His fingertips brushed against it.

The slick liquid left ugly stains across her milky skin. The thin fabric soaked with blood clung to her lukewarm flesh like seaweed.

Staring blankly at the sight, he lowered his ear to the bloodstained chest.

A faint heartbeat.

Only then did his frozen thoughts begin moving again.

Wrapping her together with the sheets, he lifted her into his arms and kicked open the bedchamber door.

Several maids who happened to be passing through the corridor froze stiff at the sight of him.

Varkas shouted loudly.

“Fetch a healer! Immediately!”

* * *

Her insides burned as though she had swallowed boiling water.

The searing heat made it feel as though her stomach was rotting away.

She writhed, exhaling hot breaths, only for a different agony to follow. This time, it felt as though pieces of ice had been driven into her bones.

Groping blindly, she reached out and pulled the blanket toward herself.

Perhaps taking pity on the sight, someone wrapped her tightly in arms as hot as heated iron.

Feeling the warmth sink into her blood, she let out a relieved moan.

But before long, flames began raging inside her again.

Sweating profusely, she tossed and turned.

Sensing her discomfort, the arm around her back withdrew.

She clung desperately to it.

Keep holding me.

Don't leave me alone.

Though the words merely echoed inside her mouth, it seemed they were understood.

The heat enveloped her body again.

It hurt.

Yet somehow, she felt safe.

Like a chick burrowing beneath the feathers of a hen, she curled up inside that broad embrace.

Not long afterward, the pain stabbing her abdomen gradually faded, and a silence like a grave settled over her.

It felt as though she were immersed in lukewarm water.

How long had she remained wrapped in that strangely peaceful sensation?

Her hazy consciousness slowly cleared.

Talia barely managed to raise her heavy eyelids.

Sunlight piercing through the canopy stabbed at her retinas.

She unconsciously let out a pained groan, and hurried footsteps sounded nearby.

“My lady! Have you finally regained consciousness?”

Turning her head, Talia found the nurse wearing a tearful expression and frowned.

The nurse immediately grabbed her hand and sniffled.

“Do you know how black my heart has become from worrying? Why do these things keep happening to you...?”

Talia looked bewildered.

She had no idea what had happened.

Clutching her throbbing forehead with one hand, she watched as the nurse, shedding tears like beads, suddenly sprang to her feet.

“Look at me! This isn't the time for this. Please wait a moment. I'll fetch the healer immediately.”

With that, she stomped noisily out of the room.

Only after the room fell silent did her head begin functioning properly again.

She slowly surveyed the modest bedchamber.

Several seconds later, she finally remembered arriving in one of the cities between the East and West.

But everything afterward was vague.

It was as though she had dreamed with her eyes open.

“So you've finally come to your senses.”

As she struggled to piece together her fragmented memories, a healer hurried into the room.

Breathing heavily, the woman approached the bedside.

“How are you feeling?”

Looking at her with a puzzled expression, Talia parted her parched lips.

A rasping sound emerged from her cracked throat.

Seeing that, the healer immediately poured water into a cup and handed it over.

Laboriously sitting up and leaning against the headboard, Talia moistened her throat with the lukewarm water.

As the liquid slid down her esophagus, it unsettled her stomach.

When she coughed from the strange discomfort, the healer immediately removed the cup.

“Don't drink too much at once. Your stomach has been damaged, so you'll have to be careful even when drinking water for a while.”

Talia frowned.

“Damaged stomach?”

“You don't remember?”

When she shook her head, the healer explained calmly.

“Your Highness lost consciousness not long after arriving at this castle. You remained ill for nearly two days.”

Talia widened her eyes.

Then a memory flashed through her mind, darkening her face.

She had been resting on the bed.

Without warning, unbearable pain had struck.

Writhing from the agony tearing through her abdomen, she had not even been able to call for help when suddenly something hot surged upward.

She had vomited it—and almost immediately lost consciousness.

Rubbing her still aching stomach, Talia glared at the healer with icy eyes.

“Did someone poison me?”

“No, Your Highness. I don't believe poison was involved.”

The healer hurriedly denied it.

“It appears the bleeding was a side effect of the medicine you have been taking these past weeks.”

“A side effect?”

Disbelief filled Talia's eyes.

The woman continued calmly.

“The tonic Your Highness has been taking contained herbs capable of damaging the stomach. Ordinarily, they are excellent ingredients that replenish vitality and restore strength, but... if someone with a weakened stomach takes them for an extended period, internal bleeding may occur.”

Talia let out a mocking laugh.

“So you're saying someone merely made a mistake and gave me that medicine?”

The healer's expression stiffened faintly.

She released a heavy sigh.

“That is my conclusion.”

“......”

“I carefully examined the medicine Your Highness had been taking, and it consisted entirely of ingredients beneficial to restoring vitality. However, it appears the healer who prepared it was unaware that Your Highness's stomach had become as fragile as that of a child.”

Talia narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“You're strangely eager to defend her.”

“I am merely telling you the facts I have discovered. I do not wish for Your Highness to exhaust yourself with needless suspicion.”

Answering evenly, the woman straightened her back.

Then, with her characteristic calm demeanor, she picked up a small kettle from the shelf.

“Regardless, the healer responsible will receive proper punishment. And from now on, it appears I shall be taking charge of Your Highness's treatment.”

She poured a measured amount of clear liquid into a small teacup.

Talia regarded it warily.

The woman smiled bitterly.

“It is honey tea infused with a small amount of herbs that aid stomach recovery. If you drink it little by little, your stomach will feel much better.”

Reluctantly, Talia accepted the cup.

But she had no desire to bring it to her lips.

After staring at the lukewarm tea for some time, she asked in a tightly restrained voice,

“The medicine I've been taking all this time... are you absolutely certain it wasn't poison?”

“We cannot entirely rule out the possibility that other ingredients were mixed into it later, but... had that been the case, traces of poison would have remained inside your body. Yet Your Highness has shown no signs of poisoning.”

“Then...”

Is Varkas all right?

The question rose to her lips, only to die there.

She had no confidence she could fabricate a convincing explanation for how he had come to consume the medicine prescribed for her.

Talia moistened her dry lips.

All this time, Varkas had been taking small amounts of it as well.

Had he truly suffered no side effects?

Unable to shake her anxiety, she asked uneasily,

“That medicine... if a healthy person takes it, there really won't be any problems?”

The healer looked at her curiously, then nodded.

“That's correct. Under normal circumstances, it would actually help restore one's vitality.”

Relief washed over Talia, and her shoulders slumped.

Then, suddenly, disgust toward herself welled up, and she let out a hollow laugh.

The fact that someone had not been trying to kill her mattered less to her than the fact that he had not been poisoned.

She was astonished by herself.

Weakly rubbing her face, Talia parted her cracked lips.

“Varkas...”

Where is he now?

What expression did he make when he saw me collapse?

Swallowing the questions rising to her throat, she quietly lay back down on the bed.