Chapter 184
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 184
Chapter Title: What Could Possibly Happen?
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"One hour a day is more than enough sleep for me."
"That's only true for a day or two. It's already been three months since you've had a proper night's rest, haven't they?"
Lucas couldn't hide his concern.
Of course, the princess of the Seven Dragon Society was no ordinary human from birth.
Just by harnessing the immense psionic power she was born with, she could perfectly regulate her own condition.
But even so, going without proper sleep for over three months couldn't help but have a negative impact.
The very fact that the princess of the Seven Dragon Society suffered from insomnia was absurd to begin with.
"Wouldn't it be best to see a doctor?"
"You know full well there's nothing wrong with my body, Sir Lucas."
"A healthy body doesn't mean everything's fine, Your Highness."
"If it's not a physical issue, seeing a doctor won't help anyway. Not that any medicine would work on me."
Rose spoke calmly.
She fixed Lucas with eyes as deep and heavy as a lake, continuing,
"More than anything, now is not the time for me to rest."
She could only afford to rest after everything was settled.
Lucas gazed steadily at Rose, who spoke with such resolute tone despite her delicate, beautiful frame, and finally let out a sigh.
"If that's Your Highness's will, I won't press for treatment any further. Just please remember that many in the clan besides myself are worried about you."
Perhaps sensing his sincere concern,
Rose nodded with a faint smile.
"I appreciate the worry. For Sir Lucas's sake if nothing else, I'll make sure to get as much rest as I can from now on."
"Please don't forget those words."
Knowing full well what "as much rest as possible" would amount to, he gave a wry smile, but Lucas withdrew all the same.
It was the duty of a clansman to follow the princess's will.
But in the end, Lucas's worries proved spot on.
After he left, Rose didn't rest—instead, she processed paperwork while mulling over the day's tasks.
'There are a lot of reports piled up, but if I handle the urgent ones now, the rest can wait until late tonight.'
'Maybe I'll check on the Thames area today.'
'Oh, it might be good to stop by that orphanage there too. Then I should bring some donations along.'
'I need to instruct them to pay more attention to the guests from the Makers Guild...'
Rose rubbed her eyes absentmindedly.
As Lucas had feared, chronic sleep deprivation was taking its toll, making her feel fatigued.
Yet she didn't rest.
No, she couldn't rest.
No matter how much she closed her eyes to try, her nerves—taut for months—refused to grant her any respite or sleep.
Her eyelids felt like lead weights, her body and mind sluggish with a pounding headache, yet she couldn't sleep—a torment that would have felled any ordinary person long ago.
But Rose paid it no mind.
As always, she forcibly banished the fatigue with psionics, regulating her vital functions, and turned back to the reports.
It was then.
A faint sound reached her ears, hypersensitive from exhaustion.
Giiiing.
'What...?'
Rose glanced back instinctively.
Through the wide-open window, she caught the melody of an instrument drifting from the garden and nodded.
'Miss Julia? She borrowed the violin and must have jumped straight into practice.'
She'd brought in the finest performer and boldly requested the finest violin.
Recalling the confident woman, Rose smiled faintly as she pondered.
Should she close the window or not?
Closing this soundproofed window would neatly block out the barely audible violin notes.
'It's not that loud—no need to bother.'
In the end, Rose left it open.
Unless it got too loud,
it was a bit distracting but not unpleasant, and she'd vetted the performance in advance anyway.
With the faint music drifting in one ear, Rose signed off on the reports.
—Giiiing.
'...What?'
Rose flinched.
Her face took on a puzzled expression.
It wasn't just that she couldn't explain why her body had trembled unconsciously.
Over Julia's faintly echoing performance, another hazy melody had naturally layered itself.
'This must be... the performer she brought along?'
It was clearly the same violin,
yet the sound struck her as astonishingly different. Rose was purely awestruck.
'No wonder she calls herself the best.'
She wasn't even hearing the full piece—just fragments shattered by the garden maze.
Yet the difference was this stark.
She wondered just how incredible the performer must be to produce such music.
'Not bad at all.'
In any case, Rose was satisfied.
With time so tight, she'd wondered if they'd be okay, but this level wouldn't ruin the important event.
But she didn't realize.
That her nerves, prickly enough from sleep deprivation to irk her at the slightest noise, now felt no disturbance.
That a strange calm was instead soothing them.
