IYWHM Chapter 172

Since the day of the recital, Kisa had thoroughly refused to meet with Seyard.

Compared to before, when they would take walks together or share tea face-to-face every other day, their relationship had rapidly frozen over.

Seyard tried to appease Kisa’s anger by sending polite apology letters and gifts through intermediaries, but she refused all of them as well.

Instead, as if venting her frustration, she spent her time visiting high-end shopping districts and purchasing expensive luxury items.

Of course, the bills were paid by the servant Seyard had assigned to her.

Perhaps he thought it would be fortunate if Kisa’s anger subsided even in such a way, as he seemed to have allocated no small amount of money to his fiancée.

Even when Kisa recklessly swept up everything in sight, the servant never showed any sign of being unable to pay or appearing troubled.

To be honest, having never spent such large sums of money on shopping in her life, Kisa should have felt guilty rather than calmed.

But she couldn’t give up the convenient excuse of shopping for such a trivial reason.

In fact, this had been planned since she had lashed out at Seyard at the Royal Concert Hall.

It was to carry out Gale’s advice to increase her outings.

The visible discord with Seyard provided a plausible reason for Kisa, who had been holed up in the hotel until now, to suddenly start going out.

Perhaps because they had witnessed the duke and duchess’s conflict outside the hall that day, the servants didn’t find Kisa’s sudden change particularly strange, only being careful not to upset her.

Though it was hard to be certain since they hadn’t met directly recently, judging by how he placed no restrictions on Kisa’s behavior, Seyard’s situation seemed similar.

‘Well, that makes sense.’

Watching the servants organize the several dresses she had bought today, Kisa recalled the events of a few days ago.

On that day when she had finally released the pent-up resentment in her heart after quite some time, Kisa hadn’t been acting.

That’s why even the perceptive Seyard had uncharacteristically shown his flustered inner state.

‘It was bound to happen someday.’

The relationship between the two was nothing more than a severed thread from the past that Seyard had reconnected through his obsession.

The reason Kisa hadn’t openly displayed her emotions and confronted him until now was because she thought it would only waste her energy and serve no purpose.

Because that man, who would try every method to appease Kisa, would absolutely never do just one thing—let her go.

“…….”

Such a kind yet cruel person.

“Lady Kisa.”

Just then, a servant who had approached nearby caught Kisa’s attention.

“I’ve roughly finished organizing the clothes you mentioned.”

Only then did Kisa come to her senses and look around.

The guest room, which had been cluttered with dresses just a while ago, had now returned to its original state.

“Indeed. It’s been neatly organized.”

“Would you like to see the dressing room as well?”

“Is that necessary? I’m sure you’ve done well on your own. Thank you for your hard work.”

“You’re too kind.”

“It’s getting late, so I’ll retire now. Everyone should rest as well.”

Saying this, Kisa rose from her seat and shivered slightly at the sudden chill.

“Excuse me, is the room temperature a bit low right now?”

The servant tilted her head at the question.

“Well, I’m not sure, but if you’d like, I can light the fireplace in the bedroom.”

“No, there’s no need to go that far. Just bring me some thick nightwear, please. I suppose I’ve been dressing too lightly for summer. Come to think of it, I’ve only been drinking cold beverages too.”

“Yes, understood. I’ll bring it right away, so please rest comfortably in your bedroom.”

Kisa thanked the servant and headed to her bedroom.

As she lay down on the bed, she felt somewhat tired.

“Have I been overdoing it lately?”

Having suddenly become active after being accustomed to staying quietly in her room, it wasn’t strange for her not-so-robust body to be surprised.

Moreover, wasn’t she pregnant? Though it appeared she was simply taking carriages to shopping districts and shopping comfortably, she often felt nauseous and queasy.

Kisa closed her heavy eyes and resolved to rest quietly tomorrow without moving around.

Sleeping in would be nice too. While increasing outings was important, the biggest goal was to escape from Seyard.

If she pushed herself too hard now and developed health problems, she might miss a crucial opportunity when it came.

So she had to maintain her physical condition no matter what happened, but…

Heaven was not on Kisa’s side this time either.

Despite her efforts that night—changing into the thick clothes the servant brought, pulling the bed sheets up to her neck and sleeping tightly covered—Kisa had to wake up the next morning feeling chilly.

When the servant confirmed that Kisa had a fever, she immediately informed Seyard, who promptly summoned Kisa’s attending physician.

