Chapter 89 - Philip

Fabian rode his horse at dawn and climbed up the hill, looking at the horizon.

“Your Majesty, why did you stop?” Logan who followed him closely, asking with a worried face. He didn’t want to see the Emperor push himself too hard even though he had only suffered minor injuries.

“No …… my ears are itchy.”

The Imperial family seemed to have been busy finding out about the Emperor’s whereabouts since Fabian’s return was too late.

“Itchy? Let’s see the doctor!”

Hearing Logan, Fabian let out a short sigh, “You can’t be joked around like Serus.”

“What? Serus……?”

“Forget it.” Fabian looked up to the sky. Soon, the long summer would be over and autumn was about to come. However, unlike the bright sky, the reality was really frustrating.

“Do you want to go to the forest fortress?” Logan followed Fabian faithfully and asked a difficult question.

“I’ll think about it.” Fabian ran the horse as soon as the sun rose because his heart seemed to explode. But he couldn’t leave Evelyn and back to the Imperial palace right away.

“The direction we’re heading now is toward the fortress. I think it would be nice to go back first, clean up everything and then return to the Imperial palace.” Logan was the same persistent person as Serus, but in a different sense. “Of course, Your Majesty doesn’t need to investigate alone anymore. We’ve already sent a capable knight to the place your Majesty has directed.”

“Okay….” Fabian waved his hand.

“Then, are you going back to the fortress now?” Logan was purely curious. But for Fabian, the situation itself was embarrassing. When he was with Serus, Fabian didn’t have to explain anything as he could communicate with him without saying anything.

“The mountain path is difficult, so I’ll take the lead!” The enthusiastic Logan seemed to have no idea what he was doing. “Ah, Your Majesty, look! There’s a shortcut, so we’ll be able to make a quick stop at the fortress and leave for the Imperial palace!” Instead of being sensitive to the situation, Logan shouted excitedly, shaking his head.

“I’ll take you there safely, Your Majesty!” Logan took the lead before Fabian could say anything. He sighed for a moment, disbelieving his eyes. “… … Check that out.” But Fabian had no other choice but to follow him. Only then he could watch Logan’s action and hand him over to Serus later.

“Giddy up!”

Contrary to his intentions, Logan took Fabian to Evelyn. He was a passionate knight, a young man with a warm heart, and also a young man who soon would be dusted by Serus.

Fabian was half forced to return to the fortress, but he already said he didn’t want to meet anyone and locked himself in his room.

Given that the fortress was small, the news of the Emperor’s return must have already been heard by Evelyn. But there was no sign from the two of them showing any movement. But, it turned out that there was one guy out there, Serus. He had just finished a private meeting with the Emperor and immediately dragged Logan’s neck after that.

“Your Majesty, your wound is still not healed.” The doctor said carefully while changed the bandage. Fabian took off his top and examined the wounds all over his sturdy body.

“It will get better soon.”

“The demon’s poison is strong. Please take a rest for two days or even one day.” The doctor looked worried, as Fabian’s life was also his life. “If you don’t want, please dismiss me. No, please let me go. It doesn’t matter even if you’re Your Majesty. Kidnapping me is a crime.”

“I can’t do that right now.” Fabian frowned while picking up his clothes on the floor.

Philip, the white-haired ex-Imperial medical doctor sighed again. After he retired as a medical doctor and dedicated his life to training his juniors, suddenly the Emperor kidnapped him and brought him to a place like this. Philip wasn’t afraid of Fabian at all even though he was an Emperor. Because he thought that he already old and he would die before Fabian anyway.

“More than that, Your Majesty. There must be a more important problem.” No matter how old he was, his bright eyes weren’t dim. One of reason why Fabian hesitated to return to the fortress was because he didn’t want to make eye contact with Philip.

“No.” Fabian turned his back on him.

“There is!” Philip caught up with Fabian quickly.

“No! there’s none.”

“Your Majesty, you can’t deny what already exists. It won’t make it disappear.”

