It wasn’t like this when he was hit with the same poison in the past. Back then, he started to recover within three hours, even though he had more serious injuries.
Now that he thought about it, he’s sure he’s in a strange state, but…
“It’s not an emergency.”
“Really not?”
“Yes.”
Next morning.
Because of Damian, who carelessly delivered the sad news, Ivan had to rack his brains again.
“For more than 10 years, even after rolling your body so hard, there’s not a single scar left. That resilience suddenly malfunctioned, but that’s not an emergency?”
“Hm.”
“Have you ever heard of excessive bleeding or blood loss?”
Even sarcastically, Damian didn’t seem to listen. He had other plans altogether.
“Come to think of it, I forgot about yesterday because I was so happy that my wife was worried about me, but I can’t let my second brother sit around any longer. I don’t know if it’s me but to send assassins even to my wife…”
“No, is that important right now in this situation?”
Considering Damian Rupenwein’s tactical value, the fact that the wounds on his body didn’t heal as usual was not a situation that could be disregarded with an “I see”.
It was as if one corner of the castle wall protecting the Crown Prince’s faction had collapsed.
They urgently had to make repairs and find out what caused it to collapse.
But the involved party, Damian, didn’t think so.
“He dared to assassinate my wife. What could be more important than this?”
A deep sigh escaped Ivan’s mouth. Apparently, Damian was not likely to elaborate further on his abnormal condition, nor was he prepared to cooperate in devising countermeasures.
Then there’s only one way.
Fortunately, there’s only one person in the mansion who could talk to the man who couldn’t understand the language and even had the authority to control him.
Ivan heartlessly decided to use the last resort of ‘tell Her Highness the Grand Duchess’.
***
There’s a heart-rending desperation in Ivan’s appeal to Damian Rupenwein’s growing reluctance.
Lilian calmly listened to Ivan’s story and nodded her head.
“I understand, Sir. Thank you for sharing this story. Let me try to solve this.”
How can he not trust her!
Ivan flew back to Damian and told him.
“Your Highness, Her Highness is calling.”
“What?”
Damian also grasped the situation with those words.
“Ivan, you…”
You can’t stand it and told my wife? The moment when Damian’s momentum is about to become vicious…
“Aren’t you going? Her Highness must be waiting for you.”
“…I’ll go and see.”
Damian didn’t want Lily to know about his injury.
It was a minor wound, except that it did not heal. He didn’t even bleed much. Even if this wound never healed, he would not die. It might be a bit inconvenient.
When he checked his core and mana after a very long time to figure out the cause, he noticed minor damage to the core. But even that was very minor.
The degree of injury was not serious. However, this was just a superficial excuse, and Damian’s true intention was deeper.
The fact that the wound didn’t heal right away was a problem only for Damian. For ordinary people, this was rather normal.
Damian himself was not ordinary.
He didn’t want to confide in Lily about that.
‘But he told such nonsense to her?’
His irritation with Ivan was on the verge of turning into murderous intent. But a bigger anxiety ate Damian’s heart.
Damian bit his lip. His wife was a clever woman.
She may have felt a strange sensation. She might have noticed the existence of a secret that Damian was desperately trying to hide.
Anxiety so great weighed on his heart that he couldn’t even comprehend the level of pain from the wound that hadn’t healed yet. Damian wanted to run away, but he still wanted to check.
He wanted to confirm that Lilian didn’t know anything yet. She had no idea that she had tamed a starving beast without even knowing it, and he wanted confirmation that she wasn’t thinking about running away yet.
He was afraid. Mana began to expand ominously along the storm of emotions that raged violently.
Perhaps it’s because he was aware of the damage to his core, he felt the movement of his mana stimulating the minute damage.
Damian stood still, unable to do this or that, holding onto the doorknob. It was then.
Rattle.
“…!”
The doorknob that had not been turned turned. The door was opened from the inside.
“Wife…”
“Your Highness.”
It was a calm voice as usual but in a strangely tense voice.
In Damian’s mind, the memory of the night he had returned from the Blanchett Duchy suddenly came back to life.
