SLDS 38

The horse galloped at a fierce speed. They deliberately avoided people’s eyes, choosing to travel only on rough, unrefined paths, but the rider was so skilled that they were out of the forest in an instant.

After leaving the hunting grounds, it was a straight shot to the imperial palace. It was a distance that would take a couple of hours even at full speed, but they could not afford to delay for a moment.

The constant jolting made his whole body bounce. It was enough to be difficult for a person in good health, so it went without saying for Cecil, who was barely holding on.

Cecil, who had been clutching the horse’s mane, began to sway more and more. At the same moment the horse leaped to clear a fence, Cecil lost his balance and slumped forward completely.

Had Alexis not reflexively thrown out an arm, he might have fallen right off. Alexis calmed his startled heart, holding the reins with one hand.

“Is it difficult? If you can’t bear it, tell me now.”

“…No, it’s fine… huff, I’m fine.”

He was so limp he looked like a water-soaked blanket, which was plain to see, yet Cecil stubbornly shook his head, insisting he was fine.

Alexis clicked his tongue softly.

Who did he take after to be this stubborn. Then again, where would that bloodline go. He was getting annoyed, but thinking that delaying would be a loss for them both, he spurred the horse on again.

He held the reins and wrapped his left arm around Cecil’s chest. It was a posture that required considerable balance and stamina, but for Alexis, who had rolled on battlefields for several years, it was not a particularly difficult task.

The problem was that Cecil’s condition was progressively worsening. His hands had already lost their strength long ago, and he could not even support his own body. A hot body temperature could be felt through the thin summer fabric.

Alexis quietly urged the horse on, closely monitoring Cecil’s condition through his left arm.

With his head bowed low, Cecil had his pale nape completely exposed. His fever was so high that beads of sweat could be clearly seen trickling down his skin.

“Cecil.”

Alexis slowed the horse a little and called to Cecil. But all he could hear was panting breaths; Cecil could not answer.

Eventually, he stopped the horse and properly checked his condition. When he placed a hand on his forehead, he felt a body temperature as hot as a ball of fire.

The wound had already clotted, and blood was no longer flowing. But why was Cecil’s condition like this?

Despite such a high fever, his face was as pale as a corpse. His breathing was thin and irregular, as if he might stop breathing at any moment.

Thinking that a major incident would occur if they continued like this, Alexis brought the horse to a complete stop. It just so happened that a small private house was visible nearby.

Dismounting, Alexis briefly sat Cecil down in the cool shade of a tree. He then approached the house alone and spoke to a woman who was doing chores in front of her home.

“I have a request. If you happen to have any fever reducer, could you share some.”

“A fever reducer? Who are you to suddenly demand a fever reducer… eek!”

The woman looked up casually, then was so surprised she dropped her basket. The small berries she had been diligently picking rolled all over the ground, but she had no mind to spare for them.

When she saw the lustrous fabric, she had thought he was just a high-ranking nobleman, but the shining platinum blond hair clearly indicated who he was. The commoner woman, who had never had a chance to meet a royal in her entire life, prostrated herself flat on the ground, showing her reverence.

“Y-Your Highness! This lowly one failed to recognize Your Highness and has committed a rude act. Please forgive me!”

“You were not rude. In any case, it would be good if I could receive the fever reducer quickly. If possible, could I also get some water to drink?”

“O-Of course! I will bring it at once!”

The woman hurried into the house. Fortunately, since she was raising a child, she always kept emergency medicine like fever reducers on hand.

A short while later, the woman reappeared, clutching many things in her arms. Not daring to meet the crown prince’s eyes, she looked only at the area around his chest as she handed over the things she had brought one by one.

“This is the fever reducer. I do not know who will be taking it… but it is something we commoners make and take, so it might be a little different from what is taken at the palace.”

“That does not matter.”

Alexis took the medicine bottle without a care. The medicinal ingredients were surely different from the medicine prepared in the imperial palace, but Alexis was one to trust folk remedies quite a bit.

He shook the medicine bottle. The viscous liquid sloshed inside the dark brown glass bottle.

“The fever reducer is quite unusual.”

“Yes. My child mainly takes it, so I made it like a syrup. About two spoonfuls should be enough.”

“Hmm, not bad.”

He had just been wondering how he was going to give the medicine to Cecil. For someone who was having trouble regaining consciousness, a thin syrup form would actually be helpful.

Alexis then took the water and searched inside his clothes. Having nothing suitable, he ended up tearing a button off his hunting attire and handing it to her.

