Chapter 7

 

“Keugh. Keugh.”

Anita anticipated that it would end very soon, but once again, the coughing persisted. As his shortness of breath and nausea persisted, Anita had no choice but to rush directly to bed.

The blanket that had been slung over his shoulders fell and fell hopelessly to the ground.

On the bed, Lancelot lay helplessly, wondering when he would be fine. He was curled up in bed and was absorbing the anguish from his coughs.

“Lancelot?”

She snatched Lancelot’s forehead with care, bathed in cold perspiration. The sight of him taking a deep breath seemed so laborious that Anita’s uncommon drowsiness vanished entirely.

“Lan… Lancelot, are you alright?”

The hazy focus between his squinting eyes shifted towards her.

Lancelot regarded Anita without speaking. He blinked his eyes slowly, as if he were about to fall asleep, and his lips hardly moved.

“Not good—”

It was a really raspy voice.

“Yes?” 

“You made it.”

While looking blankly at him, Anita’s thoughts flashed to the ginger stew she had presented to Lancelot a few days before.

“Did you eat it? I told the maid to discard it right away.”

Lancelot coughed so often that he began to vomit again, before speaking softly.

“I don’t like strong fragrances, I also don’t like noise. My head is ringing in pain. It’s like a nail was being hammered into my head.”

Anita was astonished. She thought he was delicate, but she had no idea that he would be this delicate.

‘I didn’t know… me and Claunia are so excited to share a room.’

Anita felt inarticulateness resulted from the guilt.

Lancelot established this kind of eye contact with Anita and proceeded in a raspy voice,

“I just… I just cannot tolerate the loudness and odor.”

The eyes that had lingered on her for some time gradually retreated behind his thin eyelids.

“If you kept coming to Edenbahir, just know.”

His respiration seems to have slowed somewhat. Anita took the blanket and delicately laid it over Lancelot’s shoulder.

She exhaled a breath of relief and exited the room.

Tak.

On the walk back to her bedroom, Anita pondered deeply his remarks.

She was plagued by several unbearable ideas, but there was only one conclusion.

Regardless of what others may say, I’m delighted I came to Edenbahir.

***

It was midday on a day when the two-day-long snowstorm finally subsided.

“Hey, Anita. Don’t do it; let’s leave. The circus came last evening. There is a very tall guy and a lady who can breathe fire!”

It was the ninth stride already.

Claunia wrapped her arms around her and wept for 10 minutes while repeating the same phrase.

“Huh? Uhm… Ngh… Let’s go! Let’s go!”

‘I would have normally followed her at all costs, but—’

Anita moved her attention to the securely closed door.

This door leads to Lancelot. Lancelot’s situation has worsened significantly since yesterday night, therefore she was continually anxious.

It must be late in the evening when the Duke of Edenbahir returns home, since he cannot even enter the bedroom out of hatred for Lancelot.

His nanny cared for him every day, although she seemed quite exhausted.

Anita wanted to assist this nanny.

“It’s also chilly today… Claunia, let’s play all day tomorrow. A circus company spends one week in one location. Tomorrow I shall be able to visit you.”

“I miss you today! Not tomorrow!”

Claunia, who had a large face with prominent lips, nodded her head only after some time had passed.

“Huh! Okay, just this once. Because Anita fulfilled my desires daily. I’ll let you decline at this moment.”

“Thanks a lot Claunia.”

“According to my mum, giving is as essential as getting. Instead, we must spend the whole day outdoors tomorrow. Promise?”

“Yes, I promise.”

Therefore, Anita spent the whole day and evening with Lancelot, reading books and doing puzzles. Anita was relieved that Lancelot did not have any painful sensations like what he experienced last night.

The hour hand was pointed to 11 o’clock when Anita awoke.

“Anita.”

Late at night. Claunia, dressed in a nightgown, approached with anxious eyes.

“When will you be sleeping? You’ve spent the whole day around Lancelot. How are you feeling, are you tired?”

The job wasn’t hard at all, Anita just monitored Lancelot’s health, read books, and solved puzzles.

