It was after night had deepened that Erna, who had been hugging Callion and sobbing silently, let him go.
The soup she had prepared in case Callion woke up had already cooled down and become cold, but Callion said it was fine and asked for it.
“Wouldn’t it be better to have something warm?”
As Erna touched the cold bowl and asked worriedly, Callion shook his head.
“It’s harder to eat warm food. The wounds on my mouth and throat are practically burns.”
Erna was upset again by Callion's words, which sounded as if he knew all too well. Since Callion still couldn't put proper strength into his fingers, Erna willingly scooped the soup and put it to his mouth herself.
However, Callion did not easily swallow what she put in his mouth.
"Should I eat this first, too? Here, say 'ah'."
"...It's okay."
As Erna spoke as if soothing a child, Callion frowned. At the sight, Erna giggled as if amused and rubbed the wrinkle between Callion's eyebrows with her finger.
Although she was smiling brightly, there were still red, swollen marks around Erna's eyes.
Moreover, Erna's face was also full of fatigue that could not be completely erased even if she tried to hide it.
She slept here for two whole days.
Since no one could be trusted, no one could be allowed in. So, for two days, Erna looked after the affairs outside while also nursing him.
Callion shook his head.
Even though they were laymen in magic, wizards would all be completely exhausted after casting a powerful spell. Just like Erna did in the lake area last time.
However, even if she borrowed the magical power of the Fragment of the Ocean, she thought she had cast a new protective spell on the Grand Duke's castle and attended to other matters without even resting.
Callion looked at Erna, then wrapped his arms around her waist and sat her on his thighs. Then he groped her waist and chest.
Thump!
The spoon Erna was holding mercilessly struck Callion's forehead.
“Ugh! What are you doing to a sick person?”
No matter how strong a knight is, they cannot train their forehead. Tears welled up in Callion's eyes from the shaking pain in his head.
How can a sick person do something like this!
Erna looked at him as if to say he was crazy, but Callion's hand was still groping her body. He muttered, unable to even think to rub his aching forehead.
"You didn't eat either."
"What?"
“You lost weight in two days. Looking at you again, your face looks just as bad as mine. Let's eat together. I don't like you being skinny.”
“What does it matter whether I’m skinny or not?”
Erna pulled away Callion's hands that were kneading her forearms, chest, and stomach. Normally, Callion would have resisted, saying there was no way he could do that, but today he couldn't. As his hand fell limply the moment Erna slapped it away, a sigh escaped Erna's lips as she pushed him away.
"Touching me even at a time like this... are you a pervert?"
“...”
Despite Erna's grumbling, Callion remained undeterred. After pinching the naughty hand that was groping her again, Erna no longer stopped Callion, as if to say, "Do as you please."
She expected him to play a naughty prank as he always did in bed, but surprisingly, Callion's hand merely gently touched the soft parts of her body.
Come to think of it, Callion had been like this ever since they first shared this room and tried to get closer. He grabbed her leg, then pulled his hand away in surprise as if he had been struck by fire. Then, as if possessed, he began touching and kneading all over her body.
“Why do you always touch my body like this?”
It wasn't a question asked with the expectation of an answer. However, Callion answered the question.
"Because you are the softest and squishiest."
“..?”
“I don’t like hard things. It hurts every time it touches.”
Callion glanced at his arm. Although a long time had passed, there was skin of a different color near his elbow. At first glance, it looked as if he had been injured in battle. However, it had appeared when he was young.
“When I was young, my mother put me in a corner room of the detached palace because she found it too much of a hassle to treat me any longer. There was a servant there, though...”
His body was nothing but bones from not being able to eat. Consequently, he felt pain even from the slightest contact with anything for a long time. Therefore, he should have been lying on a softer surface, but the attendant, for reasons unknown, claimed that doing so would only make his body weaker, so he replaced Callion's bed with a hard one and removed the sheets as well.
He shouted, "What are you doing?" but that was all Callion could do.
His mother was busy taking care of her newborn sibling, making it difficult to even see his face once a month, and no one visited him anymore. There was no one to care for the Third Prince, who had become a wreck.
Lying on a wooden bed without a single sheet all day, the protruding parts of his bones started to blister first.
Callion scolded the servant again, but the servant dismissed Callion's words as the whining of a weakling, saying that he would be fine since he was praying earnestly to God. It was only later that he learned he was someone who believed the words of a doctor near his house as if they were the words of God, ever since that doctor had cured his child.
