IWBQ 31

Chapter : 31. Overwork and Greed

2023.08.31.

Ellis immediately shook her head.

“Good. I didn’t want to send you home either.”

Karan tapped the carriage window with the hand he had just lifted from Ellis’s forehead.

The small window, meant for communicating with the coachman, slid open.

“Return to the residence.”

“Your Highness, you promised we’d see the festival.”

Ellis clutched at his forearm as if to stop him.

Her hand was burning hot.

Thinking of how she must have hurriedly prepared to meet him in such a condition made his chest ache.

He felt ashamed of himself for having harbored resentment and negative thoughts.

“Ellis, in that state, where do you think you’re going?”

“Your Highness, you were looking forward to it. I don’t want to disappoint you.”

Ellis had misunderstood. What Karan looked forward to was not the festival itself, but the time spent with her.

“It’s fine.”

“I’m not fine. I was looking forw—”

Ellis suddenly closed her mouth. She was startled by the realization that had just struck her.

Was I actually looking forward to the festival?

Like a child?

Why on earth—

“Ellis, let’s go to the residence first, then think about it after.”

While Ellis was still confused by her own feelings, Karan made the decision.

It took less than thirty minutes for the carriage carrying them back to Karan’s lodging.

He had urged the coachman to hurry while holding Ellis firmly against his side.

Karan had recently changed his lodging from an inn to a small house.

He wanted Ellis to be able to come and go comfortably without inconvenience.

Though Ellis said she didn’t mind, the thought of her entering and leaving an inn displeased him.

It wasn’t a place Chase had arranged. Chase had recommended he stay within the palace grounds, but Karan had naturally refused.

“Your Highness, did you enjoy yourself? Eat lots of delicious food?”

Hartbin came bounding down the stairs and struck up conversation.

“Fetch a doctor immediately.”

The excitement drained from Hartbin’s face in an instant.

Something was very wrong with Karan’s mood.

Hartbin glanced at Ellis standing beside him and grasped the situation at once.

“I’ll bring the most skilled doctor right away. Shall I prepare a separate room for Lady Ellis?”

“No, my bedroom.”

Karan gave the brief order and supported Ellis upstairs.

When they had left the Viscount Warton estate, she had still seemed fine. But in only thirty minutes, Ellis’s condition had rapidly worsened.

Having finally met Karan, the tension in her body had loosened, and even standing upright was now difficult for her.

His gaze lingered on the crown of her head, full of silent concern.

As if deliberating, Karan let go of her. Ellis instinctively braced herself against the wall.

“Karan?”

“This won’t do, Ellis. Forgive the impropriety.”

Before she could even ask what he meant, he scooped her up into his arms.

With long strides he carried her and laid her gently on his bed.

Ellis quickly lost consciousness. Karan paced the room in agitation.

“Your Highness, I’ve brought the doctor.”

Just as his anxiety peaked, Hartbin returned with a physician.

The moment the doctor stepped inside, he faltered at the heat radiating from the room.

“What are you standing there for? Examine her at once!”

The doctor, Leber, had been called out abruptly. Even at Karan’s sharp voice, he moved sluggishly.

“In haste, mistakes are made,” he muttered.

He even talked back.

Clicking his tongue inwardly, he began his examination of Ellis.

“When did the fever start?” he asked.

“I can’t say for sure, but it seems she was unwell from this morning. She said she couldn’t get out of bed.”

The doctor nodded as though that was enough and continued checking her breathing and complexion.

Then he opened his bag, laid out a few medicines, and stood.

“Give her these, let her rest well. That will do.”

“That’s all?”

“Yes. Do you have another patient more gravely ill?”

Karan stood before Leber like a statue, blocking his way.

Leber, clutching his medical bag with both hands, looked up at him.

“You mean to leave just like that? Without explaining why she’s sick?”

So this was supposed to be a country advanced in medicine? And yet this so-called physician had no sense of responsibility?

Karan’s gaze grew icy.

“It’s nothing but fatigue. A common case of exhaustion. With rest and proper food, she’ll recover.”

“Then what is that medicine for?”

“To quickly bring down the fever. I’ve explained everything. May I leave now?”

Leber’s mood worsened by the second.

Anyone hearing his story would sympathize.

On New Year’s festival day, when the clinics were closed, he had been resting at home. Suddenly, a man barged in, shouting that someone was at death’s door.

Leber had abandoned his first holiday in six months and rushed over.

Only to find a simple case of overwork—and a client acting arrogant.

“Stay until the fever comes down,” Karan said.

“Pardon?”

“You said it’s just fatigue. Then with your medicine, her fever will drop quickly, won’t it? If not…”

Leber frowned.

“And if not, what will you do?”

Though confident in his diagnosis and prescription, his anger flared at the barbarian’s haughty tone. He lifted his chin defiantly.

