SLDS 40

“All of you may leave.”

A low voice echoed in the quiet bedchamber. The attendants’ movements stopped for a moment, and they all turned their heads in unison. All their dazed faces were looking at the crown prince.

“Pardon?”

She asked back, braving the impertinence, but the crown prince only shot a cold glare without a reply.

The attendants had to quietly withdraw from the bed. A young attendant placed the medicine bowl she was holding on a nearby side table. With a small clink, everyone who remained in the bedchamber vacated the premises.

Even after everyone had left without a single shadow remaining, Alexis sat still without moving. At last, he let out a long sigh, whoo, and rose from the chair.

First, he rolled up his sleeves. After loosening his stiff neck with a turn of his head, he picked up the porcelain bowl the attendant had left behind.

‘If possible, it would be better to force him to take it, but….’

He’d done it once, why couldn’t he do it twice?

As he placed a knee on the bed, the plush corner of the bed sank down, pressed by Alexis’s weight.

Cecil’s limp head tilted in the same direction. His eyelids, once closed, showed no sign of opening, and his eyelashes were constantly damp with what could have been either tears or sweat.

Looking down at that sight, Alexis brought the medicine bowl to his own lips. He filled his mouth with the medicine, which was full of the scent of grass, and lowered his head.

Soft lips met, and the medicine passed between them.

It was a far more delicate and gentle method of delivery than before, but Cecil was completely asleep and could not even perceive the third kiss.

It was around dawn when Cecil finally opened his eyes. A dizzying field of vision took in an unfamiliar ceiling. Where was he? He couldn’t make it out and had to blink several times.

The plush bed, the feel of the soft fabric against his bare skin, the bitter taste remaining in his mouth—he realized that a lot must have happened while he was asleep.

“You’re awake?”

As he was slowly sitting up, a low voice came from somewhere in the dark space. Cecil flinched and reflexively turned his head.

Alexis was standing with his back to the dim moonlight filtering in through the window.

He was so surprised that he could only part his lips, but Alexis was the first to straighten the body he had been leaning against the windowsill and approach Cecil’s side.

Unconsciously, a large hand covered Cecil’s forehead. After checking his temperature with his own hand, Alexis was finally able to let go of his worries at the subsided heat.

“It’s finally gone down a bit.”

“…What, happened?”

Cecil forced his voice out with difficulty. His tonsils were so swollen that a grating, metallic sound came from his throat, but the gaze he fixed on Alexis was as clear as if he had never been sick.

Alexis was about to smile blandly but tightened his lips instead. He pressed down on Cecil’s forehead as he tried to get up, pushing him back down as he spoke.

“You had a fever and couldn’t come to your senses at all. You were bedridden for half a day.”

“……”

“The treatment is finished, so don’t worry. The royal physician looked after you with utmost care, just as you wanted.”

Cecil silently lowered his gaze. He idly rubbed the clothes he had been changed into while he was asleep.

His suspicious eyes looked up at Alexis. Judging by his usual indifferent face, it seemed he probably hadn’t noticed the secret he had tried so hard to hide.

A sigh of relief escaped him without his realizing. As he pushed back his disheveled bangs and sat up again, Alexis no longer tried to make him lie down and instead sat in a nearby chair.

Cecil scanned the spacious bedchamber. It was late at night, when everyone was asleep. There was no one here except the two of them, making it a perfect time for a private conversation.

“What happened at the hunting grounds… everyone must know by now, right?”

“I suppose so. A considerable amount of time has passed.”

Alexis replied simply, and Cecil did not press him further on the matter.

It was an incident where the crown prince himself was attacked during a royal event. On top of that, Cecil had been caught up in it and seriously injured, so the incident could not be easily covered up.

For a while, a storm of blood would blow through the imperial palace, and those involved would surely not be able to preserve their lives.

Cecil quietly closed his eyes and was lost in thought. Although he had said with his own mouth that the empress was behind it, realistically, it would be difficult to uncover the mastermind.

His mother would probably cut her losses at an appropriate point, and someone would appear to take the blame in her stead.

There was no way to stop the sigh that was welling up. His mother’s greed had always gone too far, and Cecil was always at the center of her goals. Which meant that all these evil deeds would only end when Cecil usurped Alexis’s position.

