Chapter 93

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Alexis, who fell after being hit by a poisoned arrow during the battle in the South, was in critical condition. They found a local doctor who gave first aid, but the prescription didn’t work, so they eventually brought him to Meyer for treatment, but there was no improvement.

‘They said he wasn’t even wearing armor.’

He couldn’t have made such a mistake on the battlefield, so maybe it was his will not to open his eyes like this.

Kathleen sat staring at his face, not even noticing that the sun was setting over the curtains. She didn’t know what to do.

“Kelly.”

Just then, the bedroom door opened and Cassiel entered.

“Uncle, are you here?”

“Yes. How are you?”

He came closer with a stiff face. Kathleen shook her head slowly. Cassiel looked down at Alexis silently and spoke.

“I’m going home now.”

“Already?”

Kathleen asked, startled by his unexpected remark.

“You just came down from the north, but you won’t stay a little longer.”

“I came here to fulfill your request in the first place, so now it’s time to go. We can’t leave Carmine empty for long.”

From the beginning, her request to her uncle was to send reinforcements to Alexis. When she ran back using the imperial horse, Cassiel saw Luci in her arms and was speechless. He didn’t even need an explanation. Luci had inherited the symbol of the direct line of Usmund.

From such an uncle, Kathleen earnestly asked for help. The child’s father went to the battlefield with the goal of death.

Joseph, who followed, said that if they failed to stop the advance from the South, it was clear that the wrath of the war would spread beyond Meyer to the North, so he persuaded Cassiel to send some of their stationed troops.

It was a rather sudden request and she thought that Cassiel, who had a strong antipathy towards the Empire, would not agree, so she raised it with him rather agonizingly. However, he unexpectedly accepted the request. He immediately led the troops down, rescued Alexis and returned to Meyer.

“When do you plan to come back?”

Kathleen couldn’t easily answer Cassiel’s words. Seeing his hesitant niece, he let out a short sigh as if he had guessed the answer.

“I won’t force you, so think about it slowly.”

“Yes…… I’m sorry, uncle. It must not have been an easy decision, but I put the burden on you.”

“No. We also learned something from this expedition.”

Cassiel showed her something. It was a letter engraved with the imperial emblem.

“The emperor gave it to me. He wants to talk to Usmund.”

“Peter…… No, His Majesty?”

“Yes. He also apologized for not thinking of speaking directly with the people of the North. As much as he paid attention to the South, he said that he should have also looked into the North, but he said he was too late.”

Cassiel seemed to have complicated feelings about the Emperor’s goodwill. He showed an opposite attitude compared to the nobles from the North, who drove the fairies to Carmine and kidnapped their women at will.

“It must be because you saved his family.”

Cassiel said cautiously.

“Your son, Luciano. It would be better to bring him to Carmine and raise him.”

“…… Luci, are you going to accept him?”

“Anyway. He’s your child and I was wrong. It seems that he has inherited the blood of Usmund, but there is no way that he can be brought up here.”

The chances of Alexis surviving seemed far-fetched anyway. When he dies, Luci, a member of the imperial family, will enter the Imperial Palace. It would be natural to take him with her before that.

Kathleen forced her lips up and she smiled.

“Yes, thank you for permitting it, Uncle.”

“Don’t say thank you. But Kelly.”

Cassiel seemed hesitant, he asked quietly.

“What do you want to do with the Grand Duke Walten?”

“Pardon?”

“If you want him to die, you can leave him like this. Then you will be able to take the child more easily. At this rate, the feud with the Grand Duke will be cut off. But if you don’t want him to die, you can save him with your ability.”

“My…… ability?”

“Yes. The ability you have like Juliana.”

He explained carefully.

“If your powers were like when you first came to Carmine, it would have been difficult, but now it is possible. Like Juliana, you can cool an object by carefully controlling any area. From what I’ve heard, if you can get rid of the poison that has spread through the Grand Duke’s veins, I think he’ll be able to live.”

“Yes…….”

Kathleen understood her uncle’s words and answered blankly.

An ability that was once called a curse that takes away the warmth of living things and freezes them. Can that power save Alexis?

