I’m in Trouble Because The Emperor Thinks My Time is Limited - Chapter 10

To summarize: nothing happened in the end.

Though the bleeding had already stopped while I was in Sionel’s arms on the way to the emperor’s quarters, I couldn’t even protest as they bathed and dressed me. By the time I regained my senses, I found myself neatly laid on Sionel’s bed.

While I knew I was in the imperial palace, I hadn’t expected to end up in the emperor’s own bed. It felt like a luxury.

“Isn’t sharing a room a bit much?”

“It’s fine. The priest will be here soon.”

Every time I tried to protest, they reassured me with phrases like “It’s fine” and “Nothing will happen.” Ironically, I was the calmest one in the room, despite the others being far paler than I was.

Everyone around me was frantic, but I, the one who had bled, was the least concerned. Finally, the priest came running in, gasping for breath. Normally, no one was allowed to run in the palace, but because of me, many people had broken that rule today.

“Miss Lindel!”

The priest, familiar with the situation, immediately started chanting a recovery spell as he took my wrist and felt my pulse. Though struggling to catch his breath, he was entirely focused on me.

“Take a moment to rest.”

Unable to bear it any longer, I told him to take a breather, but he just looked at me with teary eyes.

His rough skin and the downturned corners of his mouth made him look pitiful.

“Are you okay?”

“The fact that you’re worrying about me in a time like this… Don’t worry about me. I’m the one who’s incompetent, causing you such trouble. How could I rest?”

At a loss for words, I closed my mouth, but I could hear the servants whispering in hushed voices nearby.

“Even though she’s struggling so much, she still thinks of others first. As expected of Miss Lindel.”

“How could she be so kindhearted?”

“She’s the one who should be the empress.”

At that point, I figured it was best to just close my eyes and stay quiet. I was too scared to say anything.

“How is she?”

Sionel, who had been standing by my side the whole time, asked anxiously. His face was rigid, but the priest seemed unfazed by the emperor’s presence.

With a serious expression, the priest calmly responded, “Don’t worry too much. It wasn’t anything too serious. The strain tore the fragile membrane. She’ll be fine with enough rest.”

At those words, Sionel collapsed onto the bed, resting his head against it. He, too, looked exhausted.

He spoke quietly, his head resting on the back of my hand, “You still want to go outside after all this.”

Though he wasn’t scolding me, the weariness in his voice sounded like a reprimand.

“I heard you couldn’t sleep. Were you uncomfortable somewhere?”

“I just couldn’t fall asleep.”

Of course, I couldn’t tell him that I had stayed up reading a fraudulent contract, so I gave a vague answer.

The priest interjected, “Did you feel any pain, or have trouble breathing?”

His tone was certain.

The priest was acting differently than usual, but I didn’t think much of it and answered truthfully.

“There was no pain. I did feel a bit short of breath, but that’s just because I haven’t been eating well lately.”

I wasn’t eating properly, which left me weak, but there was nothing more to it. The priest, however, didn’t stop there and continued questioning me.

“You’ve lost your appetite, felt lethargic, and often felt dizzy, haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Have you experienced any stiffness in your back or weakness in your legs?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

I had felt dizzy from the blood loss, and since I had been lying down so much, my muscles had weakened, making my body feel uncomfortable. While the priest seemed to be pinpointing my symptoms with surprising accuracy, anyone who had seen my routine could have guessed those things. So I wasn’t particularly impressed.

But the priest’s face was solemn, almost reverent.

“As I thought.”

“What do you mean?”

The priest’s behavior was strange today. Unlike his usual anxious demeanor in front of the emperor, he seemed fully engrossed in diagnosing my condition.

I should have found this unsettling.

I shouldn’t have answered him so casually.

“I’ve discovered Miss Lindel’s illness.”

Had I known what kind of absurd diagnosis he was about to give, I would have vehemently denied everything.

“What is it?”

“Miss Lindel is…”

It was utterly ridiculous.

***

Luke Bellione, the imperial chief healer, couldn’t believe what he had uncovered. It was something that shouldn’t have happened—couldn’t have happened.

“Don’t worry about me, just take care of your health. You must be having a hard time dealing with someone pretending to be sick.”

Lindel was a truly kind person.

Most patients, when they first came to the priest, begged to be saved. But if the priests couldn’t help, those patients would lash out or throw fits. Of course, Luke understood that. Fear of death and suffering could make anyone act out.

