Chapter 52: Recovery (2)

I was a little embarrassed for a moment, but I dropped the formalities.

“Y, yeah.”

“Are you really okay? No pain anywhere?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Except for a slight headache, I’m all good.”

Emily naturally brought her hand to my forehead.

And she compares it to her own forehead.

“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like you have a fever.”

It seems like she’s become more natural with skinship and informal speech since I last saw her.

Then, a forgotten memory came to mind.

“Ah. What happened to the Head?”

“He returned safely. The elders who harassed you were all exiled, and the prince issue will be discussed later.”

“Phew. That’s a relief.”

As I was relieved, Emily grabbed my hand.

She had a slightly sad expression.

What on earth happened when I was down?

Otherwise, shy Emily wouldn’t be like this.

I asked, pretending not to know.

“Why?”

“Oh, nothing.”

This time, she blushed again and lowered her head.

It seems like she just wanted to hold my hand.

‘Hmm. Well It’s understandable if your first friend almost died.’

Especially women, unlike men, are said to have a lot of skinship with their friends.

Holding hands and linking arms are easy to do.

‘But what will happen from now on?’

I closed my eyes and fell into thought.

According to the original story, Delkarmen should have died here, and the elders who devoured the family support the 2nd Prince, Chris.

But the power of the divided Muelia Duchy was much weaker than before, and as a result, the 1st Prince became the Emperor.

But now everything has changed.

Yona and Delkarmen survived, and conversely, the elders were exiled.

Well, considering Emily’s iron blood, it’s not hard to guess what their end was like.

At least death, probably…

She probably said exile to be considerate of me.

Anyway.

As a result, this side didn’t suffer any damage at all, so there’s a high probability that Emily won’t act as she did in the original story.

‘The Imperial Family.’

The war between the hero and the demon king that will happen soon.

The Imperial Family doesn’t actively move at that time.

This is because the current Emperor is living in the weakest period of imperial power among all the emperors.

It is because of the discord among the princes and the failure of the previous Emperor’s attempt to form a demon king expedition.

Therefore, the Emperor cannot actively prevent the current princes’ struggle for the throne.

This 2nd Prince incident was probably done by the 2nd Prince alone.

In such a situation, will the remaining princes not touch the Muelia Duchy?

If they just get the support of the Muelia Duchy, the throne is as good as theirs, so they will make various proposals, whether it’s threats or conciliation.

‘I don’t like it.’

Personally, I don’t want to be involved with the Imperial Family, which is full of ambition and greed.

Then the door opened and Yona came running.

Her white hair and overall plump cheeks were much thinner.

“Sister!”

She flew and hugged me.

No matter how light Yona is, if she runs with all her might, the impact will be great.

I gave strength to my stomach, but still.

“Ugh.”

“Sister?!”

At the short exclamation, Yona slowly backed away.

She worriedly looked at my well-being.

Even now, droplets of water were forming in her eyes in real time.

I can’t see that cute face crying.

“I’m fine. Come here.”

I opened my arms, and only then did she slowly crawl and hug me.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry too much. But why did you lose so much weight?”

“You’ve lost a lot of weight too, Sister. Are you okay? Do you feel well now?”

She naturally avoided answering.

She probably grieved over my illness too.

It felt good that there was someone who would grieve for my pain.

So, I stroked her head to tell her not to worry too much.

“It’s okay, stop crying. Why are you crying on a happy day?”

“Sniffle.”

I comforted Yona for a while.

Then, my left hand tightened.

Emily, who still hadn’t let go, had given it strength.

‘Why?’

Emily had a sullen expression.

I followed her gaze with a question in my mind…huh?

She was glancing at my hand on Yona’s head.

Just in case, I moved my hand, and her gaze moved along with it.

My thoughts were correct.

‘Is she asking me to stroke her head too?’

No way. Really?

I was in a dilemma.

The other person is a princess of the Archduchy, with a status far higher than mine.

No matter how much she doesn’t discriminate against status unlike other nobles, would she like her head being stroked?

If I’m mistaken, she’ll be very embarrassed.