The attendant was devoted to serving Callion because he firmly believed that his actions were helping him. Consequently, the other attendants completely entrusted Callion's affairs to him and paid him no attention.
The part of his body touching the hard bed hurt with every breath. Then one day, the servant left a small cushion behind while sorting laundry in another room.
Callion desperately reached out, took it, and held it in his arms. Soft, squishy, and painless. Like a madman, Callion rubbed his face against it and placed it beneath his body. Until a day later, when the servant snatched it away again.
Two months later, until his mother arrived late after skipping a month and screamed upon seeing his condition, Callion spent the entire day longing only for the soft feeling he had briefly enjoyed. And not long after, he came to Hessengard.
“I thought I had forgotten everything since my sleep improved after coming to Hessengard... but I guess I was wrong.”
“...”
Erna fell silent at Callion's story. She wondered why he was touching her so much; was that it?
As Erna remained still, Callion raised his hand, stroked her cheek, and stood up. He couldn't stay like this forever.
Callion stood up and approached the table. A dizzying sensation struck him again. However, before he could stagger, Erna quickly supported him from the side, so he was able to approach the table and sit down without falling.
Erna sat beside Callion, not across from him. Then, using the spoon that had struck his forehead just moments ago, she scooped up some cold soup and brought it to his mouth. Callion squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed the soup Erna had offered. His tongue, after hesitating several times inside his mouth, finally swallowed what it had held in its mouth.
His protruding Adam's apple bobbed violently. After swallowing once, Callion kept his face down and trembled for quite a while.
Although he could get through it thanks to Erna, that didn't mean the act was easy. Sweat poured down like rain with every single swallow.
A moment later, Callion raised his head and scooped up some soup with the spoon placed in front of him.
As Erna watched, wondering if it was trying to eat on its own, the spoon approached her mouth.
"You eat too."
For some reason, she thought she had thought of a particularly large piece of vegetable, and it seemed he was somewhat upset that Erna had gotten thinner in the meantime.
Erna looked at Callion, who was holding a spoon with trembling hands, as if to say he was hopeless, then swallowed the soup he had scooped for her.
And so, the two of them fed each other cold soup for quite a while. Without a single complaint, even if it spilled or took a long time.
Two days passed again after Callion regained consciousness. In the meantime, nothing much had changed except that Callion had recovered quickly.
Adelaide and Ruben were still in detention, and Vanessa was also unable to enter the Grand Duke's castle.
The atmosphere in the Grand Duke's castle was indescribable. The fact that one of the two Grand Dukes had nearly been poisoned to death inside the castle had sharpened everyone's nerves. A mixture of anger and shame painted over everyone's faces.
No one can be trusted.
This was not a thought shared only by Erna and Callion. As they moved around on edge, clashes were inevitable.
It started among the kitchen servants.
Since the day the incident occurred, the Grand Duke's castle kitchen operated under very strict surveillance. Although they accepted the knights' surveillance out of necessity, it was not as if they were without complaints.
Then, unable to bear the heavy atmosphere, after dinner, some servants drank the wine left over from the meal.
Normally, they would have tried to stop each other. However, after enduring sharp stares for several days, their tattered minds and bodies needed comfort, so they all suggested having just one drink to relax.
However, one cup turned into ten in an instant.
“What did you say? Say it again.”
“Honestly, isn’t Havand the most suspicious one?”
“Then are you saying Grand Duke Erna is suspicious, or what!”
Under normal circumstances, they would have realized the danger of this argument at this point and kept their mouths shut. However, the alcohol poured over their tense nerves finally snapped the thread of reason that had been precariously holding together.
A small argument escalated into a brawl involving more than ten people. It was such a violent fight that heavy bloodshed would have occurred had the knights not intervened.
Since that day, the atmosphere in the Grand Duke's castle became even more ominous. Not only did Callion still not show himself, but news of his safety was conveyed only through Erna's lips.
That fact kept fueling baseless rumors.
After receiving a report from Orpheus about the work in the kitchen, Erna sighed and closed her eyes.
Although Callion had woken up, the reason he hadn't gone outside yet was that he hadn't fully recovered. He had decided that showing weakness wouldn't be good, so only Erna had been coming and going.
