*This chapter is a little confusing. Sorry in advance.*
***
‘What do I have to do now?’
The lab was destroyed and the temple was trampled by the emperor’s brutal footsteps.
Shed was just filled with rage and anger towards Karzen, and the test subjects who devoted themselves for a greater cause came to his mind for a while.
Suddenly a face popped up without him expecting it.
Raha de Harsa.
The Princess….
Shed frowned.
She really was a fickle woman. Just an innocent look, casual eyes, and a voice that said she was not interested……
Sometimes, he felt like he was looking at a doll.
Her body temperature was the only thing that reminded him she was a human being.
The body heat in Shed’s hands slowly rose and then disappeared .
* * *
Raha couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Your Highness. I will send for the palace physician immediately.”
Raha came into the lounge of the Grand Banquet Hall, saying she felt nauseous.
There was nothing special about it. Karzen didn’t notice anything strange either.
“Princess, by this time, you’re supposed to feel like this..….”
She could hear the maid delivering small, quick words.
Yes, originally Raha was always in such a bad condition when new slaves came in. She wasn’t in a good shape even after staying in the inner palace for a week, so it would be even worse now that she had come out just after two days, like this time.
Sitting in the long chair, crouching her shoulders, Rach could hear someone gasping a little in her ear. He must have received the call and come running like crazy.
“Princess.”
At the young voice, Raha raised her head.
“Let me check your condition.”
Unlike the cautious voice, the face was at most fourteen years old. The boy, dressed in the neat and luxurious attire worn only by the people of the Imperial Palace, took out some medicine from a box he brought.
“Take this.”
It was something familiar. It was a stabilizer.
Raha gulped down the stabilizer in one gulp. She coughed lightly and the boy’s small hand patted her back gently. Raha’s doctor spoke.
“Take care of yourself, Princess.”
“…… I was going to.”
“It’s my fault I’m not good enough.”
“No.”
Raha closed her eyes tightly. After exhaling a few times, her mood gradually rose to the reference point.
This doctor’s medicine was working well for Raha.
“Oliver.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Raha looked at the empty bottle of stabilizer with a disappointed look in her eyes.
“Can’t I take this every day?”
“No….”
“Yes.”
Raha nodded honestly. The boy, who had been looking at her with downcast eyes, knelt down and began to examine her.
That young Imperial Physician had really been that enthusiastic since the first day he walked in. Raha called out to him.
“Oliver.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“How is your master?”
“Master sent a letter saying that he had just arrived in the desert. He said that he was having some difficulty breathing because sweat was pouring down his face with every breath. He also said that he missed the cold winter winds of the Delo empire.”
“It must be hard.”
“No, he’s fine.”
Oliver said, writing something down.
“He’s a wise man, he said it was the right thing to do.”
A wise man.
It was another sign that this vast Delo Empire was blessed by God.
It was said that the thirteen wise men were the first to help the Founders to establish the Delo Empire when it was founded. Being the wisest people in the entire continent, they were a group that provided knowledge only for the Emperor of Delo. Because of their symbolism, they had not been good at discipleship.
One of those few disciples was Oliver.
He changed his career path because he felt interested in medicine, and he had to step down as the official disciple of the wise man. But anyway, his relationship with the wise men did not stop.
That was why, despite his young age, he was able to obtain the position of the Imperial Princess’ doctor. Of course, his skills were outstanding.
Oliver gave Raha a packet of medicine and the rest to the maidservant. Then he said to Raha in a low voice.
“Make sure you take one packet every night, Princess.”
There was no asking back what medicine it was. Raha had never asked what kind of medicine she was prescribed.
“Your Highness.”
So Oliver said, holding the medicine box.
“You need to stop the physical activities for a day or so.”
“…….”
Raha, who had been gazing blankly at the sky, turned to the side.
Physical activities……?
“No matter how much fun you have, too much of it can throw your body out of balance, so enjoy everything in moderation and your health will not be affected.”
The way he spoke was like an old man despite his young age.
Still, it always made Raha glad when she saw Oliver. She glanced at her young doctor, who had a worried look in his eyes, and smiled.
* * * *
It was late at night when there was a rustling sound in the west wing.
Shed’s head turned reflexively to that side as he was checking the book that Raha had given him.
The maids who organized and cleaned the inner palace always came only for a certain time in the morning. So the heavy footsteps he heard weren’t that of the maids.
