Since the night I treated Erhan, his condition has improved significantly.
He hasn’t fully recovered yet, but the high fever that has been bothering him constantly has decreased considerably, thanks to my hard work and the right herbal prescription.
“……thank you.” Erhan came to my room and thanked me directly as he cleared his throat. “I feel much better.”
“Absolutely. Who do you think prescribed it?”
“Aren’t you tired that day? You looked after me all night.”
“Well, it’s hard, keep injecting herbal infusions, observing the flow of mana…, changing wet towels, and….., when you have nightmares, I hold your hand to calm the raging mana.”
“But I slept well thanks to you. I’ve never slept so well.”
“A good night’s sleep is a necessary condition for health. Did you sleep well last night?”
Erhan shook his head. “I want to sleep well again….., but I don’t want you to get tired because of me.”
With eyes shining as my efforts paid off, I said, “There are ways to get a good night’s sleep even if I don’t do any of those things.”
“What’s that?”
“Are you going to listen to me?”
“……yes.”
“Really?”
I held out my pinky finger.
“When I say you have to listen to me, you have to do it unconditionally.”
“……for the time being.”
He made a pinky promise to me.
The condition was ‘for the time being,’ but I laughed with joy inwards anyway.
‘I’ve got you now!’
Now I had to train him to listen to me better than Frederick does.
“If you’re done eating, let’s go out first. You need to move your body and get some sunshine.”
After the short tea time was over, I grabbed Erhan’s wrist. The weather is nice and the sun is warm today.
“Do you want to run there with me?”
Erhan’s disease is a chronic disease, and his current level of immunity is very poor. If a thirteen-year-old child does not move much and does not eat properly, his health will definitely be poor.
“You’ll have a hard time at first since you haven’t moved much until now, so eat this first……”
I gave Erhan herbal medicine to strengthen his physical abilities. He spent most of his time lying in bed, so for now, this prescription would be necessary to allow him to do some light exercise.
However, last time when we played ball, I thought he was good at sports, so he might soon have fun.
I plan to make these simple things a little easier for him before handing it over to the Knights when he gets a little stronger. After all, the knight would be better than me at building up his body strength through training.
To do so, he must first learn the joy of moving his body. The running match was just a pass. After that, I’ll get him to do it again and again.
“Master Erhan! Run! More!” I sat under a beautiful tree and shouted, drinking the lemon juice Jenny brought me.
“One more round! Seeing you run is so cool!”
It was a shameless remark, but Erhan glanced at me and started running even faster.
With all this hard work, the amount of food he eats will increase. However, during the growing period, it is best to move around a lot, eat a lot, and sleep a lot.
“Let’s run two more laps and have dinner together!”
I only planned to get him to exercise and use up some of his energy, but I ended up having dinner with him too.
“Master Erhan, you have to finish it.”
“But……”
“You’re hungry aren’t you, eat it all. Come on.”
I gave him a balanced diet and started to feed him nutritious food for his growth. For him, I would even cut up steaks, salads, and seafood and put them in his mouth.
When I held out the fork, he would eat it helplessly.
Frederick was constantly brainwashing him with, ‘You can’t eat it. You’ll get fat and everyone will think you’re ugly.’ I excitedly pushed a fork at the thirteen-year-old little Duke to break the belief in that garbled lie.
“It’s like taking care of a kid in the orphanage.”
Seeing him open his mouth, I felt a strange pride in my heart.
“Now, take a bath and read a book until you fall asleep. I will be with you, too.”
“Book?”
“Yes, there are many books here.”
In the spirit of serving the Duke of Casseus, I even decided to take care of the successor’s studies.
After taking a bath with the help of a maid, he was already half asleep wearing indoor clothes. I handed him the thickest book I could find, and I also opened the herbal paternity test book for me to read.
“Tell me when you feel like you’re about to fall asleep.”
You’ve been moving around a lot today than usual, so of course, you’ll fall asleep if you look at a boring book.
But it was my fault. Erhan concentrated on the book until midnight.
‘This can’t go on. You have to go to bed earlier to get bigger.’
A little confused, I asked Erhan, “Aren’t you sleepy, Master Erhan?”
“This book is fun. It’s been a long time since I read it.”
“It’s been a long time?”
“I read a lot until Frederick told me not to.“
“……”
No matter how you look at it, Frederick is the problem.
“……then would you like to close your book now and just sleep?” I made a suggestion.
“I can’t sleep.”
“Lie down for now.”
After dimming the light, I sat down beside his bed and held his white little hand, just as I had done to the Duchess. Erhan was surprised but immediately smiled.
I don’t have to inject mana since he doesn’t have a headache, but I have to pretend to be doing something.
“If you close your eyes and stay like this, you will fall asleep.”
“Aren’t you uncomfortable, Lise? How about sitting with me?”
“Yes? I’m fine like this.”
“It’s spacious here. Will you lie down with me? You must be tired too.”
I shook my head, surprised.
Even if a thirteen-year-old suggested it with pure intentions, I can’t imagine myself lying in bed side by side with a man.
“It’s okay, Master Erhan. Just close your eyes and sleep. I will stay here until you sleep soundly.”
I patted him gently, looking at his long eyelashes, red lips, and pointed nose.
I thought I would watch him fall asleep, but my eyes felt really heavy, and I fell asleep.
Come to think of it, I couldn’t sleep well yesterday and studied from dusk to dawn, so I also lacked rest. After that, I started to fall asleep without myself realizing it.
***
“Lise.”
This is Erhan’s bed.
‘I definitely said I wouldn’t lie down with you……’
But before I knew it, Erhan was already holding my hand gently.
‘Eh, but why are your hands so big?’
When I looked up and saw Erhan, I swallowed my breath.
Not a thirteen-year-old boy, but a young man with a very strong build looking at me.
‘Dream? This must be a dream……’
When I realized that it was a dream, I was so shocked that I couldn’t say anything.
It was completely different from the dry and thin appearance of Erhan before I returned to the past, but the beautiful features and black eyes definitely belonged to him.
“You said you weren’t lying.”
The decadent and cold atmosphere in his eyes was slightly dizzying. His presence was so great that I almost choked.
He was a man of stunning looks with a sense of intimidation.
“You said that you were the smartest and most straightforward person I have ever met…… You said that you were the only one who really cared about me.”
Um…… I did say so.
He blinked, just looking at me.
“Now I know that everything you said was true.”
His feet overlap mine, then he whispers softly in my ear as if trying to seduce me.
“But to let you go? I’m not a fool, Lise.”
It was so close that even I could feel his hot breath. I couldn’t help but stare at his long eyelashes. For the first time in my life, I thought my heart was going to explode. I think I’ll die.
I’ve never felt like this before.
As soon as I was about to say something with trembling lips, my eyes suddenly opened.
***
“Hah.”
As expected, this is Erhan’s room.
I am thirteen years old, and also, thirteen-year-old Erhan is sleeping beside me.
“What an unreasonable dream……”
I tried to let go of the small hand gripping my wrist and was about to go back to my room, but his grip was so strong even though he was sleeping.
I groaned. When I finally managed to let go of his grip and returned to my room, the hazy dream I had was naturally forgotten.