Chapter 4
The capital of the Barman Empire. The Imperial Palace stood tall in the center of Berelita.
Among them, in the smallest and most shabby palace, the Fifth Prince, Kalis, was reading a letter that had arrived for him.
It was a letter from his fiancée, whom he had been engaged to under the wishes of his mother, the Empress Dowager, when he was still young and she was in good health.
After finishing the letter, Kalis placed it on the table with a small thud, as if throwing it down.
“Truly, she is an incredibly strong person, my fiancée.”
Kalis muttered to himself. Hearing him, his aide Hechle, who was standing nearby, turned his head.
“The Lady of the Duchy?”
“Yes. Even after going through such an incident, she says she will come to the Imperial Capital to attend the social season.”
At Kalis’s words, Hechle’s eyes widened.
“……Did she say she would attend the Founding Anniversary celebration first?”
“Yes.”
A faint groan escaped between Hechle’s tightly closed lips.
The person who had only just gotten up from her sickbed.
Could she really endure such a long and difficult journey?
Someone might say that it would not be that difficult since she would be treated comfortably in a sturdy, soft carriage rather than riding a horse.
But that only applied to healthy ordinary people.
It had been almost two months since they received the urgent news that the Lady of the Duchy had awakened.
If she forced herself to come to the Imperial Capital, attend the Founding Anniversary celebration, and something happened to that thin, branch-like body again, then the troublesome task of caring for her would fall upon her fiancé, his master.
“The journey will surely be quite exhausting for her.”
“That is true.”
Kalis leaned back, stretching his back against the chair. He placed both arms behind his head and closed his eyes.
Beneath his tightly shut eyelids, the image of someone appeared.
Someone who stood straight with a calm and noble gaze, commanding those around her.
A beautiful appearance, a brilliant mind, and an attitude that always pursued what was right.
His fiancée, who was so perfect that he could not believe she was a person similar to himself.
If all of those things had only been an act, he would not have thought this much.
He would have even been relieved to realize that the noble Lady of the North was also just a human being like him.
But the Lady truly believed in every righteous word she spoke.
Without a single bit of falsehood or deception.
That was why she made him uncomfortable.
Because she seemed fundamentally different from him, someone who was born as the son of a princess from a weak nation, was despised by his siblings and palace servants of noble birth, and had become twisted because of it.
Even after becoming engaged to the Lady of the Duchy and escaping the harassment of his siblings, he still did not like her.
“And she is impatient as well.”
Kalis muttered while keeping his eyes closed.
“Pardon?”
Hechle asked foolishly, unable to understand what his master meant.
After a short silence, Kalis opened his eyes again.
He lowered his arms from behind his head, straightened his back, and spoke.
“She was supposed to tour the North with His Highness the Crown Prince, but she could not even wait until then.”
“She probably did not know. She was bedridden for an entire year and unable to wake up.”
“That is true. And yet, she still thinks of me first. I can only be grateful.”
“It seems the Lady of the Duchy thinks of Your Highness very much.”
“Yes.”
Kalis said nothing more.
Was that really the case?
Did she send this letter because she was thinking of him?
He did not know.
“Ah, speaking of which, there is a report from the Renikel territory in the East. Baron Arenta has purchased another large amount of Muizenji. He says it is a nutritional supplement, but the amount he buys every year is enormous. Could it possibly be used for something else……”
“What other effects does Muizenji have besides being a supplement? There must be someone in his household who needs their health restored. Leave it alone.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Hechle tilted his head slightly.
He had never heard that the young master of Baron Arenta’s family had poor health.
However, since it was the prince’s order, he did not think about it any further.
The large amount of Muizenji purchased every year meant wealth for the prince, who owned Renikel territory.
And that wealth was not a bad thing for those who served him either.
After Hechle left the office, Kalis turned his head.
Around this time two years ago, someone who had visited this place and drank tea with him came to mind again.
