Am I... dead?
As consciousness slowly returned, Kwon Minseong's instincts as a physician kicked in before anything else. He moved his fingers and pressed against the surface beneath him.
The floor pushed back with a soft resilience.
Hospital floors weren't supposed to be this comfortable.
Which meant there was only one logical conclusion.
Death.
His vision remained dark and distant, but death was far less cold and painful than he had imagined.
It felt warm.
Comfortably warm.
As if he had wrapped himself in blankets and crawled into a bed with an electric heating pad already warmed up.
If he had known death felt like this, he might not have cried so much when his parents died.
Ah. I could stay here forever.
Wouldn't that be fine?
He was dead now.
He could simply lie here and wait for an angel, a grim reaper, or whatever spiritual tour guide was responsible for escorting souls to the next destination.
"Your Majesty. May I ask whether you are in your right mind?"
Not much of an angel.
The moment Minseong finished his thought, someone's voice pierced his consciousness as if it had been waiting.
"I'm perfectly sane."
"Tillio Eickhalden, Your Majesty...!"
"Don't use my family name."
"How can I not? You just used a perfectly healthy Court Physician as a sheath for your sword!"
Listening to the angels argue, Minseong opened his eyes with a sigh.
Those people weren't angels.
This wasn't heaven.
Nor the afterlife.
And certainly not South Korea.
The first thing he saw through his blurry vision was Adelgius.
As usual, Adelgius was passionately protesting to someone with dramatic gestures worthy of a stage performance.
He'd make a good musical actor.
Squirming beneath the blankets, Minseong reached down and felt his abdomen.
Several layers of cloth were wrapped tightly around it.
Bandages.
Judging by the amount of wrapping, he had definitely been stabbed.
Still, something told him the wound might not be as deep as he had feared.
"You! You're awake!"
Adelgius, who had been waving both arms in every direction like a mime artist, rushed to the bedside in a single stride.
They hadn't known each other for long, but Minseong had already learned one thing.
Adelgius might be irritating, but he was warmhearted.
A man related to the Emperor had run through the streets in the middle of the night while heavily pregnant just to find a physician.
And now his eyes were visibly wet with relief.
It wasn't difficult to conclude that His Highness Visha's true nature was the complete opposite of the way he spoke.
"How is the wound? Are you all right? No, wait! Don't get up yet."
Ignoring the warning, Minseong sat upright.
The blanket slipped away, exposing his bare upper body.
Just as he had expected.
The fact that he could sit up at all suggested the wound wasn't critical.
More importantly, the bandaging was excellent.
Whoever had done it knew what they were doing.
Which meant...
"This bandage... a doctor did this?"
"What are you talking about? Reiner is pregnant. How could we possibly summon him to a place like this?"
"Then..."
Minseong muttered.
"So it was all a lie."
"What are you muttering about? Has the pain scrambled your brain?"
"If someone can apply bandages like this, then they have at least some medical training. Even if they're not a physician, they're close enough. So why didn't you ask that person to check whether Reiner is an Omega or an Omega Three or whatever? Why drag me here?"
Sinking back into the cushions, Minseong let out a deep sigh.
Great.
Got a hole stabbed into him for nothing.
"I wrapped those bandages."
A man's voice came from beside the window.
There was a small dagger in his hand.
The dagger wasn't unfamiliar to Minseong.
Neither was the man.
The platinum-blond beauty casually tossed the dagger into the air and caught it as he approached the bed.
"A grown man faints from seeing a little blood."
"Ambushing someone is apparently the height of manliness?"
"You've got an entertaining tongue."
"I've got other talents worth seeing too."
Ignoring the provocation, Minseong continued searching around for a shirt.
The man looked down at the physician who neither bowed nor even bothered to make eye contact.
"Do you know who you're speaking to?"
Thunk.
The dagger plunged into the mattress between Minseong's fingers.
Leaning close, the man displayed a smile so beautiful it was genuinely infuriating.
"The man standing before you is Emperor Tillio Eickhalden. Do you understand what that means?"
"Sorry, but could you not use the word 'bankruptcy' in front of me? It brings back bad memories."
Bankruptcy.
Business closure.
Going out of business.
Things like that.
Completely unfazed, Minseong pulled his fingers away.
Without taking his eyes off him, Tillio withdrew the dagger and pointed it toward Minseong's abdomen.
"Adel. Can I keep this one?"
Adelgius immediately began hiccuping from shock.
"He's the Se-Se-Second Court Physician..."
"I'll find you another one. Give me this one."
Spreading his free hand wide, Tillio pressed it firmly against Minseong's stomach.
"This time I'll make sure you die."
Minseong glanced down at his abdomen.
After being stabbed once, it wasn't nearly as frightening anymore.
"Sure."
He nodded.
"Do a better job this time."
Judging by the murderous turquoise eyes staring back at him, there was no chance he would be walking out of this room on his own.
Having fully adapted to the absurdity of the situation, Minseong simply gave up and allowed Tillio to push him back onto the bed.
Maybe this time he really would return to his original world.