“…… Stop it, I’m no longer a child who needs your teaching.” Fabian frowned at his words. Philip was Fabian’s doctor and one of his childhood teachers. He called him here because Philip was a trustworthy and reliable person. But, of course, Fabian had to put up with his babble.

“But there’s one child here that I need to take care of.”

Huh, Fabian spat out a useless sigh and purposely avoided Philip’s gaze.

“You kidnapped a retired old man, so now you have to listen to me”

“I don’t know anything.” said Fabian.

“Then, since this old man is no longer a part of Imperial family, may I go to study a miracle case through blood medicine?” Suddenly Fabian reached out and grabbed Philip’s arm tightly. If he said it any further, it seemed Fabian would break his arm.

“If my arm is broken, no one can cure that child.”

Only then did Fabian loosen his grip. However, the threat emitted by his black eyes remained the same.

“You have to admit it.”

“No.”

“Then I can’t heal him, either. ……No, is he a Prince now?”

There’s no point in hiding the child’s identity and lying to Philip. There was no other elder who was as smart as Philip. Plus, Adrian’s appearance was exactly the same as Fabian when he was a child. When Fabian looked for Philip, he was already prepared that the secret would be exposed. But, there was no other doctor he could trust besides him.

“Your Majesty, if you wanted to hide it, you shouldn’t have called me here. First of all … … from what you ordered me to heal Princess Evelyn, do you think you can deceive me?”

“You’re noisy.” Fabian wouldn’t call Philip if there were other choices.

“For the Prince, he’ll be fine right now.”

That was a question Fabian had wanted to ask ever since his return. But he felt a little awkward to ask Philip about that. “What do you mean by right now?”

“Are you interested?”

Fabian still hadn’t really felt that Adrian was his son. Even so, he didn’t consider him a stranger. Above all, every time he thought he was Evelyn’s child, the time seemed to stop for a moment.

“I warn you, no matter what you say…..”

“I am not afraid of your Majesty because the day I will die is near.” Philip answered calmly, even though Fabian’s black eye glared at him.

“All the books, teachings, and research you’ve written all night long.”

Philip’s eyebrows were unexpectedly trembling.

“I’ll burn it all. Don’t think I can’t do that.”

“Well, that’s… ….”

“Oh, there’s more. All your hidden journals and the records of your disciples! I will burn it and make it nothing in this world.”

Philip’s waist shook. He took his cane and headed for a chair, sitting down with a sad face. From an early age, Philip knew that Fabian had a cold-blooded temper. But without knowing it, he became too cruel now. How could he learn such terrible ways. Philip sighed as if imagining that the world was coming to an end.

“Please promise me……me and my students are fine, but the record…..Only the record… … .”

“You just need to cooperate with me. I don’t need your comment.”

“Only the records, only the results of my research…just leave it…….”

“Good. It’s our agreement then.” Fabian surely would keep his promise because he was the same with his father.

Only then did Philip sigh, “Well, I need to tell you his condition, after all.”

What a liar, if Fabian didn’t threaten him, he wouldn’t be softened like this. Because Fabian knew very well that Philip was a stubborn old man who wouldn’t listen to anyone.

“The prince is in a stable state right now, but not all of the demon’s poison has been detoxified. “

Fabian raised one of his eyebrows and looked at Philip, “You can decipher it.”

“It’s impossible to do it here. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s possible to return to the Empire…..?”

“Why you can’t? It’s just a little demon poison.”

“But he’s still a child.” Philip brought up a very obvious fact. Adrian was only two years old. “I …… When I checked the Prince’s condition, there were twenty one Devil Eye’s bite marks all over his body.”

Although Philip had seen many more terrifying sights when he still worked as Imperial doctor, this was the first time he had seen a case like this. “After seeing his condition, I knew at a glance that he was bleeding badly at the scene. And Your Majesty probably gave him an emergency medicine made of blood to stop the bleeding.”

