Flowers of Worship

I was a little curious but didn’t ask. More than that, I was glad that she’s here. This wasn’t a dream; it’s real. Because my wrists itch and the smell of herbs was horrible. After thinking for a long time about why I was lying down, I remembered falling and laughed.

“Did you save me again?” Cili shook her head at my words.

“It wasn’t me; it was Ingrid. She only heard about my father’s death a few months ago while on pilgrimage. She came to Yenson and was waiting for me, so I was able to meet her, and then she saved your highness’s life.”

I squinted my eyes slowly. ‘I saved you,’ Cili said. Did you save me again? I noted that half-jokingly, but Cili wasn’t joking right now. That’s right.

“Am I dying?”

It was surprising. I fell sometimes, and Orssen attributed it to my weakness due to a lot of hardships as a child. I just thought it was.

“What about Orssen?”

If a wizard named Ingrid or a herbalist took care of me, what about Orssen? What was Orssen doing? He was Istrum’s doctor, and he was also mine. What was the doctor doing who caused so much every month to the point that Cili was mourning for my life?

What would I be like without that mourner?

Out of absurdity, I tried to question the situation to get angry at Orssen, but Cili sighed. She looked a little perplexed.

“Orssen…. First of all, he was taken away by the Water Guard. I’m thinking of going to jail tomorrow.”

“By the Water Guard? Why?”

Orssen was a rather arrogant doctor, but he was still a good man. He was a good man. What’s going on? When I asked without understanding, Cili rubbed one cheek with a troubled face. Why are you in trouble? Thinking it was an impossible feat, I got up and moved my hips little by little to get closer to her. I wanted to be a little closer to her.

As I approached, she looked uncomfortable but soon gave me a weak smile and gently shook her shoulder. Shaking your shoulders without dust seems to make you think before you say anything…

“Orssen was addicted to gambling.” The word gambling crept inside me. I also bet my fortune on gambling, so she won’t probably like it if she knew.

“O, okay?”

“Yes.”

“But?” I stuttered once. It was natural to ask soon; however, Cili didn’t respond to my behavior and spoke slowly about her mind.

“He lost a lot through gambling, and he lost his home which he rented. Moreover, his wife and children left him, and in fact, he couldn’t afford to buy a single herb. All the money he received is used to pay off debts or…gambling. So he.”

Every time I was sick, I remembered him giving me blood. And the memory of a servant, Thane, asked all the time to buy herbs. I also remembered that Rosemary swore Mr. Orssen for being lazy and shameless when most doctors carried herbs. Was it because he didn’t have money? That’s why I thought blood transfusion was too much.

“He sold the blood of his highness the Grand Duke.”

A…what?

It was incomprehensible. My blood?

“Never did anyone before having magic under the name of Eden. In particular, your highness possesses powerful magical powers. Besides, you came back alive. Those are the so-called… .”

“…enchantment?”

“It seems to be popular as a talisman against evil.”

At that moment, something came up.

I thought I was okay. I returned to the capital, became the Grand Duke; next, everyone was anxious to see me, then invitations poured in, and the teachers said that I was the best student they had ever taught. So I thought I was freed from a life dominated by others.

Ugh.

With nausea, I immediately soiled the bedding and continued to vomit. I couldn’t stand it. It felt like my heart and everything in my stomach was about to pop out of my mouth. It was disgusting; everything was terrifying. My fingertips trembled, and my spine shivered. There were physiological tears. It was the first time I realized that I cried when I vomited.

Cili didn’t know what to do, as she was perplexed. I bent my head and vomited, but I was paying attention to her presence. I thought she would hurt me. Even if she went left and right, even if she was watching me, and even if she called someone to me, it all seemed like it would hurt me. I didn’t even know what she wanted me to do. So I hurled.

Then she hugged me.

“It’s alright.”

I tried to push her away, but she didn’t budge. She hugged me tightly and took my vomit on her shirt. Her skin was also dirty, but she didn’t mind at all. She hugged me and patted my head, muttering, “It’s okay.”

After I was completely empty, she lifted me and laid me on the long chair I used to nap in and changed my sheets by hand. I asked the duke’s daughter blankly if she had done something like this before.

“Are you as good as someone who has done it?”

“When you enter the Royal School, you have to do everything yourself. It’s a rule.”

“Does everyone really do it themselves?”

“That’s the case of the military academy.”

It was an ambiguous answer. It’s a different story for the non-military academy. If I go to the Royal School, which faculty will I enter? The academy obviously wouldn’t.

And there must be humans who buy my blood as a talisman and treat my life as an amulet. Them and I will have to stay together.

“Come this way.” Cili took off my clothes and wiped me off with a wet towel. I didn’t like being a weak child in front of her, but I had no energy when I was so sick and even vomited on her. I just let her wipe me, changed my clothes, then laid on the bed with new sheets.

“Now go to sleep. Ingrid said that you need to sleep to get better.”

“Are you completely back?”

“For now, yes.”

“… Lee,” I called her. I just wanted to call her. Why are you always a good person to me? She was wearing a wet shirt, which would mean that she took care of me while wearing my vomit. She probably washed her shirt when she went off with a towel.

Why are you such a good person?

“Yes, your highness.”

“Just… .”

I just called you; the words swallowed in my mouth. My mind also fell to a distant place. Cili seemed to be smiling a little, but I’m not sure.

***

By the time I got smarter, Yenson was making a lot of noise.

“I am most grateful.”

After receiving the emerald necklace and handing it over to his wife, Rizal, who had withered, congratulated me heartily even when he saw the outcome of my gambling. I made a fortune from gambling, but Rizal was like, if I bought the country with money, I wouldn’t know it unless it was his own.

“Did anyone bet gold?”

When I was surprised by the gold mine after seeing the results of my gambling, Rizal replied, “He’s crazy.” He glanced at his opponent’s title and saw that he had none. That meant Rizal had already checked this list.

“Do you know him?”

“As a trader, he is a very good person. He’s crazy as a gambler.”

“… okay?”

“He’s famous for hating women running around. Perhaps that’s why he is certain that the duke won’t be able to kill the king of the northern monsters.”

No matter how you feel, you have to gamble with a cool head, Rizal said while looking at me suddenly. He looked at me for a moment and then shook his head.

“His highness also doesn’t have a level head, so it would be better not to gamble.”

“I? Aren’t I a rational person?”

“Are you rational? You gambled that big fortune when your fiancee was being attacked.”

“But I knew Cili would make it. You know that, didn’t you?”

“No matter how much you know, largely betting is another matter, your highness.”

“It’s no different for me.”

I thought, ‘It’s strange that he gambles on gold mines because he doesn’t like women playing around.’

“Until his wife cheated on him, he didn’t even know the ‘do’ of gambling.”

“Did his wife cheat on him?”

“It is a famous story. Not only was she having an affair, but she’s also divorced and remarried. But it was the trial of the century again.”

“What do you mean?”

I don’t know how a divorce trial could be the trial of the century. Divorce of nobles could be the case, but isn’t this case different? Well, divorce itself isn’t easy.

“I don’t know if I can say this to your highness, who is still young…. As a former owner of the gold mine, Fjord often left Yenson to buy and sell things. And Fjord’s wife, Melanie, was in charge of consulting with Yenson’s regulars, that is, mainly the aristocrats… .”

“Did you take over?”

“Your highness, you know the Marquis of Lodkaine… We became friends.”

I’m not so young that I don’t know what it means to be close. My face turned cold, then Rizal sighed.

━─━────༺༻────━─━