IHMEB - Chapter 206 < The Broken Clock >



“Why aren’t you waking up?”

Kaian, whose patience had reached its limit and was emitting a suffocating coldness, was sighing deeply as he examined Claudel with a gloomy face.

“Answer quickly.”

“Ha. That is...”

Basically, Kaian was the one who was on Rohan’s ship and was the one who ran the Hindenburg, so his livelihood was entirely in his hands.

The doctor was also human. It was good that he had come along on the famous madam rescue operation, but when the icy man glared at him with an overbearing attitude, he couldn’t open his mouth to deliver the bad news.

“It’s really hard to explain.”

“What’s the problem?” 

When Kaian pressed him repeatedly, The doctor finally sighed deeply and spoke.

“Don’t old people die, don’t they?”

“Isn’t that how everyone is?”

When Kaian frowned as if to ask why he was explaining such things, The doctor felt hurt by his pride but suppressed his resentment and continued his explanation.

"That's when you've lived long enough to have no more life left in your body. It's also called old age."

"Stop explaining such things and speak properly."

"Ma'am, her condition is similar to that of old people who are about to die."

"What?"

The doctor unconsciously took a step back and said.

"Her body is very weak. And it's getting worse every minute, and even if she takes medicine, it doesn't work and there's no improvement." 

"She hasn't woken up and eaten anything. Isn't it because she doesn't have the strength?"

She could sleep for a day and a half.

Kaian was healthy, but Temnes, who was called the pinnacle of military power, had strong bones in most of his direct lineage.

He never felt tired even if he only slept for three or four hours, and even when he slept lightly for two or three days on the battlefield in preparation for a surprise attack by the enemy or couldn't sleep at all, he never lost his energy.

So when he thought that Claudel had fallen into a deep sleep without waking up, even that appearance felt lovely and endearing, but surprisingly, the woman lying down and sleeping was not recovering by sleeping soundly but rather seemed to be getting worse by the minute.

'Shouldn't she get better if she sleeps well and rests?' 

It went beyond the common sense of health, and eventually, even when he called her name or shook her, Claudel would not wake up, and she would sweat and have a fever and suffer.

All he could do was call a good doctor to examine her and open her mouth to give her some medicine or water. She was eating and drinking so little compared to what a person usually eats and drinks, and she was lying down with difficulty sweating so much that her pajamas were soaking wet, so when he took my eyes off her for a moment or talked to Rohan and came back, her face looked even worse.

'She looks worse than when she had Herzol.'

She had been hiding her illness for over three months.

Kaian knew that she had been sick for about two months, from the time she got the royal order a month after the onset of the disease to the time she held the wedding and arrived in Rowen until she was caught by him later because she had vomited blood.

“Why? There must be a reason.”

How could it be worse than when she had Herzol, a chronic disease with no cure?

Kaian’s tone of voice could not be gentle, feeling that the situation was absurd, and the doctor stammered and explained.

“I think it’s because she didn’t recover properly after giving birth. She also seems to have postpartum wind.”

“Postpartum wind? What’s that?”

“A woman who has given birth needs to rest and eat enough to nourish her body. It takes a lot of strength. If she doesn’t recover properly, she will suffer from illness for the rest of her life.”

“Is that Claudel’s condition?”

“Yes. It seems that she didn’t recover properly after giving birth.”

The doctor said calmly.

“Her pulse is weak and slow, and there are signs of arrhythmia. I wonder if the reason she can’t wake up now is because she has had a long-term sleep disorder and her internal clock is broken.”

“Inside her body?”

“It’s healthy to sleep when you’re sleepy and wake up when you’ve had enough sleep. You said that your wife has had insomnia for a long time. In that case, there’s a problem in that area.”

According to the results of the doctor’s examination, Claudel was like an old woman who would stop breathing at any moment, and her body was so weak that there was no chance of recovery.

“What should we do?”

“First, try to wake her up as much as possible. We can only give her medicine or nutrition once she regains consciousness. It’s important to rest and she needs to recuperate for a long time.”

The doctor thought that she would likely die before she could recuperate, but the doctor didn’t want to incur the lord’s wrath, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Okay. I’ll call you again when you wake up.”

As the doctor disappeared out of the cabin, Kaian covered his forehead with both hands.

He couldn't refuse Claudel. He was so grateful that she was coming back to him and pretending to be by his side again that he had hugged Claudel the night before.

Besides, he had a sense of duty to warm up a cold woman.

However, he was very careful because her body was so thin when he saw her in the dark after a long time.

