Chapter 14
“How’s that?”
The attending physician nodded in satisfaction.
“She’s doing much better. Her heart sounds normal, her pulse is normal, and her power response is normal.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Mehen was relieved.
“We’ll have to keep an eye on her for a while longer, but that’s a remarkable improvement. What on earth did she do?”
The doctor asked in a surprised tone.
Mehen laughed bitterly.
Once Arellin had a seizure, she’d be down and out for at least a week, and if she was back to normal after only four days, that was fast.
“We didn’t really do anything…”
The only thing that made a difference was that Mehen was there.
Did it make that much of a difference?
“You seem much more stable psychologically. You’ve always seemed a bit unstable.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“I think it would be a good idea for you to eat a normal meal and do some light activity now.”
“I understand.”
“Just.”
The doctor’s face was shaded.
“Just?”
“Your body seems to be getting weaker and weaker as time goes on.”
Mehen bit his lip.
“At this rate, she may die…”
“Enough.”
“Sir, I’m sorry.”
“No, you have nothing to be sorry about, doctor.”
When she was first diagnosed, she was told she wouldn’t live past the age of five, but what about now? Arelin is now six years old.
A situation where it’s not unusual for her to fall down and her health to deteriorate at any time. Mehen knew enough to know that.
‘That’s why I’ve been frantically trying to get the damned lord to come.’
Purely out of a sense of needing to see her while she was still able to talk and move around.
He wonders if that even counts now.
“I hope you will be more attentive to your health, young lady.”
“Oh, yes! I understand.”
The doctor stepped aside and Mehen approached Arellin. Her plump cheeks were flushed as if the color had returned to them. It made her feel strangely generous.
“Why?”
Mehen smiled at Arellin’s half-question.
“You can have whatever you want for dinner tonight.”
“Good.”
Arellin smiled.
Mehen saw the smile and thought to himself.
I’m glad I’m not late.
How he would have felt if he had to spend the rest of the night with his heart stuck in the middle of nowhere.
“Young Lady.”
“Huh?”
Small hands and cheeks.
How small they were.
It took me a long time.
It was hard to make a decision, but once I made up my mind, it was easy.
“Do you want me to hold your hand?”
“Huh…”
Her eyes were wide with surprise, and her pupils were cute.
“Yes!”
Mehen took the little hand that was held out to him with a look of determination.
I’ll at least raise her well now.
***
Collection meeting.
In this little gathering of the crown prince, for the crown prince, by the crown prince, the most important thing was first, second, and third, the crown prince, Pession.
“Your Highness, what’s wrong with him?”
“Do you know anyone?”
“I don’t know him.”
Everyone’s aiming for the crown prince’s best friend.
But what if the crown prince was actually being mean?
“Hmmm.”
A flirtation.
The children gathered were confused by this uncharacteristic behavior of the usually cheerful Pession.
“Uh… Your Highness?”
“…”
“Me, Your Highness?”
“…”
Whether the children around him were giggling or clamouring for attention, Pession’s mind was elsewhere.
‘No Arellin again today.’
The fact that there was no Arellin.
And the news from Halbern.
“Lady Arellin has fallen ill, and I’m afraid we won’t be able to visit her today.”
Pession, who had been so excited to play with her today, was disappointed, worried, and distraught.
“She fell down again…”
How does she fall down so often? Is her body made of glass?
Pession was beginning to think Arellin was a different race from his own.
If she collapsed that often, it was a miracle she was still alive.
Worried and surprised, questioning and curious. And a whole bunch of unknown emotions that he didn’t know what he was doing.
“You go and ask him.”
“Shhh, I don’t want to. You do it.”
“Me, I don’t want to.”
In this situation, everyone noticed that Pession was acting differently, but they didn’t want to ask why, for fear of being seen.
Everyone blamed each other, but no one stepped forward.
Except for the twin, whose eyes sparkled.
“Your Highness, why are you so down?”
“Your Highness, why are you so sullen?”
Sperom’s twin, who had returned from playing elsewhere, approached with a twinkle in his eye.
Pession gestured for them to move away, knowing that they had found something interesting to do.
“Go away. I’m not in the mood to play with you right now.”
Ciel shook her head.
“If you’re not in the mood to play with us, what are you in the mood for?”
“Not in the mood to play with us?”
Pession sighed, looking at the giggling twins.
