Ingrid woke up gasping for breath.

"My lady, you're finally awake! Are you okay?" She heard several voices simultaneously ask, making her head throb.

Ingrid's drowsy eyes wandered around the room, and she saw Naz among the crowd of worried faces.

Her tears instantly fell as she asked with a trembling voice. "What did he do to me?" She sobbed. "What did he do to me...?"

A look of horror appeared on Naz's face. Among the people in the room, he was the only one who instantly understood what she meant.

He quickly kneeled before Ingrid and was about to hold her hand, but he stopped himself. Instead, he placed his hands on his lap as he bowed and said, "My lady, he did nothing to you. That night, Consort Maeren arrived and stopped him before he could do anything. I swear on the Prickly Rose that this is the truth or else I will die!"

But still, Ingrid couldn't stop herself from crying. It was as though she could still feel his tongue on her skin, like a burning acid eating away at her flesh. Her stomach churned. She wanted to vomit.

"I want to go home." She looked at Aleric like a lost child, begging a stranger. "Please take me home."

Aleric did not respond. Instead, he held out his hand while staring at her, as though telling her to come to him of her own accord. He wasn't volunteering himself to be her savior, but his hand was a promise that if she came to him, he would protect her.

Without hesitation, Ingrid took his hand and jumped into his embrace. The crown prince held her protectively in his arms. In the blink of an eye, we were both gone, leaving behind the crippling coldness.

Iris went to greet them the moment they arrived in Ingrid's room.

"My lady, what happened?" she asked when she noticed Ingrid's puffed eyes.

"It's nothing," Ingrid said in a small voice. "Please prepare me a bath," she added, and she walked towards the bathroom without looking back.

Iris looked at the crown prince, looking for an answer. But the heavy atmosphere surrounding the crown prince stopped her from asking. She respectfully bowed her head and went outside to ask the servants for bathwater.

"Scrub it harder," Ingrid commanded the maidservant who was scrubbing her shoulder.

The maidservant paused for a moment, worried. She was already scrubbing the spot quite hard—her pale skin had already turned extremely red, causing her to worry that her lady's skin would begin bleeding. Yet Ingrid is still asking her to rub it harder.

"Why did you stop?"

The maidservant flinched. That was the first time that she heard Ingrid speak in such a cold and harsh tone. But still, she was worried that if she continued scrubbing Ingrid's shoulder, she'd begin bleeding.

Feeling the maidservant's hesitation, Ingrid sighed and said, "I'd like everyone to leave."

"But my lady~"

"Do I have to keep repeating myself?"

The servants fell silent and reluctantly left, their faces filled with worry. They don't know what may have caused their mistress to act that way, but that isn't like her at all.

The moment Ingrid heard the door closing, her body shook. She sank into the tub while rocking herself back and forth. Tears began streaming down her face.

***

Ingrid was met with silence when she came out of the bathroom. A tinge of displeasure appeared on her face. Her maidservants were supposed to be waiting for her, so why did they leave?

But Ingrid soon found her answer when she saw the man standing in the middle of the room with his back turned against her. Her mood worsened. She hates how he always does what he wants.

Every time he's around, her chamber loses its privacy. She had always put up with it since she was in desperate need of his help. But her terrible mood made her lose all inhibition.

"Forgive me, your Highness, but could you please leave? I would like to rest."

But Aleric did not respond and stood motionless as though he did not hear her.

Ingrid's face turned sour. Disregarding that she was only wearing a robe, Ingrid pulled Aleric's arm to face her.

"Seriously, leave~"

Ingrid was taken aback when she was met by Aleric's bloodshot eyes and unfocused gaze. She shifted her attention when she felt a burning feeling underneath her palm and realized it was because of Aleric's arm she was holding.

"Your Highness!" Ingrid gasped. "You're burning!"

As though awakened by her voice, Aleric's gaze focused on Ingrid. His brows furrowed, and the surrounding air suddenly turned cold. Iris, who was standing guard by the door, froze when she felt the ominous aura and quickly took out her weapon.

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But Ingrid, who was overtaken by worry, did not notice anything odd at all. She placed her palm on Aleric's forehead to check his temperature, unaware of the brewing storm.

"Iri~" Before she could finish calling her name, the door opened, revealing Iris carrying her dual-bladed axe. Her eyes were narrowed as she looked for the source of danger.

"What are you doing? And why are you taking out your weapon? Come help me with his highness, it seems that he is having a fever."

The moment Iris heard the word 'fever' she was startled. Cold sweats trickled down the side of her face, as her horror-filled eyes looked at Ingrid standing close to the crown prince.

"M-my lady, please get away from the crown prince."

Ingrid's brow furrowed. "What do you mean to get away from him? I'm not that fragile to catch his fever just because I'm near him. Wait...could it be that his fever is caused by a viral disease?!"

"N-no my lady, it's not like that!" Iris responded while waving her hands animatedly. But with her double-bladed axe in hand, her action looked quite threatening.

"If it isn't like that, then I'll be fine." Ingrid shrugged.

She pulled Aleric by the arm and helped him in bed. To her surprise, the crown prince followed her command like an obedient child.

What Ingrid didn't know was that Iris was growing paler and paler as time went by.

