TFM 108

Chapter 108

***

He ran his fingertips over it. A slick liquid had left ugly stains on her milky-white skin. The thin cloth, soaked in blood, clung to her lukewarm flesh like seaweed.

He stared blankly at the scene, then pressed his ear against her bloodstained chest. He could feel a faint pulse.

At last, his frozen mind began to function again.

He scooped her up, sheets and all, and burst through the bedroom door.

Several maids passing through the hallway at that moment froze in their tracks upon seeing him. Varkas shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Send for a healer! Now!”

***

Her stomach felt as if she had swallowed boiling water. The searing heat made her insides feel as though they were being scorched. She struggled, exhaling hot breaths, but only for a moment; then, her bones began to ache as if pierced by shards of ice.

She reached out tentatively and pulled the blanket closer. Perhaps moved by the pitiful sight, someone wrapped their arms—as hot as red-hot iron—tightly around her.

As the warmth seeped into her blood, she let out a sigh of relief, but then the fire inside her began to burn again.

She tossed and turned, drenched in sweat. Perhaps sensing her distress, she felt the arms wrapped around her back begin to slip away.

She clung to it with all her might as it tried to pull away.

Keep holding me. Don’t leave me alone.

As if they had understood the words buzzing in her mouth, a hot warmth enveloped her body once more.

It was painful. Yet, somehow, she felt reassured.

She curled up in the broad embrace, like a chick burrowing into a hen’s feathers.

Before long, the pain that had been piercing her stomach faded, and a tomb-like stillness settled over her. It felt as if she were submerged in lukewarm water.

How long had she been enveloped in that strangely peaceful sensation? Her dazed consciousness gradually cleared.

Talia barely managed to lift her heavy eyelids. A beam of light piercing through the awning stung her retinas. The stinging sensation made her involuntarily let out a groan, and just then, she heard hurried footsteps approaching.

“Miss! Are you coming to your senses now?”

Talia turned her head and frowned upon seeing her nanny, who was wearing a tearful expression.

The nanny grabbed her hand tightly and sniffled.

“Do you have any idea how my heart has been burning with worry? Why does this keep happening time and time again……………”

Talia looked confused. She had absolutely no idea what was going on.

As she pressed one hand to her throbbing forehead, the nanny, who had been shedding tears like chicken droppings, suddenly sprang to her feet.

“Look at me! This is no time to be sitting here. Please wait a moment. I’ll go get a healer right away.”

With that, she stomped out of the bedroom.

Once the room fell silent, her mind finally began to function properly. Talia looked around the simple bedroom carefully.

It took her a few seconds to remember that she had arrived in a city somewhere in the Eastern or Western region. But her memories after that were hazy. It was as if she had been dreaming with her eyes open.

“You’ve finally come to.”

Just as she was piecing together her fragmented memories, the healer rushed into the room.

Panting heavily, she approached the bedside.

“How are you feeling?”

Talia, who had been looking up at her with a bewildered expression, parted her parched lips. A raspy sound emerged from her parched throat.

Seeing this, the healer immediately poured water into a cup and handed it to her.

Talia struggled to sit up, leaning against the headboard as she moistened her mouth with the lukewarm water. The liquid flowing down her esophagus caused an uncomfortable sensation in her stomach.

As she coughed slightly from the strange discomfort, the healer quickly removed the cup.

“Please don’t drink too much at once. Since your stomach has been damaged, you must be careful even when drinking water for a while.”

Talia furrowed her brow.

“My stomach has been damaged?”

“Don’t you remember?”

When she shook her head, the healer explained in a calm tone.

“Your Highness lost consciousness shortly after arriving at this castle. You were ill for nearly two days after that.”

Talia’s eyes widened, and her face paled as a memory suddenly flashed back.

It was while she was resting in bed. Suddenly, intense pain had struck her. As she groaned in agony, unable even to think of calling for help, a hot liquid had suddenly surged up from her stomach. It seemed she had lost consciousness almost the moment she vomited it out.

Talia, still rubbing her throbbing solar plexus, glared at the healer with an icy stare.

“Did someone poison me?”

“No, Your Highness. It does not appear that poison was used.”

The healer hastily denied it.

“It seems the bleeding was likely caused by a side effect of the medicine you have been taking over the past few weeks.”

“A side effect?”

Talia shot her a skeptical look.

The woman continued her explanation calmly.

“The elixir Your Highness was taking contained an ingredient that can damage the stomach. Normally, it’s a beneficial herb that replenishes energy and boosts vitality, but… if a patient with a weakened stomach takes it for an extended period, there is a risk of internal bleeding.”

Talia let out a scoff.

“So, you’re saying they gave me that medicine by mistake?”

The healer’s face stiffened slightly.

She let out a heavy sigh.

“That is my assessment.”

“….”

“I examined the medicine Your Highness took thoroughly, and it was composed entirely of ingredients that aid in restoring strength. However, the healer who prepared the potion seemed unaware that Your Highness’s digestive system is as fragile as that of a child.”

Talia frowned suspiciously.

“You’re strangely defending that woman.”

“I am merely stating the facts I have discovered. I do not wish for Your Highness to waste your energy on unnecessary suspicion.”

The woman replied calmly, straightening her back as she stood. Then, with her characteristic composure, she picked up a small teapot from the table.

“In any case, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against that healer. And from now on, I will be taking sole responsibility for Your Highness’s treatment.”

She then poured a moderate amount of the clear liquid into a small teacup.

Talia looked down at it with a wary gaze. The woman gave a wry smile and explained.

“It’s honey tea with a small amount of herbs brewed in it to aid stomach recovery. If you drink it little by little, your stomach will settle.”

Talia reluctantly took it. But she had no desire to bring it to her lips.

After staring at the lukewarm tea for a while, Talia asked in a tight voice.

“Are you certain the medicine I’ve been taking so far isn’t poison?”

“We cannot completely rule out the possibility that other ingredients were mixed in during that time… but if that were the case, traces of poison would have remained in your system. However, Your Highness has shown no symptoms of poisoning.”

“Then……………….”

Is Varkas all right?

She opened her mouth to ask, but closed it again. She didn’t have the confidence to come up with a plausible excuse for how he had ended up taking the medicine prescribed for her.

Talia moistened her parched lips. Varkas had also been taking that medicine little by little all this time.

Is there really no side effect for him at all?

Unable to shake off her anxiety, Talia blurted out impatiently.

“That medicine—is it really harmless if a healthy person takes it?”

The healer, who had been looking at her with a puzzled expression, nodded.

“That is correct. In most cases, it would actually help restore one’s vitality.”

Overcome with relief, Talia slumped her shoulders. Then, suddenly feeling disgusted with herself, she let out a hollow laugh.

It was absurd that she felt more relieved that he hadn’t been poisoned than that someone hadn’t been trying to kill him.

Talia ran a hand weakly over her face and parted her chapped lips.

“Varkas...”

Where is he right now?

What was his reaction when he saw me collapse?

She swallowed the questions rising in her throat and lay back down on the bed.