“I’m worried, and also cold.”

“But Lancelot is always sick… so don’t stay beside him always, you’ll get sick. If the both of you are unwell, I’m gonna be so sad because I have no one to play with.”

“Don’t fret. Sleep peacefully, Claunia.”

Claunia nodded and left peacefully. 

It seems at first glance that Anita fell asleep in the quiet bedroom. The tossing noise gradually roused Anita’s consciousness, which had already sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

“Ah.”

After blinking her eyes incoherently for some time, she hastily rose from a loud groan.

“Ugh—”

Again.

 

“Lancelot?”

Did the discomfort he felt return?

However, this time was different.

Lancelot, who had fallen out of bed, was trembling as though experiencing an epileptic seizure.

‘What… what should I do?’

Anita rushed to him and assessed his condition.

“Lancelot, are you okay?”

 

However, the situation is not normal.

From the top of his chest to the bottom of the chin, tiny veins jutted out like the roots of an ancient tree. The white, split lips were continuously bitten, blood was streaming, and his whole body shook violently.

Lancelot, taking a big breath, mumbled as if he were ill.

“My heart is… heated.”

‘His… His chest is in pain? But why? Did his heart hurt?’

“Wait a minute, I’ll call someone… Ouch!”

Anita’s body, which was ready to call for help, was repelled by a grasp she had never previously encountered.

The blood-brittle back of his hand was clasping her arms. Blood started to form on the light nails that had penetrated the white flesh.

“Ow, it’s painful, Lancelot!”

“Keugh.” 

Then, abruptly, a weird glare erupted in Lancelot’s eyes, which had opened with a flare of light.

Momentarily, Anita’s respiration ceased.

‘Ah.’

At the unusual feeling of his pulse thumping, she inhaled and automatically arched her back.

‘What’s that?’

It stings like an electric shock in her chest.

Anita regarded Lancelot with a blank expression in a weird and unfamiliar way.

His eyes were a little peculiar. The pupils of reptiles are lengthy and longitudinally torn. It was the look of his pupils…

‘Golden eyes?’

Were Lancelot’s eyes really brilliantly yellow? As she recalled, it was a little shade of dark green…

“Damn!”

Anita, frightened by Lancelot’s scream, embraced his body.

His blue-colored lips let forth a tormenting groan.

‘It was eerie. Lancelot, unlike anybody else, that formidable Lancelot… I could not believe that I was sobbing since the agony was unbearable.’

Lancelot said while pushing Anita’s fingers over her neck.

“You need to kill me—”

‘What am I to do in this situation?’

‘Scared.’

What if Lancelot’s body fails in this manner? If Anita tried to go out to locate someone, she became concerned that he may potentially injure himself.

Lancelot was not strangled by Anita. Instead, he gave him a tighter embrace.

The ache in his arm vanished without so much as a mouse or a bird in sight.

A raspy whisper was heard,

“Damn it hurts. rather… You kill me, Anita. please.”

“Okay, you’re okay, Lancelot; you’ll be fine with a little patience. You have always had.”

Even one day is better than none, therefore Anita wanted to share his suffering.

“I will remain in this place. I’ll keep vigil all night. It’s all right, Lancelot. it’s alright.”

His convulsions did not cease. Anita stammered and opened her lips, transferring her warmth to his corpse-like body.

“Hey, you’re here. The circus cast has arrived. Claunia informed me the previous day. She suggested numerous times that we go have a look, but I declined.”

Anita herself was ignorant of the subject at hand.

She continued to talk despite this. With one arm, she embraced Lancelot, while with the other, she rubbed his skeletal back.

“It’s a wonderful circus. Too… It is well-known, thus it must have attracted visitors from the adjacent cities. The child said of a very tall guy and a lady who breathed fire—”

 

 

 

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Hi! So advance chapters are available now for purchasing! I just want to say that ko-fi tiers are gonna be set up soon with more advance chapters!

But right now, I’ll just post them as individual chapters for our low spender readers… anyway, love you all and thanks for reading!

 

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