Even the elderly, those who had lived long lives, were terrified of death. But Lindel never acted that way. Instead, she worried that her condition was causing trouble for others and often apologized, even though she was the one suffering.

In a situation where she might die tomorrow, Lindel smiled and cared for those around her.

She couldn’t even eat properly. The head chef and he worked tirelessly to prepare meals for her, but she could barely manage a few bites before her body rejected the food.

And then there was the coughing of blood.

Lindel had been coughing up blood for quite some time. When the internal organs are twisted, or when the body experiences unimaginable pain as it tears itself apart from the inside, that’s when people cough up blood. The agony is beyond comprehension.

Yet Lindel endured it, all by herself, without any help.

Whenever people like Luke asked her if she was in pain, she would shake her head with a pale face.

“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt.”

A knight who silently bore all her pain alone, for fear of burdening her loved ones, was truly remarkable.

Luke, as a healer and as a human being, wanted to help her. That’s why he poured over books daily, sought advice from fellow priests, and begged for their wisdom.

He was desperate.

But the illness he discovered in Lindel was too horrifying to comprehend.

“A twisted soul…”

Luke wanted to believe he was delusional.

***

The priest had definitely lost his mind.

A twisted soul? That sounded like something straight out of an old, cheesy novel.

Had the priest been a bit younger, I would’ve grabbed him by the collar and demanded he stop spouting nonsense. It was absurd.

But the real problem was that everyone else believed him.

“What do you mean by ‘twisted soul’?”

“Exactly what I said. As far as I know, Miss Lindel has not been exposed to any recent physical trauma or poison. So I focused on illnesses that take longer to manifest.”

“……”

“After going through numerous texts, I finally found an ancient book that described an illness with symptoms identical to Miss Lindel’s. At first, I couldn’t believe it, but now I am certain.”

The priest bowed his head sorrowfully before Sionel.

“Miss Lindel’s soul is twisted.”

It was absurd that he even went into detail explaining such nonsense. I frowned, but no one seemed to notice my frustration.

Sionel’s voice trembled like a candle flickering in the wind.

“What could have caused this?”

“A curse.” The priest turned to me as he added, “This is the result of a long-standing curse.”

‘A curse?!’

“A curse?”

Sionel was as shocked as I was, but I couldn’t show it outwardly.

It was true that my condition resembled a curse. After all, my body was reacting to the wish I had made, optimizing itself for that purpose. The process had been ongoing without my consent, so in a way, it felt like a curse.

But how could the priest possibly know this?

There was something off. The priest had said the curse had been going on for a long time, but my contract with Laroche was recent.

So I muttered without thinking.

“It hasn’t been that long…”

Unfortunately, my quiet remark echoed through the now-silent room, drawing everyone’s attention to me. I hadn’t meant to attract this much focus.

Then, the priest started spouting nonsense again.

“Of course. Miss Lindel already knew.”

“Wh-What are you talking about?”

“Miss Lindel has always been so composed, as if she already knew what was going to happen. She knew she had been cursed.”

“Is that true?! Lindel, why didn’t you tell me?!”

Sionel shouted in disbelief, but the priest interrupted his outburst, practically wailing.

“It’s understandable that she couldn’t tell you.”

The priest was now half-crying, tears streaming down his small eyes, and my anxiety spiked.

“Miss Lindel has been taking the curse in your place, Your Majesty.”

My bad feeling was right. The situation had spiraled out of control.

“Wh-What does that mean?”

One of the ministers, who had remained quiet until now, staggered forward. It wasn’t clear whether he was more shocked by the curse on Sionel or by the fact that I had supposedly taken it on in his place.

I, however, couldn’t believe the absurd conversation happening around me. I just wanted everyone to shut up, but the priest had no intention of stopping.

“I hesitate to even say this, but Your Majesty had many enemies when you were still a prince. Someone must have cursed you back then, intending to harm you.”

“I…”

Sionel’s eyes wavered.

“I heard that you met Miss Lindel when you were fifteen. Did your physical discomfort and ailments not disappear after meeting her?”

Sionel’s bloodshot eyes turned to me, his face pale as if he might collapse.

I hadn’t done anything, but Sionel nodded, agreeing with the priest’s absurd claims.

I was about to lose my mind.

“Indeed! Miss Lindel has been taking on the curse meant for Your Majesty since then.”

The priest, still crying, looked at me with pity.

“How long have you been enduring this to protect His Majesty?”

Someone please shut him up!