CH 60

Who is the Fake Bride? (2)

“Haah…”

He shook his head and collected the documents that he was just about to report back to the Emperor. It would eventually take a while, so that it would be less time-consuming as well as even better in many ways to actually come back later.

“It’s not really that bad for their relationship to get stronger…”

An Emperor who had been known to throw things away was now like this and often walked to the Imperial Palace.

But wasn’t this too much of a change?

‘As Bert said before, are you really feeling attached now?’

Heinez shook his head again while thinking along the lines of: ‘I knew it’s rather blasphemous’, but he still continued his thoughts without realizing it.

***

“I have to tell the Empress that the Rakain delegation will soon visit the Empire. I’m on my way there too.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The chief of staff who followed after Kergel replied with a smile to his words. Kergel guessed that even if he didn’t look back at all, the chief would be all smiles anyway.

‘Did I say something wrong?’

He narrowed his brows and murmured to himself. He felt quite embarrassed since it appeared like he had made excuses for some reason.

In fact, he didn’t have to make any excuses at all.

It was not anything special to go and visit his own companion. He coughed a couple of times awkwardly before he soon stopped walking.

Perhaps he was more impatient than usual, but he eventually reached the Palace before he even realized it.

Kergel was embarrassed by that point onwards, so he instantly frowned and opened his mouth to the maid who was already rushing over to see him.

“I came to see the queen. Where is she?”

“The Empress is currently in the bedroom.”

“Bedroom? Is something wrong?”

Kergel’s eyes straight away frowned upon hearing the maid’s unexpected answer. She was still in the bedroom, at noon. Kergel’s mood quickly sank because he knew that she wasn’t the type to be lazy in such a way.

Moreover, he felt even worse since he had already seen her suffering from a cold secretly after being rained on while going out to the Imperial Palace last time.

“Her fever rose all of a sudden this morning…”

“But why didn’t I get a report? Where’s the Head Maid?”

Kergel strode into the Palace and asked for the Head Maid. However, just before the maid could open her mouth and reply, Lucy had emerged from the other side of the stairs.

“Your Majesty.”

“Lucy, what happened? What about the Empress?”

As soon as he saw Lucy, he hurried away and began asking questions. Lucy then looked at Kergel before bowing her head and responded calmly.

“The doctor has just entered to treat the Empress. I was just about to send someone to report this to you as well.”

“How is she? I heard that her fever went up.”

“Just after breakfast, she suddenly caught a high fever. So, I immediately thought that there was a problem with the food and thus, I ordered a separate test for it.”

“…checking for the food? Are you talking about poison or something?”

Kergel’s expression instantaneously hardened. Lucy then proceeded once more in a placid voice that could comfort him eventually.

“Of course, it’s extremely unlikely. But I’m simply conducting the test just in case. Not only that, the fact that what is not poison to us, can also act like poison to the Empress since the land where she has been born and raised is rather different…”

It was quite possible too. People could not completely escape from the influence of the land where they were born and raised in. Therefore, as the Head Maid had said, ordinary ingredients from this land could unintentionally be poisonous to the Empress as well.

Kergel ascended the stairs with a stiff look on his face. Then, Lucy ordered something to the maid before she followed after him at once.

By the time they got to the front of the bedroom, the doctor had just opened the door and was just about to come out.

“I will send you the medicine, so please make sure to take them on time. And also… oh! Your Majesty.”

After saying a few words to Silloa, he turned around and as soon as he saw that Kergel was just standing a few steps away, he bent down hurriedly. Silloa was also standing in front of the bedroom door during the time she saw Kergel before she bowed in courtesy.

“Are you done checking on the Empress?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“How’s the Empress doing? No, I heard that she’s having a fever. Why is that?”

“It’s actually a cold.”

“A cold? You can’t easily shake that off even though you take medication.”

Kergel frowned again in disapproval, despite what he had already guessed. Then, he suddenly recalled what Lucy said a little while ago and began to open his mouth in return.

“Is it just a cold? Did she get poisoned or something?”

“We’ve already done a lot of tests and fortunately, that’s not the case. However…”

Kergel’s gold pair of eyes slowly narrowed.

***

“Everyone leave.”

At Kergel’s low tone of voice, Lucy, Silloa and the rest of the maids quietly retreated without making a single sound of footsteps at all.

He didn’t budge for a while, even though he had already heard of the door being closed behind him. Instead, he just stood near the entrance of the bedroom while looking at the bed engraved with an insignia.

There was a faint note of breath. He sometimes heard a grunt of pain due to the fever that hadn’t gone down just yet. Kergel trudged along belatedly as if he was being led by the sound.

“She’s really small. It’s no exaggeration to say that she’s now completely buried under the covers.”

He murmured softly as he peered down at the woman who was lying on the bed. Then, he took a seat in the chair next to the bed and looked at her once more.