His fiancée, with white hair that flowed like waves and beautiful blue eyes.
How long would he have to live as her fiancé?
How long would he have to live anxiously, wondering when he would finally be abandoned?
Was it not the Lady who had thrown him away first?
Kalis closed his eyes.
A distant darkness slowly covered him.
The darkness, which resembled his future where he could not see even a single step ahead, strangely gave him comfort.
He did not open his eyes for quite some time.
“Today, Lord Kelsen is visiting.”
“Really? Has it already been two weeks?”
Eliana turned her gaze from Meli, who was adjusting her clothes, and asked.
“Yes.”
“I hope that ridiculous order forbidding me from going outside is lifted this time.”
Eliana recalled the middle-aged man who had rushed into the room on the first day she woke up here.
He had examined her condition in a hurry and repeatedly warned her that she absolutely must not overexert herself.
“Since you have improved so much, perhaps Lord Kelsen will allow it too?”
“Perhaps. A physician’s eyes are different from ordinary people’s, so I will know after meeting him.”
“That is true.”
After fixing Eliana’s clothes, Meli sat her down in front of the dressing table to arrange her hair.
With gentle hands, Meli began brushing Eliana’s hair.
The feeling of someone else touching her hair made sleepiness wash over her.
This weak body with terrible stamina lost energy so quickly, as if it were dust that could be blown away by the slightest wind, despite doing almost nothing.
‘They said my body was weak, but……’
Wasn’t this a little too much?
It was like pouring water into a jar with a hole in it.
Eliana’s actual cause of death had been poisoning disguised as an illness.
Since awakening, she had avoided consuming as much as possible anything that could be used as a means of poisoning her.
Yet, even so, her recovery felt strangely slow.
Meli’s warm and gentle hands continued to carefully stroke her hair.
“Hmm.”
A middle-aged man who appeared to be in his mid to late forties closed his eyes slightly and let out a quiet sound.
His hair was streaked with gray, his beard was well maintained, and the wrinkles around his mouth and forehead made him look much older than his actual age.
‘He must have suffered quite a bit.’
Eliana thought casually as she waited for the middle-aged man to finish his thoughts.
She turned her gaze to the man standing behind him.
He held a small notebook and a quill while watching his teacher’s reaction.
The man, who looked to be in his early to mid-twenties, called the middle-aged man “Master.”
They were the personal physician responsible for the health of the Grand Duke’s family and his apprentice.
Naturally, the middle-aged man was the physician, and the young man was his assistant.
Eliana looked between Kelsen and his assistant.
This was her first examination after the regular checkups, which had originally been scheduled every week, were changed to once every two weeks.
Seeing Kelsen seriously giving various instructions to his assistant, Eliana spoke.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. Rather, it seems your recovery speed has actually become faster.”
“Really?”
Eliana’s expression brightened.
She had expected this result to some degree because she had almost completely avoided drinking the tea containing the herb that would take Eliana’s life in the original story.
Still, she thought her recovery was slow because of this weak body.
Hearing that she was actually recovering faster was a relief.
Although Kelsen lacked the ability to judge people because he had spent his entire life devoted to medicine, his medical skills and loyalty toward the Grand Duke’s family were clearly shown in The Method of the Winter Sage.
He was someone trustworthy.
If only he had developed better judgment of people, perhaps the tragedy in The Method of the Winter Sage would never have happened.
However, since he was originally a character created by the author to give the protagonist hardships, there was no reason to regret it or blame the old physician standing before her.
“Yes. From now on, you should be able to slowly go outside, as long as you do not overexert yourself.”
“That is wonderful news.”
“And if things continue like this, returning to the condition you had when you were healthy should not be impossible.”
The man stepped away from Eliana while explaining.
Then he gestured for his assistant and gave him instructions.
Eliana watched them for a moment before asking Kelsen.
“When I was healthy?”
Even she, who had read all of The Method of the Winter Sage, had never heard this before.