“I poisoned Callion...”
She wondered how anyone could say such a thing, considering it wasn't as if they hadn't seen her behavior all this time. However, after listening to those who participated in the brawl, it seemed there were rumors circulating that Erna had been deliberately acting all this time.
Well, considering they've been growling at each other like that for 10 years, she guesses it's only natural.
To strangers, it might have seemed suspicious that they suddenly changed their minds and used the marital bedroom.
“No, if I were going to kill Callion, I would have done it much more cleanly. Are you kidding me? What do you think of me?”
Orpheus thought it was a bit strange that Erna was getting angry, but he didn't bother to say anything out loud.
After that, for three days, fights of various sizes broke out again inside the Grand Duke's castle. There were all battles over who was the culprit behind the poisoning incident.
Feeling the increasingly hostile atmosphere of the Grand Duke's castle, Erna realized.
The fact that the unknown one spread poison not only on Callion but throughout the entire Grand Duke of Hessengard's castle.
"I have to find it."
In the evening, Erna returned to the couple's bedroom and explained to Callion the big and small events that had happened during the day.
Five days had passed since Callion opened his eyes again. Although the people outside were unaware, Callion was recovering rapidly during that time. He still struggled to eat, but whenever it was mealtime, Erna would return to the room precisely on time to eat with him.
Even though Callion tried to stop her, she ate all the meals first and let him know that there were no problems.
“The atmosphere at the Grand Duke’s castle is becoming increasingly hostile day by day. Even the Order of Wizards is refusing to engage with the Order of Knights except for essential interactions...”
Because they began to suspect each other, a cold wind now blew inside the Grand Duke's castle, which had been warm and friendly.
The problem started now.
How should I find the forces targeting Callion inside the Grand Duke's castle?
Then Erna spoke to Carillon.
“Actually, I do have a plan, but...”
“But?”
Callion felt somewhat uneasy seeing Erna, who would normally have spoken up immediately, cautiously glancing at him.
“...You have to do one thing right.”
"What is it?"
To think it was something he had to do well. Whatever it was, Callion was confident he could do it well.
As Callion looked at her as if to say she just needed to speak, Erna hesitated and cautiously opened her mouth.
"Can you beat me without mercy?"
The soup she had prepared in case Callion woke up had already cooled down and become cold, but Callion said it was fine and asked for it.
“Wouldn’t it be better to have something warm?”
As Erna touched the cold bowl and asked worriedly, Callion shook his head.
“It’s harder to eat warm food. The wounds on my mouth and throat are practically burns.”
Erna was upset again by Callion's words, which sounded as if he knew all too well. Since Callion still couldn't put proper strength into his fingers, Erna willingly scooped the soup and put it to his mouth herself.
However, Callion did not easily swallow what she put in his mouth.
"Should I eat this first, too? Here, say 'ah'."
"...It's okay."
As Erna spoke as if soothing a child, Callion frowned. At the sight, Erna giggled as if amused and rubbed the wrinkle between Callion's eyebrows with her finger.
Although she was smiling brightly, there were still red, swollen marks around Erna's eyes.
Moreover, Erna's face was also full of fatigue that could not be completely erased even if she tried to hide it.
She slept here for two whole days.
Since no one could be trusted, no one could be allowed in. So, for two days, Erna looked after the affairs outside while also nursing him.
Callion shook his head.
Even though they were laymen in magic, wizards would all be completely exhausted after casting a powerful spell. Just like Erna did in the lake area last time.
However, even if she borrowed the magical power of the Fragment of the Ocean, she thought she had cast a new protective spell on the Grand Duke's castle and attended to other matters without even resting.
Callion looked at Erna, then wrapped his arms around her waist and sat her on his thighs. Then he groped her waist and chest.
Thump!
The spoon Erna was holding mercilessly struck Callion's forehead.
“Ugh! What are you doing to a sick person?”
No matter how strong a knight is, they cannot train their forehead. Tears welled up in Callion's eyes from the shaking pain in his head.
How can a sick person do something like this!
Erna looked at him as if to say he was crazy, but Callion's hand was still groping her body. He muttered, unable to even think to rub his aching forehead.
"You didn't eat either."
"What?"
“You lost weight in two days. Looking at you again, your face looks just as bad as mine. Let's eat together. I don't like you being skinny.”
“What does it matter whether I’m skinny or not?”
