'Where is this?'

"Have you awakened?"

Turning his head towards the voice that resonated from the side, he saw a servant smiling kindly as he offered a polite greeting. It was only after seeing him that he managed to remember where he was. Kishiar had said he would leave him at the palace where he had been staying as a prince, so this was probably the place.

His mind was still fuzzy from the aftermath of the dream, but as he drew in slow breaths, the fog in his mind began to clear.

He was dressed in clean indoor clothes instead of formal attire. While he was unconscious, someone must have changed them. A peculiar discomfort washed over him as he observed his bare hands, devoid of any gloves. Despite spending more days without gloves than with, it was a strange matter to now find the lack of them uncomfortable.

He looked at a spot on his right hand, about the size of a gold coin, remembering the intense pain he had felt there, right before the manifestation began. Although the spot had not spread beyond this size, he couldn't help but think the severe pain was related to his second gender manifestation.

'Is the manifestation complete now?'

The energy within his body had almost stabilized. His muscles still screamed whenever he attempted to move a little, and fatigue and warmth were still present, but his head was far clearer than before he had lost consciousness.

'Surely, a week hasnt passed while I was unconscious like before.'

Despite his improved condition, an ominous thought crossed his mind. Quickly raising his head, he turned to the servant and opened my mouth.

Icough, cough.

"You should drink water first before you speak."

The servant rushed to support him, who had ended up coughing due to the dryness of his throat while trying to ask how long he had been unconscious, and brought a cup of water to his lips.

"Do not gulp it down. Please, sip it slowly, dividing a mouthful into five parts."

The servant expertly lifted him slightly, helped him lean his head against a large cushion, and placed the cup against his lips. As the servant suggested, he divided one gulp into five and swallowed it slowly. It felt as if water had been sprinkled over a wound, the soreness in his throat subsided, and his breath became much easier.

"Thank you."

"It's all right. I was only doing what I should."

"How long has it been since I came?"

"It's been exactly a day and a half since you arrived here."

A day and a half. He gaped in surprise, not knowing how to interpret the expression on his face, the servant cautiously continued.

"You had been suffering from high fever the whole time, and it's only been a few hours since the fever subsided. If the fever had persisted any longer, the Duke I mean, the Prince might have had to call for a priest. It's truly a relief."

"Has the Duke been here?"

"He had to leave a few times to attend to matters, but he's mostly been here. He's probably working outside the isolation wall right now."

Kishiar had been here the whole time. Conflicted and unsure how to respond, he blinked for a moment and then recalled an unfamiliar term from the servant's words.

"But, what is an isolation wall?"

"Ah It refers to a special barrier present in this palace. There are three installed in this bedroom, and the Duke ordered all of them to be drawn."

After he had spoken, he rose from his seat and approached the wall beside the bed. Astonishingly, as soon as he touched the wall, it receded backward, folding aside like a lady's fan. Yuder's eyes widened as he realized that behind the now collapsed wall, furniture and windows previously unseen now stood revealed.

At the same moment, the servant, who had returned, opened his mouth.

"That wall which just disappeared is the first isolation wall."

"Does that mean there are two more walls like that?"

"Yes. One on each of the three sides, excluding the back wall."

The servant's response was polite and serious. Yuder stared at the other two containment walls, which, for the life of him, looked nothing but real walls. Such cleverly crafted fake walls. Reflecting on his past life, he was even more astonished that he had never heard of a palace with such a mechanism installed.

If you look at the name, it was clearly a wall created for the purpose of isolation. This place was the palace where Kishiar, the former prince, had stayed, and it was his bedroom. What on earth could be the purpose of creating isolation walls centered around a bed in such a place?

"What is... the purpose of that wall?"

"It's a wall for isolation and protection, as the name suggests."

After answering thus, the servant turned to Yuder, his wrinkled eyes smiling.

"Perhaps you would find it better to ask the Duke instead of me if you are curious? I was just about to go and inform the Duke that you, Mr. Aile, have awakened."

