149. Two Doctors

2024.02.26.

Yuan thought it was such a Tasha-like apology that she couldn’t help but smile.

At the clear, pure sound of her laughter, Tasha opened her eyes.

Seeing Yuan, who usually looked pale and only spoke cold words, smile like this for the first time, Tasha blankly blushed.

Now that the misunderstanding about Noel had been cleared, the woman before her suddenly seemed different.

Memories of the past few months, struggling together by the Empress’s side, came flooding back.

And she also recalled Tasha’s devotion—how she had neglected her own health these past few days just to be there for Eugene.

Tasha’s sharp features softened, mirroring Yuan’s expression.

The small girl named Yuan Pelliese, who now faced her after casting aside all the heavy emotions.

Honestly…

She was simply impossible to hate.

It had taken quite the long detour just to admit that.

***

Tasha kept her cheek offered to Yuan for quite some time.

As if ready to be struck at any moment.

When Yuan repeatedly refused, Tasha stood there bewildered, then fell into deep thought for a while—before suddenly ruffling her hair wildly. (Yuan already knew that Tasha had a habit of never keeping her hands still when she didn’t want to think too long.) Then, abruptly, she reached out her hand.

Yuan just stared, unsure of the gesture, until Tasha grabbed her hand.

Unlike Yuan’s always cool fingers, Tasha’s hand burned like fire.

After shaking it up and down a few times, Tasha suddenly seemed embarrassed and quickly strode off to the opposite end of the deck with her long legs.

Yuan looked down at her hand, still warm from the contact, dazed.

She had held countless noble hands while practicing her abilities and allowed kisses—but had she ever properly shaken someone’s hand before? Thinking back, she never had.

As Yuan stood still, absorbing this unfamiliar sensation, Noel approached, watching the scene with satisfaction, and whispered,

“Tch, she wants to be friends.”

When Yuan looked up with wide eyes, Noel added with a bright smile,

“T-t-tasha isn’t good with flattery or sweet words like you, b-b-but she shows her feelings through actions. W-when she first became friends with me as a child, s-she did the same thing.”

Then he smiled fondly toward Tasha, who was pretending to ignore them far away.

He had no idea his comment was subtly mocking Yuan’s usual behavior.

Noel and Tasha seemed to have cleared their misunderstanding and grown close again.

At first glance, their eyes held the warmth of close friends—but occasionally, the look between them resembled that of lovers.

Yuan watched the fresh, budding couple for a long moment.

It was a relief the misunderstanding had been resolved.

And it was good that Tasha’s attitude toward her had noticeably changed.

Feeling slightly strange for a moment, Yuan slowly turned her body toward the sea.

The weather was brilliantly clear, and the island they were leaving behind was still vividly visible.

With every increase in the massive ship’s speed, towering waves crashed against its hull.

Yuan gazed blankly at the white foam rising and falling, fading and reappearing.

There was a time when she had longed to see the ocean.

When she was a child, confined to her home.

Imagining her elder sister, who was said to be recuperating in the warm south.

Yuan often fantasized about collecting seashells to make necklaces, placing the ones still gritty with sand around her parents’ and sister’s necks, joyfully running along a warm beach.

A moment warm even in imagination. That was the vague, “real” summer Yuan had imagined as a child.

“Cough—.”

Yuan concealed the traces of blood she had spat and buried her pain in the sea breeze.

In the south, where she had come for the first time in her life.

She had faced a storm with Clade. That single night might have been the “real” summer she never knew.

Even if, during the time she wished would freeze forever, he had only wanted to run away.

Before she could reminisce about that sad, painful time—which, to Yuan Pelliese, had been love.

Suddenly, she recalled the words that had broken apart from Clade’s lips, crumbling into fragments against her ear.

“Rather.”

“Rather you…”

The rest poured out in a sobbing whisper, mingling with the sound of waves, shattering against her eardrums.

Yuan’s face visibly darkened.

***

Upon reaching land, the Marquis’s people came out to greet them with wild enthusiasm.

While Eugene slipped away to report to Federico, leading the soldiers, Yuan and Noel quietly slipped through the crowd adorned with large, vibrant southern petals.

Thanks to Tasha’s excuse to keep Eugene from worrying unnecessarily, they were able to receive new information from the informant to whom they had entrusted the search for Enoch Pelliese.

“They’re not on Torca Islands?”

“Yes. Rumor has it that two navy doctors from Torca temporarily left for business in Euphris. One of them was said to be named Enoch.”

“No mention of where in Euphris they went?”

“We’re currently investigating their whereabouts. However, their names do not appear on the passenger lists of any recent southern-bound vessels. If something happened, or if they were taken by pirates…”

Yuan’s complexion turned pale.

