Chapter 147

“I delegate all authority to the Empress until I recover.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes slowly closed.

Kaizen lost consciousness again after ordering to hand over full authority to the Empress. From the start, he was barely conscious to say it.

“Your Majesty?”

Vellian was shocked to see the Emperor suddenly lose consciousness.

He had served as the Emperor’s assistant for many years, but this was the first time he had seen him so helpless.

But Astelle, who was by his side, was calm.

Even the Emperor’s doctor next to him did not seem to be shocked either.

“Vellian, Your Majesty must rest.”

Astelle drove him away as if she had been waiting.

“Go to the next room and wait.”

“… … yes, Your Majesty.”

Vellian was kicked out of the bedroom and pushed into the next room.

‘Is he seriously ill?’

Seeing the condition of the Emperor just a moment ago, he couldn’t deny that his life was in critical condition.

In fact, when Vellian came to the Empress Palace, he was suspicious of Astelle. To be more precise, Astelle and her family.

Did she poison His Majesty?

He had a suspicion that the Emperor was dead but the Empress deceived everyone that he was sick. However, His Majesty the Emperor was unharmed.

Of course, he looked very tired, but… … .

He seemed to come to his senses from time to time even when he was lying in bed.

His Majesty struggled to get a hold of his mind and even ordered to delegate full authority to the Empress.

He couldn’t help but believe that he had become ill so suddenly.

‘First of all, the documents… … .’

He had heard the Emperor’s orders directly, so he had no choice but to fill out the documents.

[Delegation of authority to the empress… … .]

As he was writing those words with trembling hands, he felt the cold reality belatedly.

If the Emperor dies, the young prince becomes the new emperor. His Highness the Crown Prince is now only 5 years old, soon to be 6 years old. The reign will be passed on to the young empress and her family.

His hand holding the sheet of paper was drenched in a cold sweat.

This is because a moment ago, he had a war of nerves with the Empress at the event venue.

Before Astelle became Empress, the relationship between the two wasn’t particularly bad. But after she became the Empress, the relationship became a bit uncomfortable as she went through various things.

Vellian was responsible for a bit of the difficult things Astelle had gone through, so she looked at him with displeasure.

What would happen to his own fate if Astelle became regent?

He was again frightened.

“Vellian.”

As he was thinking about it, the door opened and Astelle come in.

Vellian hurriedly bowed his head.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Vellian wanted to treat the Empress as usual. But he almost instinctively had a much more cautious and courteous tone of voice than usual.

“Have you written down His Majesty’s orders?”

“Yes, I have.”

Vellian showed Astelle the documents he had just written in his trembling hands.

“Help me for the time being.”

“I will help the Empress, even at the cost of my life.”

Astelle frowned at his enthusiastic answer.

Isn’t he…… a bit too much?

“I prefer honesty over words.”

“I will keep that in mind, Your Majesty.”

“His Majesty the Emperor is ill, so I will handle the important tasks myself from tomorrow. And we keep the harvest festival as simple as possible.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Vellian answered, still bowing his head.

“Well, by the way, Your Majesty. What kind of disease does the Emperor suffer from…….”

“According to the doctor, he suddenly fell ill due to accumulated fatigue. He said there was nothing to worry too much about.”

“Accumulated fatigue…… I see.”

Vellian nodded, but his mind was full of doubts.

He has served Kaizen for nearly six years but he’s never seen him tired. But he suddenly fainted from fatigue. Is that possible?

But as he just thought, His Majesty the Emperor looked tired and exhausted.

Although Vellian himself was not familiar with poison, those who are poisoned have dull skin, vomit blood, convulsions, or whatever it is, they look poisoned.

In comparison, His Majesty was only tired and did not seem to be poisoned or seriously ill.

Astelle let him go as if she had nothing more to say.

“You worked hard today.”

Vellian politely bowed and walked out.

He let out a sigh as he stepped out into the cold hallway.

Knights and servants were still coming and going in the hallway. Everyone seemed busy and no one paid any attention to him.

At a glance, it seemed that he had no chance to discover new information here.

As he was blankly walking down the hallway, he saw a strange woman from one side entering somewhere.

She is not the empress’ maid.

‘Who is she?’

Belatedly, he remembered that the woman was a pharmacist summoned by Astelle.

The Empress even ordered him to find a suitable building for the young pharmacist to build something like a laboratory and pharmacy.

Out of curiosity, he passed the building and glanced at the pharmacist.

‘The Empress summoned that pharmacist to the capital not too long ago.’

Why is she here?

He concluded that perhaps Astelle had called her to ask if there was any medicine for the Emperor.

But at that moment, there was one question that crossed his mind.

‘Is there any medicine that makes you feel weak and dead?’

It was unbelievable.

But until a few months ago, Vellian couldn’t even imagine that there was a medicine to change eye color.

As Vellian walked down the hallway shrouded in darkness, he repeated the ominous question that arose in his mind.

If she is a pharmacist who’s good enough to make a medicine that changes eye color, isn’t it possible to make medicine that kills people by making their bodies slowly weaken?

***

For the next few days, Astelle took the place of the Emperor and took care of the harvest festival until it was over.

