He groped it with his fingertips.
The slimy liquid created an ugly stain on the milky skin. A thin cloth soaked in blood was tangled like seaweed on the lukewarm skin.
Barcas looked down at the scene with blank eyes, then brought his ear to her bloodstained chest. He felt a faint beat.
The frozen accident began to return.
He picked her up on the sheet and slammed the bedroom door shut.
Just in time, some maids passing by in the hallway saw him and stiffened their bodies. Barcas shouted loudly.
"Call the healer! Right now!"
***
My stomach tingled as if I had swallowed boiling water. The scorching heat seemed to crush my stomach.
Then, the next moment, my bones were all sore, like Ice cubes.
I fumbled and reached out to pull the quilt. Then someone hugged me tightly with his arms as hot as hot Iron.
I was relieved by the warmth that penetrated into my blood, but for a moment, I started to catch fire again.
I tossed and turned, sweating profusely. He seemed to notice that I was in pain, and I felt the forearm wrapping around my back fall off.
I held on to the thing that was trying to move away with all my might.
Keep holding me. Don't leave me alone.
As if he understood the words that were only rumbling in my mouth, the heat surrounded my body again.
It was painful. Still, I felt relieved.
I curled up in his generous embrace, like a chick burrowing into a hen's feathers.
Soon after, the pain that had been piercing my stomach faded, and a grave-like silence came. It was like soaking in lukewarm water.
How long do you wish you were surrounded by a sense of tranquility that was unfamiliar to you? My hazy consciousness gradually became clearer.
I barely lifted my tight eyelids. The beam of light that penetrated through the awning pierced the retina directly. I groaned unknowingly at the tingling sensation, but I heard urgent footsteps from a distance.
"Miss! Are you sober now?"
Turning my head, I found my weeping nanny and frowned.
The nanny grabbed my hand and snorted.
"Do you know how black my insides are? Why does this happen every time..."
I looked confused. I didn't know what was going on.
As I wrapped my hand around my sticky forehead, the nanny, who was dripping with tears like chicken dung, jumped up.
"Look at my mind! This is not the time to do this. Wait a minute. I'll call the healer right away."
Then she stomped her feet and ran out of the bedroom.
When the surroundings became quiet, my head finally began to function. I slowly looked around.
It was only a few seconds later that I could remember that I had arrived at a city in the East and West regions. However, my memories after that were faint. It was as if I was dreaming with my eyes open.
"You've finally come to your senses."
As I was dazedly looking back at my fragmented memories, the healer rushed into the room.
She came to the side of the bed, breathing heavily.
"How is your body?"
I, who looked up at her with a puzzled expression, opened my dry lips. The sound of metal came from my cracked throat.
Seeing this, the healer immediately poured water into the cup and handed it to me.
I struggled to get my upper body up, leaned against the back of the bed, and drenched my mouth with lukewarm water. The liquid that flowed down the esophagus irritated my stomach.
When I coughed out a lingering cough due to strange discomfort, the healer immediately removed the cup.
"Don't drink too much at once. Your stomach has been damaged, so you should be careful when drinking water for a while."
I gathered my eyebrows.
"Damage? My stomach?"
"Don't you remember?"
The healer looked down at me with dark eyes and let out a heavy sigh.
"Your Highness lost consciousness shortly after arriving at this castle. After that, you fell ill for almost two days."
My eyes widened, and my face froze at the memory that flashed in my mind.
It was when I was tossing and turning on the bed. Suddenly, a strong pain came over me. I was grunting without thinking about asking for help because of the pain that seemed to be going through my stomach, but the hot liquid flowed back. At that moment, I think I lost consciousness.
I pressed down my throbbing head and glared at the healer with icy eyes.
"Did someone poison me?"
"No, Your Highness. It didn't feel like someone had poisoned you."
The healer hurriedly denied it.
"It seems that the side effects of the medicine you have been taking for the past few weeks have caused bleeding inside."
"Side effects?"
I glared at the healer with distrustful eyes.
The woman calmly continued her explanation.
"The reagent Your Highness was taking contained a medicine that could damage the stomach. Normally, it is a good medicine that replenishes energy and boosts vitality... If a patient with a weak stomach takes it for a long time, there is a risk of internal bleeding."
I shed ridicule.
"So, you just accidentally gave me that kind of medicine."
The healer's face hardened faintly
She let out a heavy sigh.
"As far as I can tell, yes."
"..."
"I carefully examined the medicine Your Highness took, but it consisted only of ingredients that helped restore energy. However, it seems that the healer who prepared the medicine did not know that Your Highness's stomach function was as vulnerable as that of a child."
I glared at her suspiciously.
"You're strangely scolding that woman."
"I'm just telling you what I've found. I don't want Your Highness to exhaust your mind with unnecessary doubts."
The woman calmly stood up and slowly stood up. Then, with her characteristic calm demeanor, she picked up a small kettle from the shelf.
"In any case, the healer will be given an appropriate disposition. And from now on. I think I will be in charge of Your Highness's treatment."
Then she poured an appropriate amount of clear liquid into a small teacup.
I looked down at it with a watchful look. The woman explained with a wry smile.
"Honey tea is made with a small amount of medicinal herbs that help the stomach recover. If you take it little by little, you will feel more relaxed."
I reluctantly accepted it. But I didn't feel like putting it in my mouth.
I, who had been staring at the lukewarm tea for a while, suddenly opened my mouth.
"Are you sure it's not the medicine I've been taking so far. It's not poison?"
"We cannot completely rule out the possibility that other medicines were mixed in the meantime. If you had done so, you would have had a poisonous aura left in your body. However, Your Highness did not show any symptoms of poisoning."
Then...
Is Barcas okay?
I was about to ask that, but I kept my mouth shut. I didn't have the confidence to ask him how he happened to take the medicine prescribed to me.
I pursed my dry lips. In the meantime, Barcas had been taking the drug little by little.
Does he really have no side effects?
Unable to shake off my anxiety, I spat out nervously.
"If a really healthy person takes that medicine, there is no problem, right?"
The healer, who had been puzzled for a moment, nodded.
"Yes. In normal cases, it will actually help you recover your energy."
I shrugged my shoulders with relief. Then, suddenly, I felt disillusioned with myself and let out a hollow laugh.
I was more relieved that he was not being bullied than that my life was not being targeted by anyone.
I pursed my lips in a daze.
"What about Barcas...."
Where is he now?
How did he react when he saw me collapse?
I swallowed the question that was in my throat, threw down the glass, and lay down on the bed again.
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