***

After returning to land, Clade and Federico spent several days in a hectic schedule.

Reliable retainers had been spreading the word that Crown Prince Clade Euphris had been at the heart of the pirate suppression campaign.

They secretly met with those who requested audiences, and within less than a week, had gathered their forces.

When Clade briefly parted from Federico and returned to the townhouse, the Rev brothers, who had been anxiously waiting with blackened insides, immediately leapt to their feet to greet him.

“Do you have any idea how worried I was? The injured guy isn’t at the stadium or at home. You just left a vague message saying you went to clean up pirates. Not a single carrier pigeon came from the island you went to.”

Lancelot vented his frustration the entire time Clade, looking exhausted, climbed toward his bedroom.

He lamented that at least they, as brothers, should have been taken along.

But unlike the agitated Lancelot, Eddie lay flat on the bed, his arms covering his eyes, calmly observing Clade.

“The Grand Duchess Ariesta seemed deeply hurt.”

“Why bring up the pigeons now?”

“Clade should know. If you had chosen to take the easy path—using Ariesta—why go the long, difficult way?”

Eddie had advised Clade to win the swordsmanship tournament by any means necessary and, before everyone’s eyes, place the victor’s crown upon Ariesta’s head.

But Clade hadn’t done that.

It would’ve been better if he had shared his plans.

The Rev brothers, unable to recklessly search the surrounding islands, had been trembling in anxiety, pretending Clade remained locked inside the townhouse.

They had every right to be angry. But…

Eddie couldn’t hide the pride in his eyes as he hesitated, then finally spoke.

“You’ve worked hard, Clade.”

Lancelot’s eyes widened at the rare praise from Eddie.

Was this really the same Eddie who had spent days clutching his head and cursing?

The same Eddie Rev who had echoed Ariesta’s anger and scolded Clade endlessly?

Briefly stunned, Lancelot realized he couldn’t fall behind and tried to say something to Clade too.

Something like, regardless of not being taken along, he had done well. That he had worked hard.

According to Federico, half the southern anti-emperor faction had gathered at the townhouse today to throw a party in celebration of Clade’s exploits.

Harol Companni and Bollonico, who were supposed to monitor them, had long since fled back to the capital, so there was nothing to fear.

Suddenly, Lancelot felt overwhelming pride for Clade, who had endured hellish suffering in that dark underground and grown stronger.

So he was about to suggest they forget about lying around and just have a glass of champagne.

“Hey, Clade.”

That was, until he saw Clade’s eyes—before Clade lowered his arm from over them.

“Clade.”

The deeply sunken eye sockets looked rough and dark, like those of someone who hadn’t slept for days.

In the eyes staring at the ceiling, there was not the joy of victory, but an inexplicable despair.

Eyes like fake jewels—crushed and trampled, stripped of all value—held no light at all.

They were the eyes of a dead man.

“Clade!”

For a moment, Lancelot thought Clade had died with his eyes open.

His hand gripping Clade’s firm arm was utterly desperate.

Lancelot, who had stood by Clade’s side for over ten years, immediately recognized when Clade had last looked like this.

When the late Emperor and Empress’s bodies had to be buried not in the royal cemetery, nor in the family tomb of the black mansion they had desired, but in the Marquis Rev’s territory.

The helpless despair of a boy who realized there was nothing he could do, waiting passively for the pain to come.

That same darkness now filled Clade’s eyes.

Lancelot’s heart dropped. He forcefully pulled Clade upright.

He had thought Clade would be fine as long as he didn’t crown Ariesta.

Like his ominous premonition, he had believed Clade would remain unharmed as long as he avoided placing the crown on Ariesta’s head in front of Yuan Pelliese.

“…Did you meet Yuan Pelliese on that island?”

He had heard from Federico that those who came south with Empress Marilyn had crossed over to the island with the vanguard.

Lancelot stared at the silent Clade, consumed by anxiety.

Clade was utterly shattered.

It was obvious who had broken him.

Even Eddie tensed, watching Clade closely, when suddenly someone urgently knocked on the bedroom door.

The Rev brothers’ sharp eyes turned to the door at once.

Federico, who had been meant to host the evening gathering, opened the door and poked half his body in.

“I’ve just come back from interrogating civilians who were recently released after being held by pirates.”

Federico asked Clade, looking slightly awkward.

“There are individuals claiming to be from the Torca Islands Navy. What should we do?”

“The Torca Islands Navy?”

“To be precise…”

When Eddie asked instead, Federico calmly replied.

“Two navy doctors.”