***
“Everything seems to be fine…”
The physician didn’t finish his sentence.
He was telling the truth.
He had diagnosed Sez several times already, but that all seemed to be in vain.
It didn’t make it any easier as someone was sending chills down his spine by glaring at him.
The poor physician turned his head to see the bloody, frowning eyes.
He hiccupped.
“If everything’s fine, why is she like that?”
Rayton’s voice was cold as ice.
The physician trembled from the sheer coolness of it.
“I examined her thoroughly, and…
yes…
Her Royal Majesty is fine…”
“… Then why is Her Royal Highness like this?”
On one side of the room was the cold, red-eyed boy, and on the other side was a woman weeping so hard that she made the physician feel guilty.
The physician looked at Runa as she sobbed.
“But Her Highness was okay this morning…”
‘But I’m telling you she’s fine….’ Sez was fine, the physician was the only one in trouble here.
He glanced between the two, then started examining Sez again.
“Hmmmph…
Hrrgh… Hmph…”
‘No, I’m not sick, but can’t you see that I can’t open my mouth?’
Sez desperately tried to explain what was going on, but to no avail.
Rayton realized something was wrong and ran to Sez’s quarters with her in his arms.
Luckily, he didn’t run into anyone else along the way.
Runa turned pale when Rayton suddenly stormed into her quarters.
When she realized he was holding Sez in his arms, well…
she almost turned purple.
Sez seriously thought that Runa might not be able to live very long after this.
Rayton laid Sez on the bed and explained the situation to Runa.
To be honest, Sez thought Runa would freak out as she feared Rayton.
But it turned out she was wrong as Runa questioned him meticulously.
“Did Her Royal Highness eat something?
Is there a chance there was something strange in the food?
I’ll call a physician right away!”
She called a physician just as she said, but…
he didn’t exactly work wonders either.
“Umm…
Your Royal Highness…”
The physician chose his words carefully.
“Did you receive, any, uh…
stress, lately?”
‘What?
What kind of nonsense is this?’ Sez looked confused.
The physician hesitated for a moment.
“I’m sure you know that Princess Sez once suffered from aphasia.”
“…Yes.”
Runa answered quietly, and Rayton stared at Sez without saying a word.
‘Ugh, I didn’t want him to find out about my past like this.’ Sez avoided his eyes as she felt a little embarrassed.
It was all in the past and she was okay now, but… she felt uncomfortable like her vulnerable side had just been exposed.
“It’s very likely that it’s an issue with her mind again.
The symptoms are identical.
This can occur if a person is traumatized enough in a short period of time.”
‘No!
I’m not traumatized or whatever!
I’ve been having a good time nowadays!’ Sez made a long face, but it had no effect.
“First of all, she’d better take a full day of rest.
I’ll prescribe some medicine to help her sleep well.
I’ll come back to check on her tomorrow.”
“Is there anything else I should take care of?” Runa asked.
“We’ll have to wait and see for now.
And just in case, um…
you should take more care of Her Royal Highness and make sure she doesn’t receive any more stress.”
“Understood.
Then about the medicine…”
The physician stood up and handed a small bottle to Runa.
‘Gosh, that’s a bitter one…’
She could taste it already; it was a medicine she had already taken back when she was young.
Sez frowned slightly.
“If that is all, I’ll take my leave.
If anything happens, please call me right away.”
The physician bowed politely but Rayton didn’t even answer, still glaring at him.
The physician ran away without taking even so much as a glance back at them.
Rayton’s red eyes probably scared him.
“I’ll prepare you some medicine right away, Princess Sez.”
Runa wiped at her eyes with her sleeve.
‘Yes please, I’m going crazy.’
Not being able to speak was one thing, but watching Runa crying was killing Sez.
She wanted to tell Runa that she was fine and that she didn’t have to worry, but all Sez could muster was a funny, muffled noise.
“And thank you very much, Prince Rayton.” Runa politely bowed to Rayton.
“Things might have been even worse if it were not for you.”
“…Even worse?”
“Princess Sez used to faint quite a lot a few years ago.”
“Ugh!
You didn’t have to tell him that!’ Sez was irritated.
“Fainting?
Isn’t that quite serious?”
“It wasn’t an issue with her body.
It was her mental state, things weren’t easy for her back then…”
“……”
“Anyway, I appreciate everything you’ve done.
I can only offer my gratitude.”
“Never mind.”
“And last time…” Runa suddenly slurred her words.
“I apologize for being impolite last time.
Please forgive me.”
Sez knew what Runa meant by that.
It must have been the day of the mayhem in the library when Runa hid Sez behind her as Rayton looked on at the princess.
She had no idea if he’d accept her apology.
“I told you, never mind.”
His answer surprised Sez.
“Go and get some medicine.
I’ll watch over her.”
“Of course, I’ll be right back.”
