Hexten stood still, looking down at Jewelry.
Not everyone was affected by the magical water. Fortunately, Dennis had no problems, but Jewelry wasn’t so lucky.
The child’s small body was completely covered in red rashes.
Hexten had seen patients affected by magic when he went to investigate this incident.
It starts with red rashes, then swells like boils and oozes pus after a few hours. Then they bleed from the eyes, nose, and mouth, and shortly after, they stop breathing.
He couldn’t believe his daughter would soon be like that. He’d been so worried when Jewelry just had a cold and coughed.
Kirshan, examining Jewelry’s body with gloves on, looked up at Floyd with a dark expression. Kirshan only shook his head slightly, but Hexten saw it clearly.
“No!”
Hexten shouted in a broken voice, grabbing Kirshan’s collar.
“Save her! You’re a doctor! You’re supposed to be the best doctor on this continent! Save her!”
Of course, Kirshan had never claimed to be the best doctor on the continent himself. But his skills surpassed most ordinary doctors, and if he couldn’t find a way, it meant other doctors couldn’t either.
Kirshan stared blankly at Hexten, who was shaking him by the collar and demanding. He couldn’t tell him to stop, nor to accept it.
Kirshan didn’t have children, but he knew how dearly Hexten cherished his children. Hexten was the kind of person who would gladly die in place of his child if asked.
‘If only it would end with dying in her place…’
The problem was that Jewelry wouldn’t be okay even if he did that.
It wasn’t that there was no cure for being tainted by magic. There was a possibility of driving out the magic by requesting holy water from the Grand Temple and sprinkling it with a priest’s blessing.
But the Grand Temple was too far from here, and the magic spread by this demon was invading the body at a very fast rate.
‘At most 3 days. But Jewel is small, so it’ll be faster.’
Kirshan couldn’t tell Hexten, who was now telling Jewelry to open her eyes and hold onto the bed, to stop teasing daddy, how much time she had left.
Cain’s eyes were already red and his nose was running. Adrian and Arsen were keeping their mouths shut with grief-stricken expressions.
And heat was radiating from Floyd’s body.
It was effective in warming up the cool air of the treatment room that hadn’t been used for a while, but if he got any more excited, flames might burst out. Kirshan gently placed his hand on Floyd’s forearm and said,
“There are many patients, my lord. Please calm down.”
Floyd took a deep breath in and out, looking around the treatment room. It was the first time the treatment room, usually used only when knights were seriously injured, was this crowded.
Collapsed servants and maids, and Jewelry.
Those who shouldn’t be here were lying on beds with lifeless appearances. It was a reality he didn’t want to believe, but he had to do something.
“Is there really no way?”
“Even if we send an eagle to the Grand Temple right now, considering the time it would take for a priest to bring holy water…”
“I’m asking if you have any way to treat her!”
“If the progression of the magic was slower, I might be able to find a way to treat it somehow, but it’s too fast. It’s beyond my abilities, my lord.”
“No, it can’t be! That’s impossible! Don’t talk nonsense, Shan!”
Though he spoke in a small voice, it seems to have reached Hexten’s desperate ears. Hexten jumped up and rushed over as if to strike him, but then fell to his knees in front of Kirshan.
“Shan, please don’t say such things. Please… please save her. Huh? Try something, anything. You’re an amazing guy, aren’t you? Please, please save my daughter. She’s my daughter… my daughter, Shan. My daughter, okay?”
Unable to bear the sight of Hexten clutching his legs and begging, Kirshan turned his gaze away. His chest ached with despair and apology.
‘What kind of doctor am I, being like this.’
Honestly, he had been arrogant. He thought that with him around, he could prevent most illnesses that occurred in this Torkan.
It was terrible pride.
He could do nothing for the young daughter of a dear colleague. He could do nothing for the employees working for this Grand Duke’s palace.
It was the first time Kirshan had felt such a sense of defeat.
‘Pathetic fool. What are you doing not going out to die…’
+++
Roxiana sat blankly.
She forgot she had to breathe, only taking in rough breaths when her lungs started screaming, but she didn’t even realize that fact.
−”There’s nothing the princess can do.”
It really was true.
She couldn’t be of any help even to the small child who had given her a bouquet.
‘What could I have done with such a subject…’
She repeated the past over and over again. If she hadn’t gone to the Grand Temple, if she had noticed Lucas’s true intentions earlier, if she could have warned her family in advance… She repeated such impossible imaginations and regrets dozens, hundreds of times.
But now she understood.
There was nothing she could do. Even if miraculously the flow of time changed and she went back to the past, there was nothing she could do.
Suddenly, an intense impulse came over her.
‘I want to die.’
She had tried to live at least a year as Floyd had asked her to live for a year, but now she wasn’t sure even about that. A woman like her who could do nothing didn’t deserve to meet her family even after death.
Whether it was Adelia flowers or a coffin, now it didn’t matter.
‘It’s a waste…’
Breathing, consuming the Grand Duke’s palace’s food when she couldn’t do anything, it was all a waste.
‘If only I had stopped them from coming…’
If she had gotten angry and chased them away when she first saw them by the pond, if she had sent them away telling them never to come again, this wouldn’t have happened. Just because she left them alone to fill her own longing, such a terrible thing happened.
It was the same with her family.
