Chapter 108
He touched it with his fingertips. The slick liquid made an ugly stain on her milky-white skin. The thin cloth soaked with blood clung to her lukewarm flesh like seaweed.
After looking down at the sight with dazed eyes, he brought his ear to her chest, stained with blood. A faint heartbeat could be felt.
Only then did his frozen thoughts begin to move again.
He lifted her in his arms along with the sheets and kicked open the bedroom door as he rushed out.
Several maids who happened to be passing through the corridor stiffened when they saw him. Varkas shouted loudly.
“Bring the healer! Now!”
***
Her insides stung as if she had swallowed boiling water. The burning heat felt as though it were festering her stomach. After writhing for a moment while breathing hot breaths, this time her bones began to ache as if shards of ice had been embedded in them.
She groped with her hand and pulled the blanket closer. Perhaps she looked pitiful, because someone tightly embraced her with arms as hot as heated iron.
As warmth seeped into her blood, she let out a relieved groan, but then a fire began to burn inside her again.
She writhed, sweating profusely. As if realizing that she was suffering, the arms wrapped around her back fell away.
She held on with all her strength to stop them from moving away.
Keep holding me. Do not leave me alone.
As if understanding the words that only hummed inside her mouth, the hot warmth surrounded her body once more.
It was painful. Even so, for some reason, she felt relieved.
Like a chick burrowing into a hen’s feathers, she curled up within the broad embrace.
Before long, the pain stabbing her stomach faded, and a silence like a grave arrived. It felt as though she were soaking in lukewarm water.
How long had she been surrounded by that unfamiliar peaceful sensation? Her hazy consciousness gradually grew clearer.
Thalia barely lifted her stiff eyelids. A beam of light piercing through the shade stabbed at her retinas. At the stinging sensation, she unconsciously let out a groan, and urgent footsteps sounded nearby.
“Young lady! Are you coming to your senses now?”
Turning her head, Thalia found Nanny on the verge of tears and frowned.
Nanny grabbed her hand and sniffled.
“Do you know how black my insides burned? Why does this keep happening every time......”
Thalia looked confused. She had no idea what had happened.
As she held her throbbing forehead with one hand, Nanny, who had been dropping tears as large as chicken droppings, sprang to her feet.
“Look at me, losing my head! This isn’t the time for this. Please wait a moment. I’ll call the healer right away.” Then she stomped out of the bedroom.
Only once the surroundings became quiet did her head finally begin to function. She slowly looked around the simple bedroom.
Only after a few seconds could she recall that they had arrived in a city somewhere in the eastern and western regions. But her memories after that were faint. It was as if she had dreamed with her eyes open.
“You have finally come to your senses.”
While she was tracing back her fragmented memories, the healer hurriedly ran into the room.
She approached the bedside while breathing heavily.
“How is your body?”
Thalia, who had been looking up at her with a bewildered expression, parted her parched lips. A metallic rasp flowed from her cracked throat.
Seeing that, the healer immediately poured water into a cup and handed it to her.
Thalia struggled to raise her upper body and leaned against the bed’s headboard, wetting her mouth with lukewarm water. The liquid flowing down her esophagus uncomfortably irritated her stomach.
When she let out a small cough at the strange discomfort, the healer immediately took the cup away.
“Do not drink too much at once. Your stomach has been damaged, so for a while, you must be careful even when drinking water.”
Thalia drew her brows together.
“My stomach has been damaged?”
“Do you not remember?”
When she shook her head, the healer explained in a calm tone.
“Not long after arriving at this castle, Your Highness lost consciousness. After that, you were ill for nearly two full days.” Thalia, who had widened her eyes, dimmed her complexion at the memory that suddenly flashed through her mind.
It had been when she was resting on the bed. A strong pain had abruptly assaulted her. She was groaning from the agony churning through her stomach, unable even to think of asking for help, when hot liquid suddenly surged back up. It seemed she had lost consciousness almost at the same time she vomited it out.
Thalia, who was still rubbing her aching pit of the stomach, glared at the healer with eyes like sheets of ice.
“Did someone feed me poison?”
“No, Your Highness. It did not seem that poison was used.” The healer hurriedly denied it.
“It seems the bleeding occurred as a side effect of the medicine you have been taking over the past few weeks.”
“A side effect?”
Thalia sent her a distrustful look.
The woman continued explaining in a composed manner.
“The trial medicine Your Highness had been taking contained medicinal ingredients that could damage the stomach. In ordinary cases, they are good medicinal ingredients that replenish energy and boost vitality, but...... if a patient whose stomach has grown weak takes them over a long period, there is a risk of internal bleeding.”
Thalia let out a scoff.
“So you mean they fed me such medicine merely by mistake?” The healer’s face faintly stiffened.
She let out a heavy sigh.
“That is my judgment.”
“.......”
“I carefully examined the medicine Your Highness took, and it was composed only of ingredients that help restore energy. However, it seems the healer who prepared that medicine did not know that Your Highness’s stomach function was as fragile as that of a child.”
Thalia suspiciously furrowed her brow.
“You are strangely defending that woman.”
“I am merely telling you the facts I have discovered. I do not want Your Highness to exhaust yourself with unnecessary suspicion.” The woman replied calmly and straightened her back. Then, with her characteristic calm manner, she picked up a small teapot from the shelf.
“In any case, an appropriate punishment will be given to that healer. And from now on, it seems I will be in charge of Your Highness’s treatment.” Then she poured a suitable amount of clear liquid into a small teacup.
Thalia looked down at it warily. The woman gave a bitter smile and explained.
“It is honey tea brewed with a small amount of herbs that help the stomach recover. If you take it little by little, your stomach will feel more comfortable.” Thalia reluctantly accepted it. But she did not feel inclined to bring it to her mouth.
After staring at the lukewarm tea for a while, Thalia asked in a hoarse voice.
“The medicine I have been taking all this time—are you certain it was not poison?”
“I cannot completely rule out the possibility that other medicinal ingredients were mixed in during that time, but...... if that had been the case, traces of poison would have remained inside your body. However, Your Highness showed no symptoms of poisoning.”
“Then......”
Varkas is all right, isn’t he?
She was about to ask that, but closed her mouth. She did not have the confidence to plausibly explain how he had ended up taking the medicine prescribed to her.
Thalia wet her parched lips. Varkas had also been taking small amounts of that medicine all this time.
Were there truly no side effects for him?
Unable to shake off her anxiety, Thalia blurted anxiously,
“That medicine—if a healthy person takes it, there really is no problem, right?” The healer, who looked at her with puzzled eyes, nodded.
“That is correct. In ordinary cases, it would actually help restore energy.”
Thalia let her shoulders droop in relief. Then, suddenly feeling disgusted with herself, she let out a hollow laugh.
She was appalled at herself for feeling more relieved that he had not been poisoned than at the fact that no one had targeted her life.
Thalia weakly rubbed her face and moved her cracked lips.
“Varkas......”
Where is that man now?
How did he react when he saw me collapse?
She swallowed the questions that had risen to her throat and lay back down on the bed.
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