Even until the second day after regaining consciousness, I didn’t have the luxury to feel anything strange. Perhaps due to the medicine’s effects, I dozed off even while eating, and I was in a dazed state with a fever, so I couldn’t grasp the situation well either. Although it was strange that His Highness kept staying by my side, that was all. I just thought, ‘He must be monitoring me.’
It was around the third day that I gradually started to come to my senses. The pain in my shoulder still remained, but thanks to applying expensive potions and ointments every day, I was recovering quickly, and I no longer had a fever. As the amount of medicine I used decreased accordingly, my sleeping time also decreased. To be honest, just lying in bed was starting to make me antsy.
‘Even if I can’t use a sword, I want to at least stretch my body a bit.’
I knew the wound wasn’t completely healed, but continuing to just lie down was reaching the point where my back hurt. However, the reason I couldn’t even do that common stretching was purely because of His Highness.
“Where are you trying to go?”
His Highness, who at first only reacted when I tried to get up, had now reached the point of asking like that even if I just tossed and turned.
“If you’re trying to go to the bathroom, I’ll take you.”
I had no idea why he needed to escort me to the bathroom inside the room, and even less idea why he was trying to do directly what could be done by having another knight monitor me. However, since His Highness was already getting up, I couldn’t pry into the reasons persistently.
“Ah, I wasn’t trying to go anywhere. I was just going to move my body a bit, so there’s no need to concern yourself.”
“Why would a patient move their body? Lie down so the wound doesn’t worsen unnecessarily.”
“Understood.”
It wasn’t like I had injured my legs or the soles of my feet, so moving a little wouldn’t make the wound worse. No matter how oblivious I might be, at this point I couldn’t not understand His Highness’s intentions.
‘Does he dislike me moving?’
Even if I moved, it would only be to the extent of walking back and forth in the room, but even that seemed to bother him. If he spoke directly, I would just stay still thinking it was an order, but the fact that he didn’t say it outright bothered me more.
“Good. If lying down is hard, sit up leaning against the bed. If you’re bored, I’ll have them bring books worth reading.”
“I’ll stay still. I apologize for causing concern.”
“That’s not what I meant by that.”
I couldn’t bring myself to refuse the persuasion that was like handling a child. That was because if I said no here, I felt like I’d be treated like a real child who couldn’t even stay still. They even actually had servants bring books.
“Thank you.”
The servants just bowed slightly and quietly withdrew. I was used to it since most of those in this room were tight-lipped people.
‘What kind of books did they bring?’
Fortunately they weren’t fairy tales, and they seemed varied, from thick tomes to novel books recently popular among commoners. I examined them one by one, trying to choose a book Aila would read.
There were books already learned at the Academy like <Imperial Law and Governance>, <Imperial Mythology and Abilities>, and <Military Strategy>, and there were also things like <Hemistonway’s Rhetoric 3> that only people who liked writing itself would read.
‘Not all of these are things Aila would read, right?’
Even the military strategy book that seemed somewhat interesting was one I had already memorized. I moved my hand to find a book I could read without using my brain.
As I moved aside the thick books, books like <The Bairan Hero’s Tale> and <The Garden of the Kenten Ducal Family> appeared. I hadn’t read them myself, but they were quite famous writings. Thinking there must be a reason they’re famous, I was about to choose <The Bairan Hero’s Tale>. Thinner books appeared, so out of curiosity I picked them up together.
The book at the very bottom was a novel called <The Ecstatic Night of the Alpha Knight and Lady Shena>. Just from the title, it was obvious what its purpose was. I thought it must be the type that students passed around during Academy days.
‘Why on earth is this here?’
It was a book terribly unsuited to the Imperial Palace. Moreover, it absolutely wasn’t a book to read in a situation where His Highness was beside me, so I wondered why they brought it. Thinking I’d seen something I shouldn’t have, I was about to quickly tuck it between other books.
