Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Visiting the Sick
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I had sunk into a gloom without even realizing it, but as a seasoned regressor, I quickly regained my composure.
Compared to the wretched state of my body before my regression, this was practically heavenly. There was no reason to mope here...!
I entrusted my body to Rozali's gentle touch as she kindly examined me.
A simple blood draw was performed to check for any diseases that might cause permanent damage to my mana or physical body.
Afterward, she meticulously went through clinical procedures to confirm there were no issues with muscle or bone movement, followed by a brief consultation and tests for pain or mental problems.
I gazed at Rozali throughout the examination with eyes full of a desperate plea: Health mage...! Please save me...!
Once the various checks were done in my slightly downcast state, Rozali gently stroked and soothed me.
"Ras must have been really shocked... Who would've thought drinking a low-grade recovery potion would cause shock symptoms and make you collapse like that. And after never having issues before..."
For now, it seemed Irha had carried out my instructions perfectly with her 'I don't know anything!' act.
No one could have anticipated the existence of a shoddy potion mixed with 'Mongma's Tear' in a low-grade recovery potion to begin with.
And even less so that someone would concoct something so dubious themselves and drink it.
Especially during an important semester evaluation at the academy.
"The potion bottle found in the forest was taken by Professor Bernard. He said he'd investigate it as much as possible. It seems the conclusion is leaning toward you just being extremely unlucky, Ras..."
Ah, no need for that...!
I wondered if even a tiny trace remained, but even if they investigated it, nothing would come of it.
Back then, Professor Bernard, the potions instructor, had taken the empty bottle and investigated, but it was summed up as the tragic end of a boy who unluckily ingested a terribly defective product.
'Mongma's Tear' was an imperial secret, with only the tiniest amount remaining even in the palace archives, impossible to detect through component analysis.
Unless Semele came and personally overturned the investigation, no proper results could come out in Sephiros.
Wearing the enlightened gaze and expression of a sage who had transcended all worldly affairs, I said,
"Honestly... that makes sense. There's a saying that if you're unlucky, even falling backward breaks your nose... I'm really fine."
"Right. The important thing now is to monitor your condition for a while and catch any potential aftereffects. For instance..."
Rozali trailed off without finishing, her gaze dropping downward.
That look pierced my heart more sharply than a hundred rebukes.
Swoooosh—
My two heads bowed in unison.
The old saying that a man never bows twice was utter nonsense.
Saturday afternoon.
In a quiet, cozy cafe, one man and two women—a total of three people—sat gathered.
An unknown cafe built in a villa within a serene little forest near Leone Academy.
This cafe, placed inside Prince Leon's villa, was a spot where Leon and Rizli often enjoyed secret rendezvous, and today Emma had joined them.
However, unlike the cozy, warm cafe atmosphere and Leon leisurely sipping his tea, the two women sat with stiff expressions, breaking out in cold sweats.
"Does the tea not suit your tastes? I prepared cakes and tea that you two would like, but you don't seem to have any appetite..."
With Emma present, Leon had set aside the casual, intimate tone he usually used when meeting Rizli alone.
The reason Rizli and Emma wore deathly pale faces and were so tense was that they had failed to properly carry out the mission Leon had assigned.
Ras, who should have gone berserk like a lust-crazed demon after ingesting 'Mongma's Tear'... hadn't rampaged at all. Instead, he'd collapsed in the world's most pitiful state with a pathetic thud.
Vomiting blood, half-dead, with Professor Rozali pouring holy power into him nonstop, rumors swirled that he wouldn't last more than a few days...
For Emma, who hated Ras to the point of disgust, this was good news in itself... but the problem was that it deviated quite far from the spectacle Leon had desired.
Rizli, who knew Leon's temperament well, felt like she was dying inside, and Emma, Rizli's maid, sat on pins and needles as well.
"No need to be so preemptively scared... I'm quite satisfied, actually. Come on, relax your faces and have some cake and tea."
Satisfied.
Leon wasn't lying when he said he was satisfied.
Though it deviated somewhat from the intended picture, he had fulfilled his dopamine fix in a slightly different direction from his original goal.
To begin with, even if Ras had gone wild from the aphrodisiac, Leon had no intention of witnessing it firsthand.
He too had been taking the exploration evaluation inside Maugendorf Forest, not supervising or spectating the students' exams like the professors or student council.
Moreover, from Leon's position, he had zero desire to personally watch the copulation scene between a mere commoner like Ras and a 'lowborn' like Irha.
What Leon most wanted to satisfy was the utmost sense of depravity.
The thrill of collecting legendary tales of a fiancée ruthlessly breaking her betrothed using the dirtiest, lowliest methods.
