Praten paced anxiously and urged the doctor to hurry. The doctor who had examined Ruperi before wore a dark expression.
"Just as before, his vitality has weakened, but I cannot find any other abnormalities."
"Then do we have to use Divine Power again?"
"My apologies."
Praten used Divine Power, but while he could restore Ruperi's vitality, he could not cure the nosebleeds and dizziness that struck from time to time.
Eventually, word reached Duke Kreuz.
Even when Duke Kreuz hurried to Ruperi, Ruperi was bleeding from the nose again. Duchess Kreuz, who stood beside him, covered his nose with practiced hands.
"Ruperi, are you all right? What is happening? Why did you not tell me?"
"I told him not to tell you. You seemed busy with the Miten situation."
"Melonie!"
"And Ruperi asked me not to tell you either."
Duke Kreuz looked as though he might collapse.
He was usually a genial man who smiled easily, but it was the first time I had seen him look so shocked.
When Duke Kreuz staggered, Duchess Kreuz moved aside.
"Nothing happened, did it?"
"Nothing happened."
"You did not sneak out at night?"
"I was too sleepy to go out."
Unable to find a cause, Duke Kreuz bit his lip.
He looked as though he blamed himself. The way he suppressed his emotions resembled what Ruperi had shown not long ago.
'That is why they are alike.'
Duke Kreuz moved his lips.
Then his eyes met mine, where I sat beside Ruperi.
My heart lurched.
'W-why is he looking at me like that?'
The unmistakable wariness in his eyes made my heart drop.
I swallowed hard, and Duke Kreuz soon looked away.
"Tell me if something like this happens again. Do not make me find out later."
"But Father—"
"Do you think Miten is more important right now?"
Duke Kreuz spoke in a stern voice, clearly furious.
Ruperi flinched and nodded readily. Only then did Duke Kreuz soften his anger.
Afterward, Duke Kreuz visited Ruperi's bedroom whenever he had time.
As the days passed, Ruperi bled more and more. He had gone from collapsing to vomiting blood.
"Cough, hack!"
"Ruperi!"
Ruperi's eyes filled with confusion as he looked at the blood spilling from his hand.
I was the same. I did not understand why Ruperi was vomiting blood.
'I can't sense a curse.'
It did not seem to be poison either, since he showed none of its symptoms…… Could Father be behind this?
I shook my head inwardly before that thought could go any further.
It was too much of a leap. Since he had not summoned me despite so much time passing, Father seemed to know that I had escaped but not where I was.
'Then what is this situation?'
As the situation sank deeper into mystery, Ruperi's health deteriorated rapidly.
He could not sleep because he feared his airway might become blocked whenever he vomited blood. His appetite fell as well, and he could barely eat.
I wanted to make words appear to encourage Ruperi, but so many people were constantly by his side that I could only play the part of a teddy bear.
'What should I do? Why is Ruperi vomiting blood?'
I had promised to stay by his side until he was sick of me. How could he become ill instead?
Just as my mind began to turn blank, someone familiar entered Ruperi's bedroom.
I glanced at the door.
'……!'
It was the priest in pure-white robes whom I had seen at the birthday banquet.
Duchess Kreuz looked at him in surprise and rose from her seat.
"Didike Roem? Priest Didike, why are you here……?"
"I called him. When I told Didike, he offered to examine Ruperi."
"I apologize, but could everyone leave? I need a quiet space to examine the Young Master."
At the dismissal, Duchess Kreuz looked at her husband. Seeing his hardened expression, she quietly led the rest of the family out of the bedroom.
Only Ruperi, Duke Kreuz, the priest in white, and I remained in the room.
The priest swept his gaze across the bedroom.
"Fortunately, I cannot sense an aura in the bedroom."
An aura?
"But I can still sense the aura of Miten from the teddy bear."
THUD.
It was an unexpected statement.
I questioned my ears, wondering whether I had heard wrong. But even when I looked back, the priest had clearly said the aura of Miten.
'……It cannot be, can it?'