“Then your useless hands and head will have to go. Should I gouge out your eyes as well?”

Leber’s mouth fell open.

He was a surgeon famous for treating severe cases.

The patients who came to him were often already at death’s door.

He was used to torn flesh, deep cuts, and exposed entrails. He was not easily shaken.

But the barbarian’s words made his heart seize up.

He’s not joking.

Leber held no prejudice against Tetris people. Knowing Hartbin’s origin, he had still come, believing all patients were the same under heaven.

And now all he received was a threat.

He should have been thanked, not intimidated.

“Would you like to re-examine her now?” Karan asked.

After a moment’s hesitation, Leber shook his head.

He had survived by skill alone. He had never shied away from surgeries others avoided, and his pride as a healer stirred within him.

“My diagnosis is not wrong. If her fever hasn’t subsided by morning, come find me. But if I’m right… shall I clean out your ears? Or trim them neatly? I could do a very fine job.”

Having regained composure, Leber turned the provocation back at Karan.

Karan stroked the corner of his mouth, caught off guard. Meanwhile, Leber slipped away as if fleeing.

“Shall I silence him quietly?” Hartbin asked.

Karan shook his head.

“Leave him. We’ll see the results. Escort him out.”

Hartbin bowed and vanished like the wind.

Despite Leber’s audacity, Karan found himself trusting the doctor’s confidence. He picked up the medicine.

“Ellis.”

He lifted Ellis’s fever-ridden body against his chest. She was burning.

How much must this hurt?

A bitter taste filled his mouth.

“Ellis, you need to take the medicine.”

But limp in his arms, she couldn’t even open her eyes.

She had to take it. Otherwise the fever wouldn’t break.

Karan sighed again and again.

He couldn’t just wait for her to wake. The heat in her body was warming the entire room.

They said it was exhaustion. Her weakened body wouldn’t withstand such heat.

“Forgive me once again.”

Karan decided to use the method he had been considering from the start.

He slipped the pill between his own lips.

Then, holding water in his mouth, he lowered his face over hers.

His hot, rough lips pressed to hers, and he let the water flow into her mouth.

Some dribbled down her lips when her unconscious body failed to swallow.

Clicking his tongue, he tried again.

This time he sealed their mouths completely, leaving no gap for the water to escape.

At last—gulp—she swallowed.

Karan intended to retreat like a gentleman.

But Ellis didn’t let him go.

Her hand clutched the back of his neck, pulling herself closer to him.

“…It feels cool.”

Karan bit his lower lip hard.

She only needed him to survive. Nothing more. He must not let other thoughts take root.

She was a patient. He mustn’t attach any other meaning to her movements.

He should push her away and leave.

“It feels cool… I like it.”

Her weakened hand slid down his body and dropped away.

Even freed from her hold, Karan—

“This is treatment. You understand, Ellis?”

He tossed aside his shirt and held her burning body against him.

Her small head nestled perfectly into his arm.

To Karan, it felt as if she were graciously pretending not to know his darker thoughts.

He gently stroked her hair.

Overwork…

What had driven her to the point of collapsing like this?

If it were in front of him now, he would have torn it apart without hesitation. His eyes glinted dangerously.

Ellis woke to a heavy weight pressing down on her.

She slowly opened her eyes, then shut them again from the pain.

Even with her eyes closed, they felt gritty.

After several attempts, she finally managed to keep them open.

Moisture returned to her aching eyes, and her vision cleared.

She began to piece together the situation—

Where she was, why she was lying down, and why Karan was holding her so tightly.

The answers came rushing back in fragments of memory:

Karan waiting for her outside Viscount Warton’s, his large hand checking her fever in the carriage, his arms lifting her up—

I lost consciousness.

The medicine bottle on the nightstand proved that Karan had called for a doctor. Since her fever had broken, he must have given her the medicine too.

His Highness took care of me.

Not only had she made him wait, she had even forced him to tend to her.

“The worst,” she muttered.

Her voice came out hoarse and broken. She rubbed her throat with a sigh.

She had ruined Karan’s day. She felt pathetic.

Can’t even manage my own body properly.

It was true she had been pushing herself since returning.

There had been much to do before leaving Karan and Bedroka, and she had often skipped meals or stayed up all night.

With Regina pestering her, she would often sneak out of bed while pretending to sleep.

But I thought I could endure it since I was still young.

And yet, so soon after her regression, her body had already broken down.

I knew it, didn’t I?

From the beginning, she had felt something was different.

I can hardly sense mana. I sleep more than I used to.

She had assumed it was temporary aftereffects of experiencing regression—a colossal magical phenomenon.

But her mana reserves never recovered, and now she had collapsed.

Could there be something wrong with the regression magic itself?