TMLOST 13

Chapter 13

The Fragile Imperial Princess (4)

She thought all that remained was to quickly go into her room and kick her blanket around in embarrassment, but then—

“Your Highness.”

“Yes?”

At Aaron’s call, Elia let go of the doorknob and turned around to meet his eyes. Since she had not expected him to call out to her, she looked slightly confused.

“May I ask… if there is anything I have done to offend Your Highness?”

“Yes…?”

What did he mean by that?

Her body was already weak, but now she wondered if her ears had gone bad too. She could hear a slight tremble in Aaron’s voice. More than that, she could not understand his question.

“How could Sir Aaron possibly offend me?”

After asking back, Elia briefly looked around. Perhaps because it was already late at night, there were no guards or maids nearby. Since few people stayed awake at this hour, she had never realized how exposed this place actually was.

It would not really matter if they talked here, but her legs no longer felt capable of holding her up.

“Well—”

“Wait a moment, Aaron. Let’s go inside and talk.”

Elia interrupted him while grabbing his wrist. Perhaps because urgency could be felt in her voice, Aaron stared at her briefly before nodding.

After entering the room, they sat at the table near the window.

There was no maid present to prepare tea for them, so proper etiquette could not be followed, but Elia hoped he would understand.

“I’m sorry, but could you repeat the question you asked me earlier, Sir Aaron?”

Sitting face to face like this gave her a strange feeling. The last time they met had been shortly after she arrived in this world, yet now they were sitting together again like this.

“I asked whether I had done something to offend Your Highness.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because Your Highness did not send a reply for half a month, I thought perhaps I had unknowingly offended you.”

Elia’s mind became complicated with both shock and guilt. Only now did she remember that because of Livius, she had failed to send the letter she meant to give Aaron.

“I’m sorry, Sir Aaron. As you saw yourself, I had intended to send you a letter, but something similar to yesterday’s incident happened, so I had no mental energy to think about anything else. I truly have no excuse for causing you concern.”

She stumbled awkwardly through her explanation, but despite Aaron’s normally expressionless face, she noticed a subtle look of relief appear.

That was probably also why Lotte had been mentioned earlier as the reason he came to the Empire. He must have been terrified thinking he had accidentally offended the Imperial Princess and caused the Empire to dislike him.

“Ha… You truly did nothing to offend me, so please don’t worry.”

A sigh escaped Elia naturally as she felt frustrated with herself.

How anxious must he have been?

“No. If I truly did not offend Your Highness, then that is enough for me. I only brought it up because I worried I may have spoken carelessly, so there is no need for Your Highness to apologize so much.”

“Yes… I’m really sorry. If it’s alright with you, may I give you the letter I failed to deliver back then?”

Right now, Elia honestly felt like kneeling before Aaron.

But she was still an Imperial Princess, and for the sake of protecting the image he had of her, she had to endure it. Creating another unexpected situation would only make things more difficult for Aaron.

“Ah, yes. Then once I return to the Kingdom, I will send another letter in reply.”

Aaron had originally intended to refuse politely, but accepting the letter would confirm that Elia’s words were sincere, so he agreed.

Elia’s troubled expression immediately brightened. She quickly stood and walked over to her desk.

After pulling the letter from a drawer beneath it, she handed it to Aaron while trying her best to look apologetic.

“I would never create a situation that could bring harm to Sir Aaron, so please don’t worry. And please give my regards to Princess Lotte as well.”

“Yes, thank you. Then I should take my leave now.”

“Yes. I’m the one who should be thanking you, Sir Aaron. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Aaron stood from his seat neatly, as though everything that needed to be done was finished. Elia hurriedly answered while showing a gentle smile.

Even if the beginning and middle of their meeting had not been pleasant, she still wanted the ending to remain good.

“I will call for a maid to prepare some warm tea for you, so please drink it before sleeping. The weather is cold, so you should warm yourself.”

“It’s alright. That’s really not necessary—”

“I think it would be better if you at least drank a little before resting. After all, because of me, Your Highness stayed awake late at night and had to stand in the cold air.”

“Yes… if it will ease your mind, then I’ll accept.”

Knowing Aaron’s personality, Elia understood that if he did nothing and she later caught a cold, he would definitely blame himself for it.

So she could no longer refuse his kindness.