Ruperi seemed to think he had heard wrong too, because he weakly asked the priest,
"What do you mean, the aura of Miten?"
"I mean exactly what I said. I can sense the aura of Miten from your teddy bear."
"That can't be. There's no way Paul has the aura of Miten……"
Ruperi trailed off in denial, but the priest continued.
"I do not want to believe it either, but it is true. That aura is what is making you ill."
"It's making me ill?"
"Have you never sensed anything strange from the teddy bear?"
After thinking carefully, Ruperi shook his head again.
The priest approached and carefully sat in the place where Duchess Kreuz had been sitting.
Then he took Ruperi's pulse. A faint light shone from Ruperi's wrist, so he seemed to be using Divine Power.
Ruperi's arm trembled.
"Ah, it hurts."
"Please endure it a little longer. I will try to make it hurt as little as possible……"
At that moment, the priest's dark green eyes widened.
He looked at me, then at Ruperi, whose brows were deeply furrowed in pain.
Perhaps he used more Divine Power, because the white light grew brighter.
"P-Priest Didike……"
Ruperi gripped the priest's hand with trembling fingers. His voice was barely audible.
Duke Kreuz hurriedly grabbed the priest's shoulder.
"Didike! Stop!"
Even so, the priest did not release Ruperi's hand. He only stopped examining him after Ruperi burst into tears.
"The teddy bear must be burned immediately."
"What?"
"Inside the Young Master's body, I mean…… inside his body……"
The priest could not finish his sentence.
The shock on his face made me feel as though I should not hear what he had to say.
It felt as though time moved slowly before the priest opened his mouth again.
Finally, he said,
"It is Corpse Poison."
THUD.
"Corpse Poison?"
"So it was a Necromancer."
He had identified my true nature.
Ruperi reacted in surprise to the priest's words.
"You knew the truth, Young Master."
"N-No! More than that, what do you mean by Corpse Poison?"
"It is poison from a corpse, a toxic aura that flows from the dead. There is only one type of person in the world who can wield it: a Necromancer. In other words, I am saying that your teddy bear is a Necromancer."
At that cruel diagnosis, Duke Kreuz opened and closed his mouth.
"So…… Ruperi is sick because of Corpse Poison?"
"That is true, but the Young Master's case is slightly unusual."
The priest explained what he had sensed.
When he infused Divine Power into Ruperi, he sensed Corpse Poison.
He had been shocked by how dense it was. An amount like that should have already taken Ruperi's life, yet he was still alive.
He also speculated that I might have used some kind of spell.
But there was only one sentence left in my mind.
'……So Ruperi has been poisoned by Corpse Poison because of me?'
I stared blankly at the priest, unable to believe what I had heard, when Ruperi hurriedly picked me up.
"Our Paul did not do anything!"
"Young Master."
"Paul being a Necromancer? Does that make any sense?"
Ruperi's body was stiff with fear as he spoke.
"You knew everything, did you not? It is written all over your face."
"T-That is because I was surprised when you suddenly said he was a Necromancer!"
"Ruperi."
"Anyway, our Paul isn't a Necromancer!"
Ruperi stubbornly shouted.
But the more Ruperi defended me, the worse the atmosphere became.
The priest's face hardened, while Duke Kreuz stared at me with cold eyes.
Ruperi seemed to sense the danger and tried to sneak away with me.
"Cough!"
Perhaps becoming agitated had worsened his condition, because Ruperi vomited a mouthful of blood.
"Ruperi!"
Duke Kreuz hurried over in shock and roughly tore me from Ruperi's arms.
He knocked me aside so hard that the world spun in an instant. Through the spinning view, I saw Duke Kreuz urgently tending to Ruperi.
"Ruperi! Are you all right?"
"Cough! Cough!"
THUD.
I fell onto the cold floor of the bedroom.
It was a shock to be cast aside by the hand of Duke Kreuz, whose warmth I had once felt. But the absurdity of the situation left me unable to think of anything.
As I only blinked—
"Do you still wish to pretend that you are a teddy bear?"
The priest approached slowly and picked me up.