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Chapter 10
“What’s the diagnosis?”
“Well…”
“Hurry up and say it.”
Rai pressed the doctor who was examining him, his sharp eyes narrowing.
The sharp gaze made the doctor shrink back and stammer.
“I–It seems to be just a light cold.”
“I’ve never caught one, not even during harsh training or out on the battlefield.”
Rai felt strange with a flushed face from the fever and a slight shortness of breath.
“Your Grace, the body doesn’t only get sick from external causes.”
“Explain so I understand.”
“You can also become ill when you’re mentally exhausted or distressed.”
“For example?”
“When you lose all your wealth, or are betrayed. Some people collapse from the humiliation alone.”
“None of that applies to me.”
“It can also happen when you fall in love.”
Rai was at a loss for words.
‘It was burdensome, both when you treated me well and when you tried so hard to impress me.’
Iva’s words came back to him, squeezing his chest until his heart ached. He frowned and clutched the area over his heart.
“What should one do in that case?”
“It depends. Some people get better just by resting, while others waste away and die if they can’t find a solution.”
“I have to go to the Imperial Palace tomorrow. Give me the most effective medicine you have.”
“I’ll prepare something with a fever-reducing effect.”
After the physician left, Rai lay down weakly, pressing a hand to his hot forehead.
It felt strange, his body refusing to obey him for the first time. Out of habit, he called her name.
“…Iva.”
The moment he spoke her name, his heart throbbed.
Thinking of her hurt like this, yet when he didn’t think of her, it felt like his heart didn’t even beat.
His body was here, but his mind was still in that park where he’d last been with Iva.
Knock knock.
“Your Grace, His Highness Prince Claude has come to see you.”
“His Highness? Let him in.”
Rai quickly sat up from where he was lying.
Claude entered the bedroom, checking Rai’s complexion first.
“I greet Your Highness.”
When Rai tried to rise to greet him, Claude pressed his shoulder down.
“Today I’m here as a friend, not as the royal you guard. So stay comfortable.”
“But…”
“It’s fine.”
To prevent Rai from getting up at all, Claude sat down in the chair by the bed.
With no choice, Rai leaned back against the headboard to meet his gaze.
“How did you come all the way here?”
“How could I stay put when I heard you were sick?”
“Thank you. But I fear I might pass it to Your Highness.”
“I may not be as strong as you, but I’m quite sturdy myself. Has the doctor been?”
“Yes, I was examined just a while ago.”
“What did they say it was?”
If Rai was bedridden, Claude thought, it must be something serious. He didn’t hide his concern.
“They said it’s probably an illness of the heart.”
“An… illness of the heart?”
Of all the words Claude had ever heard from Rai, this one suited him the least.
Caught off guard, Claude hesitated before asking carefully:
“Rai.”
“Yes.”
“Did you… perhaps get rejected by a young lady you were courting?”
At his words, Rai felt as though something sharp stabbed his heart. He simply pressed a hand to his chest.
That reaction was enough for Claude to have his answer.
“Haha! To think Rai would be laid low by lovesickness—never would I have imagined it.”
Claude felt relieved that it wasn’t a grave illness, but Rai’s expression only grew gloomier.
“You went to the restaurant I recommended, the one ladies like, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“Didn’t she like the atmosphere?”
“She was satisfied with it… up to that point.”
“May I ask what led to the rejection?”
Though they were old friends, this was the first time they’d spoken of such matters, so Claude asked cautiously.
When Rai thought of Iva that day, his throat prickled. He cleared it before answering.
“It was the first time I’d ever felt that way. I couldn’t sleep for thinking of her, and as soon as I woke, I wanted to see her again.”
For a man always as unfeeling as stone, Rai’s eyes looked slightly moist. To Claude, he almost seemed like a boy in love.
“When I came to my senses, I was already proposing to her.”
“You?!”
There wasn’t a hint of insincerity on Rai’s slightly softened face.
“If you were that earnest, you must have treated her kindly. Did she reject you outright?”
Claude, now fully drawn in, wore an expression of sympathy.
“She said my feelings and all my actions were a burden.”
“Ouch…”
“I understand. I was so busy showing my feelings that I never stopped to see what hers were.”
He’d thought only of entering her heart, never of looking into it.
He hadn’t realized that seat beside her wasn’t first-come, first-served.
If he could go back, he’d knock his past self flat to stop him from proposing so rashly.
