CH 71

Simon was suddenly in the spotlight, and he was dazed and confused.

He, too, seemed to have no idea why Frederick III had mentioned his name.

"At the time, all the doctors who worked at the royal palace fell ill with the plague. Shortly after the plague subsided and we returned to the royal palace, the newly appointed doctor saw Simon's face and saw that many blisters had appeared. Under normal circumstances, he should have died, but he was impressed and said Simon was a very strong boy."

Frederick III glared at the Duke of Danzel without even looking at Simon.

"The plague that swept through the country ten years ago did indeed cause blisters all over the body. It was not concentrated in only one part of the body like Simon's, but I thought it must be due to the individual's constitution. But according to the doctors, Simon was the only one with such a case."

Duke Danzel, whose hair was still being held by Frederick III, opened his mouth to make an excuse.

But Frederick III tugged on his hair to give him no chance to speak.

"The doctor said that Simon might have antibodies that prevent the plague. While the cure may be available, it may not be immediately available the next time there is an epidemic. This is especially true if the medicine is not something that can be made in one's own country. Every country will try to save its own people first. The people of other countries come next."

"Ugh..."

A groan escaped the Duke of Danzel's thick lips.

Still, Frederick III's grip remained firm.

"If Simon was able to fight the plague, then we can find the cause of it and make a cure in our country. No, not a cure, but a method of prevention. If we could do that, we would no longer be afraid of the plague that took the lives of my mother and brother."

Frederick III closed his eyes for a moment, as if thinking.

"I let my research continue, but I had no idea why Simon was the only one who had survived with all those symptoms. And I wondered, could this really be the aftereffects of the plague?"

He opened his eyes and locked gazes with Cedric, who was looking at him with pursed lips.

"Cedric had been questioning his father's death after hearing of his final days from his father's attendant who had barely survived. Isn't that right?"

Cedric glanced down at the black barley in the box he was carrying, then stepped forward.

"Yes," he said. "My father, with terrible blisters on his feet and pain all over his body, took command in the blockaded royal city, and after he collapsed, he never returned. However, only a small percentage of the capital's residents complained of physical pain due to the plague. And even then, it was limited to those in high positions in the royal court."

When Cedric finished his words, Renato, who was listening, agreed.

"I don't remember such symptoms appearing in the Empire either. Blisters all over the body and a high fever..."

Cedric looked at Renato and nodded.

"Blisters and pain that only appear on one part of the body. That is clearly different from the symptoms of the plague. I heard that my father's servant still has pain in his hands and feet, perhaps as an aftereffect. I wondered if there might have been another disease going around at the same time, so I looked into it. I hypothesised that it might have been caused by Black Death Wheat.

At the mention of pain, Simon touched his face with his hand.

He was bandaged all over his face after he had scratched at the itching that came with the pain.

After the pain finally subsided, he looked at his face in the mirror and saw that he looked like a different person.

Simon still remembered the despair he felt at that moment.

"Then... This face of mine too..."

"If you are still in pain, it is probably not due to the plague."

"But I don't remember eating any bread made of Black Death Wheat..."

Simon's mouth stopped open as he tried opposing.

Just before the blockade of the Kingdom, Simon's mother once made him a bread pudding because fresh milk and bread would not be available for a while.

Simon still remembered the taste of the bread pudding because it was made with the most delicious bread he had ever tasted.

It was a shame, though, because the bread pudding was so good that it had burned a little on the wrong side of the fire.

When he was crying in pain due to blisters on his face, he begged his mother to make it for him again and again.

As the pain became more and more intense, he asked her to make it for him as usual, but she told him she couldn't make it because she didn't have any more ingredients.

"Then, what was that?"

"That bread?"

"Was it black from the beginning, or rather got burnt from excessive heat?"

"Simon's mother told me what happened then. She told me that, at a meeting of the Eight Ducal Houses, she had made a light meal out of the bread sent by the Duke of Danzel. But His Majesty did not like hard bread and did not eat it at all, so she took the leftovers and sent them home."

It was not uncommon for the Duke to give away uneaten meals to those who worked for him.

Simon's mother, who had served the king as a handmaiden after resigning from her role as Edward's nanny, was in a more privileged position than the others.

That's why she was able to bring back the bread specially prepared for the Eight Ducal Houses.

And that was the beginning of Simon's tragedy.