“I…”

“I’m not asking about that. Let’s put it off for a moment.” Philip put his serious doctor’s face again. He understood, even if he asked, Fabian wouldn’t admit it. But Philip himself, as a doctor already knew the truth.

“Was my treatment that time……wrong?” Fabian’s dark eyes trembled. Philip shook his head, swallowing difficulties. “No, I think it was the best way….”

“Then what’s the problem! What’s wrong with that child!” Fabian burst into a rage. He couldn’t conceal his anxiety when the Prince’s condition report came out.

“This medicine stop the bleeding and the poison spread. But it can only work to that extent. I can’t decrypt it. But if the child was bleeding a lot before you used the medicine, it means that the poison had spread throughout his body first. And child’s body is much smaller than adults ……. “

“So? Tell me the conclusion first.” Fabian hastened.

“We have to give the blood medicine continuously. And decipher the poison little by little. Right now, that’s the only way ….”

“Then, just do it that way!”

“The duration of treatment in this way will take at least three years, and since this is blood medicine …… I dare to say, Your Majesty’s blood is needed to be used as an ingredient …….”

“Okay.” Fabian answered quickly but he didn’t seem to know the real problem yet. Without doing so, Philip opened his mouth again. “Your Majesty’s blood must be used as soon as it’s drawn. So addiction treatment like this has to be done side by side. “

Fabian squinted his eyes.

“In other words, the Prince must be by your side for at least three years. …… And now the problem is, you will tell people whose son he is?”

Soon, Fabian’s mouth was half wide open, “That’s…”

“There are no secrets that can be hidden in the Imperial family. Besides, now Your Majesty must return to the Imperial palace soon.” What Philip said was right and that made Fabian really upset.

“He really resembles you. Even when the Imperial gatekeeper sees him, they will immediately know he’s your son.”

Fabian’s breath was disturbed, not like his usual self. He couldn’t tell whether he was happy or shocked, “Is he really looks like me?”

“Yes. I don’t understand why you didn’t know but …

“As a result, I think there’s no serious problem.”

“Have you consulted with Sir Serus?” asked Philip.

“Yes.”

Philip sighed. That was why he had managed to hide the child’s existence so far. On the other hand, Evelyn, the Empress, was also amazing. How could he trick a child who was like his younger brother to help him to hide this crime, “You can’t empty the Imperial palace anymore. And it’s very likely that the child will die if he’s a far from Your Majesty.”

Fabian sighed as he listened to Philip. His face looked as if he was deeply distressed, “Are there any other alternatives …..?”

“There’s not. If so, I would have told you.” Philip cut off his hopes. “I still don’t know which medicine he should take. There is no guarantee that he will also recover immediately. The blood used in blood medicine cannot be used unless it is drawn immediately …… Your Majesty knows that. If the blood provider is not by the Prince’s side, we don’t know when and what medicine to make. “

“So… … You need to use my hand.” Fabian said a heavy word. Then Philip nodded. And Fabian didn’t think he needed any more explanation, “I need time to think.”

“You should….” Philip nodded and left, as if telling Fabian to decide the answer himself. Fabian, who was left alone, felt very depressed. He promised to do his best for Adrian, but he didn’t know this would happen.

“What the hell do you want me to do?” A sigh leaked out of his frustrated heart. Fabian had given everything he could give, but the knot kept getting twisted.

“Why… …we’re so difficult…..”

The more he was tied up with Evelyn, the more he felt like they were mixed up. His intention to remarry the woman he loved and tried not to hurt her now became a very complicated problem.

Fabian couldn’t even know where it was screwed up, “She won’t believe me.”

It was the biggest problem. Evelyn would accuse Fabian of not keeping his promise. She had risked her life, so she wouldn’t give up her child easily.

But he couldn’t let Adrian die. Likewise, he couldn’t abandon his throne.

“Why everything it’s so hard…..”

When he first saw Evelyn, Fabian wanted to keep that smile by his side. That simple thought brought him this far. He never treated her carelessly, but instead he was trapped in a mess. And that fact broke Fabian’s heart.