“I have a problem.”
“What’s what?”
“What is that?”
“That…”
“Your Highness is troubled?”
“What’s wrong with you?”
At first, Pession was skeptical that he should be talking to these guys about his problems, but then he realized that it didn’t matter.
There wasn’t much else to ask anyway.
“I went to visit someone a few days ago, can I go again?”
A completely unexpected question.
The twins looked at each other’s faces.
“Doesn’t it matter?”
“If you want to go, you can go again.”
Pession’s expression brightened at the twins’ answer.
“Isn’t that right?”
“…?”
“…?”
Why does he like her so much?
Graham, who was standing next to him, slapped his forehead. Pession, perking up, stood up with a wide grin.
“Sorry, kids, I’ve got to go. I’ve got some work to do.”
“Oh.”
“Graham, come with me!”
Pession scrambled to his feet.
“Let’s go visit the sick!”
The twins turn to face each other again, Pession smiling broadly.
“But who are he going to visit?”
The twins shook their heads at the same time.
***
“Arellin!”
Wow.
“I’m visiting you!”
Why did he come again?
A cheerful demon. The same demon that knocked her down first and then pretended to help her. She is not fooled anymore.
“Are you sick? I heard you fell down again. Do you fall down that often?”
Even with her guard up, she was defeated by Pession’s her Face. The goal sounded and she closed her eyes for a moment.
That was strong.
“Pfft! Arellin, what’s wrong? What did I do wrong? Does it hurt?!”
“No, it doesn’t hurt, wait a minute.”
I feel like I’m drowning in the overflowing. Was it possible for a human being to be this bright? Was it possible for a being to contain this much light? Was the crown prince actually… not human?
‘My mind is gone, my mind is gone.’
She gripped her mental rope tightly and looked at Pession. He was waiting for her to speak, his eyes as calm as a golden retriever’s, waiting for her words.
Why, can you see his missing ears and tail?
“Isn’t today your collection day?”
“Yes! That’s right, you remembered!”
“Yeah, well. But why are you here…?”
Why is he here when he should be at the collection meeting?
The crown prince seemed to be at a loss for words. He smiled broadly and answered straight away.
“Someone told me you had fallen ill, so I was on my way to visit you!”
“Oh…”
That’s the sound of a cloud hanging over her life.
Albrecht’s favorite and most powerful person is taking an interest in me, and looking down on someone else?
She should be thrilled, but in a different way.
‘Screwed.’
How they would look at me with envy and jealousy. She could see her future as the gum of the day.
She could tell. Her human farm was doomed, even if it wasn’t a very fertile one to begin with.
They spray pesticides before they apply fertilizer.
‘I wasn’t really planning on doing human farming in the first place.’
There’s a difference between not doing it and not being able to do it because someone else pooed on it.
“Are you sick, Arellin? Why are you so sick? Is it always that way? Is there a disease? You said there was a disease? Can’t you get better?”
The questioning baptism of fire came from the sunny question mark killer who didn’t realize what he had done to her.
Help me, Graham. Help me, Mehen.
Graham didn’t seem inclined to help, and Mehen wasn’t here. The others… couldn’t step in, an insurmountable gap of status.
“Ha. Lonely.”
Life is lonely.
“Huh?”
“No.”
Her future, which would suck her dry and twist her to death if she continued on this path, was waving its hand at me with a 10% opacity, so she attempted to escape the fate that had been handed to her.
“Why are you here?”
“Huh?”
The crown prince’s head snapped to the side.
Did he not understand the question? It was a simple one?
“I came to see Arellin.”
I mean, why did you come to see me?
“Why me?”
“Huh?”
“Do you have something to say?”
“No!”
“What do you want…?”
“Get well wishes!”
“Anything else?”
“I don’t have any?”
As the conversation went on, it became hard to tell if it was a dialogue or a collective monologue, each person saying what they had to say.
Are we communicating and exchanging information or opinions?
“So you’re here to see me even though you don’t really have a reason or anything to say, am I understanding you correctly?”
“I’m here to see you!”
“…Aside from that.”
“Yes!”
“…”
She doesn’t understand.
“Why?”
“Because I want to see you?”
“…”
“Why? Can’t I do that?”
She didn’t know what to say in response. She’s never had anyone come to her just because they wanted to see her.
“Hahh…”
She doesn’t know what to say to this.