“I heard from the woman named Edith, the pharmacist, that she had previously obtained ice flowers from Carmine and made medicine. It’s not difficult to find an ice flower colony. If you need it, I can bring it to you tomorrow. But after saving Grand Duke Walten, what will you do next?”

Next?

She clearly didn’t want him to die, but she didn’t want to live in a cage as she had before either. She also had no intention of leaving Luci with him again.

“Think about it. I will not force you to answer any questions. I just hope you make a choice you won’t regret.”

Cassiel gently patted Kathleen on the shoulder and left the bedroom.

Kathleen sat down on the chair near the bed with a confused mind. Alexis’ heart was beating yet he still showed no signs of opening his eyes.

She carefully looked within her heart.

Even after she heard Joseph’s words, she was actually sad and resentful, but when she saw Alexis transported and unconscious, she felt her heart sink. Even though she had already seen his final will and testament, she couldn’t believe he was going to die. No…… She didn’t want to believe it.

Kathleen’s silver eyelashes trembled.

To her, he was still someone who remained in the corner of her heart.

At the moment when her heart was clearly decided on one side.

The window hidden behind the curtain was dark without a single starlight. It was the last day of the month.

As Kathleen got up from her chair and sat down on the side of the bed, Alexis’ lips slightly parted and a moan escaped. She remembered that her husband, the Duke of Walten, always left the mansion on the last day of the month.

‘Maybe the poison is more active on the last day of the month.’

Then she had nothing to worry about. Today was the best day.

With trembling hands, she opened Alexis’ shirt. It used to be full of scars from his past battles, but now because of divine powers, a pristine chest was revealed. Kathleen put her hand over the left side of his chest where his heart would be.

As he always lived with doubts and tensions, the body he raised to protect himself was strong. She felt a powerful pounding over his tightly woven muscles. The movement of his heart that would spit poisoned blood all over his body and then collect it again.

“……I can do it.”

Kathleen repeated softly as if she was reciting a spell.

Reading her mother’s notes carefully, she had practiced similar cases repeatedly. Plants with leaves that were buried under the ground and freezing part of the leaves’ veins. It wasn’t easy, but she succeeded after a few tries. Plants and people were different, but the principle itself was the same, so it was worth trying.

‘The poison of the southern scorpion disappears when it meets the properties of ice.’

Like using the ice flowers as medicine.

Kathleen laid her hands over Alexis’ heart and clenched her teeth. A cool breeze slowly spread from under her palm. The ice that penetrated his veins was nowhere to be seen on the skin, but his heart, which was beating vigorously, was gradually slowing down.

‘I can freeze the poisoned blood and restore it.’

One mistake and his heart would sleep forever. She could feel the hair all over her body stand up. She trembled and gave more strength to her arms and hands. She looked everywhere but she couldn’t find where she was trembling.

At that moment, Alexis, who was lying peacefully, convulsed and his upper body shook.

‘It’s not done yet……!’

If the frozen blood vessels tear after his violent movement, another problem might occur. She couldn’t take her hands off his heart yet, so Kathleen got up on her knees and sat on Alexis’ body in haste. Soon after, the convulsions stopped.

Kathleen slowly drew back her freezing powers. For a brief moment he turned pale, but blood soon returned to his face.

‘Did I succeed?’

Kathleen could see his chest beating as she came down from on top of him. His heart regained its speed and was beating hard. There was warmth in every corner of his upper body, and the sound of his breathing seemed to have become more comfortable.

But she wasn’t sure yet. Kathleen waited for him to open his eyes anxiously.

Little by little the light of dawn began to appear in the dark night sky. However, Alexis’ golden eyes have yet to show. Now, Kathleen’s heart began to beat uneasily.

‘Maybe I touched the wrong place?’

She didn’t know much about medicine. She was terrified at the thought of being the cause of a new pain in order to try to cure his illness with her freezing ability, for which she had yet to perfect.

Yet Kathleen forced her hands on him.

‘It’s the way my uncle told me, so it’s not like he won’t improve at all.’

Even if not completely, any help in curing the southern scorpion’s poison could save him.

Kathleen rose from her seat with the intention of summoning Joseph or Edith. It was early in the morning, but one of them was probably awake, so she was thinking of asking for medical treatment.

As she was about to turn around.

Her wrist was suddenly seized by a strong force.