Chapter 6
An Illegal Immigrant Is My Physician?
“My ears are suddenly itching.”
At Alec’s mutter, Rishard slowly turned his head.
The corners of his lips lifted slightly in an indifferent manner, giving him an oddly languid appearance.
“Sounds like someone’s talking behind your back. Did you do something to earn resentment?”
Normally, Alec would have immediately protested with an aggrieved expression.
But strangely enough, today he remained quiet.
Not only that, his grin stretched practically from ear to ear.
Seeing him beam like some fool lacking a few screws only irritated Rishard further.
“What’s got you smiling like that?”
Rishard asked with one eyebrow raised slightly.
“Your Majesty… do you perhaps feel any new changes?”
“Changes?”
At that, Rishard slowly sat up from the bed.
Even such a simple motion carried overwhelming pressure.
Then suddenly, he paused.
“…Right. My body feels lighter.”
His expression softened slightly.
How long had it been?
It was a sensation he had not felt in far too long.
The burning pain in his lungs whenever he breathed.
The headaches squeezing his brain.
Both had faded considerably.
It felt as though his body, once trapped inside a prison, had finally been released for a moment.
“…How did this happen?”
The moment Rishard admitted the pain had eased, Alec’s eyes sparkled brightly as though he had expected exactly this.
“It’s all thanks to the new attending physician who came at dawn today.”
Excitedly, he explained without even noticing the spit flying toward Rishard’s face.
“She’s truly incredible! To achieve this much in such a short time… I almost wish Your Majesty could have seen the treatment process yourself…”
Even faced with Rishard’s silence, Alec seemed completely fearless and only grew more enthusiastic.
“I’m serious, Your Majesty. This person is incomparable to everyone before her—”
“She’s suspicious.”
With that single sentence, Alec’s praises came to an abrupt stop.
“We’ve gone through dozens of physicians already. Yet the one we called as a last resort suddenly produces results overnight?”
Rishard slowly walked toward the sunlit window.
“Isn’t that too convenient to be a coincidence?”
“What’s her name?”
“She’s called Lena.”
Rishard rolled the name around in his mind.
Lena.
“No surname. So she’s a commoner.”
Thinking over the name, he quietly sank into thought.
Could she possibly be my destined partner…?
Truthfully, the process of searching for his partner had never been short.
Only on nights with a full moon could one identify a destined partner.
Each time, he traveled region by region, gathering as many women as possible into one place.
Historically, destined partners had never differed in age by more than six years.
Finding excuses to gather them all together was exhausting enough.
Sometimes it was under the pretense of testing divine power to select saintesses.
Other times by distributing goods for free.
There had been many methods.
Fortunately, he did not need to examine every woman individually.
A simple glance around the crowd was enough.
On nights of the full moon, the dormant power within the imperial family’s golden eyes awakened.
His vision would change.
If someone was his destined partner, golden waves would shimmer around them.
And once he physically touched that person, the confirmation ritual would happen automatically.
At that moment, both he and his partner would supposedly receive matching marks.
Rishard’s cold gaze drifted through the air as though retracing old memories.
“Among all the women I’ve confirmed so far… was there ever a saintess named Lena?”
For the first time that day, Alec hesitated.
“I was curious about that too, so I checked the records earlier…”
“There wasn’t.”
“Then does that mean she’s among the fewer than thirty women left unconfirmed?”
“…No. That’s not it either.”
“Then?”
Rishard’s eyes sharpened instantly.
“Well… after investigating, it turns out she disguised her identity and secretly crossed over from another nation—”
“Hah.”
Rishard let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
“Incredible. We’ve really reached the point where we’re hiring illegal immigrants as my physicians.”
To be fair, Rishard did not particularly care who treated him.
Still, he had not expected Alec to actively defend someone who had even falsified her identity.
“But… it’s not like we have any better alternatives left.”
Alec sighed quietly.
“There aren’t many skilled healers left that the temple can send us anymore. And her abilities are beyond comparison with anyone else’s. Honestly, we should be bowing in gratitude that she illegally immigrated into Rün in the first place!”
Listening to Alec’s rapid-fire defense, Rishard momentarily lost the will to respond.
Alec had already started worshipping this woman named Lena like some kind of goddess.
“Ridiculous.”
“And yet Your Majesty is pleased about it too.”
“Based on what?”
“When people recover from even a simple cold, their bodies feel light enough to fly. Your Majesty must be feeling that sensation thousands—no, tens of thousands of times stronger.”
Honestly, Alec was right.
Rishard simply hated admitting it because the words came from him.
“Whether she’s an illegal immigrant or not…”
Rishard gazed out the window indifferently.
“She’s certainly been the most effective person so far at suppressing the pain. Though, since it’s merely being restrained by divine power, the effect is obviously temporary.”
Still, now that he knew she came from another nation, the possibility of her being his destined partner was gone.
“Handle her reward yourself. Whether she wants official citizenship in Rün or wealth, grant whatever she desires.”
That alone would have been generous enough, but Alec still looked dissatisfied.
“Rather than that, wouldn’t it be better if Your Majesty rewarded her personally? Aren’t you curious about her?”
“Not particularly.”
On the contrary, Alec realized from that very response that Rishard actually was somewhat interested.
If he truly didn’t care, with his personality he would’ve already turned around and left coldly.
Instead, he had remained standing there this whole time with an oddly lukewarm attitude.
As though he still had something else he wanted to say.
And in the end, Alec’s guess proved correct.
“If I meet her while awake and she faints on the spot, it’ll only create more unnecessary trouble.”
In other words:
He was curious about the person who treated him, but reluctant in case something troublesome happened.
Alec immediately proposed a solution.
“Then even if you meet privately, wouldn’t it be fine as long as you don’t look directly at each other? We could simply place a screen between you.”
“Your Majesty?”
Only after a long silence did Rishard finally answer.
“Do whatever you want.”
Crash!
A heavy object shattered across the silent room.
A pure white marble statue of the goddess rolled helplessly across the floor.
“Damn it!”
The furious breathing of Erhan, Pope of Lumentia, echoed harshly through the chamber.
“It’s already been days!”
His long braided hair whipped violently behind him.
Even in darkness, his blood-red eyes twisted hideously with rage.
“And you still haven’t found even a single strand of that girl’s hair?”
The fury erupting from the mouth of a so-called holy figure had become nearly psychotic madness.
Where had things gone wrong?
That obedient little thing—so pathetically submissive—had suddenly dared to flee in the middle of the night.
She’d been especially obedient lately. Who would’ve thought she was secretly plotting something else?
And on that very same day, reports had arrived claiming that an important holy relic stored within the sanctuary had been stolen.
The guards—and even Erhan himself—had focused entirely on investigating that incident.
By the time they noticed Isabel’s disappearance, it was already too late.
And strangely enough, the stolen relic had somehow returned to its original place afterward as though nothing had happened.
There’s definitely an accomplice inside the Holy See helping her escape.
Grinding his teeth, Erhan clenched his fists so tightly his fingers turned white.
No matter what, he would find that rat and execute them.
Knock knock.
Just then, someone knocked on the pope’s chamber door.
