affection chapter 15

She was a child so thin and frail she looked as if she might topple in the wind, yet she possessed the fortitude to shield someone from a nobleman. For a commoner with nothing to protect herself, confronting a noble was not something just anyone could do.

And she’d even thrown an inkwell, he recalled. A throw so powerful it had raised a massive lump.

“It seems I was right to ask that girl to take good care of Damon.”

Though he held the highest title beneath the emperor, the duke was not one to be preoccupied with his station. His own brother, who held the most revered position in the empire, had feared and cast him out, and the one who had died for him on the battlefield was the son of the nurse who had raised him.

The duke hoped the dependable maid would remain by Damon’s side for a long time. He also decided he would go to Damon as soon as his work was settled and spend more time with him. Having made these resolutions, the duke gestured to the knight behind him.

“What is it, Your Grace?”

A knight spurred his horse to pull up alongside the duke.

“Summon Rohael. Tell him to come as quickly as possible.”

“Isn’t he still handling the aftermath on the battlefield?”

“I am aware. I need someone I can trust to manage the castle in Baron Limerio’s stead and to protect Damon.”

“Do you intend for him to stay for a short while?”

“No. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I intend for him to remain until Damon comes of age.”

The knight’s expression flickered with surprise at the duke’s decision. Rohael was the current captain of the ducal knights. Skilled not only with the sword but also in tactics and administration, he was an indispensable man to the duke. If Rohael, who managed the ducal family’s most important affairs, were to leave, it would be the duke who suffered the inconvenience. It was a clear measure of how deeply the affair with Limerio had unsettled him. The knight concealed his surprise and bowed his head.

“As you command.”

***

In a room so shabby it was hard to believe it belonged to the lord of the castle, an old physician was examining Damon.

Beside them, a servant and Sienna watched with worried faces as Damon let out labored, feverish breaths.

“I-Is he going to be all right?”

“It’s a fever… but it is dangerously high,” the old physician said, furrowing his wrinkled brow.

“It’s not easy to fall this ill in this weather. Could he… have been caught in the rain yesterday?”

“The young master was out riding last night. I believe it was raining then.”

“What were you thinking, letting such a young child ride a horse on a rainy night!”

The old physician clicked his tongue in disbelief.

At his sharp tone, all the color drained from Sienna’s face.

It’s my fault.

Because he rode a horse instead of taking a carriage to sneak to the ducal estate. He must have been soaked to the bone during the journey. He must have kept riding, pushing on and on to save me, even as his body grew colder and his temperature dropped.

Sienna gazed at Damon, whose skin was flushed with a fever rash, her face a mask of guilt.

“He will get better, won’t he…?”

“I cannot say. I will administer a potion to bring down the fever, but the rest will depend on the young master’s own ability to heal.”

The old physician took a gray vial from his medical bag.

With a soft pop, the cork came loose.

The physician pinched Damon’s nose, pried his mouth open, and poured the medicine in. A milky fluid flowed from the vial into Damon’s mouth. The medicine must have been incredibly bitter; though unconscious, Damon grimaced and tried to turn his head away, but the physician skillfully administered the entire dose.

“He must sweat a great deal. Keep him as warm as possible, and do not let him be exposed to any cold drafts.”

“Yes… I understand.”

“The house call fee is two gold.”

Sienna and the servant, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, saw their eyes widen in unison.

“T-Two gold!?”

“Fifty silver for the house call, and one gold and fifty silver for the medicine.”

The old physician, who had seemed somewhat benevolent just a moment ago, now looked more like a ruffian.

Two gold, when her own monthly salary was less than five.

Seeing their suspicious expressions, the old physician scowled.

“You look as if you think I’m swindling you. That is a temple medicine mixed with holy water. Is it not natural for it to be expensive?”

Ah, I think I’ve read about this.

Sienna recalled something from a book. Holy water, said to be powerful enough to heal even the dead, was effective against most illnesses. As a result, people became overly reliant on it, while folk remedies and traditional physicians grew increasingly rare. As people’s dependence on holy water grew, the temple colluded with the empire’s elite to rush through a bill forbidding treatment with folk remedies, after which they began to profit exorbitantly from it. She’d heard that any physician caught using folk remedies would be accused of witchcraft, facing penalties from the confiscation of their property to execution. Consequently, they had to close their practices, leaving people with no choice but to reluctantly buy the temple’s holy water potions.

“I-I will escort you to our butler.”

“Do so.”

As the servant bowed subserviently, the old physician arrogantly stroked his white beard and took his leave.

Left alone in the bedroom, Sienna perched on the edge of the bed where Damon lay.

She gently placed a hand on his forehead, her expression etched with worry. It was still shockingly hot. Hot enough that a thermometer would surely read close to thirty-nine degrees.

“To go out on a rainy night without a carriage… so reckless… sigh.”