Runa scurried away and Sez was left alone with Rayton and a heavy silence.
“……”
Rayton edged closer to the bed as he stared at Sez.
He seemed to be fidgeting, his hands palming his temple right after fumbling around his waist.
‘What’s wrong with him?’
It was Sez, not Rayton, that should be freaking out and going crazy.
At least Rayton’s lips weren’t glued together.
“You id…”
Rayton stopped and clenched his teeth.
‘Id…?
What?
Oh, yeah, I guess you meant to call me an idiot.
But why did you stop?’ Sez looked at him curiously.
“I…”
‘Hmm?
What about me?’
“I….”
Rayton repeated himself several times before palming at his temple again.
He sighed a few times before finally managing to speak.
“…I didn’t know you were stressed.”
She could barely hear his voice.
“Hmph…
hrgh?”
“And for yelling at you and calling you idiot, well… damn it, I apologize.
Blasted…”
‘That’s the worst apology I’ve ever seen.’ But it indeed was a surprise, Sez never expected to hear that from Rayton.
Sez couldn’t figure out whether she should laugh or not.
“You’re not…
damn it, a blasted idiot.”
“……”
“You’re doing pretty well in your own way.
You’re not the worst level… and you’re not a total bonehead.
No… damn it.….
I mean, you’re surprisingly okay with…
no, it’s not surprising…
ah, hell!”
Rayton appeared to be misunderstanding majorly.
He was convinced that he was the cause of Sez’s lips being zipped, that she was suffering from aphasia once again.
He was wrong, though.
Sez couldn’t be happier these days.
She had never embraced her life in the palace this fully in both her past and current life.
Yet Rayton was saying sorry for giving Sez a hard time.
Sez felt guilty for some reason.
“Hmmph.
Hrrngh.”
“What?”
“Hmph.”
Sez gave up trying to talk.
Instead, she waved her hands to tell Rayton that it wasn’t his fault.
It seemed she didn’t get through to him though.
Frustrated, Sez pointed at the desk.
The table was littered with paper and quills.
She had used those to prepare for her tutoring and hadn’t cleaned up yet.
“What?
Do want me to bring them?”
Sez nodded.
To her surprise, Rayton actually brought her a quill and some paper.
Sez wrote something down before handing the paper back to Rayton.
[It’s not your fault.]
[And I still like you.]
[So please meet me tomorrow too.]
Rayton frowned slightly.
He raised his head and looked into Sez’s eyes.
Sez smiled lightly as their eyes met.
She didn’t let any foolish sounds out since her mouth was shut tight.
‘What an idiot she is…
no, not an idiot.
Ugh.
Anyway, how could she say stuff like that after going through this?’
Rayton was lost for words.
This young sister of his couldn’t even take care of herself, and yet…
“I’m not sure if you don’t realize how you look right now, or if you do but you’re still acting this way.”
“Hmph?”
“I’ll see you tomorrow or the day after, so get well soon.”
“Hmph.”
‘Really?’
Sez’s eyes sparkled.
The circumstances were a little weird, but at least it proved that Rayton cared about Sez in his own, twisted way.
It seemed her hard work was paying off.
She felt like she could dance around the room right now.
Of course, she wouldn’t do that in front of Rayton, especially when her mouth was glued shut like this.
“I brought some medicine, princess.”
Runa brought the medicine right on time.
Rayton spared one last glance toward Sez.
“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Oh, Your Royal Highness.
Are you going to return now?”
“Yes, you can take care of that id…
I mean, princess.”
Rayton left the room just like that.
Runa stared at the closing door, then turned to Sez.
“… Prince Rayton seems to care a lot about you.”
‘Right?
You could see it too, right?’ Sez’s eyes shone brightly.
“So… please get better soon.
I’m so worried…”
‘Oh, please don’t cry again.’ Sez felt guilty.
Runa sniffled and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
“But you’ll get better soon, just like you did last time.
You’re strong, so I know you’ll endure it.
Take your medicine first and get a good night’s sleep.”
Runa carefully raised Sez’s upper body and held out a bowl of brown liquid.
‘…Wait a second.’
“Your Highness?”
“Hrggh…”
“Is there something wrong?”
“Hmmmph!”
‘How can I drink it with my mouth glued shut?’
‘How?’
‘With my nose?!’
“Prin…”
Sez pointed between her mouth and the bowl before Runa could say anything.
“……Ah.”
Runa finally seemed to realize just exactly what was wrong.
“Oh… what should I do?”
Runa and Sez stared at each other with no clue what to do.
So, it definitely wasn’t a mental or physical problem.
For now, Sez only had one guess.
‘Eton!
This whole thing is obviously happening because of that sketchy guy.’
“Oh, right.
You’d better not tell anyone.
See you.”
Sez ground her teeth, remembering Eton’s warning.