Kaon woke up earlier than usual to the sound of birds chirping.
The light peeking through the curtains was dim.
‘Oh, I don’t have training today.’
He rejoiced, relishing that he didn’t have morning training for the first time in a while, and decided to forgive the birds who woke him up.
About to go back to sleep, he wrapped himself cozily in a blanket.
Kaon frowned.
There was a faint, nearly inaudible sound stimulating his keen hearing.
‘…Did I just imagine it?’
He concentrated, but he could not hear the sound again. Perhaps it had only been an invention of his half-asleep mind.
But as soon as he closed his eyes, there came a slightly clearer voice.
Kaon stared at the curtain between his room and Alessia’s.
Conflict shrouded his heart. If it was just sleep-talking, it didn’t matter, but…
‘Is she in pain?’
He remembered that she had coughed yesterday, and that he had berated himself for getting worried.
Reluctantly, he got up and crept closer. “Hey,” he began softly.
Fortunately or unfortunately, there was no answer. Even the faint sounds she had been making were gone.
“Are you sleeping?” Kaon ran a hand through his flattened hair, then asked again—with more or less the same results.
‘Was I so worked up for nothing?’
“Ngh…”
“Alessia?”
Another suppressed groan came through the curtain.
Kaon froze, then moved a little closer.
“Mmm, hnng…”
He couldn’t wait any longer, kicking the fabric aside to check on Alessia.
She lay curled up on the bed.
“What’s…”
Alessia was clearly not in any condition to be answering his questions, so he swallowed his embarrassment at entering a girl’s room and approached her bed.
The blanket was tangled tightly around her, as if she was holding on to it for dear life.
Kaon carefully touched her forehead.
He cursed and ran straight outside.
***
“It looks like a simple cold, possibly caused by fatigue or by staying in a cold place for a long time.”
The old doctor advised the maids to change the wet towel on her forehead frequently and wipe her down if she sweated too much. Lastly, he told them not to worry too much because he would prescribe her medicine.
“What happened? She was fine until yesterday…” Madeleine, who’d come running, looked down at Alessia sadly.
She seemed to have completely forgotten her past hostility.
“She overworked herself. When I tell her to take a break, she just says she’s fine. With such a thin body, of course walking around during cold days will make her sick.” She stood, thinking of how the girl was only half the size of her second daughter. “I’m going to make some soup.”
The door closed with a quiet click, leaving only Kaon and the patient in the room.
He looked at her reddened face. “You even let it get to this point…”
Madeleine was right. She’d overworked herself. Except for that one mandatory day off, she participated in all the inspections.
It was different for him, who was a trained knight.
Thinking about it that way, it was only natural that she was sick.
Kaon replaced the warmed-up towel on her forehead with a fresh one. It moved gently with her breathing.
‘Who’s the foolish one now?’
He was upset. No one in his life was as incomprehensible as Alessia Ingelos.
She was unnecessarily sincere for a pretend-mage. Even real ones didn’t work that hard.
The diligence with which she performed her role was also one of the reasons why he couldn’t just tattle to Leonida. Even if they kicked her out and hired a real mage, it was highly doubtful that anyone from the Tower would do their best like she did.
Alessia worked hard, got along well with the people of Ferdinand, and cared for others.
Except for the fact that she was decidedly not a mage, she was perfect.
“Take care of yourself…”
Kaon really couldn’t figure out why she acted like she did. If this was all because she didn’t want to get caught or criticized, she was already doing more than enough.
Other than for their abilities, Ferdinand’s expectations for mages, especially those from Ingelos, were not very high, so no one would have said anything if she were just to do the basics.
Why was she trying to protect Ferdinand so desperately, even at the expense of her own body?
“If you’re sick, just say it. Is it that difficult?”
Kaon didn’t quite understand his own feelings at the moment. She was a fake who was deceiving his family, but she was more helpful than any real mage, and she kept frustratingly silent even as she was struggling.
He sighed, then began repeating the process with the towel over and over again.
***
Alessia, barely able to lift her eyelids, felt a thread of relief. Her vision was blurry and her mind felt muddled, but at least she didn’t feel like she was spinning anymore.
‘How long did I sleep?’
The room was dimmer than she was expecting it to be, which she attributed to the dark winter mornings.
She sighed and sat up, something falling from her forehead.
Alessia stared at the towel.
No wonder she felt a cool energy every now and then, lending her power.
“…Who would do this?”
She hadn’t asked for medicine because she wrongfully assumed her condition wouldn’t get worse.
Lost in thought, she gave permission in a hoarse voice when someone knocked on her door.
“What? You woke up already?”
“…Kaon Ferdinand?”
“Look at you, tacking on that last name. It seems that you’ve regained your strength.” The unanticipated visitor placed a tray on the bedside table. “Eat. Madeleine cooked it this morning.”
“Madeleine? How did she know…”
Warm steam rose from the bowl. It was potato soup, boiled carefully with tender meat and seasoned perfectly.
‘Is this a dream?’
It seemed like the more likely option. It was the only explanation for why anybody noticed that she was sick and took good care of her.
“You’d better finish it before it gets cold. There’s medicine waiting for you after you eat.”
If this was not a dream, Kaon would not have been helping her like this after a month of tense awkwardness between them.
Alessia’s brain gave up on thinking about it. All she knew was that she’d always wanted someone to take care of her when she was sick, at least once. Moreover, Kaon Ferdinand was different from anyone she’d ever known.
‘I guess it’s not surprising that I’m dreaming about him, about this.’
Head pounding, she relaxed and lay down again.
“Looking at your face, it seems that your fever hasn’t gone down yet.” His tongue clicked.
Alessia ignored it. It was her dream, and she didn’t want to engage with him.
“Put this on.”
A refreshing sensation cooled her forehead. Judging by its weight, it was probably a wet towel.
…A wet towel?
The change in temperature was too vivid to be a dream.
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