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Chapter 41
“……”
Just thinking about it somehow made me feel miserable.
I tried hard to suppress the emotions that welled up in my chest.
At that moment, there was a knock outside the door, followed by a formal voice.
“Milady, it’s Head Maid Semelda.”
“A-hem. Come in.”
Once I gave permission, the door opened.
Lady Semelda came in, carrying a tray.
“You haven’t eaten yet, have you? I’ve brought a simple breakfast.”
“Ah…”
She set the tray down on the nightstand beside my bed.
On the tray was a simple croissant, some butter, and soup. I glanced at it and nodded in thanks.
To be honest, I didn’t really have an appetite.
But if I’m going to take care of As, I need to eat and keep up my strength.
After Semelda left, I aggressively finished off the breakfast.
By the time I had downed even the tea that came with it, there was another knock at the door.
What now?
Had she come back to collect the empty dishes?
As I tilted my head, a different voice came from outside—this time, the chief butler.
“Milady, it is Chief Butler Gilbert. May I enter for a moment?”
“Yes, come in.”
Surely the chief butler wouldn’t come himself just to clear away dishes.
As I watched him enter, I tried to guess what brought him here.
Could it be he came because he’s worried about his sick master?
My thoughts were going in the direction I wanted when Gilbert bowed politely and spoke.
“There is a visitor who has come to see you, Milady.”
“…A visitor?”
Of course.
Even earlier, he’d only asked the physician briefly about As’s condition before leaving. There was no way he had come now out of concern.
I tried to hide my disappointment as I asked again, and Gilbert nodded.
“His Majesty the Emperor is currently waiting in the reception room.”
“…Ha.”
I sighed deeply and pressed my forehead.
A troublesome guest of the highest order had barged in.
Just as Gilbert said, the Emperor was sitting in the reception room attached to the bedroom.
When I opened the door and stepped in, the Emperor—idly fiddling with his fingers—brightened and called to me.
“Einra, you’re here.”
“What brings you here so early in the morning, Your Majesty?”
My words came out sharp, edged with impatience, because all I wanted was to return quickly to As.
But the Emperor didn’t seem to mind at all. He smiled with narrowed eyes.
“Of course, I came to fetch you.”
“…What?”
“I told you yesterday, didn’t I? I’ll personally oversee the preparations for your banquet. Come now, let’s start with your outfit for today…”
A sharp throb pulsed in my temples.
I sighed again and pressed my forehead.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes, the decorations you wanted—hm?”
“Are you in your right mind?”
It was shockingly irreverent, the kind of thing no commoner should ever dare say to an emperor.
I glared at him.
The Emperor only blinked in confusion, tilting his head as though he couldn’t understand why I was angry.
His genuine puzzlement made my blood boil.
I clenched my trembling fists and spoke through gritted teeth.
“You saw with your own eyes yesterday, before Arkes left the palace, when he used that nullification spell.”
“…I did.”
“You heard from Harnen that the effect only lasts twelve hours.”
“That’s true.”
“And you also know the curse nullification spell causes side effects the moment it wears off.”
“That too.”
“…And yet here you are, saying we should calmly prepare for a banquet when Arkes is burning up with fever, unable even to open his eyes?”
I was beyond speechless.
When I glared at him, the Emperor finally realized his mistake and glanced nervously at me.
“Well, it just slipped out…”
“…What did you just say?”
“I said it just…”
“I must be hearing things. Because there’s no way a person with normal empathy would ever say such a thing—unless there’s something wrong with Your Majesty’s brain functions, of course. Isn’t that right?”
“……”
In the end, the Emperor got nothing but a scolding before being thrown out of the Grand Duke’s residence.
I was so furious I couldn’t go straight back to As’s room.
I gulped down a glass of ice water from the reception table, took several deep breaths to calm myself, and only then returned to the bedroom.
When I entered, As was sitting silently on the bed, expressionless.
His crimson gaze slowly fixed on me.
Seeing him awake, I brightened and hurried forward—only to freeze under the strangely chilling look in his eyes, one that didn’t suit his childlike appearance at all.
His gaze dropped to my feet.
He tilted his head slightly and asked,
“Where did you go?”
“……”
“You promised to tell me first if you ever had to leave this room.”
His eyes lifted from my feet to meet mine.
Unlike usual, there was no trace of a smile in his red irises.
“A-As…?”
“Come here.”
It was a command.
Something about this unfamiliar side of him made me falter—until I noticed how pale his face was.
Without thinking further, I rushed to his side.
“As, your face looks…”
But the hand I reached out was suddenly seized.
Before I could react, his grip yanked me backward, sending me sprawling.
With a thump, my dark brown hair spilled messily across the bed.
“Where did you go without telling me?”
“Wh-what…?”
Dazed, I looked up to see As leaning over me, tilting his head as he pressed again,
“Well? I asked where you went.”
From a distance, his eyes had seemed only cold—but up close, I could see the feverish heat flickering in them.
It looked like As wasn’t even aware of what he was doing, delirious from the fever.
When he woke up and found no one there… did he feel lonely?
Was that why he was so insistent about where I had gone?
Thinking that, I suddenly felt a pang of tenderness for the small child before me. (Even if his true self was an adult, right now he was still in the body of a child.)
And remembering how the servants had treated him with cold indifference earlier that morning only deepened that feeling.
“I didn’t go anywhere.”
I gently cupped his small face in my hands.
“The Emperor came looking for me. I just talked with him in the reception room next door, that’s all.”
At my soothing words, the dark tension in As’s gaze eased a little.
After staring at me silently for a while, he suddenly twisted his lips.
“…That damned Emperor.”
He muttered viciously.
It startled me—he had always kept himself so composed, never openly showing hostility, and this was the first time I’d heard such venom toward the Emperor.
“A-As?”
“…I was looking for you.”
His small body suddenly collapsed onto mine, as though it had given way.
Thump, thump—his quickened heartbeat pressed directly against mine.
“When I couldn’t find you, I thought you had abandoned me.”
“……”
“I was wondering what I should do.”
Still sprawled on top of me, he toyed absently with my brown hair as he spoke in a slow, dragging tone.
“Should I wait? Should I come find you? What if I waited and you never came back? What if I found you and you said you weren’t coming back? If that happened… I don’t think I could bear it.”
His small lips released a heavy sigh.
The seriousness with which he fretted over something that would never happen made him seem both pitiful and a little endearing.
I swallowed down something between a laugh and a sigh, and stroked his small head lightly.
“That will never happen, so you don’t need to worry, As.”
“……”
“And if by some impossible chance it did… well, then you can do whatever you want.”
As’s hand suddenly stilled.
After a moment of silence, he slowly pushed himself up.
His sleek black hair slid down over his white shirt.
“If you ever disappear again without a word…”
Still gazing down at me with those humorless eyes, he spoke.
“…I’ll lock you up here.”