Hearing the rumors spread, distorted, and exaggerated through those who witnessed the scene firsthand, while observing Rizli's every changing expression up close—that was his main purpose.
'Besides... this woman's feelings for Ras are unexpectedly sticky. Twisted possessiveness, obsession, filling her self-esteem. Just like my feelings for Marisa. Love...? Who knows.'
Leon knew all too well what emotions Rizli harbored for Ras, because he himself held similar ones toward his fiancée.
The only difference was that Leon was fully self-aware and acknowledged his emotions, while Rizli turned a blind eye to hers.
Thus, watching Rizli's reactions as she personally ruined Ras and saw him fall into the abyss would be immensely entertaining for Leon.
Another reason Leon had orchestrated this personal 'event' was to torment his vulgar yet lovable little sister.
Skada Izenstein da Sephiros, his half-sister and the empire's 'second' princess.
Unlike Leon, born to a legitimate empress of impeccable lineage, she was the half-breed product of the emperor's momentary fling with a maid of unknown origins.
In any other place, she would have been purged at birth, but Sephiros imperial law allowed her to survive as a princess.
However, not being born to the primary wife meant she could never become the first princess, despite being older.
Becoming the second princess through her unexpectedly competent abilities, she now vied with Leon for the throne.
From Leon's perspective, now that the serious competition had begun, he needed to plant small flaws one by one to give him leverage.
He wanted to strike his sister—who pushed policies like 'ability knows no class'—with a double blow of political and mental damage.
In that context, whether Irha was a powerless, perfectly innocent victim didn't matter.
Nor did it matter that Ras, who committed an unprovoked crime under the aphrodisiac, came from a wealthy family.
What remained was the single fact that 'commoner' Ras suddenly lost his mind and publicly raped fellow 'commoner' Irha.
Skada was the one who had recklessly proposed and pushed policies favoring the non-existent, and she would bear responsibility for the visible 'results.'
Leon was extremely confident in attacking Skada by mixing 1% fact with 99% fabrication and incitement.
'Well... that fell through, but this is entertaining in its own way. Who'd have thought he'd mix Mongma's Tear into a low-grade potion. Being lowborn, he provides laughs in ways I never imagined.'
Hearing rumors that Ras had collapsed, spewing blood and dying, Leon roughly pieced together what happened.
Undoubtedly, the stupid lowborn Irha had deviated from instructions and fed him something other than pure Mongma's Tear.
And judging by the circumstances, Ras had ingested something that mixed Mongma's Tear into a low-grade recovery potion.
An idea Leon himself had never once considered... In a way, it was genius. Rather than rage, Leon clicked his tongue in admiration at Irha's inspiration.
'Whatever the reason for doing such a thing, it was hilarious, so it's fine. I tried to feed him aphrodisiac, but ended up poisoning him instead.'
Even Leon hadn't anticipated that a moron would ignore the most basic basics of potion-making—something even noble children learned at age five.
This was a blindside for him.
And savoring the women trembling before him like they'd committed a crime themselves was quite enjoyable.
Attempting to drown one person, yet fretting more over Prince Leon's mood than any guilt or remorse—it delighted him.
'Truly wise women. I wonder what reaction Marisa would have if she knew? She'd probably slap my cheek...'
Leon approached the two women and gently stroked their heads as if praising them.
"Since we're gathered, why not visit your poor friend still hospitalized? Wishing a friend quick recovery from an unfortunate accident is what good classmates should do."
As the women awkwardly rose to follow him, Leon added one more line as if struck by a thought.
"Oh, right. We learned something this time: when lowborns or commoners are involved, expect these wild variables... A minor lesson, perhaps?"
Watching the prince laugh merrily, the two women matched him with equally fragile, crumbling smiles.
Birds of a feather do flock together, after all.
The three thus left the cafe amiably and headed to the infirmary.
A ton of visitors came to see me.
The first, naturally, was Irha.
In fact, she'd been sticking around here beyond mere visits, coming whenever she had time.
Since I'd been moved to the infirmary Wednesday night, that meant she'd been here nonstop until this Saturday morning.
"Hey. Why'd you stick around like that? He would've woken up if you'd just left me alone."
Irha smiled innocently while peeling an apple.
It looked crudely hacked at first glance, but surprisingly, she was great at peeling fruit.
Watching her delicately carve the flesh into a cute bunny shape without wasting a bit was endlessly amusing.
"Heehee. How could a minion slack off? Gotta stick right by your side like this~ Here, say 'ahh'~"
Wait, doesn't it seem like she's enjoying the minion role? I wondered if running errands all day was fun, but whatever.
If she liked it... great for me, since I could keep using her.
I popped the apple Irha shoved into my mouth and crunched away.
