IBVM 07

Chapter 07

‘No, what do you mean “teach”?’
You’ve got to straighten out the ones who were raised with bad attitudes. Do you think they turned out crooked just for fun?
Blinking my big eyes, I forced a gentle smile and said,
“Why are you baring your teeth as if it matters whether I came on someone’s orders, Your Highness? And I’m thirteen. I’m not the age to take orders and move about secretly.”

My cute, lovely face, a combination of my mother’s and father’s best traits, was one of my greatest weapons.
I knew just how softening a well-arranged innocent expression could be.

“Whoever sent you probably isn’t someone who likes me. And now that you’ve been caught, what’s the point in pretending?”

But Cassion didn’t fall for my charms.
‘The kid’s got some backbone. He’s actually saying the right things.’
I liked that.

Still, I couldn’t let him stay so cheeky. We’d have to get along eventually, after all.

“You should think before you speak. Don’t just say whatever comes to mind.”
“That’s not something a woman who barges into a prince’s palace should say.”

Was that what irritated him? That I showed up unannounced?
It was a sharp, prickly remark, but it was true.

“Wait a moment.”
I stood up and stepped outside. I knocked politely and asked for permission.
“Your Highness, I am Diana, daughter of the Duke of Irenberg and heir to the family. I request permission for the young lady to enter.”

There it was, extreme honorifics.

From inside, the names of every kind of baby animal imaginable poured out. When they even mentioned creatures I’d never seen or heard of, rough coughing followed.
Soon the coughing turned into retching.

“…Your Highness?”

Half in jest, half in seriousness, I abandoned the idea of politely asking for permission and flung the door open.
Until I left, Cassion had been sitting on the sofa—but now he was collapsed on the floor, coughing. Blood was smeared on the floor and on the hand he used to cover his lips.

“Your Highness Cassion!”

“How is he, Dallas?”
I asked Dallas, the Irenberg family physician, while lying on the bed, eyes fixed on Cassion, who couldn’t regain his composure.

“He’s extremely weak.”
“Can he be treated? There’s something we can do, right?”
“I can’t guarantee that a body weakened like this will recover immediately.”
“But people get better from fevers.”

Dallas sighed heavily as he fiddled with Cassion’s wrist.
“That may work for a passing illness, but in His Highness’s case…”
Dallas fell silent. His expression was very grim.

Is he hesitant to speak in front of the patient?

“Dallas, let’s step outside and talk.”
I instructed Janice to keep watch over Cassion and walked out into the corridor with Dallas.

Dallas glanced at Cassion as he followed me.
“Speak, Dallas.”

Once in the corridor, I closed the door firmly and led him to the room across from us. The middle-aged doctor followed my lead without resistance, though I was smaller than him.

“Your Highness doesn’t have much time left to live.”

Dallas invoked God and then delivered the shocking words. But I didn’t believe him—I had seen him grow up healthy.

“You mean it’s an incurable disease?”
“Yes. With current medicine, we cannot diagnose His Highness’s illness. So no medicine can be applied.”

But Cassion grew up strong enough to visit my execution site. That means somewhere, there’s definitely a cure.

“Dallas, are you sure you examined him properly?”
“Yes, Miss. His Highness must be suffering a great deal now.”

Dallas began explaining Cassion’s condition. Listening to him, it sounded serious. According to Dallas, it was almost a miracle that Cassion could even sit.

And yet this brat had still gone around visiting everyone, shouting curses. By sheer force of spirit, he could probably take down a cow.

I wasn’t sure whether to praise his mental strength or scold him for being foolishly stubborn despite his weak body.

“So, you’re saying we should just give up?”
“Miss, it’s not giving up—it’s acceptance. And as you know, there are already top physicians from across the continent in the palace. They will care for His Highness. There’s nothing more I can do.”

Dallas speaks as if there’s still something more to do, even after observing Cassion and the palace. I doubted his eyesight at that moment.

“When will he wake? You should at least know that.”
“I can’t guarantee that either.”

Dallas was frustrated, unable to answer anything definitively. I understood his embarrassment—being suddenly summoned and forced to use complicated terms—but I was angry too.

A state like this means he could die any moment—even today. That cannot happen!

There must be a way. After all, he came to the execution site healthy enough to do so!

‘But just because Cassion grew up healthy in the past, does it mean he will this life too?’

I was drawn into the same worry I had before. My life had changed too—if it were my past life, I’d be meeting Deyson under Count Colcos’s guardianship by now, but here I was in Cassion’s palace.

‘If the past changed, he might die before I reach adulthood.’