The book only described Eliana as Hestin’s younger sister, a wise and beautiful woman who had a weak body and suffered from frequent illnesses.
The fact that Eliana’s illness was not incurable, and that she could have recovered through proper rest and treatment, was something revealed much later.
The only thing written was that Lucilla’s older brother had been unable to resist Baron Arenta’s threats and had given her herbs that conflicted with her constitution, worsening her condition until she eventually died.
“Yes. Do you not remember? When you were young, Lady, you were incredibly energetic and healthy.”
Kelsen spoke while recalling the not-so-distant past.
The Lady of the Duchy had originally been a healthy person.
She had suddenly suffered from a fever when she was around ten years old, and her health had rapidly declined afterward.
Before that, even during the harsh winters of the North, she loved riding horses.
She would go out every day, running around until her nose and cheeks turned red.
Yet she had never even caught the common cold.
That was why they thought it was only temporary.
They believed she would recover soon.
But more than ten years had passed.
Twelve years had gone by with everyone anxiously watching her suffer from illness after illness.
Then came the falling accident.
She did not wake up at all, and the servants and retainers of the Grand Duke’s family began whispering that they might need to prepare her funeral.
They had believed she would die without ever waking up.
The fact that she awakened was already a miracle.
But after that, every week during her examinations, her condition continued improving rapidly.
Compared to right before she collapsed from the accident, the speed was remarkable.
However, from Kelsen’s perspective, who had watched her since she was a newborn baby, she was still incredibly fragile compared to the child he remembered.
“Was I? It feels like I spent more time lying down.”
If it were the real Eliana, perhaps she would have known.
But she truly did not.
There had been no mention anywhere in The Method of the Winter Sage about a time when Eliana had been healthy.
And after waking up as Eliana, all she had seen was a body as thin as a dried branch.
Moreover, the physician before her and the servants treated her as if she were someone who could die at any moment.
Even though she knew this body originally belonged to someone who deserved such treatment, she had often felt overwhelmed and troubled by their excessive care.
All she knew was that Lucilla’s older brother had told Baron Arenta about Eliana’s constitution and informed him of a way to slowly kill her without leaving evidence.
“Indeed. Even in the middle of winter here in Winter, you would ride horses until your nose turned red and return home without even catching a cold.”
“I do not remember it well.”
Eliana smiled awkwardly.
So she had once been healthy enough to ride horses in the middle of winter without even catching a cold.
Then before Lucilla’s brother poisoned her, someone else must have already interfered with young Eliana’s health.
And if that person had actually intended to kill her but failed because young Eliana was so healthy, leaving her alive but weak for all those years—
That theory was also possible.
“One would think it was not such a long time ago. It has only been… twelve years.”
“I am twenty-two now. That is more than half of my entire life.”
Eliana spoke as if asking whether he truly expected her to remember something like that.
“I see. For this old man, it is not even half a lifetime……”
“I hope I can become healthy again and return to how I was back then.”
“I hope so as well.”
Kelsen laughed softly, and Eliana smiled brightly.
Well, she already knew that someone had interfered with Eliana’s health.
She even knew how they did it and who was responsible.
But there had not been only one person.
There had been two.
Baron Arenta truly was a terrible person.
“Then I will see you at the next examination.”
After the examination ended, Kelsen and his assistant greeted her before leaving the room.
Even while leaving, Kelsen did not forget to repeatedly warn her.
“I said you may slowly return to outdoor activities. I did not say you may overdo it. Please do not push yourself.”
Eliana thought she might develop calluses on her ears from hearing the same warnings so often.
With so many complaints and so much worrying, perhaps that was why he had aged so quickly.
“Meli.”
Eliana, who had been lost in pointless thoughts alone, called her maid.
“Yes?”
“Could you bring me an outer garment?”
Now that she had received permission from the physician, Eliana planned to immediately expand her range of movement.
With a bright smile, she prepared to take action.