It was sweet and refreshingly crisp—delicious.
"Where'd you get these apples, though? By my expert palate, these aren't something a minion would casually buy."
"As expected of a young master from a wealthy house—spot on! Marisa brought these yesterday. Apples, those grapes over there, melons too..."
Our lady had graciously donated the essential fruit basket for visits, true to her refined upbringing.
"Who else came by? Just you two?"
Curious about my visitors, I fed Irha a piece of apple and asked.
"Heehee... This goes beyond minion—it's like we're married..!"
She mumbled with a flushed face as she munched it, but her voice was too soft to catch.
I asked the mumbling girl again who else had come, and she quickly answered.
"Professor Isera! And... some tall, super pretty lady I didn't recognize. Hair pitch black, eyes bright red..."
Judging by the description and her closeness with Professor Isera, it had to be Skada.
Why had Leon's half-sister come?
I knew nothing special about her, no connections either.
All I recalled from before regression was that Skada had lost the throne race to Leon and been purged by him.
She must've tagged along with her friend Professor Isera.
As a student council member, Skada had likely supported operations in the forest, so she'd probably seen me collapse too.
"Mm...! And they probably contacted your family too, so they might've come. And who else was it..."
"Rizli didn't come?"
I tossed it out casually to test her shamelessness, but Irha suddenly clammed up and avoided my eyes.
She seemed sorry to relay that my girlfriend hadn't even shown her face while I was dying.
Ah, right—I was still technically dating Rizli.
We'd both quietly broken up without telling each other, comically never announcing it outright.
I needed to end it properly soon, find the right time and place.
Honestly, I felt too good for Rizli to waste.
No, put her with any other academy guy except Leon, and the man would lose out.
Even that arrogant Blever de Stifula had better character than her.
Breakup could wait for a casual moment... Time to sort priorities?
First, my body's urgent fire was out. Next: Mirha, go home, convince Dad, restore Ras's manhood, etc...
Listing priorities, breaking up with Rizli slid way back—truly insignificant.
It ranked even lower than taking Irha, Mirha, and Rozali out for a meal in Hiols.
Rizli meant nothing to me now... no, since she'd touched me, she was just a woman who needed a moderate comeuppance.
Continuing her relationship with Leon as is would be punishment enough, tightening the noose around her neck.
Leon wasn't your average psycho; placating him up close was no easy feat.
Of course, with Rizli being as crazy as Leon, she'd aim for his side like in her past life while plotting to oust Marisa.
Back then, I'd crushed everything those two grasped with my own hands.
This life... who knows.
Since I'd decided on a fresh start, preventing them from grasping anything properly from the outset didn't sound bad.
The infirmary door burst open noisily amid the awkward silence, and a group poured in.
One, two... five. What? Why so many?
"Oh, I rushed over hearing you woke up. My little Ras...! You okay?"
The immature newbie-maker spouting nonsense like 'my little Ras' was Professor Isera...
"Hmph..! Doesn't look that impressive, but he's decent-looking. Professor, you giving him high marks 'cause you like his face?"
The rude woman beside her spewing even crazier lines was Skada.
"Ras! Oh god... You suddenly wobbled and face-planted—scared me half to death! Glad you're up, though."
The top-student trio Usterus, Shasta, and Pio—whose evaluation I'd clearly ruined—had come bearing snacks and bread.
The infirmary grew instantly rowdy and unfamiliar, but it didn't feel bad.
Unlike my lonely past life, waking to so many people surrounding me, asking if I was okay...
This was definitely better than back then.
Of course... changes didn't always go positively.
"Ras, you have more popularity than expected. Is it too noisy a time to visit? Hope we're not intruding?"
A smooth, mild voice laced with hidden disdain—Leon's—rang out.
Behind him, that moronic Emma gnashing her teeth and glaring daggers at me.
And beside her, Rizli's pathetic, complicated expression staring at me.
Feeling the synergy of all three at once made my head spin.
"Oh...? Goodness, so many people have gathered already?"
Rozali returned, freshly bathed in her usual seduce-yet-comforting health mage form, to greet the visitors.
And then...
"Ras dear~ Feeling any better from the dizziness and weakness? Tell me right away if it hurts even a little~"
With the world's softest touch and gaze, she began stroking me tenderly...
This wasn't odd for the health mage's personality, but with so many eyes around, even I got flustered.
Seeing it, Irha let out a small 'Gasp!' and...
"Ras..! Uh... they say apples are good for recovery. Eat this!"
She shoved a meticulously peeled apple piece into my mouth.
"Ack—"
And over in that corner, I spotted Rizli grinding her teeth at the sight.
Crunch!
I chewed and swallowed the apple.
Honey-sweet!