After Aaron left, Elia drank the tea brought by the maid and fell asleep.

Perhaps thanks to Aaron’s consideration warming her body, she thought her condition remained fine until he departed from the Imperial Palace.

However, Elia eventually caught a cold.

And not just an ordinary cold, but a severe fever as well.

The illness became so serious that she wondered if this was how she would finally die.

Fortunately, when she opened her eyes, she was once again staring at the now-familiar ceiling.

“Cough.”

Even though she had been unconscious, it was obvious from the pain in her throat just how much she must have coughed. It hurt so badly that she felt like she might cough up blood at any moment, and even the smallest breath came out rough and painful.

“Your Highness the Imperial Princess, how are you feeling?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

Perhaps because she was sick, her nerves were far sharper than usual, and her words came out harsher than intended.

The physician widened his eyes in surprise before quickly calming his expression again.

The quiet Imperial Princess who usually could not even speak up was suddenly showing her temper, so he seemed rather startled.

“You were very ill, so it appears Your Highness is still suffering greatly. You seem far more sensitive than usual.”

“I’m sorry.”

Even if she did not truly mean it, he was still one of the few people who cared about her health, so she decided it was better to maintain a good relationship.

Elia forced herself to look apologetic.

After meeting her gaze, the physician cleared his throat awkwardly, checked her condition again, and then left the room.

All he really did was check her pulse several times and examine where she felt pain, but in this world, that was considered the highest level of medical treatment.

“He’ll probably boil more strange-tasting herbs again.”

Elia buried her face deeply into the blanket and sighed internally.

Aaron had apparently returned to the Kingdom as soon as the sun rose that morning, and he had not left behind any special message.

If she had not regained consciousness briefly, she would never have seen him again before he left.

“Haah…”

A sigh escaped naturally as she buried herself even deeper beneath the blanket.

Then—

Knock knock.

Along with the sound of knocking, the door opened, and the horrible smell of boiled medicinal herbs filled the room.

As always, another bowl of herb medicine of questionable effectiveness was placed before Elia.

“You should drink it before it cools. The bitterness will be weaker that way.”

“I know.”

Elia turned her head away, took a deep breath, held it, and then swallowed the medicine all at once.

It was her desperate attempt to taste as little of the horrible flavor as possible.

As Elia’s condition continued worsening strangely, she began thinking she needed to learn the name of her illness.

The number of times she coughed up blood had noticeably increased.

It would not be strange if she died soon.

Since the Empire possessed such a massive library, perhaps there would be some clue hidden there about her illness.

Even if she never learned the name of the disease she had in her previous life, she at least wanted to know what illness Elia suffered from.

She did not want to repeat the same kind of life as before—ignorantly swallowing medicine until death arrived.

And if she could not even change Aaron’s fate, then what difference was there between this and the original story?

“As expected of the Imperial Library… this scale is…”

The moment Elia entered the library with hope in her heart, she became speechless at its overwhelming size.

The library was so enormous that she wondered if she might die before managing to search through all of it.

If she were not terminally ill, this would have been a place of happiness for someone like her who loved books.

But because she had come with a purpose, she could not simply enjoy it.

She needed to find information quickly enough to avoid drawing suspicion from Llewellyn and his group.

After all, there was probably no one around her who truly wished for Elia to live longer.

For now, she decided to skim through the titles and open any books that looked remotely related to curing her illness.

“There are too many books… how am I supposed to search through all of this?”

Even roughly searching took a great deal of time because the library was both wide and tall.

After looking upward so long, her neck became stiff and her legs began aching too.

“Ugh…”

A pained sound escaped her lips naturally, yet despite all her effort, she found nothing useful.

There were many medical books, but none contained the answers she sought.

What exactly was wrong with her?

Even though she did not hold much hope of finding information, the library was still the only place where she could search for even the smallest clue.

“No matter how much I beg Elia to appear in my dreams, she never responds… Maybe it’s because I’m not the protagonist.”

Whether before sleeping, after waking, or inside dreams, she constantly called out to Elia every single day.

Yet there was never any answer.

Still, the fact that she received no hint at all made that explanation the easiest to accept.

The protagonists were Llewellyn and Lotte.

And she herself, whether she understood the reason or not, was merely an extra destined to die.