With that one sentence, the servant, who had caused Yuder to close his mouth, said he would bring some edible food and disappeared lightly toward the open wall.

Once left alone, his body felt heavy again as if he would fall asleep, but having slept so long, he couldn't close his eyes again. Instead, what filled his mind was the servant's words that he had awakened after a day and a half.

'I had thought it would take a week to open my eyes as it did in my previous life...'

Come to think of it, in his previous life, the second gender manifestation itself had been completed in a much shorter time than others. Hadn't others suffered all at once because they went through the slow changes and the associated pain bit by bit over a long time? Then, it wasn't too strange that the heat that had come with it ended quickly as well.

Among the Awakeners he had met in his previous life while being a Commander, there were several who, like Yuder, had undergone the second gender manifestation and the heat simultaneously. Most of them had typically manifested their second gender over a week, and he had heard that the heat naturally subsided around the time the manifestation ended.

Back then, he didn't think it was strange as he assumed that when the manifestation and the heat came together, they typically subsided in about a week. But on reflection, there was no reason for him, who had finished the manifestation faster than others, to extend the heat for an extra week.

'Then, is this what would have happened if nothing had happened, and rather, was it the situation in my previous life that was abnormal?'

He wasn't entirely without a guess. Around the time Yuder died, among the Cavalry members, there was a rumor that if those in heat mingled their bodies, they would influence each other, making their heat period longer than usual. Someone as powerful as Kishiar could have easily turned that rumor into a fact.

In the end, the only variable that he could guess at was that Kishiar's in-heat period had not overlapped with his this time, just that and nothing more.

'Just that... and yet all these events ended so easily.'

Ensnared in a strange feeling while comparing the past and present, Yuder gently shook his head.

'No. That's not it.'

It wasn't just good fortune that resulted from their heat period not overlapping. It was still vivid in his memory how much Kishiar had suppressed himself, trying to reassure Yuder in the storage room.

'I am the Commander of the Cavalry, responsible for you. You took a stand for me, now it's my turn to return the favor.'

Could he just dismiss the shock he felt when he heard that voice resonating in his ears at the moment he was about to surrender to despair, as simple good luck?

Superior abilities didn't necessarily translate into superior self-control. In the world, those with great power often felt less need to exercise restraint, especially for the sake of the weak.

Yet, Kishiar had carried Yuder here, joking around as if nothing was wrong, sweating from his forehead. Yuder believed it was not right to dismiss Kishiar's efforts to save him as a fortunate situation caused simply by their heat period not aligning.

Remembering his face as he casually draped his cloak over him made Yuder's heart lurch.

This time, nothing had happened. Really, nothing at all.

So, even after the second gender manifestation had ended, he could face Kishiar with a clear mind, without any regrets.

It felt like an old thorn deeply embedded somewhere in his heart had finally been pulled out. Overwhelmed by a feeling of liberation, or something he couldn't quite identify, Yuder took a deep breath without realizing it. At that moment, the servant entered, pulling a tray.

"Upon hearing you've woken, His Grace was overjoyed. He said you haven't eaten for over a day and suggested you eat this soup before you see him."

"What... What is His Grace doing right now?"

Yuder asked, a bit hesitant. the servant, seemingly oblivious to his hesitance, gave a gentle smile and served the soup bowl and spoon from the tray.

"Today officially marks the start of the trial with the Apeto Ducal House. It seems he's been continuously issuing orders in relation to that. Now, please eat."

The soup, cooked with finely chopped vegetables and gently minced chicken for easy digestion, was tender enough not to need much chewing, and it had a savory taste. Yuder, who thought he had lost his appetite, felt an astonishingly strong hunger after one spoonful of soup, and began eating rapidly.

"You shouldn't eat too quickly. Please, take your time."

Even after getting reprimanded midway, Yuder finished the soup. the servant, with a contented look in his eyes, cleared the empty bowl.