After the examination, the doctor diagnosed Kisa’s condition as the fever-cold that was currently prevalent around Matera.

“There’s an incubation period, so your fiancée probably came into contact with an infected person about two days to a week ago.”

Upon hearing news of Kisa’s illness, Seyard had entered the guest room without permission, and his face darkened upon hearing the doctor’s explanation.

The two outings were possible sources, but Kisa actually had a particular suspicion.

‘At the recital, there was someone coughing.’

The symptoms hadn’t seemed severe, so she hadn’t paid much attention, but who would have thought it would lead to this result?

It felt terribly unfair. Seyard had been sitting closer to that person, yet he looked as healthy as usual today.

She resented her own unhealthy constitution anew when Seyard spoke.

“Then how do you plan to treat it?”

The doctor answered with a somewhat hesitant expression.

“We’ll need to use symptomatic treatment for a while and monitor your fiancée’s condition. A cure was developed last year because patients emerge every year, but since your fiancée is pregnant…”

Kisa suddenly recalled an incident from a few years ago that had turned the world upside down.

It was when a famous fever reducer produced by a pharmaceutical company was revealed to cause serious harm to fetuses when taken by pregnant women.

Eventually, the pharmaceutical company went bankrupt after facing harsh public criticism and subsequent compensation lawsuits, and the fever reducer had long since ceased production and distribution, but the fear from that time still remained with many people.

The medicine taken to restore health had instead brought greater harm.

After that incident, pregnant women in various countries became reluctant to use relatively recently developed medicines and relied only on traditional treatment methods.

‘In severe cases, some even lose their lives.’

Since such worst-case scenarios couldn’t be called extremely rare, the doctor earnestly tried to reassure both Seyard and Kisa.

“Both of you need not worry too much. The condition isn’t serious at present, so we can expect recovery with symptomatic treatment alone. Human natural healing power isn’t something to ignore either. There have been several cases of complete recovery in this manner…”

Listening to the doctor’s words, Kisa steeled her resolve.

At a time like this, she couldn’t be held back by something like a fever-cold.

‘There’s still some time before the period when Gale said he would send contact again.’

Though she wouldn’t be able to go out for a while, if she focused on recovering her health, she might avoid an unfortunate situation that would require Gale to revise his plans.

“I understand what you’re saying.”

Eventually, when the doctor’s lengthy explanation ended, Seyard spoke.

“Then I’d like you to stay here until she fully recovers. We’ll naturally prepare a guest room for you.”

Though phrased as a request, his attitude was close to a command.

“Ah, yes.”

“If you need anything else, just say so. Hillan’s people will prepare it for you immediately.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“If you just treat her illness, I promise to provide more than adequate compensation.”

“Yes, I’ll do my best.”

Seeing the doctor’s burdened appearance, Kisa felt embarrassed.

Having the doctor confined here was welcome for her, who urgently needed recovery, but Seyard’s current behavior was somewhat embarrassing.

According to newspapers, with some exaggeration, about half the capital’s population had been through this illness, yet he was acting as if Kisa had contracted some terrible disease.

Come to think of it, he had also insisted on making her lie down in bed when she tried to get up to greet the doctor earlier.

‘This is much more bearable than the most painful time in my life.’

Thinking she should try to dissuade him, Kisa spoke up.

“Um, Seyard…”

But her throat stung, causing her to pause momentarily, and he spoke first.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Kisa. I’ve been too noisy while you’re unwell. I’ll withdraw now, so please rest.”

It was Seyard’s gentle smile that she was seeing for the first time in a week. For some reason, it seemed even softer than usual.

“Getting some sleep would be good too.”

Without even having time to hear Kisa’s response, he looked at the doctor and made a suggestion that wasn’t really a suggestion, proposing they continue their detailed discussion outside.

Ah, whatever. Eventually alone in the room, Kisa stared blankly at the ceiling.

Though her thoughts were complicated in various ways, her head was throbbing from the fever and she just wanted to rest.

Let’s sleep as Seyard suggested. Then her fever would drop and her condition would improve considerably.

However, unfortunately, the situation unfolded completely contrary to Kisa’s hopes.

“…….”

In less than two days, Kisa found herself unable to sleep, suffering from high fever and chills.

Various symptoms including abdominal pain, muscle aches, and vomiting naturally followed as well.

Kisa desperately felt the need to revise the most painful time of her life.

Watching her in this state, Seyard suddenly spoke in a low voice one day.

“Let’s use the treatment medicine.”