“I must have liked her more than I thought. That’s probably why I’ve ended up with this ‘illness of the heart.’”
Remembering the moment of rejection was bitter, yet thinking of Iva brought color back to Rai’s cheeks.
“What’s her name?”
“Pardon?”
“There must be some way to win her over. I want to help my dear friend’s love succeed.”
Claude wanted to use his power if he had to, to make Rai’s love come true.
But Rai shook his head firmly.
“I don’t want to burden her any further. She already gave me enough of her time, and in that time, I failed to change her mind.”
He couldn’t bring himself to trap her by force when she’d said she wanted freedom.
“You really did give her your whole heart.”
“I want to remain only as a good memory for her.”
Rejected though he was, Rai was still in the midst of a fervent unrequited love.
“Rai, you’ve grown up.”
“Pardon? I’m already an adult.”
“I mean in spirit, not in age.”
“Ah. I see.”
“So you’re not going to tell me her name?”
Rai gave a small nod.
“Then can I at least ask something else?”
“Something else?”
“What about her shook your heart? Her looks? Her manner of speaking?”
Rai unconsciously reached up and tapped the scar on his face.
“She was very beautiful, but she also told me it was cowardly to avoid her. She said I should wear my scars like badges of honor.”
“A very bold young lady.”
Because of his scars, his size, and the prejudices about his family, few dared speak freely to Rai.
Yet here was someone who used all those words to his face. Claude began to understand why Rai was bedridden from lovesickness.
“Did your inspection trip go well? You didn’t go again without any guards, did you?”
“Ah, thanks to going without guards, I met an interesting lady.”
Claude had been worrying about how to prepare for the upcoming delegation’s visit.
He’d attended a famous madam’s party to gather information, but instead, a woman in a cat mask had suggested he become the president of the youth association.
“An interesting lady? She didn’t recognize Your Highness?”
“I was wearing a mask.”
“It’s good nothing dangerous happened.”
“Well… I did get slapped.”
“…What?”
The slightly languid Rai blinked once, instantly becoming alert enough to be ready to draw his sword.
“It’s fine. It was nothing serious.”
“How can Your Highness being slapped be nothing serious?”
“I handled it well, so stop looking like you’re about to rush off.”
Rai, who had truly been ready to rush off, reluctantly relaxed at Claude’s words.
“Can you even go out in that condition?”
“I went to the battlefield even with a stab to the waist.”
“This isn’t a war now. Focus on recovering your heart.”
“Wait… was it that ‘interesting lady’ who slapped you?”
Claude smiled faintly, thinking of Iva.
“No, she was the one who invited me to the countryside to be the youth association president.”
“…To Your Highness?”
“Rai, what do you think? Do you think I could do it?”
“Your Highness is good at everything, so I’m sure you’d do well, but…”
Rai seriously imagined Claude in that role.
“I think the Imperial Palace suits Your Highness best.”
“I thought so too, but it was fun, as if she were showing me another kind of life.”
“Another kind of life?”
“I’ve never once thought about a life outside the palace. I always believed my whole purpose was to earn the Emperor’s notice and strengthen my position.”
‘It’s my life, so my word is law for myself.’
She’d said it lightly, as though it were nothing. As though one could live however they pleased.
Her words had shaken the values Claude had held from living so fiercely.
“She made me feel like you can live well without working yourself to death.”
“I see.”
“Her words felt light, yet strangely comforting.”
Inside the palace, Claude was dismissed by everyone as the third prince, but outside, the people regarded him with deep reverence.
Wherever he went, he strove to blend in—kind to the people, competent in the palace.
But it was never easy, and so he drove himself harder, feeling he had to be perfect everywhere.
The woman in the black cat mask had spoken nothing but words contrary to his beliefs. He found himself wondering what she’d say if they met again.
“Doesn’t she sound like an interesting lady?”
“Unusual, but she seems like a good person.”
“I think so too.”
For someone used to fake smiles, to make Claude genuinely laugh was no small feat. Rai was now curious who she was.
“Will you meet her again?”
“No. She was drunk and left in a hurry.”
“Then do you know her name?”
“I couldn’t even ask. She just vanished.”
“No other details?”
The look Claude had worn earlier while prying into Rai’s love life was now on Rai’s own face.
“It’s a secret.”
“…Pardon?”
“You wouldn’t tell me the young lady’s name, so I’ll keep the lady a secret too.”
For the first time in their long friendship, a secret existed between them.
