The boy approached Aeria and said softly, “Are you miserable?”

Finally meeting him in person, Aeria stared up at him without even thinking of covering her face. When she remembered her horrid appearance, she quickly grabbed her mask. Just before she could place the mask back on her face, however, the boy grabbed her hand and said, “Do you really want to run away like that?”

“P… Please let go… I’m…”

“Can you keep avoiding it?”

“You are right here… I found you this easily…” Aeria said with deep sorrow in her voice. She lowered her head and covered her face with the other hand. “I didn’t… I didn’t want to show this to you!! At least, not to you…”

The boy grinned at Aeria’s desperate pleading.

Aeria wanted to show the boy her natural self. She didn’t want to show him this horribly wretched face, but the fair and pure appearance that she had when she was younger; the same appearance that made people excited to see how she would blossom.

But God has absolutely ignored Aeria’s wishes. Why was her hideous bare face exposed the moment she met him? Why did God rob her of the small wish that she has been hoping for?

The red-eyed boy looked at Aeria with a warm gaze, which Aeria had never seen before. His look was completely free of disgust. He then said, “That living hell of a disease, I’ll help you cure it.”

“Ah…”

“You’ve got nothing to lose. Do you want to trust me, just this once?

Looking at the boy’s smile, Aeria was left speechless for a while.

* * *

“I’m sorry…for showing you such a hideous face…” Aeria apologized timidly.

Disregarding the apologies, Davey practiced keeping his mana in a particular shape by concentrating his mana on his fingertips and then letting go. He called out, “Princess Aeria.”

“Yes… Yes?!”

“I have seen countless others in worse shape than you.” As Aeria stayed silent, Davey continued, “It’s nothing to be surprised about, to be honest. Consider yourself lucky. Normally, you would’ve already died from bad symptoms and persistently coughing up blood.”

It was the doctor’s duty to reassure the patient they were treating. This should have been Baron Gorneo’s duty, since he was the one who had come to the empire to treat Aeria. However, he had failed to do anything with the state she was in right now.

With her elementalist energy, unique physical condition, and the variation of the virus that she had been carrying for a long time, Aeria couldn’t be treated with medicine. Davey was aware of this fact.

[One person. There was just one person that I wasn’t able to cure with medicine. I loved that person, and I failed to save them. Instead, I learned from their death and saved millions of people.] 

Hypocria, the Goddess of Medicine who had taught Davey about this disease, had told him this with a bitter smile.

[They were already dead, but I still dealt with evil spirits for a while; I was crazily obsessed with finding a way to treat them even after their death.]

No one was perfect, and that went for Hypocria as well. Although, it was true that Davey had learned an alternate method of treatment thanks to that lesson.

Davey could see Aeria’s wrinkly skin on her face. Then, he gently loosened the clothing that was tightly wrapped around her neck and arms, and took off her gloves.

Aeria flinched at how quickly Davey was acting. She tried to do anything she could to cover herself up.

Noticing Aeria’s anxiety, Davey patted her on the head and said reassuringly, “It’s probably going to be difficult for you to believe in me, since a treatment attempt has already failed once… This treatment will take about two to three days. In the meantime, do not lose faith that you can get better.”

“Can you… Can you really cure me?!” Aeria shouted desperately.

Davey nodded. “You will definitely be cured if you hold out faith until the very end.”

“…”

‘Why am I assured again?’ Aeria stared at Davey silently, then slowly nodded.

“Will you trust me?” Davey asked.

“I will. I trust you,” Aeria replied.

“Then, sweet dreams for two days, Your Highness.” Noticing Aeria’s determination, Davey smiled and put her to sleep with a quick jab of her acupoint. Then, he silently put his fingers on her neck and began measuring her pulse.

Thud!!

Just then, an old man ran into the room with the urgent shout, “Aeria!!”

Pitter patter!! Royal knights followed the old man in and surrounded Davey.

Rinne, who had been silently staring up at Davey this whole time, stepped in front of him and threatened the knights, “Rinne. Warning. Don’t get any closer.”

“Wh… What happened?!” The old man had hurried over to look for Aeria after hearing news about the unexpected accident.

Davey had never seen the old man in his life, but he could infer the old man’s identity from the emperor’s crown and clothing. He then said calmly, “Rest is absolutely essential for a patient. It is insolent of me to ask, Your Majesty, but please ask your knights to retreat.”

“Get your hands off Her Highness!” One of the older knights stepped out and released his blade energy. He had no intention of listening to Davey.

“Tsk, I told you not to scream.”

‘As expected from an empire filled with ‘Swordmaster’s.’

Ignoring the repressed [Aura Blade], Davey quietly measured Aeria’s pulse with his eyes closed. He then requested again, “Your Majesty.”

“…The royal knights may retreat.”

“B—But, Your Majesty!”

“Aeria is asleep. Do not cause any more noise and go.” The words were firm and simple, because the old man didn’t want to hear any objections.

The knights stared back and forth between Davey and Deorte, the Lyndis Empire’s emperor, with a worried face. Then, they all bowed in silence and left the room at once.

“May the Two-headed Dragon of the Empire have infinite glory. I apologize for greeting you like this. However, I ask for your understanding as a patient’s rest is crucial.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Davey O’Rowane.”

