Chapter 37
Her condition was strange. She should have woken to the loud noise, but she didn’t move. He called her name loudly once more, and she stirred, raising her body slightly.
But before she could even fully sit up, she slumped back down.
“Hermie?”
She seemed to have lost consciousness. Immediately, Froy’s face turned pale.
The mage’s advice was completely wiped from his mind. It was filled only with the thought that he needed to check on Hermie’s condition immediately.
He went to get the key at once. With trembling hands, he opened the cage door he had never once opened. For a brief moment, he hesitated—’Is it okay to open it?’—but worry took precedence.
The cage, supposedly enchanted, opened with a click, disconcertingly easily.
He feared that opening the cage door might make Hermie vanish like steam, but nothing happened.
Hermie, unaware that the cage door she so desperately wanted was now open, was only letting out feverish, panting breaths.
For a moment, Froy stared at the open cage with a baffled expression.
He had never felt so foolish in his entire life.
“F**k.”
Froy spat out a curse and roughly ran his hands through his hair.
What a f*****g idiot. What have I done? He was furious at himself. This entire situation had unfolded because of his pathetic fear and possessiveness.
With a hand trembling violently, he reached into the cage. Can I hold her? What if I hurt her? Afraid, he slipped his hand under the stuffing and carefully lifted Hermie. Her tiny body, so light he could barely feel its weight, settled into his palm.
Day 66 of being trapped in the cage.
Finally, Hermie was out of the cage. Though the unconscious Hermie was unaware of that fact.
“Hermie? Come to your senses.”
Froy placed the unresponsive Hermie on a soft cushion.
Worried she might have caught something serious, his hands shook uncontrollably. Struggling to calm himself, he lightly touched Hermie’s forehead. He felt a slight fever.
‘Hotter than usual.’
Hermie, when he had touched her through the bars, hadn’t been this hot. As it became clear this was no act, his heart tightened painfully.
It was a mistake born of pointless pride.
If a fairy is sick, who do you call? Froy pondered with a stunned face.
A mage? A doctor? Or perhaps… a veterinarian? To summon someone, Froy leapt up from his seat.
He needed to call someone, anyone, who could diagnose Hermie’s condition.
***
“Is this a hamster? Are you in your right mind?”
Jobern, who had come to examine Hermie, put a hand to his own forehead.
“Shut up and just check her condition. You said you’ve examined animals often.”
Froy, reluctant for rumors about his fairy to spread, had agonized before finally calling Jobern.
Though acting grumpy, Froy called Jobern because he trusted him. Contrary to his flighty image, Jobern was surprisingly loyal and not the type to gossip carelessly.
Furthermore, Jobern often treated his own animals when they were injured or sick. True to his self-proclaimed expertise, animals he treated quickly regained their health. People joked he was a quack, but his skills in animal care were quite good.
Jobern looked at Hermie and shook his head again.
“Where does this look like a hamster? It’s just a small, cute person.”
“Stop with the hamster talk and just examine her!”
Froy urged Jobern on, handing over potions, antipyretics, and all sorts of remedies.
“So you were hiding a fairy. But is she really a fairy? She’s just small, she looks completely human.”
Seeing Hermie, who looked undeniably like a person, Jobern wondered if calling a real doctor wouldn’t be wiser. But with the foul-tempered Froy glaring ominously, he at least went through the motions of an examination.
“She has a bit of a fever… Oh ho. Looks like there’s a bump here on the crown of her head.”
“A bump? Where?”
Sharp-eyed Jobern had spied the injury like a ghost. Froy also immediately leaned in, blocking Jobern’s view, but upon spotting the bump on Hermie’s head, he bowed his head and covered his eyes as if his world had crumbled.
“Haah.”
“What? What is it, what’s with that reaction?”
“She’s hurt. Look at this, Hermie is hurt.”
“Yeah, I know. I found it.”
“How much must she have been in pain? Damn it, and I didn’t even know.”
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