If You Take the Enemy Prince as Your Knight Chapter 164

17. Flawless Emotion

The parlor was utterly silent as evening dusk crept in. In a place where not even a single candle had been lit, a handsome man with silver-white hair had been left alone, as though abandoned. He sat blankly on the couch, staring endlessly at the door leading to the bedroom.

 

It had been quite some time since the imperial doctor had gone inside, yet there had been no news whatsoever from beyond the tightly closed door. Not even a maid was around whom he could grab and ask what on earth was happening. After laying the unconscious princess down in the bedroom and coming back out, the only thing he could do was wait.

 

Regen suddenly looked down at his hands. Reddish stains had dried clearly across them. The moment he realized that they were the princess’s blood, his fingertips began to tremble. It was a feeble reaction he had never shown even when facing the strongest of enemies. The sight of her vomiting blood kept coming back to him. The more he closed his eyes, the clearer the memory became, as though it were horribly stuck to his eyelids.

 

Is this really reality? The princess had been sick for five days, but it had only been the flu, hadn’t it? She shouldn’t have had any chronic illness. She had been healthy. So why? Why on earth? “Why…”

 

He interlocked his fingers and pressed his forehead firmly against them, as though trying to suppress the trembling that showed no sign of stopping. His face, bowed deeply toward the floor, was twisted with anguish.

 

It was sometime during his endurance of that torturous wait. The bedroom door opened at the same moment Regen raised his head. No light poured through the gap in the opened door. As if to say that even if one waited in despair, there was no ray of hope to be found. Only the maid’s gloomy face emerged from the darkness.

 

“Please come in, Sir Regen.”

 

He followed Demia into the bedroom.

 

Sasha, whose clothes had been changed into clean ones, had her eyes closed and was breathing regularly. The color had returned to her lips, and there were no signs of discomfort on her face. She merely looked as though she were sleeping soundly.

 

The maids and the imperial doctor stood around the bed. The middle-aged imperial doctor was the man who had treated Regen’s injuries when he had been captured as a prisoner of war. He had the flaw of being a worshipper of the mad emperor, but his medical skills were unquestionable.

 

Once everyone from the residence had gathered, the imperial doctor explained Sasha’s condition. “She seemed to be in considerable pain, so I administered strong sleeping medication and painkillers. As for the cause of the sudden vomiting of blood…” There was no confidence in either the doctor’s eyes or voice. “It is unknown. I examined her thoroughly, but I can’t determine the source of the bleeding. Even now, both her breathing and pulse are stable, so there doesn’t seem to be any particular abnormality in her health.”

 

“What kind of nonsense is that?! How much blood did Her Highness vomit!” Demia’s outburst was stopped by Sione and Hamel.

 

The imperial doctor spoke as though he was being unfairly accused. “I-I truly can’t determine the cause. She has no chronic illness, hasn’t been poisoned, and none of her internal organs have been damaged. I heard she suffered from the flu recently, but that has nothing to do with vomiting blood. Honestly, if I hadn’t seen the bloodstains myself, I wouldn’t even have believed that she had vomited blood…”

 

His excuse abruptly stopped. It was because a stream of fresh blood was trickling from the corner of Sasha’s mouth.

 

“Y-Your Highness!”

 

“This quack!”

 

Sione turned pale as she hurriedly examined Sasha, while Demia glared sharply at the doctor and berated him.

 

It was then that a clue was given to the sweating, helpless doctor. That was coming from Regen.

 

“Just before Her Highness collapsed, she said that there was something wrong with her heart.”

 

“He-Her Heart?”

 

“Yes. Does that give you any idea?”

 

Faced with useful information, the doctor fell into thought with a grave expression. Everyone in the residence stared only at his wrinkled lips. As though making a decision, he finally spoke. “There is something I need to confirm. I’m sorry, but I will have to wake Her Highness for a moment.”

 

The doctor poured medicine into Sasha’s mouth to counteract the powerful sleeping drug. But he stepped back when it came to what followed.

 

“Sir Regen, please wake Her Highness.”

 

“Me?”

 

“Yes, yes. You must do it carefully and cautiously.”

 

The doctor must have had a reason to entrust the task to Regen with such a solemn expression.

 

Lowering himself beside the bed, Regen gently took one of Sasha’s hands. “Your Highness.”

 

“…”

 

“Your Highness, please open your eyes for a moment.”

 

“…”

 

His low, tender baritone finally pulled her consciousness back into reality. Her platinum-blonde eyelashes trembled and parted slightly. What came next were her clear, light sky-blue eyes.