“Davey… Are you the one who cured the ‘Blood of the Demon’ from the Rowane Kingdom?”

“Humbly, I am. I had no choice but to step up after observing an accident at the banquet, which I was allowed to attend with your grace.” After speaking calmly, Davey took his fingers off Aeria’s neck. Then, he picked up her dress and cut it off with his fingers by releasing [Aura].

“How dare you!!” Emperor Deorte shouted angrily.

Rinne was quick to intervene. “Rinne, warning. If you get close one more time, Rinne will execute attack mode.”

“Rinne, stop. Retreat,” Davey ordered. He immediately noticed Rinne backing away with a slightly disapproving look.

‘Seriously, how can I see emotion on an emotionless face?’

“Baron Gorneo probably could not have cured this disease,” Davey commented.

Emperor Deorte replied, “It is just as you said. Contrary to his confidence that he could fix her, he was not able to cure Aeria’s illness.”

“It is not his fault, because Her Highness is unique.”

Emperor Deorte widened his eyes in shock. He quickly asked, “Does that mean that you can cure Aeria’s disease?”

“But there is one condition.”

Deorte was the emperor of an empire. By speaking like that to him, a slip of the tongue could potentially cost Davey his head. Davey knew that, but still didn’t change his tone of speech. He requested, “I will cure Her Highness’ illness in two days. However, please grant me one of the items that will be on auction tomorrow.”

Emperor Deorte looked somewhat confused at Davey’s request.

“If I fail… Well, I will give you my head.” Speaking with confidence, Davey looked straight at Emperor Deorte. He asked calmly, “What will you do, Your Majesty? Please decide.”

-Making a deal about the daughter’s life right in front of the emperor…

Davey didn’t want to do this either, but he couldn’t be able to participate in the auction now that he had begun to treat Aeria. Having to miss out on the thing he needed to treat the princess was not worth it at all.

Not long after, Emperor Deorte made a decision about Davey’s firm offer. “Alright. You must save her. No, please save her. I will become your absolute ally that no one can touch if Aeria will be able to take off her mask.”

‘Man, he is gutsy like the powerful man he is.’

* * *

The banquet, which had been paused due to the sudden flash of light, commenced again. The Lyndis Empire was showing its strong determination to carry on. Furthermore, a rumor that a prince from a small kingdom in the eastern continent had stepped up to cure Princess Aeria’s illness began to spread among the nobility. Everyone who was relevant already knew about Aeria’s condition, because it was obvious from her wearing a mask to hide her hideous face.

“You Majesty! Aeria has not had a meal in two days and is just undergoing this treatment for whatever reason! You cannot keep allowing this!” Alberth, the Lyndis Empire’s crown prince and someone who was as fond of Aeria as the emperor, strongly insisted. Very few people knew about it, but Alberth was one of the people who knew what had happened the night before. He added, “What does he have for you to trust him?! Baron Gorneo also failed! Did you see the way he is treating Aeria?! He is putting thin needles in weird places on her body!”

“Alberth,” Deorte called out.

“Your Majesty!” Alberth insisted.

“I have no intention of changing my decision.”

Hearing how firm Emperor Deorte was on his decision, Alberth realized that he could no longer convince him. He remained silent. Emperor Deorte was allowing this because the person treating Aeria was the person who had cured that damn disease; if it wasn’t, he definitely would’ve done something about it.

“Anyway, did you look into it?”

“I don’t have evidence, but…it seems that it is connected to the conservatives.”

Duke Luxack was one of the nobility’s conservative members who strongly supported the discrimination of man-beasts.

“How dare he try to use Aeria? Reckless of him.”

“What should we do?”

“Do whatever it takes to find the person who caused this insolent and arrogant incident. Make him confess everything. Even the destruction of nine future generations for the crime of disrespecting the emperor of the Lyndis Empire is not enough.”

“I will make sure of it. And…the accident that happened yesterday at the banquet hall…”

“Put out a statement that a magic artifact malfunctioned. You said that although you don’t know what happened, everyone was enveloped in a bright light, right?”

“Yes. Should we prepare for the possibility of a terror…”

“No, that’s okay.” After that cold statement, Emperor Deorte said nothing more. He silently thought about how everything was just as the boy said; he was able to discern the Lyndis Empire’s state from the short accident: the discrimination and mistreatment of man-beasts, and the conflict between the conservatives and liberals.

This incident looked like the conservatives’ attempt to undermine the image of man-beasts and narrow down public opinions about Aeria by revealing her appearance during a gathering of representatives from all over.

“How funny.”

Deorte scoffed; Davey was extraordinarily quick. It was like he knew the cause of this incident and the people who were behind it. Although, he had locked himself up in Aeria’s bedroom and was doing strange treatments on her while she was asleep.

“Alberth.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Alberth flinched at Deorte’s sudden calling and glanced at him.

“What did you feel when you saw Prince Davey?”

“I don’t understand what you mean…”

“Did you not feel anything?”

“I am sorry, Your Majesty…”

Davey had just briefly mentioned a guess about the reason behind this incident, but it turned out to be true. However, that kind of strategist was commonly seen in the empire. The reason Deorte had his eye on Davey lied elsewhere.