Erna pulled away Callion's hands that were kneading her forearms, chest, and stomach. Normally, Callion would have resisted, saying there was no way he could do that, but today he couldn't. As his hand fell limply the moment Erna slapped it away, a sigh escaped Erna's lips as she pushed him away.
"Touching me even at a time like this... are you a pervert?"
“...”
Despite Erna's grumbling, Callion remained undeterred. After pinching the naughty hand that was groping her again, Erna no longer stopped Callion, as if to say, "Do as you please."
She expected him to play a naughty prank as he always did in bed, but surprisingly, Callion's hand merely gently touched the soft parts of her body.
Come to think of it, Callion had been like this ever since they first shared this room and tried to get closer. He grabbed her leg, then pulled his hand away in surprise as if he had been struck by fire. Then, as if possessed, he began touching and kneading all over her body.
“Why do you always touch my body like this?”
It wasn't a question asked with the expectation of an answer. However, Callion answered the question.
"Because you are the softest and squishiest."
“..?”
“I don’t like hard things. It hurts every time it touches.”
Callion glanced at his arm. Although a long time had passed, there was skin of a different color near his elbow. At first glance, it looked as if he had been injured in battle. However, it had appeared when he was young.
“When I was young, my mother put me in a corner room of the detached palace because she found it too much of a hassle to treat me any longer. There was a servant there, though...”
His body was nothing but bones from not being able to eat. Consequently, he felt pain even from the slightest contact with anything for a long time. Therefore, he should have been lying on a softer surface, but the attendant, for reasons unknown, claimed that doing so would only make his body weaker, so he replaced Callion's bed with a hard one and removed the sheets as well.
He shouted, "What are you doing?" but that was all Callion could do.
His mother was busy taking care of her newborn sibling, making it difficult to even see his face once a month, and no one visited him anymore. There was no one to care for the Third Prince, who had become a wreck.
Lying on a wooden bed without a single sheet all day, the protruding parts of his bones started to blister first.
Callion scolded the servant again, but the servant dismissed Callion's words as the whining of a weakling, saying that he would be fine since he was praying earnestly to God. It was only later that he learned he was someone who believed the words of a doctor near his house as if they were the words of God, ever since that doctor had cured his child.
The attendant was devoted to serving Callion because he firmly believed that his actions were helping him. Consequently, the other attendants completely entrusted Callion's affairs to him and paid him no attention.
The part of his body touching the hard bed hurt with every breath. Then one day, the servant left a small cushion behind while sorting laundry in another room.
Callion desperately reached out, took it, and held it in his arms. Soft, squishy, and painless. Like a madman, Callion rubbed his face against it and placed it beneath his body. Until a day later, when the servant snatched it away again.
Two months later, until his mother arrived late after skipping a month and screamed upon seeing his condition, Callion spent the entire day longing only for the soft feeling he had briefly enjoyed. And not long after, he came to Hessengard.
“I thought I had forgotten everything since my sleep improved after coming to Hessengard... but I guess I was wrong.”
“...”
Erna fell silent at Callion's story. She wondered why he was touching her so much; was that it?
As Erna remained still, Callion raised his hand, stroked her cheek, and stood up. He couldn't stay like this forever.
Callion stood up and approached the table. A dizzying sensation struck him again. However, before he could stagger, Erna quickly supported him from the side, so he was able to approach the table and sit down without falling.
Erna sat beside Callion, not across from him. Then, using the spoon that had struck his forehead just moments ago, she scooped up some cold soup and brought it to his mouth. Callion squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed the soup Erna had offered. His tongue, after hesitating several times inside his mouth, finally swallowed what it had held in its mouth.
His protruding Adam's apple bobbed violently. After swallowing once, Callion kept his face down and trembled for quite a while.
Although he could get through it thanks to Erna, that didn't mean the act was easy. Sweat poured down like rain with every single swallow.
A moment later, Callion raised his head and scooped up some soup with the spoon placed in front of him.
As Erna watched, wondering if it was trying to eat on its own, the spoon approached her mouth.
"You eat too."
For some reason, she thought she had thought of a particularly large piece of vegetable, and it seemed he was somewhat upset that Erna had gotten thinner in the meantime.
Erna looked at Callion, who was holding a spoon with trembling hands, as if to say he was hopeless, then swallowed the soup he had scooped for her.