If she hadn’t trusted Lucas, if she had thrown a fit and said no when the engagement talk came up, if she hadn’t saved Elise, if she hadn’t cared whether that child lived or died with her family.
If she had done that, things would be different now.
‘So it’s all my fault.’
She truly thought so. She couldn’t escape the thought that her existence was making everything worse.
The depression she couldn’t shake off, when faced with sad events again, became a heavy mass that couldn’t be cleared away, pushing Roxiana into pitch-black despair.
Roxiana stood up and staggered towards the window. She opened the window and went outside to stand on the terrace, holding onto the railing and leaning her upper body forward.
Because it was a building with high ceilings, even though it was the second floor, it was very high.
‘If I fall from here, I’ll surely die.’
There was a time when she was afraid of heights, but now it was a distant emotion. The emotion of fear had been consumed by the enormous sadness at the moment she lost her family.
Just as Roxiana’s upper body leaned further forward, it happened.
“Princess!”
Startled by the sharp voice, she turned around. Petria was looking at Roxiana with frightened eyes, holding a flower vase.
“Wh-what are you trying to do? Quickly, quickly come back inside!”
Petria put down the flower vase and ran over to hug Roxiana’s waist.
“You, you mustn’t, you mustn’t do this, Lady Roxiana. You mustn’t.”
Ah, that’s right. If I die here, it would be troublesome for Petria.
I hadn’t thought of that. How foolish. How stupid.
Roxiana’s endlessly wavering eyes turned to the vase Petria had set down. The wildflowers she had received from Jewelry were in the vase.
Although quite some time had passed, the flowers in the vase were as vibrant as if they had just bloomed. Only then did Roxiana recall what the voices had said.
−We’ll take good care of them.
−These children will live for a very long time.
They had kept their promise.
Even though the water was contaminated, the water in the vase was still fresh, maintaining the life of the flowers.
It wasn’t just because of the fresh water.
It was their power.
Their power that breathes life even into cut flowers.
−”They are incredibly strong, Roxy. They can do so many things. But the priests who serve Weden don’t want to acknowledge that fact, so they ignore their existence and kill those who communicate with them. Long ago, an emperor who was betrayed by an empress with the power to communicate gave strength to the priests’ claims.”
Mother always called them ‘They’.
Beings that exist but whose names must not be spoken. Those who were once blessings but are now called curses.
−”So, Roxy. The fact that you can hear their voices must never be revealed. It’s regrettable for them, but it can’t be helped if you are to live peacefully.”
It felt like being hit on the back of the head.
While she couldn’t do anything, they might be different. They came to hate humans who ignored them and persecuted those who communicated with them, and thus stopped lending any of their power.
‘Perhaps. Now that they’re speaking to me and keeping the flowers from withering for me… perhaps.’
Roxiana removed Petria’s arms that were still embracing her and ran into the room. She picked up the vase on the table and looked into the water inside.
“Lady Roxiana, the water is dangerous. It might be contaminated.”
Petria hurriedly approached to take away the vase. Roxiana stubbornly turned her body while hugging the vase.
Petria was anxious that Roxiana, who had just tried to jump out the window, might drink all the potentially contaminated water. Fortunately, Roxiana didn’t bring the vase to her lips, but was whispering something towards the vase.
Only then did Petria remember that the flowers in the vase were the ones received from Jewelry.
‘She must have been greatly shocked by seeing Lady Jewelry collapse. What should I do.’
Top Celebrity Younger Brother Bears Her Child (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: Forced to live stream romance with a top celebrity in a female-dominant world.
Yan Jin transmigrated into a brothel, with a fellow transmigrated junior beside her.
Hearing the obscene words coming from outside, the unfortunate junior covered his ears tightly, his cheeks flushed red, and whispered to comfort her, “Don’t worry, I will definitely help you escape.”
“Don’t worry, I will definitely defend your chastity.” Yan Jin looked at the flawless and delicate features of the unfortunate junior and gently comforted, “Because we have transmigrated into a female-dominant world.”
※※※
Top celebrity Yu Shu suddenly fell into a coma during a concert.
Research scientist Yan Jin fainted in the lab after working overtime.
Two people with no connection were rushed to the same hospital.
Three days later, neither of them had woken up.
Suddenly, the entire nation discovered that a live streaming app had been forcibly installed on their phones.
Upon opening it, they heard the two discussing how to escape from the brothel.
The entire internet was in an uproar.
After the two successfully escaped from the brothel, Yu Shu’s fan group rushed to make a banner and sent it to the hospital overnight.
“Big sister bravely took action to defend the chastity of our idol!”
※※※
When Yu Shu was diagnosed with pregnancy, Yan Jin stared at his belly for a long time.
Covering his stomach, he muttered gloomily, “If you don’t like it, I’ll go get an abortion.”
“It’s not that I don’t like it.” Yan Jin hugged Yu Shu and said softly, “I just feel like I’m not human.”
Yu Shu comforted Yan Jin, “I was already an adult when we got together.”
Yan Jin hesitated, “But you won’t be of legal marriageable age even after giving birth to the child.”
At the same time, a flood of bullet comments appeared in the live streaming room that the two couldn’t see.
[Although it’s inappropriate, I also want a young and handsome boyfriend to have my child.]
①Male pregnancy (highlighted)
The female lead is five years older than the male lead, and the male lead is already an adult when he appears.