To the cursed homeland where mountains of debt awaited him.
He even closed his eyes and waited for the blade.
Nothing happened.
The dagger remained motionless.
After a while, Minseong cautiously peeked one eye open and looked back and forth between the blade and Tillio's face.
"Aren't you going to kill me?"
Grabbing the Emperor's hand, he pressed it down against his own stomach.
Tillio's hand was enormous.
Like an overturned iron cauldron lid.
His fingers were pale and long, but the knuckles were far too thick to describe as delicate.
"Why aren't you stabbing me? If a man draws a blade, he ought to cut something."
Ah.
Though technically, he already had.
Minseong recalled the moment Tillio had sliced open his stomach without hesitation.
Suddenly he found himself craving the radish from braised mackerel stew.
If he had a piece soaked with sauce, he could finish three bowls of rice.
"You..."
Tillio stared at him.
"Are you insane?"
"Probably."
Actually, now that he thought about it, his head felt strangely hazy.
Almost like being drunk.
"Your Majesty Tillio! Have you completely lost your senses?! You're trying to kill the physician who delivered your nephew? The physician who witnessed the birth of an Imperial Family Member?"
Adelgius grabbed Tillio's arm and desperately tried to pull him away.
He had only just given birth.
If he exerted himself like that, he'd tear his incision and suffer for it later.
This country had moving carpets and marble escalators.
Its knowledge of postpartum recovery, however, was a complete disaster.
"He's suspicious."
"What's suspicious about him?! Could you please put the knife down first?!"
"According to the chamberlain's records, Cordette was born at two fourteen in the morning."
Tillio pressed harder against Minseong's abdomen.
"What do you think the odds are of a physician appearing on the street at that exact hour?"
Adelgius stopped hiccuping.
Stopped breathing, too.
He slowly turned toward Minseong.
"Then... are you saying Debia sent him?"
"No."
Tillio shook his head.
"Someone who knew you were full term. Someone familiar with the capital."
His hand dug into Minseong's abdomen.
"Is Marquis Orphes that desperate?"
Minseong tilted his head.
"Orphes? The scientist who argued for heliocentrism?"
"When were you planning to reveal your Derfyu?"
"Why are you asking me about Derfyu? That's something Alphas and Omegas give off."
Shrugging, Minseong looked genuinely baffled.
Like someone being asked why a fish market didn't sell bananas.
For the first time, the hostility and contempt in Tillio's turquoise eyes softened into confusion.
Did this idiot genuinely not know he was an Omega?
Or was he acting?
"The Marquis has grown old."
Tillio scoffed.
"Sending something this stupid."
"Hey."
Minseong's eyes narrowed immediately.
"I can tolerate a lot of things, but I draw the line at being called stupid. Do you think South Korea's college entrance exams are a joke? Do you think my perfect top-tier exam scores were a joke?"
"Save the rest of your nonsense for the underworld."
Tillio aimed the dagger directly at Minseong's heart.
The sharp tip touched his bare chest.
At that exact moment—
"Your Highness Visha!"
A servant shouted frantically from outside the door.
"Reiner's labor is imminent!"
Adelgius staggered as though he might collapse.
Grabbing Tillio by the shoulders, he glared at his cousin.
"Tillio Eickhalden. If this had happened before Cordette was born, I would have gone into premature labor. I swear before the gods—if anything happens to Reiner, I will stake every shred of my honor on making you pay. You know better than anyone what Reiner means to me!"
"I know."
Tillio replied flatly.
"He's your attendant."
"Reiner is not just an attendant! He's the witness to my marriage, my personal physician, the person who kept me from slitting my wrists in that jungle they call high society, and my closest friend! For Reiner's sake, I brought—"
"You didn't bring him."
Tillio cut in.
"You picked him up off the street."
"And then you stabbed him! I don't care whether he's part of the Marquis's schemes or not! If he can save Reiner, I wouldn't care if he came from Debia itself!"
"Maybe you shouldn't have spoiled him so much."
"What?"
"Do you know why physicians run screaming whenever Reiner's name comes up?"
Tillio replied coldly.
"Because if the Imperial Family's favorite physician has one stroke of bad luck, they'll lose their head. Everyone's protecting themselves."
"That's..."
"Your favoritism is what pushed Reiner toward death."
Tillio's eyes hardened.
"So blame yourself. Not me."
"Tillio! You really are—!"
"Your Highness Visha! There's no time! Please bring a physician!"
"The physician is currently lying in bed with a sword wound courtesy of His Majesty!"
Listening to the argument, Minseong let out a long sigh.
Looks like I won't be getting a peaceful death after all.
Pushing Tillio's hand away, he climbed out of bed.
It felt as though someone had reached into his abdomen and twisted his intestines.
Painful, yes.
But not enough to stop him from moving.
A familiar coat hung on a chair beside the bed.
The Doctor's Coat he had been wearing when he first arrived in Elunem.
Minseong slipped it on over his bandaged torso.
Then he turned toward the source of the servant's desperate cries.
"The doctor is coming."