And so, the two of them fed each other cold soup for quite a while. Without a single complaint, even if it spilled or took a long time.
***
Two days passed again after Callion regained consciousness. In the meantime, nothing much had changed except that Callion had recovered quickly.
Adelaide and Ruben were still in detention, and Vanessa was also unable to enter the Grand Duke's castle.
The atmosphere in the Grand Duke's castle was indescribable. The fact that one of the two Grand Dukes had nearly been poisoned to death inside the castle had sharpened everyone's nerves. A mixture of anger and shame painted over everyone's faces.
No one can be trusted.
This was not a thought shared only by Erna and Callion. As they moved around on edge, clashes were inevitable.
It started among the kitchen servants.
Since the day the incident occurred, the Grand Duke's castle kitchen operated under very strict surveillance. Although they accepted the knights' surveillance out of necessity, it was not as if they were without complaints.
Then, unable to bear the heavy atmosphere, after dinner, some servants drank the wine left over from the meal.
Normally, they would have tried to stop each other. However, after enduring sharp stares for several days, their tattered minds and bodies needed comfort, so they all suggested having just one drink to relax.
However, one cup turned into ten in an instant.
“What did you say? Say it again.”
“Honestly, isn’t Havand the most suspicious one?”
“Then are you saying Grand Duke Erna is suspicious, or what!”
Under normal circumstances, they would have realized the danger of this argument at this point and kept their mouths shut. However, the alcohol poured over their tense nerves finally snapped the thread of reason that had been precariously holding together.
A small argument escalated into a brawl involving more than ten people. It was such a violent fight that heavy bloodshed would have occurred had the knights not intervened.
Since that day, the atmosphere in the Grand Duke's castle became even more ominous. Not only did Callion still not show himself, but news of his safety was conveyed only through Erna's lips.
That fact kept fueling baseless rumors.
After receiving a report from Orpheus about the work in the kitchen, Erna sighed and closed her eyes.
Although Callion had woken up, the reason he hadn't gone outside yet was that he hadn't fully recovered. He had decided that showing weakness wouldn't be good, so only Erna had been coming and going.
“I poisoned Callion...”
She wondered how anyone could say such a thing, considering it wasn't as if they hadn't seen her behavior all this time. However, after listening to those who participated in the brawl, it seemed there were rumors circulating that Erna had been deliberately acting all this time.
Well, considering they've been growling at each other like that for 10 years, she guesses it's only natural.
To strangers, it might have seemed suspicious that they suddenly changed their minds and used the marital bedroom.
“No, if I were going to kill Callion, I would have done it much more cleanly. Are you kidding me? What do you think of me?”
Orpheus thought it was a bit strange that Erna was getting angry, but he didn't bother to say anything out loud.
After that, for three days, fights of various sizes broke out again inside the Grand Duke's castle. There were all battles over who was the culprit behind the poisoning incident.
Feeling the increasingly hostile atmosphere of the Grand Duke's castle, Erna realized.
The fact that the unknown one spread poison not only on Callion but throughout the entire Grand Duke of Hessengard's castle.
***
"I have to find it."
In the evening, Erna returned to the couple's bedroom and explained to Callion the big and small events that had happened during the day.
Five days had passed since Callion opened his eyes again. Although the people outside were unaware, Callion was recovering rapidly during that time. He still struggled to eat, but whenever it was mealtime, Erna would return to the room precisely on time to eat with him.
Even though Callion tried to stop her, she ate all the meals first and let him know that there were no problems.
“The atmosphere at the Grand Duke’s castle is becoming increasingly hostile day by day. Even the Order of Wizards is refusing to engage with the Order of Knights except for essential interactions...”
Because they began to suspect each other, a cold wind now blew inside the Grand Duke's castle, which had been warm and friendly.
The problem started now.
How should I find the forces targeting Callion inside the Grand Duke's castle?
Then Erna spoke to Carillon.
“Actually, I do have a plan, but...”
“But?”
Callion felt somewhat uneasy seeing Erna, who would normally have spoken up immediately, cautiously glancing at him.
“...You have to do one thing right.”
"What is it?"
To think it was something he had to do well. Whatever it was, Callion was confident he could do it well.
As Callion looked at her as if to say she just needed to speak, Erna hesitated and cautiously opened her mouth.
"Can you beat me without mercy?"
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