Several thoughts began racing in Iris's mind. Earlier, his Highness arrived while the maidservants were inside, waiting for Lady Ingrid to come out of her bath. Luckily, the maids had their backs against him, so they did not notice his arrival. But she was so focused on driving the servants away that she did not realize there was something wrong with his highness.

"Are you alright, Iris? You look so pale."

"I-I'm fine... my lady."

His highness becomes something else completely when he is sick. Whenever he is high with a fever, he becomes an irrational monster that massacres every living creature he senses within a thousand-mile radius.

She had only witnessed it once before. But it was forever burned in her memory.

They were in the middle of a war campaign at the time when the crown prince suddenly became sick with a fever. She was still a soldier in training at that time.

One day, they heard a loud explosion. They thought the enemy was attacking them. But when they arrived at the scene, they found the crown prince with eyes as red as blood and saliva trailing down his chin, fighting with the generals. Five of their strongest generals managed to hold him down, but a few seconds later, they all flew away in different directions.

They were told to evacuate, so she did not see what happened next. When they came back a day later, their entire camp was gone. The generals were sitting on the ground, blood trickling down gaping wounds on certain parts of their bodies. None of the generals were left unscathed—even Vernon, who was rumored to be as strong as the Crown Prince, had a giant wound on his forehead.

Without explaining anything, Vernon told them to prepare to head to the enemy camp. Because of the tremendous shock, they only realized when they were halfway through the march that some of them did not bring their weapons with them.

But their worry was needless. When they arrived at the enemy camp, what met them were scattered limbs and dead bodies. The new soldier recruits couldn't help but vomit at the site. Even Iris, who has seen numerous deaths since she was young, still had goosebumps at the sight.

One of the dead soldiers had an arm missing. From the looks of his wound, his arm was forcefully separated from his body through sheer force. Another soldier had a giant hole in his chest. His eyes were wide open even after his death. You could see the terror in his lifeless orbs.

And amid all those lifeless bodies was the crown prince, bathed in blood and sleeping rather soundly.

That day, the Crown Prince of Aradhya gained another atrocious title to his name. He started to be hailed as the barbaric prince—the fear of nations and the nightmare of kings.

"Iris, can you get me a cloth and a basin of warm water?" Ingrid's command awoke Iris from her stupor.

She looked at the crown prince, who had his eyes closed. Ever since that day, all of the soldiers, including her, would panic whenever the crown would cough.

According to Vernon, the Crown Prince only becomes like that when he has an extremely high fever. And right now, his highness has a fever. Can she leave Lady Ingrid alone with his highness?

"Iris? What are you still doing there?" Ingrid asked with a frown.

Iris was about to open her mouth to explain when they heard a soft knock on the terrace door. The curtains were closed, but Ingrid could already guess who it was. There are only two people in the world who brazenly appear in her castle without alarming her guards.

"I'm sorry for disturbing my lady, but may I ask if his highness is with you?"

Relief washed over Iris when she heard Vernon's voice.

"Indeed, his highness is here, with a fever at that."

There was a long pause.

"Sir Elsher?" Ingrid called when she didn't hear his response after a while.

"Y-yes." Vernon cleared his throat. "My lady, may I ask if you could check his highness's temperature?"

"I'll get the thermometer!" Iris volunteered and ran towards the location of the drawers. In a few seconds, she came back holding a thin glass rod.

Ingrid took the rod and placed it on Aleric's palm. After a second, the rod glowed a blue hue, and then all of a sudden it shattered into pieces.

"My lady!" Iris exclaimed and quickly ran to Ingrid's aid. However, her footstep halted when she noticed a thin strand of darkness surrounding Ingrid, protecting her from getting hit by the glass shards.

"What happened?" Vernon asked worriedly.

But Iris couldn't respond as she watched the crown prince slowly sit up from the bed. Iris swallowed.

"The thermometer broke. His fever must be high." Ingrid answered, her voice filled with worry. "And you, mister, lie back down. Iris, the basin, please!"

"Y-yes!"

Vernon stood with a stunned expression in front of Ingrid's closed terrace door. How could it be? The crown prince's fever is far above the normal threshold, but he didn't turn wild.

"Sir Elsher? Are you still there?"

"Yes, my lady."

"His highness's fever is extremely high. I don't think a mere basin of water would cut it. How about you transport him to the closest hospital?"

"That won't be necessary, my lady!" Vernon responded faster than he intended. "His Highness is sick due to mana exhaustion."

"Mana exhaustion?" Ingrid repeated.

"To return to Learia within the given time, his Highness used his ability to teleport to Aradhya, exhausting his power. And after regaining it, he used it once again to teleport back."

Ingrid was stunned. He looked at Aleric with an inexplicable expression. So when he took her to see Naz, he was using his magic despite being exhausted?

Her hand flew into her mouth. But when she saw him earlier in the day, he still looked fine.

While they were at Naz's manor, she did notice that he was unusually silent. But she thought it was because he didn't want to interrupt them. Did he just pretend to be fine? But why?

Vernon no longer needed to speak further to show Ingrid what Aleric had done for her, as he intended. He wanted her to feel more indebted to Aleric. If she is indeed the reason why his highness did not succumb to madness this time, then he will do everything in his power to keep her on the crown prince's side.