The Cold-Hearted Grand Duke Obsesses Over Me After My Death - Chapter 85

Chapter 85. Without Him (1)

“Did you call for me, Your Highness?”

The servant came in right away.

“Call the attending physician. Quickly.”

“Yes, understood.”

At her urgent order, the servant ran outside. Not long after, the physician entered the bedroom.

“Your Highness, did you call for me?”

“His Highness the Grand Duke isn’t waking up.”

Holding her pounding chest, Emilia explained calmly to the physician. Her face was pale.

The physician quickly began examining Louid. Beside him, Emilia bit her lip with an anxious expression as she watched Louid.

She hadn’t noticed before, but now that she looked, his complexion wasn’t good. He had always looked slightly tanned from the sun, but now his face was noticeably dark, and even his lips had a blackish tint.

Seeing him lying there with his eyes closed, when he had always looked healthy, felt unfamiliar. She was suddenly gripped by fear that something might happen to him.

“He’s been poisoned.”

The physician said after finishing the examination.

What does that mean?

Emilia thought she had misheard. She couldn’t understand when Louid could have been poisoned.

“Poison? He was fine until yesterday. When was he poisoned?”

When they ate together yesterday, Louid ate as usual and even drank a few glasses of wine. He didn’t look like someone who had been poisoned.

“There are poisons whose symptoms appear late. It isn’t a deadly poison, but it continuously strains the body. It seems to be the effect of the poison that was on the arrow that struck him in the canyon last time.”

“Gasp.”

Emilia sucked in a breath. Poison on the arrow that hit him in the canyon. She was hearing this for the first time. Judging by the certainty in the physician’s voice, it seemed he had known beforehand. Then Louid must have known he was poisoned too. Had he hidden it?

“Did His Highness know about this?”

“Yes, he knew.”

So he did know. Emilia staggered.

“Your Highness, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

She forced herself to steady her shaken heart.

“Then what should we do? Will he be alright like this?”

“Fortunately, His Highness the Grand Duke has been trained against poison since childhood. If not, he would have lost his life when he was struck by the poisoned arrow last time. He has been taking antidotes, but for this to happen suddenly… it seems a problem arose because he didn’t take them while he was away on the inspection.”

“Gasp.”

Why didn’t Louid say a single word about that? Then he had been hiding the pain and illness all this time.

“Ha….”

Emilia’s eyes grew moist. Just the thought that he might die made her chest feel like it was being torn apart.

“He should recover after a few days. I’ll prepare a stronger antidote,” said the physician.

Though he spoke that way, he himself was quite shocked. He’d thought the Grand Duke had already recovered before the inspection, and now he had suddenly collapsed. In truth, it wasn’t certain whether the Grand Duke would recover. But he didn’t say that to the Grand Duchess.

“Please do. Thank you,” Emilia said with a face full of worry.

The physician bowed to her and left the bedroom.

Emilia called for a servant again.

“Call the Knight Commander.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

A moment later, Alex entered the bedroom.

“Did you call for me, Your Highness? Oh, no. Why is His Highness the Grand Duke lying down?”

Entering the bedroom, Alex cried out in shock at the sight of Louid lying on the bed. Since His Highness hadn’t appeared at the training grounds at dawn today, he thought there must have been pressing state affairs, but it was strange to see him still in bed.

“Sir Alex. I heard the Grand Duke has been poisoned.”

“How do you know that?”

“Did you know too?”

“Yes, His Highness told me not to tell you.”

Alex trailed off.

“In fact, His Highness has been poisoned with Serot poison. I heard it’s an extremely strong poison and aftereffects can show up even up to a year,” Alex said with a grim expression.

Emilia was hearing the name of the poison for the first time, but she could tell from the seriousness of the situation that it was truly a strong poison.

“I see. How is the investigation into the canyon incident going?”

“We tracked the people who were on top of the canyon, but it’s unclear where they hid. We’re also investigating the source of the poison. We only found out it’s a medicine traded in the eastern border region.”

“The eastern border region….”

Her voice trailed off. That place was….

“It’s the border with the Kingdom of Billiot.”

Prince Ian’s country, the Kingdom of Billiot? No way….

Emilia’s expression grew serious.

Poisoning the Grand Duke of the empire, and the emperor’s brother at that, was something a kingdom would have to stake its fate on.