That her eyelids were drooping before she knew it.
'Yeah... not bad.'
Unbeknownst even to herself, she quietly closed her eyes, surrendering her body to the faint melody from the garden.
Little by little.
Just a tiny bit.
Enough to dive right back into work the moment she opened them...
Knock knock.
"Your Highness, I have a report."
"Come in."
Rose's eyes snapped open reflexively.
The knight in ornate armor who'd returned—Lucas—spoke to her gravely.
"As instructed, I've completed the budget reallocation for next month."
"Already?"
"Yes. The treasurer jumped on it right away upon hearing it was your order, so it finished faster than expected."
"...I should thank Elder Kullanzhu."
Even as she spoke offhandedly, Rose felt puzzled inwardly.
Elder Kullanzhu was an excellent treasurer, sure—but reallocating that massive budget in mere minutes was odd.
'Did he anticipate my order and prepare in advance?'
As Rose mused admiringly at the elder's foresight,
Lucas sighed.
"Your Highness, of course how much you rest is up to you... but isn't this a bit much?"
"...?"
"You've been buried in paperwork nonstop since I left."
"So what?"
"Take a break."
Rose blinked in confusion.
Sure, she'd been throwing herself into work without proper sleep lately.
But she hadn't even glanced at the reports for that long—why bring it up again?
As if reading her feigned obliviousness, Lucas spoke with a lamenting tone.
"Skipping meals and working straight through to evening... even Your Highness will wear yourself out like this."
"What are you...?"
She'd nearly asked what he meant—it was still midday—when Rose froze.
Only then did she notice Lucas's worried face looked unnaturally flushed.
Rose turned to look behind her.
And blinked vacantly.
The sky, with the sun high overhead just moments ago,
was now dyed sunset red. She couldn't comprehend why.
"I understand you're busy, Your Highness. But... please... at least sometimes... rest..."
"..."
She endured a long scolding-advice session from Lucas on overworking,
and only after sending him away did Rose, now alone, think absently,
that it felt like she'd been hit by magic.
Of course, that was impossible.
Casting time-skipping magic on the Blue Dragon Princess would require a legendary archmage or saint.
And against her in the Cis-Serpent count's estate? Utterly impossible.
So there was only one conclusion.
'I dozed off while reading reports. Guess the fatigue really piled up.'
Rose gave a wry smile.
A Seven Dragon Society elite dozing on duty was ridiculous enough.
For it to be her? Even she would laugh it off as a joke.
So Lucas just thought she'd unusually dragged out the paperwork today.
He never imagined she'd nodded off.
'Embarrassing.'
She teleported everywhere so often—no one had caught her napping in the office at this hour. Lucky.
If anyone had, she couldn't have shown her face.
'What to do now? So much to get done today...'
Rose gazed at the deepening sunset with troubled eyes.
She was already squeezing every minute, and now she'd blown half a day sleeping.
How to make up the gap?
It was just perplexing.
'No helping it. Push patrols to tomorrow and pull an all-nighter for the rest.'
Pulling all-nighters was routine anyway.
And though unintentional, she'd finally gotten deep sleep—so a few sleepless nights should be fine.
Rose rescheduled assuming no sleep at all for a while.
Finishing signatures on the long-neglected papers, she thought,
today was just a fluke from built-up exhaustion—nothing like this would happen again.
—Giiiing.
So the next day.
Same office, same chair.
Papers stacked untouched, unsigned.
She woke after sleeping another half day, staring at the sunset sky just like yesterday, murmuring blankly on her dazed face.
"...Why?"
[But Team Leader, are you sure it's okay?]
'What do you mean?'
[The violin playing. The princess sister asked us to refrain if possible. Especially in front of the Blue Dragon Clan.]
'That was because my violin was too unique and suspicious. This one's just a normal violin—no issue.'
[Well, true...]
'Besides, infiltrating as a musician means I have to play.'
Rimon chuckled.
Packing away the violin after today's practice just like yesterday, he muttered inwardly.
'Don't worry too much. What big trouble could come from a little playing?'
[...Yeah, you have good instincts, Team Leader. If there was any problem, you'd have noticed yesterday.]
Yuna Kyung accepted that.
But neither she nor the Sword Master Rimon realized.
Something so trivial he hadn't sensed a thing could be a headache-inducing crisis for a certain princess.