He couldn’t bear to face Alexis. Just because he gave up his own ambition didn’t mean the course of the future would change significantly. The empress would continue to pose a threat to Alexis in the future, and it was an undeniable fact that the benefits of that would fall to Cecil.

Cecil wiped his face with his dry palms. His resolve to save Alexis by any means necessary remained unchanged, so he had to force out the voice that wouldn’t come.

“…I’m sorry. I will, somehow.”

“Why are you sorry?”

The question that flew at him was as sharp as a dagger. Cecil couldn’t answer and only gripped the thin blanket tightly.

When he slightly turned his head, his eyes met with Alexis, who had his arms firmly crossed. It was the same emotionless and cold face as always. It was an expression all too familiar to Cecil.

For a moment, their gazes intertwined. Alexis tilted his head, which shone brightly even in the darkness, and spoke.

“You came to me and warned me of the danger in advance. Furthermore, you threw yourself in harm’s way to save Yuria. It’s a situation where you should be thanked, so why are you apologizing?”

“……”

At a loss for words, Cecil looked up at Alexis with his mouth agape. Perhaps because he had just recovered from a fever, Cecil even looked somewhat dazed.

Only then did Alexis smile. The man who had been endlessly cold and indifferent had finally opened his heart to Cecil.

“Thank you for what you did today. I have been thinking for a long time about how to convey my feelings. That I have… yes, to be honest, it is true that I have been very suspicious and wary of you.”

“……”

“I know well that since you also have your own position, it must not have been easy to act against the empress’s will. And I also know that you genuinely care for me.”

“What… are you talking about right now?”

Cecil asked back in a tone that suggested he did not understand. As the fronts of his eyebrows tensed, his face became rather serious. Seeing this, Alexis let out a chuckle.

“It means that from now on, I will trust you, Cecil, and keep you by my side.”

His voice, which had become much softer, signified that Alexis’s intentions were sincere.

At the unexpected words, Cecil’s face gradually brightened, and a healthy color rose to his cheeks. His rose-tinted cheeks were, to anyone’s eyes, those of a person who was extremely pleased.

“Are you that happy?”

“Yes. I really am.”

When the honest answer came, Alexis laughed out loud. Deciding to embrace Cecil had been a big decision for him as well.

While Cecil was bedridden, Alexis had also been constantly deliberating. Once he had made up his mind, his attitude toward Cecil miraculously became endlessly generous, and he even found his actions cute.

“I hope my decision will not be in vain.”

“There will be no problem. Because I will always follow you, Your Highness. That will never change.”

“I’ll take your word for it. Ah, I happen to have something to give you.”

Alexis uncrossed his firm arms and extended his right arm downward. His slightly tilted body searched for something in the dark space.

Cecil watched Alexis’s actions with a subtle sense of anticipation. As his face, which had been covered in shadow, was once again revealed under the pale moonlight, Cecil’s green eyes sparkled in response.

“This is a reward for today’s events. I hope you will accept it.”

Alexis placed something on the bed. The dagger, more than two hand-spans long, was beautiful beyond compare, from its hilt to its sheath. It was a treasured sword that only the crown prince of the empire could possess.

“……”

Cecil froze upon seeing the dagger that had come into his hands. There was no way he wouldn’t recognize it. This was the sword Alexis had given him when he ordered him to take his own life.

“How… could you have this.”

At the same time his heart constricted, a lump formed in his throat.

He remembered the brilliantly shining jewel, the weight it had in his palm, its cold temperature, and even the sensation of its tip piercing his heart.

“It is old, but it is something I cherish quite a bit. I have taken great care of it, so there should be no problem in using it. The blade is quite well-sharpened. This means it is not simply for ornamental purposes, but a sword that can actually be used to stab and kill.”

“……”

“Keep it on your person. Who knows, there may come a day when you will have a use for it.”

Alexis smiled as he subtly observed Cecil’s reaction. He had expected him to be so happy he wouldn’t know what to do, but the face that met his eyes was ashen, as if he might faint at any moment. The hand that received the sword was also trembling like there was an earthquake.

At the unexpected reaction, the curve of Alexis’s lips also hardened.