What Became of the Tyrant After the Pregnant Empress Left - Chapter 53

Kazhan briefly hesitated, his hope shattered that there might be even a sliver of consciousness left in her. After a moment’s deliberation, he chose to place the scattered tree berries into his mouth instead of the herbs.
Maybe the medicine didn’t absorb properly because she took it on an empty stomach.
After thoroughly chewing the berries, he pressed his lips against Ysaris’s. Of all the countless kisses they had shared while their bodies entwined, this was the sweetest.
One, two, three, four…
The few berries ran out quickly. Kazhan only relaxed once Ysaris safely swallowed the juice from the fever-reducing herb.
“Phew.”
Feeding something to an unconscious person was harder than he had thought. She could barely swallow, and kept coughing it up, making the process take much longer.
At least the basic measures were taken, so now all he could do was wait.
“Hmm…”
Ysaris was sweating profusely. Her soaked clothes caught Kazhan’s eye.
If they dried like that, wouldn’t she get cold?
Frowning, he finally moved again, enduring the pain. As he struggled to remove Ysaris’s clothes with one hand, his own body became drenched in sweat.
After what felt like an eternity, Kazhan collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, and suddenly cursed under his breath.
“Damn it.”
Even in this situation, his body reacted to Ysaris’s naked form. Her sweat-slicked skin, flushed with fever, sparked all kinds of thoughts.
‘Unbelievable. Am I really this much of a bastard?’
Kazhan roughly ran his hand through his hair and sat up again. Ignoring his body’s demands, he grabbed a ragged piece of cloth to wipe away her sweat, when something he hadn’t noticed before caught his eye.
Ysaris’s… belly was swollen.
“What?”
It wasn’t very large. If she had just eaten a large meal, it would’ve been understandable.
But that wasn’t the case. She had only just eaten a few berries as her first meal.
Kazhan stood there, frozen, then shook his head.
‘No, it can’t be. If she were pregnant, she or the physician would have told me long ago. It must be an overactive imagination.’
Even as he tried to dismiss it, a sense of unease lingered in his heart. Her entire body was still lean, except for her protruding belly, which nagged at his thoughts.
“…I’ll have to ask her later.”
Kazhan set aside his suspicions and continued with what he had to do. Though his body had suffered countless wounds from rolling through battles, this was his first time nursing someone else, and his clumsy hands wiped away her sweat.

And so, a day passed. When she murmured faintly about being cold, he spent the night holding her close, sharing his body heat.

* * *

“Ugh…”
Ysaris slowly opened her heavy eyes. Or so she thought, but her vision was blurred and dark.
In her hazy mind, all she could sense was the dull ache throughout her body and the familiar warmth beside her.
It felt just like after she and Kazhan had shared a rough encounter.
“What, ugh.”
“Ngh!”
Their groans overlapped. As Ysaris tried to sit up, a sharp pain shot through her head, and her muscles screamed in protest, draining her strength. Dizzy and disoriented, she tried to grasp the situation when Kazhan’s strained voice reached her ears.
“Lie still, Empress.”
“Your Majesty?”
Kazhan, who had draped his injured left arm over Ysaris to keep her warm, took a deep breath. Her sudden movement had sent a jolt of pain shooting through him, making his head throb.
“Phew… It’s still early. Get some more sleep.”
“When did I…?”
“You passed out. Right after the Beowulf left. Don’t you remember?”
“Ah.”
Ysaris finally understood what had happened. Her body, which she had been forcing to hold on through sheer willpower, had eventually collapsed.
‘Did he take care of me?’
Ysaris parted her lips, but she didn’t ask anything. Kazhan, too, didn’t explain what had happened. Instead, with a tired voice, he said something else.
“We just need to hold on for a few more days. Uzephia is probably turning the whole mountain upside down searching for us.”
Just hold on until then.
Hearing his whispered words, Ysaris realized something.
She didn’t have the luxury of lying sick in bed. They needed to escape before the army arrived.
Even if it meant leaving today.

* * *

Ysaris couldn’t fall back asleep until morning. Maybe she had briefly lost consciousness at some point, but she kept planning and replanning in her mind.
The best course of action was to fake her death and escape. She would make it look like she had fallen victim to pursuers or wild beasts and then disappear without a trace.
However, having grown up in the palace, there was no way she could pull off a proper disguise. If anything, it would be a miracle if she wasn’t immediately caught and subjected to even harsher punishment.