Forgetting that my shoulder hurt, I moved hastily and ended up dropping the book. Frustrated that of all books I dropped that one, I quickly reached out to pick it up, but I couldn’t reach the floor. As I hurriedly moved my body, it got tangled in the blanket.
“Eek.”
Unfortunately, His Highness’s movement was faster than me untangling my body from the blanket.
“Y-Your Highness!”
I got out of bed a beat late, but it was already too late. His Highness, who had picked up the book, checked the title transcribed in clumsy handwriting and looked down at me. A faint smile lingered at the corners of his mouth.
“A story of an alpha knight and a lady… Do you like this kind of book?”
“No.”
If I had looked at a book like that even once when I was young, at least I wouldn’t feel wronged. The hot-blooded Aila might have read it, but if he had a brain, he wouldn’t have chosen this kind of book in front of the Crown Prince either.
“Really? Well, in Sir Aila’s case, you’d prefer a story of an omega knight and a lady. Or perhaps not a lady but another knight.”
“Th-that’s not the issue. No matter how shameless a person I am, I wouldn’t read this kind of book while lying in a sickbed.”
Aila was a shameless person who didn’t discriminate by gender, and I was also a shameless person who didn’t know my place, but there was such a thing as propriety.
“Really? Looking at your conduct, it seems like you’d really enjoy this kind of book.”
His Highness asked while deliberately flipping through the book for me to see. It was frustrating not knowing whether he was joking or seriously thinking that.
“I have no great interest in reading them.”
“I see. Well, novels are originally interesting because they’re stories you can’t experience yourself. Sir Aila has already experienced all the things that would appear in such novels, haven’t you? Right?”
At the persistent question, I finally nodded. I could feel for myself that my entire face was flushed red.
“Yes. It seems I misunderstood.”
A peculiar silence spread through the bedroom. I was regretting why I rummaged through choosing when I could have just read any book, creating this situation. His Highness placed the picked-up book on the desk as it was and laughed lowly.
“Reading books is good, but let’s have lunch first. You still have medicine to take, after all.”
Until yesterday I only ate soup with almost no ingredients, but I was told that starting today, if I was okay, I could slowly eat regular food. Still, I assumed light food that could be eaten in bed would come in, but what was actually prepared exceeded the ordinary in both quantity and variety.
“Y-Your Highness?”
“I’m planning to have a meal together today.”
“H-how could I dare to do such a thing? After you finish your meal, I’ll eat something simple.”
Having a meal together with His Highness was almost nonexistent except on very special days like occasions to commend achievements or in urgent situations like when on campaign. But to have a meal together while being monitored. I was gradually starting to doubt whether this was really monitoring.
“Then wouldn’t the meal have to be prepared twice? Unless you want to trouble the servants, let’s have it together.”
The servants would probably understand my feelings, but refusing twice was also strange. Unable to resist His Highness’s urging, I eventually sat at the table together. Looking at it again, it was a tremendous number of dishes. If it were a dining room, they would have brought them out one by one, but since this was a bedroom, it seemed they prepared everything at once.
“There is no poison.”
After tasting a bite of all the food in front of His Highness, the attendant withdrew. This couldn’t filter out all poisons, but it was a necessary procedure. His Highness possessed the imperial family’s ability, so he had a constitution immune to poison, but that meant it wasn’t life-threatening, not that he suffered no harm at all.
‘Still, it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen him eat right in front of me like this.’
I secretly glanced at His Highness while trying not to stare too intently. After taking a bite of soup, His Highness seemed to savor the taste for a moment, then put down the spoon.
“Is there some problem……”
“No.”
His Highness suddenly placed the soup he was eating in front of me.
“Don’t just watch, eat together.”
“Y-yes. Understood.”
It was when I first ate the soup he offered. This time, His Highness took a bite of omelet, nodded, and again placed it on my side. Perhaps if it had ended there, it might have been okay.
But when His Highness finally took a bite of steak and cut all the meat before placing it in front of me, I couldn’t not know what was happening.
“Eat plenty.”
His Highness was checking the food for poison once more. And with his own body at that.
