CH 32

“I mean, I felt like throwing up and then…”

Hazard, who was listening to the news together, mumbled with a frown. The worried face is covered by the teacup in hand. Those sitting across from Hazard saw him and added words.

“Oh, I don’t think it’s right to say hello to the others today.”

“Yeah! I was really looking forward to seeing who Hazard brought!”

“…He’s been a little under the weather. You both must be tired from coming all the way here.”

Hazard sighed. Then, he put down the teacup, which had only been wet with his lips, silently and raised himself.

“Let’s do the introductions later. I’ll have to go to him.”

“Do you really need to go? If he had called in the councilor, he would have done it.”

“Oh, Ra, don’t you say such heartless things? I brought him all the way here. I’m more than half responsible for his collapse. Even though you know that, Do you want to make me so hard?”

“You’re the one who’s calling me a hard person.”

A man called “Raya,” who wore a hat deeply pressed leaned his upper body against his back and answered with his arms folded. Two pairs of blue eyes that resemble each other face each other casually. A boy with cotton candy-like light cherry-colored hair watched the short confrontation between the two and saw Hazard’s brows slightly frown, so he thought they might fight, so he cut in between them.

“Tell him to take care of himself, Hazard! Hurry up and go! Tell him that it would be great if we could have dinner together later on!”

“OK. I’ll talk to you later.”

Hazard waved his hand roughly to them and headed for the mansion. Remburton followed behind. It’s not running, but it’s a wider and faster step than usual, so Remburton glanced. Who is Nathan, and why does Hazard care so much? Remburton, who followed Hazard without a word, thought Hazard’s interest in Nathan was so strange.

However, he did not say this idea out loud, and soon the two reached the second floor.

The second floor was busy. Helpers were busy cleaning up the dirty carpet, wiping the floor with water, and taking out new carpets. Then he found two people and stopped what he was doing all at once and bowed his head.

“You’re here, young master.”

“We don’t care. Keep up the good work.”

“Yes.”

The two passed by the users and entered the open room. In the room, several employees, along with the congressman, waited for the owner of the house. Before Remburton even spoke, Hazard first asked Rep.

“So what’s his condition now?”

Unlike the playful appearance seen only in front of close people, it was a dignified and solemn attitude. Remburton secretly clicked his tongue to see where he had thrown away the usually simple and clumsy prince.

The Rep, who had known Hazard for a long time, also seemed a little surprised by his unusual appearance, but when he recalled that the boy lying on the bed was a guest brought by Hazard, he said, “I guess you’re worried about your friend.”

“There seems to be a number of factors overlapping. First, there is an effect of the sudden change in the environment and the accumulation of fatigue from long trips, and it seems that he was especially stressed out usually. Kind of saying ‘I was barely holding out, but after arriving here, I reached my limit.’ Therefore, I think the body has put on a defense mechanism to protect itself. Anything else?”

“Oh, I can’t think of any more.”

Hazard turned to the bed. He could see Nathan’s face buried deep in the blanket and really asleep this time. His mood is instantly stained with complexity by the way he looks clearly worse than before.

“He’d better just get some rest for now. I’ll send the medicine up a little later. By the way, it’s been a long time since I had a patient in such bad condition. I think it’s more because you guys are always flying around. The inside of his body is a mess, and he is weaker than his peers. Another problem is, he doesn’t seem to have a good heart. The blackness under his eyes shows signs of sleep deprivation.”

Afterward, the Rep. explained Nathan’s disease name from time to time. After hearing all the stories, it was concluded that they should finally let Nathan rest well. Unlike the shrines, which use divine power, lawmakers Reps use mana to examine the patient’s body. If Nathan had seen it, he would have thought, ‘Is it an MRI?’ In any case, to summarize what Rep. Lee said, he is surprised that Nathan has managed to walk with such a body.

When the lawmaker finished talking and left the room first to make the medicine, Hazard also sent out other users who were waiting in the room. It was the same for Remburton, the owner of the mansion. It was an order for everyone to get out so that Nathan could rest in peace. Remburton, who was forced to leave the room, stood at the threshold and called Hazard.

“Azar, by the way…”

“See you at dinner, Remi.”

Remburton’s words were gracefully ignored by Hazard’s cold answer. Listen to other things right now, the reaction was firm as if he would not deter. Remburton’s face was naturally lumped up. He looked at Hazard, whose eyes were on the door, and at the pile of blankets bulged over his shoulder and turned. 

‘Something’s wrong, but I don’t know what’s wrong.’

Only after confirming that Remburton was moving away did Hazard close the door and walk to bed. He flung down on the chair where the Rep had just sat, sweeping his hair roughly. As I cast my eyes on the bed, his pale face only breathed quietly. When he saw it, Hazard swept his face with both hands and made a painful noise.

“…Whoa.”

‘I didn’t expect you to feel so sick. If I had known in advance, I wouldn’t have asked you to come with me. I would have explained to him what happened at dawn and told him to ask for help from an adult. Sleepwalking wasn’t the only problem for him. No, of course, that was a big deal but..’

“Did I bring you here for nothing?”

Without realizing it, Hazard grabbed Nathan’s dry hand as he slipped out of the blanket. His pale hands are ice cold. Hazard gently massaged the pale hands and used the holy power that he strictly used for those close to him. But the color of your face is the same.

‘Healing, too, won’t help.’

Hazard lets out a bitter laugh and laments. Feeling a familiar feeling of helplessness. Already knowing that sacred power doesn’t work for Nathan. Hazard’s holy power was known only by very few people, and therefore unless its life or death it usually is not used.

But Hazard was quick to use divine power when he first spotted Nathan wandering around at dawn. It was also dawn without prying eyes to see, and Nathan was not in a good condition in front of him, so he used divine power without hesitation. Sacred power was able to heal not only external but also internal wounds. For example, curses and plagues. Perhaps that level of divine power was enough for anyone else.

However, his divine power failed to permeate Nathan and was scattered like smoke in the air. So Hazard went to Matilda to find out why divine power did not work only for him, and if he was ill, he could find another way. Well, it didn’t help much. Knowing this, Hazard held Nathan’s hand for a while longer.

. . . 

Click, click.

When Nathan opened his eyes again, the world was filled with blue darkness. Upon confirming it, Nathan blinked a couple of blurry eyes and thought blankly.

‘Is it nighttime?’

He just rolled his eyes and looked around him around. He was alone in the room. Nathan slowly traced his memory, cooling his throbbing forehead with the back of his cold hand. I certainly didn’t remember falling asleep, but I don’t know why I was lying in bed. It was just a blur.

“I’m sure, I mean. When I went up to the third floor, I saw Hazard in the garden.”

Tick, tick, tick.

“You’re so loud.”

But Nathan’s memory didn’t go further than that. The sound of the clock filling the unusually still room gnawed all over his nerves. The remaining drowsy feeling flew away. My head throbbed again. Nathan instinctively curled up and covered his ears with both hands. Nevertheless, the sound of the second-hand tick did not disappear from my mind.

Nathan jumped up. Frantically scanning the room with blurred vision. He looked for where the sound came from, but nothing seemed like a clock. Nathan crawled down from the bed to turn on the light, thinking it was because the room was dark when he tripped over the bed and fell on the floor.