“Take this for now. This is all I have at the moment. I will see to it that you are compensated for the medicine as soon as I return to the imperial palace.”

The woman’s eyes went wide when she saw the obsidian button that had rolled into her palm. Such a precious jewel! For mere fever reducer and water, she had received several months’ worth of wages, so it was only natural that the corners of her mouth rose on their own.

“Y-Your Highness! If you don’t mind, this too….”

She hurriedly handed a small pouch to the turning crown prince. Alexis gestured with his eyes instead of speaking, asking what it was, and the woman bowed her head reverently and added an explanation.

“They are blueberries I grew myself. They happen to be perfectly ripe, so I thought you could taste them. They have been washed cleanly.”

She wondered if the crown prince, who had only ever eaten precious and fine things his entire life, would even deign to look at something like blueberries grown by a mere commoner. But the woman felt she had received far too much, and she was also worried about the person who would be taking the fever reducer. Because her children always had to wash their mouths out with fruit or candy after taking medicine.

“Thank you.”

Alexis readily accepted the woman’s goodwill. Afterwards, while the woman prostrated herself in a bow, he turned and headed back to where Cecil was.

Cecil, sprawled out in the cool shade, was still listless and ailing. His condition had only worsened, and could by no means be called okay.

Alexis knelt and sat down, facing Cecil.

“Cecil, open your eyes.”

Cecil, who had been leaning his head weakly against the tree trunk, managed to lift his heavy eyelids, albeit faintly.

His vision was completely blurred. He knew the person in front of him was Alexis, but his fever was raging so high that he couldn’t see his form clearly.

“I have brought medicine. Take it, and then we will set off again.”

He didn’t have the strength to reply to Alexis’s voice, which fluctuated between the boundaries of affection and indifference.

Cecil found it difficult to even distinguish whether this was a dream or reality. His eyelids, which he had opened with difficulty, could not bear the weight and closed again.

In place of Cecil, who couldn’t lift a finger, Alexis personally opened the medicine bottle’s cap and supported the tip of Cecil’s chin.

He inserted his thumb between his teeth to force his mouth open, then tilted the bottle. He roughly poured the syrup-like fever reducer into his mouth, but since his tongue wouldn’t move, it wouldn’t go down his throat and just trickled out.

“You’re a handful to the very end.”

When he couldn’t get him to take the medicine he had gone to the trouble of getting, Alexis frowned in displeasure. He let out a short sigh and swept back his damp bangs. I can’t just leave him, what to do….

After glaring at Cecil for a moment, he put the medicine bottle to his own lips. He held a moderate amount in his mouth, then grabbed Cecil by the hair.

He pulled the limp Cecil closer, pressed their lips together, and poured all of the fever reducer he was holding into his mouth. Even after going this far, Cecil’s mouth remained listless.

Alexis pressed down on the unmoving tongue with his own. As he crushed the soft body of the tongue with the tip of his own, only then did his throat begin to open.

Gulp, gulp. As the syrup went down his throat, Cecil’s mouth tightened in response. After confirming that he had swallowed all the medicine by pressing down on the twitching tongue until the end, Alexis finally parted their lips.

“Damn it, what is this taste….”

He didn’t know what herbs were in it, but the medicine tasted unbearably bitter. Could kids even eat this stuff? But it was too late to complain.

Alexis quickly took another mouthful of the fever reducer while the aftertaste still lingered. He repeated the act of pressing their lips together and intertwining their tongues.

Whether it was because of the ridiculously bitter medicine, or because of the reckless kiss, Cecil began to regain consciousness, however faintly, from the second time the medicine went down. A hand, extended with difficulty, gripped the epaulet on Alexis’s hunting attire tightly.

It was a force so feeble that it was hard to tell if he was pushing away or clinging on. But inside their mouths, their tongues jostled intensely, engaging in a power struggle.

Alexis lightly overpowered the rebellious force of his tongue and made him take all the medicine in the end. By the time their tightly sealed lips finally separated, Cecil was in a state of complete collapse.

“Why are you making that face? Anyone would think I did something I shouldn’t have.”

Alexis said as he rinsed his bitter mouth with cold water. To him, the kiss just now held no special meaning. It was merely an act to administer medicine.

Cecil, who had just barely come to his senses, heaved his chest as if in disbelief. A hollow laugh escaped him, and his eyebrows crumpled. The taste in his mouth was just too bitter.

“Open your mouth.”

Along with the notice, Alexis pushed his fingers into Cecil’s mouth. As a few blueberries rolled in, Cecil froze foolishly again.

“Not moving your mouth? Do I have to chew this and feed it to you too?”