"Once he wakes up, he will not want to leave, Your Highness. It would be best for you to step away now and come down to see him separately later."
Thalia eventually followed Tiuran out of the room.
"Keep an eye on things from outside the door, and let me know immediately if you notice even the slightest sign of something unusual."
Thalia, having strictly warned the soldiers and servants waiting at the door, reluctantly went outside the building.
Before she knew it, the sky was thick with gray clouds. Looking up at the sun faintly shining through the thin clouds, Thalia turned to Tiuran and asked.
"When would be a good time to come see Khan again?"
"For now, it would be best to let him get used to being alone for the day."
Tiuran replied calmly, took off her thin summer coat, and draped it over Thalia's shoulders.
"More importantly, how is Your Highness's health?"
"I'm fine. I rarely wake up at night these days, and most of the other symptoms have disappeared."
Thalia replied in a low voice, mindful of the guards following at a slight distance. Tiuran wore a faint smile on her lips, appearing relieved.
"That’s a relief. I was so worried because I couldn’t check on Your Highness’s condition for a while due to Khan."
Thalia awkwardly lowered her eyes at the words laced with honest worry. Even though she had become somewhat accustomed to the attentive care that had continued for years, she would often feel embarrassed, unsure how to react whenever she heard direct words of concern. Thalia muttered in a needlessly curt voice.
"I'm even worried sick about you. If I weren't feeling well, I would have surely let you know."
Thalia cleared her throat softly and gently pulled her arm.
"Still, just in case, let's stop by your cabin. You should get a proper medical checkup for the first time in a while."
Tiuran glanced at her face. She seemed to guess that the fact she insisted on going to the hut instead of her bedroom meant there was something they needed to discuss privately. Tiuran tightened the hem of her robe draped over her shoulders and spoke to the guards in a polite tone.
"I will attend to Her Highness the Grand Duchess. Could you both please convey a message to the headquarters? His Excellency the Grand Duke might be looking for Her Highness, so I think it would be best to let them know her whereabouts in advance."
The soldiers, scratching their chins, soon turned toward the main fortress. They seemed to have decided that since they had gotten the wolf away from them, there was no particular need to stay close.
Feeling lighthearted, Thalia followed Tiuran along the forest path behind the castle. Before long, a small hut situated at the edge of the forest came into view. Tiuran approached it, took out a key, and opened the front door. The dim interior, where the fire in the fireplace flickered faintly as if she had been preparing medicine until just before being summoned, was permeated with the strong scent of spirits and herbs.
"Please sit down. First, let's check how much of the medicine has worn off."
Thalia obediently took off her coat and draped it over the back of the chair, then plopped down on the edge of the bed.
Tiuran sat opposite her and gently held her hand.
"Have you felt dizzy or nauseous in the past few days?"
"No."
"What about cold sweats or chills?"
"That has almost disappeared too."
Tiuran, who was infusing magic into her body, let out a long sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"You have certainly improved a lot. The toxins accumulated in your body have almost all disappeared as well. I don't think you need to worry too much anymore."
Thalia's face brightened a little at the good news.
"Then there won't be any problem if I have a baby right away, right?"
Tiuran, who was kneeling on one knee on the floor as if to examine her legs and carefully untying her shoelaces, looked up at her with a surprised expression. Thalia added awkwardly.
"I heard that Barcas intends to make Lucas his successor. At this rate, my position will be in jeopardy. I must hurry and have a child before Lucas fully establishes himself as the heir to the Grand Ducal family."
"His Excellency the Grand Duke is still young. There is no need to be so impatient..."
"Once a successor is officially announced, it cannot be easily overturned even if an heir is born later. There is also a high likelihood of unnecessary disputes arising."
Tiuran fell silent, as if having nothing to say in rebuttal. Thalia took a moment to catch her breath and continued in a much calmer voice.
"I have already made up my mind to solidify my position as Grand Duchess of Sheerkhan. To do so, I must bear an heir to the Grand Ducal family."
Suddenly, a cold light flickered in Thalia's eyes.
"Now is the perfect time, as Gareth is out on the battlefield. He won't have the energy to pull any stunts on me until the conflict is settled."
Tiuran's expression darkened. After staring down at the floor in silence for a while, Tiuran finally nodded.
"If Your Highness has decided so, I will not try to stop you any further."
Then, she stood up and took out a few bundles of herbs from the display shelf.
"I will prescribe some medicine to help with pregnancy. Please make sure to take the prescribed dosage regularly."
"Didn't I tell you it's better not to use medicine if possible?"
"Now that Your Highness's physical condition has improved significantly, taking small amounts of tonics or medicinal herbs to help restore your strength will not be a problem."
She answered as she put the medicinal herbs into a mortar and pestle and crushed them into small pieces. Thalia watched her mix the finely ground herbs and asked a question as if it had suddenly occurred to her.
"Come to think of it, there is something I want to ask you."
Tiuran looked back at her with a puzzled gaze. Thalia suddenly blurted out a question.
"Have you ever gone outside the castle at dawn again?"
Tiuran's hand gesture stopped abruptly. She frowned and asked back.
"Why are you suddenly asking that?"
"Raina said something strange today. She claimed she saw me sneaking out of the castle several times."
Her face immediately turned serious. Thalia, glancing sideways at her, added in a deliberately light tone.
"I suspect that on that day, she might have seen me at the entrance to the Armund Forest. Fortunately, I found you or Marisen. I don't think I did a good job... but strangely enough, she misunderstood and thought I was spying."
Thalia shook her head in disbelief. Tiuran, stroking the corners of her mouth with a stern expression, muttered softly.
"Couldn't she have just framed Your Highness with lies? This isn't the first time Miss Raina has picked a fight with Your Highness."
"I thought so at first, too... but seeing how stubbornly she insists on it, it seems like she really did see something."
As she stroked her chin, Thalia put forward a hypothesis.
"Could it be that she saw you while lurking near the edge of the forest every dawn, pretending to keep an eye on me? You're the only one who knows about that secret passage."
"...I can't be absolutely sure."
Tiuran spoke in an ambiguous tone.
"Since I discovered it by chance, there is no reason why someone else couldn't find that passage."
"Does that mean... you haven't secretly slipped out of the castle since that day?"
Thalia frowned and persistently pressed her for answers. Tiuran, rolling her eyes in a perplexed manner, finally confessed.
"...I went out about three or four more times."
Thalia let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
“Why on earth?”
"That is..."
As she struggled to find the right words and stammered, Tiuran eventually let out a sigh and continued speaking.
"As Your Highness is likely aware, I manufacture and sell magical reagents that the Order disapproves of. I left the castle every dawn to gather those ingredients."
Thalia looked at her with a suspicious expression.
"What kind of medicinal herbs are you going around for that you have to sneak out of the castle in the middle of the night?"
"It's just... ordinary medicinal herbs. However, since they are ingredients for reagents that the Order would consider problematic, I am simply careful not to let them be seen by others."
Thalia narrowed her eyes at the evasive reply. She wasn't foolish enough to believe at face value the claim that she had left the castle at dawn to obtain ordinary medicinal herbs.
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