‘Why on earth is he doing this?’
Those who inherited imperial blood had resistance to poison due to the influence of the imperial family’s power. Even if they received less of the power’s influence, everyone received training to build resistance to most poisons when young. So everyone knew well that the imperial family couldn’t be brought down with poison. However, conversely, it meant that those in the imperial palace who didn’t inherit imperial blood were more vulnerable to poison.
Those mainly targeted were pregnant empresses or imperial consorts. In most cases in the empire, the Empress’s child tended to become the successor, but as with me, rarely a greater power manifested in someone who wasn’t the legitimate child. So the imperial palace always had bitter winds blowing whenever someone became pregnant.
‘But right now no one could be pregnant, and I’m not even a fiancée. Even those who spent nights with His Highness didn’t receive this treatment, so there’s no reason to taste-test food like this, is there? No, before that, the very fact that an imperial family member is taste-testing is absurd. It’s something not even in the records.’
As I couldn’t bring myself to eat the neatly sliced steak, His Highness went so far as to place food directly on my plate.
“Why aren’t you eating? Is your stomach bothering you?”
“No. I’ll eat well.”
When I moved my hands mechanically, His Highness finally looked at me with satisfaction.
“Your Highness should eat as well.”
“I’m eating more diligently than you.”
The biggest problem was that even though he was eating a variety of foods, he only took exactly one bite of each and pushed all the rest to me. Nevertheless, it was also true that today’s meal was his most meal-like meal recently. If it wasn’t a schedule requiring dining with someone, he mostly substituted meals with alcohol or tea.
‘For now, let’s be satisfied that His Highness is eating.’
I couldn’t tell if taste-testing was because he was dining with me, or if it was a new habit that developed after my death. I decided to observe His Highness’s appearance carefully when the misunderstanding about me was cleared and we had a somewhat private dining occasion.
“You don’t have any foods you particularly can’t eat? Foods that cause problems with your body when eaten, or don’t suit your palate.”
I almost mentioned peaches without thinking but stopped. When I was Tiel, though not always, there was a time I got sick after eating peaches when my body wasn’t well. It was only once, so I didn’t really avoid them, but His Highness always paid attention to this, and eventually I ended up not eating them.
‘But that’s information about Tienas’s body.’
Aila’s body was surely different. Suddenly, along with the realization ‘I know excessively little about Aila,’ I felt a slight sense of alarm.
“I believe there’s nothing in particular.”
“Then that’s fortunate. Still, we’ll be dining together for a while, so if there seems to be a problem, tell me even if it’s trivial.”
While I worried how long this ‘a while’ would be, I also thought I should learn more details about Aila if I had the chance. I’d been so concerned about my surroundings that I lacked knowledge about myself. I swallowed my food and reached a conclusion.
“If you’ve finished your meal, I’ll prepare dessert and tea for you.”
Because His Highness’s gaze followed persistently when I tried to lower the dishes, I ate much more than I usually did. I was already supposed to just lie in bed, and having overeaten, I felt like I’d soon be rolling around, so I didn’t want to eat dessert.
‘His Highness isn’t usually one to have dessert either.’
I looked at the table with a slightly overwhelmed feeling. The amount was less than I’d worried. Two éclairs and two cups of tea. Exactly the amount for two people to have as a palate cleanser. But more concerning than the amount of food was the fact that the snack happened to be éclairs.
“Isn’t this a snack Sir Aila likes?”
For a moment, my hair stood on end. My head spun busily trying to figure out what to answer. Asking how he knew would be unnatural, but it was too meaningful to just pass over casually.
“I saw you eating them before.”
Fortunately, a memory came to mind. The day I went to Lady Jane’s tea party, His Highness had also come.
“Ah, yes. I like them. I’ll eat well.”
As I was relieved, His Highness cut the éclair with a knife and lightly took a bite.
“It’s sweet.”
He who dipped bread in the cream that popped out now blatantly brought the food to my mouth. And he was holding it with his hand, not the fork he’d been using.
“Aren’t you going to eat? My hand is embarrassed.”