Vellian also apparently helped Astelle well.

The palace looked quite peaceful from the outside.

Although it was still under strict surveillance, the inside of the palace was running in perfect order as usual.

It was surprising given that the Emperor is now dying from poison.

But Astelle has a new problem.

“Where is His Majesty?”

After not seeing Kaizen for several days, Theor continued to wonder why he hadn’t come to see him.

‘It takes a day or two to make excuses.’

In her mind, she wanted to say that the Emperor has gone far.

Actually, she was going to say that at first, but Theor was more quick-witted than she expected.

“Why is the doctor here every day?”

“Is Aunt Gretel living with us?”

“Why are all the knights of the guards gathered here? Isn’t they supposed to be with His Majesty?”

Theor, who learned basic military from Seibel, was able to distinguish each knight’s coat of arms.

At this point, it was useless to keep the maids in. She couldn’t stand the constant stream of questions.

“Theor.”

Astelle eventually decided to answer Theor honestly.

“His Majesty is sick.”

Theor was so shocked as soon as he heard this.

“Is His Majesty very sick?”

“Yes.”

His small hand gripped the hem of Astelle’s dress. His red eyes fluttered anxiously.

“Why is he sick?”

Astelle said in a tone as calm as possible to reassure Theor.

She wrapped her arms around Theor’s shoulders and made eye contact with him, explaining step by step.

“Theor. You’ve had a fever and been sick before, right? His Majesty is also very sick right now, so he is resting quietly.”

Theor looked at Astelle and listened carefully to her explanation.

A glimmer of worry filled his clear eyes that contained pure worries.

“Is His Majesty in so much pain……?”

“Theor, it’s okay. His Majesty will be fine.”

Astelle hugged and comforted Theor.

What will Theor think when he finds out the whole story in the future?

Theor in Astelle’s arms looked down without energy. He gripped Levin’s hand helplessly, then turned his gaze to Astelle.

“Can’t His Majesty go to the hospital?”

“…….”

Astelle pondered for a moment.

Kaizen was still unconscious as if asleep. Sometimes he wakes up from time to time, but he loses consciousness again in a few minutes.

Maybe,

Maybe this will be his last chance to see him.

Astelle took Theor’s hand after a brief deliberation.

“Let’s go see him for a bit. His Majesty will also be delighted to see Theor.”

Astelle and Theor went to see Kaizen in the empress’ bedroom.

Astelle had not moved Kaizen to his palace in the past few days under the pretext of the emperor’s order.

Theor looked at Astelle with a puzzled face as he entered Astelle’s bedroom.

“Is His Majesty here?”

“……yes, because His Majesty said he liked the Empress Palace.”

“Great.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because His Majesty likes it here,” Theor answered innocently.

“…….”

When the two entered, the servants in the bedroom all stopped moving and bowed.

Gretel, who was cleaning out the herbal bottles, also found the two and approached them.

“Your Majesty the Empress, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Theor didn’t look at Gretel. He looked only at Kaizen, who was asleep.

Astelle quickly asked Gretel. “Is His Majesty asleep?”

“Oh, yes. His Majesty just took the medicine and fell asleep.” Gretel responded quickly.

Hearing the conversation between the two, Theor grabbed Astelle’s hand.

“Can I come closer? I’ll be quiet.”

“Yes.”

Theor approached Kaizen carefully with his tiptoes. He went to the bedside and looked at Kaizen who was asleep.

Kaizen lay down motionless. He looks a little paler over the course of a few days, probably because he lost a lot of energy.

For Theor, Kaizen has always been as tall and strong as a mountain. So he was so shocked to see his current state.

His small lips trembled, and tears filled his red eyes.

“Your Majesty……. don’t get sick.”

Gretel had tears in her eyes when she saw the heartbroken young Theor.

“Your Highness, don’t worry too much. His Majesty will recover soon.”

“Really?” Theor asked, wiping away the tears with his small hand.

“Yes, if His Majesty takes medicine and rests well, he will be healthy again.”

Gretel worked hard to calm Theor down with a bright smile.

“Theor, no, Your Highness the Crown Prince also got well after taking the medicine I made when you were sick, right? Do you remember how well you slept and woke up feeling refreshed again without any pain? His Majesty the Emperor will soon be like that.”

“Yes…….”

Theor stopped crying after hearing Gretel’s explanation.

“Come on, Your Majesty must rest well. Now let’s say goodbye and leave.”

As Astelle calmed him down, Theor nodded his head and walked up to Kaizen again.

He put his hand on Kaizen’s hand which was not covered by the blanket. The child’s small white hand fell carefully on the rough hand.

“Get well soon.”

Theor paused as he tried to let Kaizen’s hand go.

He looked at Kaizen’s sleeping face and licked his lips as if contemplating something, and grabbed his hand again.

Then he said quietly.

“……Dad.”

Astelle opened her eyes wide, startled by the quiet voice.

“Theor…….”

Then an urgent knock was heard.

“Your Majesty the Empress!”

Fritz opened the door and called Astelle.

Astelle went out, leaving Theor behind.