 

“Ah, Regen…”

 

Sasha smiled at the face of her lover that she saw the moment she opened her eyes. Seeing the beautiful curve of her eyes, Regen felt the anxiety frozen inside his chest begin to melt away. But the moment of relief didn’t last long.

 

“Ah, aah…”

 

“…Your Highness?”

 

“Hurt. It hurts…”

 

“Where does it hurt?”

 

“M-My heart… Aack…!”

 

Suddenly losing focus in her eyes, Sasha screamed. Before long, she began scratching at the left side of her chest with her fingernails, as though trying to tear out her own heart. Even in shock, Regen grabbed both her hands and pinned them down against the sheets, preventing her from harming herself.

 

“It hurts, it hurts…”

 

“Your Highness, please calm down.”

 

“Let go! It hurts…!”

 

“Your Highness…!”

 

The seizure, devoid of reason, continued. Unable to do anything with her hands, she kicked and pushed the bed sheets around with both legs, struggling desperately, and bit down viciously on her lips. Every time she violently shook her head, tears scattered onto both sides of the pillow.

 

“Sasha, please…!”

 

Unable to bear watching Sasha behave as though hurting herself were the only way to ease the pain, Regen pulled her tightly into his arms with his entire body. With her two hands freed, she tried once again to tear out her own heart, but Regen’s body blocked her. So instead of her own chest, she scratched frantically at Regen’s back, sinking her teeth into his shoulder instead of her delicate lips. His shirt was torn to pieces, and blood began to bead on his skin, but Regen endured it without making even a single groan.

 

Only after a long while did her struggling finally subside. Sasha had collapsed from exhaustion.

 

“…”

 

Regen remained frozen like a still object, holding the limp Sasha in his arms. The watching maids were motionless as well. The extreme shock and confusion had, paradoxically, created a heavy silence. It was the doctor’s diagnosis that shattered this suffocatingly heavy atmosphere.

 

“It is madness.”

 

“Ma-Madness…?”

 

The maids trembled, their faces turning white as though they had some idea of what it meant. Regen seemed to be the only one who was ignorant.

 

“What kind of illness is that?”

 

“It is a rare disease that only members of the imperial family can contract. Looking through the medical records of past imperial family members, there are records of them harming themselves because of extreme chest pain of unknown cause. Princess Silver Bird’s symptoms are identical to those.”

 

“What is the treatment?”

 

“There is none.”

 

“…”

 

Facing those cold golden eyes, the doctor suddenly felt as though his throat had been cut. “T-The only thing we can do is try to keep Her Highness asleep as much as possible…”

 

“…”

 

“A-At any rate, there is nothing more I can do for her right now…! I-I’ll go find out whether there is any treatment that might help!”

 

The imperial doctor immediately packed his belongings and fled the residence. The moment the sound of the door closing was heard, Demia collapsed onto the floor.

 

“T-That can’t be. They say madness doesn’t go away once you contract it. It was said that the imperial family members who suffer from it don’t last long… Why? Why on earth does this have to happen to our princess…? Why her…?”

 

Demia’s sobbing filled the bedroom for quite some time. Sione also began trembling, her shoulders shaking. Meanwhile, Hamel endured, refusing to let herself be consumed by despair.

 

“I’ll silence the imperial doctor. Please take care of Her Highness for a moment.”

 

Only after hearing the calm voice searching for something she could do did the other two maids come to their senses.

 

“We should burn incense candles that have a pain-relieving effect.”

 

“I’ll go get a potion to restore her strength.”

 

The three maids hurriedly scattered.

 

Regen was left alone with Sasha for a moment. As though unwilling to let anyone take her away from him, he carefully laid Sasha, whom he had been clutching tightly in his arms, back onto the bed. Only after losing consciousness did Sasha finally have a peaceful expression on her face. The convulsive struggling and self-harm from earlier seemed like a complete lie. He opened his mouth blankly.

 

“This can’t be.”

 

The golden eyes that had always shone with a clear brilliance were now utterly dull.

 

“Madness? The very name of that illness doesn’t suit you, Sasha.”

 

As though he had heard a poor-quality joke, he tried desperately to smile. But his stiff lips couldn’t even imitate the slightest trace of a smile.

 

“Why would you go mad? If anything, it should be me.”

 

That was right. The one who felt as though he would go mad was him. If anyone had to suffer from madness, it should have been him. Not her.