‘Besides, the arrow that flew in the canyon was aimed at me. Not Louid.’

There was no way the Kingdom of Billiot would now vent an old grudge on her, and Prince Ian also said he didn’t hold the previous generation’s grudge.

The Kingdom of Billiot probably didn’t do that directly. They might have only traded poison with the culprit.

“I see. If you learn any new facts, please inform me as well.”

Emilia spoke to Alex with a serious expression after sinking into thought for a moment. Now was the time to get a grip. Several suspicious incidents happened, and she regretted leaving it all to Louid and being careless.

“Yes, I will.”

The sound of the two of them talking reached Louid’s ears faintly. He couldn’t move, but he heard all of the physician’s, Alex’s, and Emilia’s conversation. But he couldn’t open his eyes, and he couldn’t move his body.

He tried to move even a finger, but it didn’t respond at all.

“I think it’d be best to keep this secret so it doesn’t leak outside.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Emilia also instructed the few servants and maids who went in and out of the bedroom to keep their mouths shut. And all day, she stayed beside Louid and nursed him.

“Louid, can you hear me?”

She kept speaking into Louid’s ear.

“Louid, open your mouth. It’s the antidote.”

She scooped up the medicine the physician brought, spoonful by spoonful, and poured it into Louid’s mouth as he lay there with his eyes closed. Then she wiped the medicine from his lips and face.

‘Why is she being good to me?’

Unable to move, Louid sank into thought. They were only a formal married couple, so she didn’t need to care about him. She could worry, sure, but doing this much made his heart stir. She could just leave it to the servants and do nothing, but Emilia was actively taking care of him.

***

“Helen, bring a towel and warm water.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

That evening, Emilia wiped Louid’s hands and feet with a wet towel, then wiped them once more with a dry towel. His body was damp with sweat.

“He sweated a lot. I should wipe his body too.”

Louid heard Emilia muttering.

‘No! Emilia! Don’t do that.’

Louid shouted inside his head, but there was no way Emilia could hear him. He tried to sit up, but his paralyzed body wouldn’t move.

He felt like he was going to go crazy. After sending Helen out, Emilia went to the bathroom herself and brought fresh water. She soaked a cloth in the water, then wrung it out tightly. Then she turned his body to the side, pulled back the robe he was wearing, and began wiping his neck, arms, and back. Maybe because she had received sword training, she was stronger than she looked.

“Why did you endure it until it got like this? And when you went on the inspection, why didn’t you take your medicine?”

Emilia’s nagging reached his ear. After wiping his broad back briskly, Emilia carefully wiped him once more with a dry cloth. At the same time as he felt embarrassed, Louid felt his back, which had been sticky from the sweat he had poured out all night, growing cool and refreshed.

“Now I have to wipe your chest.”

Muttering to herself, Emilia began wiping his chest with the wet cloth.

But then her movement suddenly stopped at one spot. It was the shoulder where he’d been struck by an arrow. Her slender hand gently brushed over the arrow mark, where a red scar still remained.

“Louid….”

Drops fell, pattering onto the arrow mark.

‘What is it?’

He couldn’t tell whether it was water dripping from the cloth or some other water.

“You got hurt because of me. You can’t die.”

He heard Emilia’s voice, murmuring like a lament. She was trembling, one hand braced on his body.

‘Is she crying right now?’

Even if he died, she had Duke Berthe and the emperor, so why was she worrying about that?

Louid felt puzzled.

He heard the sound of sniffling. Even when he teased her, she was always bright, so he couldn’t imagine her crying. While he lay there stiff as ice, for a while Emilia kept her hand on his body and continued to let her tears fall.

A little later, after wiping his chest with the dry cloth, she went again to bring fresh water.

Now the only place left was….

‘Ha….’

Louid sighed inside. He needed to wake up quickly, but if this continued and Emilia ended up wiping somewhere she shouldn’t, he felt like he would truly die of shame.

A moment later, he heard Emilia approaching the bed.

No, Emilia!

Louid cried out inside, but it was useless. Not a single sound could come out of his mouth.

Climbing onto the bed, Emilia laid him flat after having left him lying on his side. Then, as if soothing him, she said, “I’ll wipe your legs, Louid.”

Emilia wiped his legs with the wet cloth, then wiped them again with the dry cloth.

‘No… don’t…. Tell the servants to do it.’

It was when he was desperately shouting inside.