How to Hide the Emperor's Child - Chapter 29

Kaizen pulled Astelle up at once.

cough cough.

Astelle coughed and spat out cold water.

The snow scattered around the two.

From a distance, it looked like a snowy field, but this was not a field but a lake.

Snow was piled up on the frozen lake.

Astelle, soaked in cold water, shivering.

Kaizen reached out his hand.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes…… Your Majesty, thank you.”

Astelle grabbed his hand.

The watered dress was drooping.

Kaizen grabbed her with his hands and pulled her to help her stand up.

“It would have been a big deal if you didn’t come. Thanks.”

Astelle just smiled.

Unlike Kaizen who soaked in cold water, Astelle’s condition was a little more serious.

The dress was torn in several places, and the hair that had been tied up tightly was scattered.

The knees seen through the torn dress were hurt and bleeding out.

“You’re hurt.”

Two horses wandering along the lake came to them.

One was the white horse that Astelle was riding on, and the other was Kaizen’s horse.

Kaizen captured his horse.

Its mane was cold and wet because of drowning together with him.

He patted the horseback and apologized, “I’m sorry.”

Next to it was a white horse that Astelle was riding on.

He reached out his hand to Astelle.

In that state, it seemed to be difficult to get on the horse. So he carried Astelle.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Kaizen picked up Astelle and sat her on his horse.

Then he led the two horses and went to the shore of the lake.

Kaizen suddenly asked, “But what were you doing here?”

“I was just…… I was looking at the scenery.”

This was the center of the forest.

It was too far to come to see the scenery alone.

It seemed like a lie, but Kaizen didn’t dig deeper anymore.

While returning to the castle, the two trembled in the cold.

They had fallen in the cold water and crossed the forest in wet clothes.

It was cold enough that Astelle’s fingertips trembled.

Kaizen had a very healthy constitution, but Astelle looked pitiful enough.

Her pale blue lips trembled.

Do you want me to hold your hand? Kaizen thought about it for a while, but he changed his mind as he didn’t want to bother a sick person for no reason.

After crossing the forest in the wind blowing and wearing wet clothes, Astelle had a fever and lay down on the bed.

The next morning Astelle apologized to Kaizen who visited her.

With a faint smile on her pale tired face from high fever, she said, “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Looks like I can’t go with you. Don’t mind me and enjoy the hunting.”

Astelle looked paler and thinner.

Her arms and wrists are as thin as branches.

Astelle was lying in a bed in white pajamas. There was a bandage on her thin finger.

It was because her skin had been scratched while saving Kaizen.

“……”

At that moment, he thought about staying with Astelle a moment.

It wasn’t because he really liked or felt sorry for Astelle, but because he was worried that he would look bad if he still went on a hunt leaving his sick fiancee alone.

She even got hurt while saving him and got sick.

But the time to worry was short.

“Okay, then take care of yourself.”

Kaizen walked out.

And he didn’t visit Astelle again until the hunt was over.

 

***

 

Kaizen, recalling the old memories, stopped his steps.

A cool breeze gently brushed against the quiet forest.

The setting sun sprinkled the last remaining light on the green forest.

He raised his head and turned to Astelle.

The sunset shined on Astelle’s head sitting on the grass with her knees bent.

A white nape is visible under the lifted head.

Her shoulders and back had graceful lines as before, but she looked much thinner and weaker than at that time.

Astelle was prying the herbs without hesitation with her hands as delicate as willow branches.

She was the fiancee of the former Crown Prince, and she was the highest noble’s daughter in the empire.

Far from plowing and growing medicinal herbs, she never even took care of the flowers in the garden.

It was surprising that Astelle touched the soil casually and picked out herbs, and it was so pathetic.

He knew she had lived a hard life, but it was a moment to see with his own eyes how miserable Astelle’s life was.

Kaizen regretted that after the divorce, he was indifferent to Astelle.

He should have given her money, estate, and her grandfather’s pension.

He was determined to give his grandfather, the Marquis, a new mansion if Astelle still insisted that she would receive nothing from him.

If so, she would have lived with fewer troubles.

Looking back on the old memories, Astelle gave all her devotion to him as his fiancee.

She always tried to right by his side and even saved him and hurting her fingers.

Even if it was a loveless engagement, Astelle has put a lot of effort into it.

But, there was no point in regretting it now.

Sitting with her knees bent and digging for herbs, Astelle turned her head to the sound of the heavy steps behind her.

Kaizen, who had been a few steps away, came close to her.

Astelle was surprised and raised her body.

“Your Majesty……?”

It was Kaizen’s red eyes that caught Astelle’s first gaze.

The eyes with a dark red color like blood.

His red eyes, always filled with arrogant.

Suddenly, Kaizen took off his coat and put it over Astelle’s shoulder.

His long black coat covered her skinny shoulders and stretched to her ankles.

“Your Majesty?”

‘What is this?’

“Wear it, you’re not in good shape.”

Astelle was wearing a thin dress.

She wasn’t too cold before, but she was a little chilly at sunset.

Still, it wasn’t cold enough to get the coat on.

‘Why are you doing this all of a sudden?’

Vellian whose hands were full of dirt was also looking here in amazement.

Perhaps because of the emperor’s coat, her body feels warm.

Astelle took off the coat and held it back to Kaizen.

“Thank you for your consideration, but I’m fine.”

“I take off my coat, but do you need to throw it away?”

“I don’t throw it away.”

Rather than throwing it away, Astelle politely folded the coat and gave it back to Kaizen.

Kaizen clenched his teeth and took the coat.

“Hah…… yeah, do whatever you want.”

Whatever he thought, Astelle didn’t want to go along with Kaizen’s whims.

Astelle walked slowly and found a small white flower that had bloomed.

She grabbed and pulled the small flower stuck between the blades of grass.

“Your Majesty, I found the flower.”

Astelle called Kaizen.

“I have found all the herbs I need. We have to go back to the inn now.”

Kaizen’s red eyes carefully looked at the flowers in Astelle’s hand.

And he looked at Astelle with a cool gaze.

“Wouldn’t it be better to search a little more?”

“This is enough.”

She looked for medicinal herbs to make a cure for fever.

The eye color-changing medicinal herbs that were secretly found were put in the basket.

“Theory is waiting, so now I want to return to the inn.”

“You really care about him.”

Suddenly an old memory came to mind.

The memories in the forest that Kaizen talked about.

Snowy forest. Ice lake. Coldwater.

The aftereffect of falling into cold water caused Astelle to suffer from a fever overnight.

It was a fever that made her whole body tremble.

Astelle suffered from a high fever and waited for Kaizen all day long.

May Kaizen, who returned from the hunt, come to see her at least once.

However, although she waited and looked out the window until the sun went down, Kaizen did not come to see her in the end.

Astelle put away her useless memories from the past and answered honestly, “That’s obvious, it is because Theor needs me.”

“……”

“Can I go back to the inn now?”

Kaizen sighed.

“Yes, let’s go back to the inn.”

 

***

 

After returning to the inn, Kaizen goes to the main building with Vellian, saying that he would take a bath and change clothes.

Astelle returned to her room alone.

There was a young maid in her room.

“I have been ordered to serve you, Lady.”

She decided to use the room separately from Theor, so she will need a maid to take care of him.

There’s nothing to worry about anyway.

Because her room and Theor’s were next to each other and only separated by a corridor.