Moreover, they always came through the corridor of the east wing. And there was the same order that the maids could not go to the west wing, so they never went near the west wing either.
Most importantly…….
What Shed heard now was the sound of certain military boots. And it was more than one.
Shed opened the center of the second book Raha had given him. Hidden among the papers was a dagger, slightly smaller than his hand.
Shed closed the book and didn’t go that way. It was also the place where the Imperial Princess had obsessively told him not to go.
The hustle and bustle of people coming from the west wing was hectic. It didn’t seem like they had any intention of coming in here in the first place. Perhaps they were moving decorations in the hallway and it was a heavy job so they had to mobilize the guards.
“D*mn it! It’s bleeding!”
The small swear words shattered Shed’s hopes. “Blood?” Shed’s forehead frowned a little at the unexpected word.
“D*mn it, get rid of it! We’ll be seen if we stay too long.”
At the same time, very carefully, the bedroom door to the west wing hallway opened.
Shed leaned back against the pillows and averted his gaze. He was still holding Raha’s book in his hand.
His gaze that encountered the mysterious uninvited guests.
The Kingsguards outside were really surprised, as they naturally expected no one to be there.
“……!”
However, the Kingsguards seemed to be more concerned about the bedroom door that opened with a great burden than the slave sitting on the bed. They hurriedly began to carry out their original purpose. By wiping away the red blood that had leaked out the door and started to wet the bedroom floor little by little.
Shed watched the knights as they hurriedly wiped away the blood.
The knight, who had wiped away the blood at a dizzying pace and made it clean in no time, looked up. The slave, the rare slave who was fortunate enough to still be alive, did not look good.
They knew, of course, that this slave (Shed) was the test subject brought in from the Holy Kingdom.
The knight was a member of the Kingsguard.
Shed said nothing at the sight of the blood, and the knights could do nothing but clamp their mouths. The fact that the blood came to the door of the Princess’s bedroom was a problem, but the fact that they had opened the bedroom door to clean it was also a big problem.
It would have been better if they hadn’t seen anyone. …… If this slave told the imperial Princess what he had seen today, and if the imperial Princess whispered this story to the Emperor…?
Just imagining it made their hands and feet feel cold. The knight immediately opened his mouth.
“Please tell the Princess that all the slaves were moved here….”
The knight faltered as he spoke.
“They were bleeding, I can’t help it…… There was really nothing we could do about it. We haven’t even gone a foot over to the bedroom, and we really …….”
He sounded strangely desperate. Shed remembered what Raha had said about not even opening the door to the corridor side of the west wing. So when he heard the knight say that they had moved all the slaves, he just guessed that a separate room was attached to that side.
But something was wrong.
How did the slaves’ blood get into the bedroom here?
“Well, check it out. We really only moved the slaves…….”
In the midst of all this, the voice of the knight oozed with unconcealed fear. He seemed to be very worried that Shed had misunderstood something.
Shed wanted to avert his gaze as much as possible, due to the imperial Princess’ instructions, but he couldn’t help it and looked in that direction.
Then he realized that something was wrong.
It was different from what Shed had expected. There was no such thing as a separate room in the corridor of the west wing. It was just a straight corridor. Except for the fact that it was very long and had large, ornate decorations, it was just an ordinary Imperial Palace corridor.
However……
Shed could clearly see what the knights had been carrying.
Dead slaves lay coldly on both sides of the long red carpet in the middle of the corridor. All of them were faces that had been dragged from the laboratory this time. Shed remembered their faces, though he had never spoken to any of them.
The pearl necklaces on the corpses’ necks flowed down.
“They’re dead.”
“…….”
“If they’re all dead, why are you putting them here? Don’t you have eyes?”
The natural undercoat popped out as if it had been used for a lifetime. Thanks to this, the knights didn’t immediately realize what the problem was with the way the slave said it.
And even if they had known, it wouldn’t have mattered.
The guards were also not in a state of moribundity for the first time in years, but in a state of sedimentation.
Shed’s face was also very beautiful. He didn’t look comfortable, but if he skillfully secured the position of the Princess’s lover in that short time……
It meant that there was nothing much to say even if this slave cursed at them.
***
Edited: okay guys, after translating chapter 15, I have a little understanding of the last part of this chapter. So if go read chapter 15, you’ll understand this chapter a little more.