Chapter 14
Craig, paying no mind, spoke rapidly while pulling a small vial of medicine from inside his coat.
“It’s fine, Craig. I don’t have a fever. More importantly…”
Declan, his face suddenly flushed red, hastily pulled up the blanket that had slipped down to his waist.
Craig looked calmly at Declan’s tomato-red face, then, without embarrassment, observed that there was nothing at all under the blanket.
Then he spoke.
“Surely… Your Highness didn’t share the bed with that girl? When you collapsed, perhaps…?”
“No!”
Declan shouted, his expression one of outrage.
“Nothing like that happened. Absolutely not. Have you lost your mind, Craig? There’s no limit to the nonsense you’ll say before me.”
For the briefest instant, a glint of irreverent disdain flashed across Craig’s eyes before it vanished as quickly as it came.
“My apologies. It’s just that… well, Your Highness is so exceptional—many have long coveted you.”
“I told you, nothing happened. I’m not an idiot, Craig. I’d at least be able to tell if something like that had occurred. I’m just… embarrassed that she had to carry me while I was stark naked. And before I passed out, I was acting all self-important in front of her…”
Just utterly humiliated—that’s all. Declan began explaining, then trailed off.
“But it doesn’t make sense. How could that small girl have lifted and carried me? She’s even smaller than you. A tiny, fragile-looking thing.”
“She’s stronger than she appears, Your Highness.”
“That’s ridiculous. You were drunk and passed out the whole time yesterday, weren’t you? Weren’t you? I’ll go and confirm for myself…”
Declan started to rise but sat back down at once.
“Forget it. Just go. You reek of liquor—it’s starting to spread through the carriage. Go wash up or something.”
He waved his hand as if swatting away a bothersome insect.
Craig’s face stiffened momentarily at the prince’s attitude—acting superior even in such disarray—but he quickly pulled out the vial and handed it over.
“I’ll leave the medicine here. You seem all right now, but that fainting might have been a sign of a seizure.”
“Fine. Go on.”
“If you’re feeling tired, it wouldn’t hurt to take it early.”
Declan didn’t reply, and Craig left the carriage, almost as though being driven out.
Craig stepped out of the carriage and straightened his disheveled clothes before glancing back at it. The prince looked far better than he’d expected. He had opened the door with some tension, worried that the prince might be convulsing and drenched in sweat like the last time he’d had a seizure, but surprisingly, Declan seemed perfectly fine.
It should be about time for his illness to relapse, though. Craig thought to himself as he began to walk away.
I should make more medicine.
Declan didn’t get out of the carriage until about an hour later. He tugged at the sleeves of his awkwardly changed clothes and looked around warily, as if on guard.
And as soon as he stepped out, he came face-to-face with the troublesome maid. Declan froze in shock, then looked down at the shallow bowl and spoon she was holding out toward him.
“Please eat. It’s made with mushrooms and milk.”
“……Thank you.”
She was utterly calm, as if nothing had happened yesterday. Declan accepted the soup the maid offered, and she immediately turned her back and walked away.
“So, yesterday… did I faint?”
“Yes.”
The maid didn’t even look back at him as she picked up a basket full of clothes nearby.
“Thank you. But it must’ve been difficult to move me by yourself. Did you call someone? Craig must have been drunk.”
“I moved you myself. Everyone else was just as drunk.”
“A little thing like you moved me…?”
As if used to that reaction, the maid replied simply, “Yes.”
The moment he heard that nonchalant answer, fragments of memory from last night, when his consciousness had flickered in and out, began to resurface in Declan’s mind. He remembered his body folded awkwardly, draped over something as if he were hanging.
“……Cold.”
“We’re almost there.”
Declan’s lips parted again.
“……Ah, right.”
Without realizing it, Declan stopped following the maid’s steps as if in a trance. As unbelievable as it was, she truly had carried him.
Last night, he had been slung over those small shoulders like a sack of potatoes, brought back to the carriage. Naked.
“I’d appreciate it if you could forget the disgrace I showed last night. I… apologize for making you see something you shouldn’t have.”
“It’s fine. I erased it from my mind right away.”
The maid answered casually, as if it were nothing of consequence.
Declan’s face flushed red as he looked at her, clearly not believing her words.
“Well… still, thank you for saying that.”
“I mean it.”
“Let’s just leave it at that. Enough.”
Declan could no longer bear the shame.
Forget it? How could she possibly forget after seeing him naked? Declan just hoped that the maid wasn’t the type to gossip.
“And about what I said yesterday……”
The maid turned to look at him, as if wondering what he meant this time.
Her yellow eyes stared at him indifferently.
“Never mind.”
Declan turned away and left in haste, as if fleeing.
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