[IYFILWATIP] Chapter 26

“Stop talking and get some rest. You must be exhausted from the prolonged fever.”

“I’m not sleepy.”

“...But you are.”

He was right. Although she had been wide awake just moments ago, she grew irresistibly drowsy with each touch of his hand.

His firm body supported her as she succumbed to sleep. Kirona realised that, at some point, he had slipped onto the bed and was now half-embracing her. It was an extremely presumptuous act. She should have told him to get off, but she was too sleepy to speak. Besides, his coolness, drawing out the lingering heat from her body, felt pleasant.

As she drifted into the darkness of unconsciousness, Kirona managed to murmur,

“What did that verse you mentioned earlier mean? I studied theology, but I never got that far.”

“It means you have nothing to fear.”

“...Nothing?”

“Nothing at all.”

With his laughter in her ears, Kirona finally lost consciousness.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Tetra Fever was a rare disease. Its symptoms were so unusual and notorious due to the many famous people, including royalty and nobles, who had suffered from it that hardly anyone had heard of. But finding someone who had seen a person’s case was rare.

It was the kind of disease you only heard about in rumours—like someone’s father’s friend from long ago who died from it.

One in tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. It wasn’t a disease you worried about catching unless you were one of the unfortunate few.

Sadly, Kirona was among those with terrible luck.

“You want to go to the Eastern Monster Territory?”

“Yes.”

“To find a cure for a disease with an unknown cause?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Kirona’s mother, Emperor Claudia, sighed as she looked at Kirona, her ailing daughter. Kirona was dressed in full knightly attire, with a sword at her waist, just as she had been before she fell ill.

It might have been better than wandering the palace like a ghost in an indoor dress or throwing things in fits of rage, but it was even more concerning in some ways. Moreover, Claudia had recently learned that Kirona had been betrayed by the lover she had been seeing and that she had insisted on riding a horse in a storm.

“Kirona, you’re my firstborn child. You may not believe this, but I haven’t abandoned you. If there had been a cure, I would have found it and saved you long ago. Even now, I’m doing everything I can.”

Kirona agreed with Claudia’s words. Over the past few years, Claudia had done everything she could to save Kirona. She had brought renowned healers from all corners of the continent to examine her and had invested heavily in research on Tetra Fever at the Mage Tower.

Kirona knew how much political strain and wounded pride it must have cost Claudia to bow her head to the Mage Tower Master, with whom she had a strained relationship.

“I’m grateful for that. But there’s a difference between something that doesn’t exist and something that hasn’t been discovered yet, Mother.”

“Tetra Fever is...”

“An incurable disease, and for over a thousand years, not even the cause, let alone a cure, has been identified. Even Emma Hugin has given up on it. I’m well aware. That’s why I have to take matters into my own hands. The doctors keep repeating the same tired apologies, and those damn Mage Tower people are just sitting around, wasting your gold, hoping I’ll die sooner rather than later!”

Kirona interrupted the Emperor’s words with a shout. The Emperor did not tolerate disrespectful behaviour, but Kirona knew he wouldn’t get angry. After all, what was the point of scolding someone who was going to die soon?

The Emperor valued efficiency and rationality above all else, and that principle also applied to his children. He was the Emperor before he was Kirona’s mother and had many responsibilities. He couldn’t afford to waste time and emotions on grief like an ordinary person.

Over the past few years, the Emperor had done everything possible for Kirona, but the results had not matched the investment.

Kirona knew the golden carriages bound for the Mage Tower had stopped a year ago, just before the Emperor became pregnant with a new child.

She understood her mother’s decision. A member of the royal family who couldn’t continue the bloodline could no longer be considered royal.

“The Eastern Monster Territory is where even trained knights refuse to enter. Do you know how many loyal knights have gone there and never returned? Dangerous monsters appear with every step you take.”

“Which also means there are plenty of potential cures to be found. Rare herbs and monsters that can only be found there. The East is home to foreign healers and eccentric wizards who have dedicated their lives to research.”