Actually, this wasn’t completely the first time. When I’d just become a guard knight, he sometimes fed me to help me relax. But he’d never given me food with his bare hands like this. To begin with, he wasn’t someone who ate food with his hands within the imperial palace.
“Mm?”
However, because of His Highness lightly shaking his hand, my contemplation couldn’t continue long.
“Thank you.”
When I bowed my head and slightly opened my mouth, His Highness’s hand slipped inside and came out. The sensation of it grazing my lips was more intense than the sweet scent.
“You eat well, so it’s good to see. Eating well is also important to recover. You get hurt especially often, so you need to eat well regularly.”
Before the sensation on my lips disappeared, His Highness brought the finger that had touched my mouth to his own. A red tongue licked the cream on his finger and went back inside his mouth.
That scene remained so vividly that all the questions I was going to ask flew away.
Should I say fortunately, after the meal His Highness left his seat. If I’d been in my right mind, I would have thought this was my chance and moved my body around a bit, but I didn’t have the capacity for that now. As I was spaced out, a servant who approached pressed medicine into my hand.
“Thank you.”
After reflexively receiving it and swallowing the medicine, the shock slowly subsided. No, beyond that, I also seemed a bit sleepy. I thought my body had improved, but perhaps not yet. Like that, I dozed off while reading a book I’d just opened.
* * *
I thought I’d slept just briefly, but when I opened my eyes, the sun was rising. I felt like I’d had some dream, but couldn’t recall it precisely.
‘It might have been a prophetic dream.’
I was trying to remember the dream while struggling to correct my blurry vision when it happened. A familiar but unwelcome scent of blood drifted to my nose.
‘What is it?’
When I bolted upright, I saw His Highness looking down at me on the bed. Due to the scent of blood that wouldn’t disappear, I immediately got out of the bed. Fortunately, he wasn’t holding a sword this time.
“Your Highness, are you alright? Your Highness.”
When I gave a look to the knights on standby, they all shook their heads. Their extremely tense appearance seemed like the madness I’d seen before had struck again.
‘He’s not holding a sword.’
The scent of blood was definitely coming from His Highness, but there were no visible bloodstains or wounds. Then he must have been to the underground dungeon or returned from dealing with an assassin. I slowly approached His Highness, somewhat relieved.
“Your Highness.”
When I called carefully, His Highness slowly closed and opened his eyes. As I stood anxiously, unable to dare touch him, the huge shadow moved first. His Highness, who stood right in front of me, pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Y-Your Highness. Are you… alright?”
Like a broken music box repeating the same words, His Highness’s face slowly touched my nape. Breath crawled like a snake and constricted my nape.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
“Then I’m okay too.”
The voice that seemed drunk on sleep no longer searched for Tiel. Though he didn’t ask about the corpse again, since he said he was preparing for burial, perhaps there was improvement. Instead, he gently stroked my hair and headed straight to the bed. Dragged along inadvertently, I ended up lying down again on the bed I’d just been lying on.
I even stopped breathing and stayed still, then the hand embracing me carefully patted my back. Like soothing a very young child. It was an affectionate touch that was only blurry in my memory.
I was no longer sleepy, but I didn’t want to disturb this comfortable dawn. It was a rare peace for both me and His Highness.
After looking at His Highness who’d fallen asleep with open eyes for an hour, just as the sun was raising its head, His Highness’s eyelids lifted. Ruby-like red eyes gazed at Aila’s pupils.
‘Will he push me away?’
However, His Highness showed no particular reaction. Rather, as if it were a completely natural thing, he composedly rose from his spot. The one flustered was actually me.
“You seemed frustrated, so shall we take a walk together? Today my morning schedule was canceled, so I have time.”
“Y-Your Highness. May I ask why you’re treating me so well?”
I ended up uttering the question I’d only been swallowing. I didn’t know if the treatment I was receiving was appropriate to express as ‘treating me well,’ but no other expression came to mind. So instead of changing the expression, I decided to directly bring up the doubt I’d been trying to ignore.
“No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t feel like kindness shown to someone under suspicion.”
Pretending not to know any more than this was avoidance.