“Come on in.”
“Yes…”
Damian, oddly and uncharacteristically intimidated, followed Lilian into the room.
“Would you like some tea?”
“That’s…”
He had no intention of refusing to let Lilian do something for him. Normally, he would have been a little more happy, but now, perhaps because of his anxiety, he couldn’t even answer easily.
“It won’t taste very good, but it’s not to the point of being so nervous. Well…maybe.”
“Anything you give is fine.”
Damian responded quickly. Inside, he was spinning his head, interpreting Lilian’s attitude from various angles.
She’s not running away yet, is it reassuring to see that she didn’t even bother to think about it? Or should he be nervous and accept it as a pause before the full-scale interrogation?
Contrary to the complicated thoughts in his mind, Damian entered a state of carrying out the ‘wait’ command with his butt firmly attached to where Lilian told him to sit.
Lilian calmly began to pour tea for Damian and herself.
In retrospect, Damian had only heard that Lilian’s hobby was serving tea, but this was the first time he had ever seen it in person.
The rattling pottery and the sound of pouring warm water made the atmosphere quiet.
Lilian moved quietly and cautiously. Damian caught his breath as he looked at her.
He thought it was a very Lilian-like hobby. By the time the not-so-bad scent of tea rose, Damian’s heart also calmed down a little.
In fact, Lilian not trying to avoid him was a big help in stabilizing his body and mind.
“Try it. It may not suit your taste.”
Lilian had prepared it for him wholeheartedly. He had no room for the standard taste to intervene.
Damian took a sip of tea.
It tasted warm and fragrant grass. To put it bluntly, it was absolutely not to his taste.
Nevertheless, a sip of tea calmed his raging heart, albeit slightly.
Was it because this tea, like that knot, was made by Lily? Damian involuntarily started drinking the tea in sips.
“It seems to suit your taste.”
“Yes.”
Damian nodded. Then, looking at her eyes, he added cautiously.
“Because my wife gave it to me.”
Damian was like an obedient dog with its tail lowered today. Watching Lily’s eyes while sipping and carefully holding a cup of tea that looked very small in his large hands…is it wrong to say he looked cute?
Anyway, cute is cute and this was this. Lilian made sure Damian had half-emptied the teacup before bringing up the main point.
“I heard about Your Highness’ injuries.”
“…yeah.”
With his hair bristling with tension, Damian nodded his head thoughtfully.
“Sir Ivan said that Your Highness is very outstanding in terms of resilience, but he said that the wound this time doesn’t heal.”
“Indeed.”
Lilian’s expression darkened. Damian added hastily.
“I was afraid that you would be worried. It’s just a minor wound…”
“Minor?”
“In fact, it’s normal for poisoned wounds to not heal easily. I’ve never been normal…”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
Lily cut him off with a rarely determined expression.
“The resilience that Your Highness showed so far is not showing up in that wound. This means that something is wrong with Your Highness’ health.”
“But normal people…”
“I’m talking about Your Highness’ condition right now. Not about the other ordinary people.”
Damian was momentarily speechless. Upon learning of his monstrous resilience, Lilian was not suspicious.
She didn’t question the source of his resilience and took it for granted, even going a step further and worrying for Damian.
‘You’re not afraid…right?’
It was around the age of three or four. There was a maid who pushed Damian away, saying that she didn’t want to touch the monster. Damian was pushed and suffered a cut on his forehead.
Young Damian was so hurt that he wished the wound would heal quickly.
However, seeing the wound on his forehead healing right in front of her eyes, the lady-in-waiting screamed and took a step backward, falling to her death.
After that incident, Damian stopped wishing his wounds healed quickly. No matter how badly he was hurt, he just tried to endure it even if no one healed the wounds.
He seemed to think that it was better to be sick than to be hated.
Then.
As he got older and became a teenager, his resilience got out of control. Damian eventually gave up on suppressing himself and living at that point and headed for the battlefield.
But Lilian was not afraid.
Something unbelievable is happening, Damian thought.
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