Seeing him cough and faint, my anxiety deepened. Even if we succeeded in marriage, if he dies, I’d have to relinquish the headship.

A minor holding a family head’s title via marriage to royalty retains it only as long as the marriage continues.

That meant I had to maintain the marriage until we reached adulthood to inherit the family safely.

‘Above all, I need Cassion for my long-envisioned revenge.’

I intended to place him on the throne Deyson longed for. That would be the finale of my revenge.

‘And I owe him a debt, too.’

I can’t live in debt.

With that thought, I shook off my musings and ordered Dallas:
“Do whatever it takes.”
“There’s nothing I can do.”

Dallas gave up without even thinking twice.
“Is that something a doctor should say?”
“Miss…”

He shook his head, looking troubled. I realized he saw me as a spoiled child, and my excitement calmed.

“Fine, go back. Go and gather any information you can about His Highness’s illness. If it’s a cure, even better.”
“And you, Miss?”
“I’ll return when His Highness regains consciousness.”

“It’s late at night.”
Dallas’s voice was full of concern.
“You are our family physician, not my protector.”

Dallas lowered his head at my cold tone. The large man seemed smaller than me. Only then did I recall the shame he must have felt as a doctor today.

But I was too tired to comfort him. Getting Cassion inside the palace with Dallas wasn’t easy.

When he collapsed, I laid him on the bed and joined the visiting party. If things went wrong, Paullaner might storm the entire palace looking for me.

‘Terrible.’
Just imagining it made me shiver. I used poor health as an excuse and slipped out of the palace.

Then I returned to the Third Prince’s Palace with Dallas via a secret passage I had noted earlier.

Don’t think it was easy—avoiding the eyes of people in a palace is nearly impossible. Fortunately, luck favored us, and we reached the palace unnoticed.

Dallas was suspicious of my actions but didn’t say anything, attending diligently to Cassion. That was commendable, but… a doctor should try their hardest!

I opened the door impatiently and entered Cassion’s room.

He still had his eyes closed. His wrist and ankle poking out from the messy blankets looked frail. I scanned the room.

The unlit fireplace left the room full of cold air. It was spring, but nights were still chilly. Nobles sometimes even light fireplaces in summer…

Cassion’s blanket was far too thin to fend off the cold and stained yellow with filth. Dust had piled up in clouds across his unnecessarily spacious room.

“Living in a place like this would make anyone sick.”

Cassion twitched his fingers as if he heard me. I snapped back to reality and went to his bedside.

“Your Highness! Your Highness! Are you conscious?”

I shook him gently. His body was flimsy as paper, trembling. Fearing I might crush him, I quickly released my hold.

Was he thin from not eating or from illness? I couldn’t tell.

I saw his hand move slightly, but Cassion didn’t respond to shaking or shouting. The dirty blanket covering him kept distracting me.

“Think good thoughts, wear good clothes, and good things will happen.”

My mother’s words came to mind, so I threw off the blanket and covered him with my own coat instead.

With the flower-embroidered coat draped over him, only his head peeking out, Cassion finally looked his age.

‘No one would think Cassion is eleven—he’s so skinny. At least if he gains some weight, he’ll look much better.’

Seeing him stirred a pang of sympathy in me—probably because I had lost my parents early as well.

“Janice, bring a trustworthy servant—someone you really trust.”
“Now?”

It was pitch dark outside, the moon not yet risen. Sending Janice out alone worried me, but once she left the palace, a carriage awaited, so it should be fine.

“Yes, I’ll also list my blanket, pillow, and bed sheets… I need to make a list!”

I initially planned to ask for only a few necessities, but the list grew longer.

Janice and I searched the room for paper and pen.

Janice muttered she’d punish anyone who touched the prince’s belongings.
“I’ll take responsibility. Just say I did it alone. For now, search.”

Comforted, Janice eagerly began rummaging through the drawers.

Clothes that looked tiny compared to Cassion’s body and some oddly large ones jutted out. Watching this made me angry, so I slammed the wardrobe and turned to the desk.

“Not a single proper notebook?”

On Cassion’s desk were only a few books for children who had just learned to read, probably given by Deyson. No fountain pens, the noble’s essential.

In the end, I had to tear the pages of the books and write using the blood spilled on the floor from Cassion. Using someone else’s dried blood as ink felt horrible.

“Aren’t you scared to go alone?”

I asked Janice, handing her the completed note.
“He has many friends, so it’s fine.”

Janice sometimes gave strange answers. But seeing her confident expression, I felt it was safe to send her.

“I’ll be back!”

Janice declared bravely and left the palace.