I took my hand off Yona’s head to check one more time.

Then.

“Sister?”

“Ahem.”

The two people looked at me at the same time.

To be precise, Yona looked at me, and Emily was startled and took her gaze away from my hand.

I naturally put my hand on Yona’s head again.

It seems that my thoughts are correct.

Otherwise, there’s no reason for her to react like this.

I carefully placed my hand on Emily’s head.

Emily’s shoulders flinched, and her ears turned red.

The red blush soon spread beyond her ears and up to her face.

Still, she didn’t take my hand away, as if she didn’t dislike it.

“Thank you.”

“!”

She flinched once again.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Her reaction was cuter than I thought.

She always appeared as an iron blood in the novel, and until recently, she maintained a certain composure.

But she showed this kind of reaction just because I put my hand on her head, the gap difference is no joke.

I became playful.

Slowly.

I moved my hand slowly.

As I stroked her head, Emily’s gaze shook violently.

She met my eyes and stood up abruptly.

“I, I have something to do, so I’ll be going first. I have something to do.”

She moved her body stiffly like a robot and left awkwardly.

“Is Emily sick too?”

“No. Hehe. You should go too. I think I should get up too.”

“Ugh. Just a little bit. Okay?”

Yona looked up at me.

Her white pupils shimmered cutely.

Well, it’s not like I’m busy.

“Only for a little while.”

“Yes! Okay!”

Yona rubbed her face.

So, after about 10 more minutes, I left the treatment room.

“Ugh. Why did I come out there?”

Emily returned to her room.

She put her hand on the spot where Rachel’s hand had been until just now.

Of course, she didn’t feel the same feeling as before.

“What’s different?”

Just putting her hand on it made her feel really good.

It was embarrassing, but, um.

I can’t express it in words.

“Is it because Rachel is the one doing it?”

No matter how much I think about it, it seems so.

Because just imagining someone else stroking my head is unpleasant.

“Then will she do it often from now on?”

Emily was envious of Rachel stroking Yona’s head without any hesitation.

But this time, Rachel took courage, so there’s a possibility that she’ll do it next time.

Knock, knock.

“Come in.”

Her subordinate opened the door and entered.

“We found the family insiders at the elders’ hideout. What should we do?”

“Insiders…”

Vassals who should be loyal to the head.

But not everyone is loyal to the head.

There are also many who are loyal to the elders, who are right below the head.

Of course, that’s not a bad thing.

The problem is that they harm the family or act against the head’s orders because they are loyal to the elders.

After arresting the elders, Emily had given orders to completely root out the elders’ forces.

“Get rid of them all. And if you see any attempt to merge the forces…you know, right?”

“Yes. I understand. I will deal with it decisively.”

Emily, who had been blushing shyly until just now, was gone.

Only the iron blood that resembled Delkarmen remained in that place.

After sending Yona back, I headed to the training ground where the knights were training.

I heard from Liela that many people had suffered while I was down.

First of all, starting with Aris, my lifesaver, Emily, Yona, Liela, Janna, and Armil.

They are all people I’ve connected with since I was possessed in the novel.

I will express my gratitude to them.

But just saying it with words is a bit, so I’m going to give Aris a potion as a gift.

Then why did I come here?

It’s to see which parts of Aris’s body are mainly injured.

Potions that act on the entire body have a lower effect.

On the other hand, potions that intensively heal specific areas have a high healing power.

That’s why I want to know which part of her body she often injures.

When I arrived at the training ground, I asked anyone.

“Excuse me?”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s Baronet Rachel.”

It’s the knight I saw near the treatment room earlier.

“What brings you here?”

“Do you have a moment? I have a question I’d like to ask you. It won’t take long.”

“Yes. Well. There’s still a lot of time left until training. Even if I didn’t have time, I would make time at the call of the Baronet.”

That’s a relief. It’s worth coming early on purpose.

“I’m actually an alchemist. Aris saved me during the attack. So, as a thank you, I want to give Aris a potion, but can you tell me where she usually gets injured?”

“Aris?”