you wish, Your Majesty.”
It was the expected answer. Luke suddenly wondered how much obedience Gideon would show to him.
Even if his beloved wife was caught, would this loyalty remain unchanged?