The flesh that had been well-fed and looked good from the morning sickness he had just had was completely gone as if it had been peeled off the bones, and it seemed like only the bare minimum was left.

'What should I have for breakfast tomorrow?'

He thought leisurely about what to feed the woman who ate only bird feed even after seeing her in person.

On the other hand, he resented Valquiterre 

'I wondered what would happen if Valquiterre was sincere to Claudel.'

When she said she was unhappy next to him, he thought that in that case, he might have to give Claudel up to Valquiterre.

He couldn't ruin Claudel like the toy he had fought with when he was young.

And since it was true that he had hurt her, he wanted to give her what she wanted.

Whether she was by his side or not, he was weak towards Claudel, and he could not refuse her if she asked him to do something.

Even though he thought that if Claudel wanted it that way if it would make her happier, he should give up.

After examining Claudel’s messy condition, a maddening rage enveloped him.

‘This cannot be love.’

Valquiterre did not care for Claudel.

She was a living person, his wife.

Even though she was not a doll or an object that could be handed over, Valquiterre considered her something he could steal, possess, and show off.

This was the result.

If Valquiterre had been sincere to Claudel, he would not have neglected and driven the woman he loved to the point of death.

When she left him, Kaian was tormented by the fact that he had driven Claudel to the edge of a cliff to the point where he wanted to die.

So he thought that he had no right to blame Valquiterre, but seeing Claudel suffer made his heart rip.

“Claudel. Claudel.”

Kaian called her and gently stroked her head and cheek.

“Claudel. Stop sleeping and wake up.”

Just then, the doctor brought a bowl of thin soup in a warm ceramic bowl.

“If she wakes up, she should eat something. It’s not good to take medicine on an empty stomach.”

“Yes.”

The fragrant smell of the warm soup spread through the stuffy cabin air.

“Claudel. Get up.”

Kaian spent a long time waking Claudel up, and for a moment, her tightly shut eyelashes fluttered slightly and she opened her eyes slightly.

“Haa. Cough, cough.”

The woman opened her mouth and let out a small sigh before coughing dryly.

“You should wake up, eat, and take your medicine.”

“I’m thirsty. Can you give me some water?”

Kaian filled a cup with water, lifted Claudel up, and placed a large cushion behind her back.

“Thank you.”

He did this so that she could drink water comfortably when she didn’t have the strength to get up on her own. She couldn’t drink properly and was sweating profusely.

Instead of gulping down all the water in the cup, Claudel pretended to drink a small amount of water, barely a sip, and then handed the cup back to him.

“Is this what you drank?”

Kaian asked unconsciously since it seemed like the water he had poured hadn’t decreased at all.

“You need to eat something, even if it’s just a little.”

However, Claudel held the spoonful of food he had tried to feed her in her mouth for a long time, but couldn’t swallow it and ended up spitting it out.

“Claudel.”

“Kaian. I’m sorry.”

When Kaian called his name out of concern, Claudel looked at him helplessly.

“Am I going to die?”

Kaian felt like his throat was being strangled by her words.

“I couldn’t sleep properly after hearing that my baby had died.”

Tears welled up in Claudel’s eyes.

“My baby must have been buried in the cold ground. It was like that. I can’t eat or drink. It’s like my throat is blocked.”

The moment she heard from Valquiterre that her baby had died, Claudel was thrown into hell.

She had always tried to eat well, focusing on prenatal care and filling her stomach with royal cuisine until the baby was born.

However, the shock of losing the baby she had tried so hard to protect, even to the point of hiding from her father, was too great.

“I knew I couldn’t hold out this long.” 

She didn’t sleep, eat, or drink.

Those insignificant things were ordinary daily routines, but they were the source of her vitality.

Claudel knew that her body was ruined, but she accepted it because she wanted to punish herself.

Kaian unfolded a handkerchief from his arms and handed it to her.

Inside was a bright red hair.

“The baby looks like you. You don’t know how pretty she is.”

Her eyes, which had been drowsy and listless, widened when she saw it.

Vermont’s red hair.

It was the exact same color as Claudel’s hair, but it was subtly different.

The hair wrapped in the handkerchief was shorter and seemed a little thinner.

It also looked soft like the fluff of a baby bird.

“How long will the baby wait for its mother?”

“Ah...”

“So let’s eat just a little bit. Just a little bit.”

Kaian held the handkerchief tightly and stroked Claudel’s back as she sobbed.

“I won’t let you die. You know that.”



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