Chapter 253

Tiuran seemed to feel much the same way. After hesitating for quite some time, she reluctantly nodded.

“Understood. Please wait a moment.”

A short while later, a middle-aged woman wearing a dark-colored robe entered the room with measured steps.

“I heard you called for me.”

“The pain is too severe.”

Talia blurted out urgently.

“I need a strong painkiller.”

Without a word of complaint, the woman took a small medicine bottle from inside her clothes and handed it to her. Talia accepted it with trembling hands and drained it in one gulp without even bothering to check what was inside.

The woman watched her with an expressionless face before calmly explaining.

“I changed the combination of medicinal ingredients to prevent the same side effects as last time. I added a large amount of herbs to neutralize the toxicity and reduced the amount of mandrake, so you should not experience the same symptoms as before.”

“Then doesn’t that mean the medicine will be weaker too?”

The healer sighed and nodded.

“It won’t have as strong an effect as before, but it should still be enough to ease severe pain. I’ll also apply an ointment with an analgesic effect to your leg.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Talia pulled her skirt, soaked through with cold sweat, up to her knee. The healer bent over her and began spreading a reddish ointment across the pale, raised scar.

He watched the scene with troubled eyes. That prescription might relieve her immediate suffering, but in the end, it would gradually ruin her body.

He recalled a passage written in her diary.

[I’m hoping that someday, this medicine will stop my life too.]

If the ‘medicine’ she had referred to was the painkiller made by that healer, he had to find some way to make her stop taking it.

But what could he possibly do in this body? At present, the most he could manage was baring his teeth and growling. Even that probably would not be taken as a genuine threat.

Feeling the now-familiar helplessness weigh heavily upon his chest, he gently licked the back of her hand. Talia, who had been burying her face in the pillow, raised her head and gave him a faint smile.

“Sorry, Khan. It must be stifling being stuck in this room all the time, right?”

Then she gestured to the maids with her chin.

“Take Khan outside and walk him for a while.”

As though refusing her words, he promptly jumped onto the bed and pressed himself tightly against the space beside her head. At that, her deep blue eyes sparkled with delight. It was a soft look he had never once seen from her when he had been human.

For some reason, seeing her express her feelings so openly only made his chest ache more painfully.

“I guess Khan doesn’t want to be apart from me. Looks like I’ll have to take him out myself.”

“Will you be all right? Your leg.......”

“I’m fine. It’s much better than it was earlier.”

Cutting the maid off firmly, Talia slipped a summer robe over her thin indoor dress.

Tiuran watched her with concern before cautiously speaking.

“May I accompany you as well? If your condition suddenly worsens, I should be there to take immediate action.......”

“Are you questioning my skills?”

Marisen glared sharply at Tiuran, visibly offended. Tiuran immediately lowered her gaze.

“I had no intention of insulting you, Marisen. I was merely concerned about the possibility that something might happen.......”

“Isn’t that exactly what you mean? You don’t trust my prescription, so.......”

“Enough!”

Talia, who had been straightening her clothes with a maid’s assistance, interrupted in an irritated voice. Then she fixed Marisen with a stern glare and added,

“Tiuran isn’t your assistant healer anymore. So stop taking issue with every single thing she says.”

“......I apologize for displeasing Your Highness.”

The woman bowed her head, her face stiff.

After looking down at her with a piercing gaze, Talia soon picked him up in her arms and motioned toward Tiuran.

“You follow me. Like you said, I might suffer another side effect.”

Marisen’s mouth twisted faintly.

Ignoring it, Talia turned away with a huff and slowly left the bedroom.

He studied her complexion anxiously. Fortunately, the painkiller seemed to be taking effect, because by the time they left the Great Hall, some color had begun returning to her previously pallid face.

“The weather is really nice today, isn’t it?”

Talia whispered into his ear as she carefully made her way along a sunlit path.

He quietly looked up at her red lips, curved in the faintest smile. It seemed that she had been the one truly suffocating from being confined to her room. Her face had softened considerably as she tilted her head high and basked in the bright sunlight.

“Do you want to walk on your own?”

Talia set him down on the ground and began walking slowly alongside the flowerbeds. He diligently moved his paws to follow her.

He did not know how long they had been wandering through the garden when, as they neared the rear garden, Tiuran suddenly spoke.

“Your Highness, why don’t we stop by the kitchen for a moment?”

Talia looked puzzled.

“Why the kitchen?”

“Well...... I thought Khan might be hungry. We should be able to get some raw meat from the kitchen...... and since we’ve already come this close, I thought perhaps we might stop by for a moment.......”

Her uncharacteristically rambling voice gradually faded away.

Talia regarded the healer suspiciously for a moment, then turned toward the kitchen located behind the main building. It seemed she had belatedly remembered that, having suffered from pain all morning, she had failed to see to his food.

“Prepare something this child can eat immediately.”

Upon reaching the entrance at the rear of the building, Talia issued the order in an imperious tone.

The cooks, who had been bustling around the hearth preparing lunch, hurriedly bowed before immediately taking out a fresh piece of meat and carefully preparing it.

Meanwhile, Talia sat on a chair at the far end of the kitchen and watched the servants bustling about. Before long, a bowl filled with finely minced raw meat was placed in front of him.

“Here. Hurry up and eat.”

He brought his nose close to the bowl and sniffed before taking a mouthful of raw meat. The bloody taste was not particularly pleasant, but if he wanted to grow as quickly as possible, he needed to consume nutrients whenever he had the chance.

He emptied the bowl in no time and licked the blood from his lips. Talia watched him with satisfaction and ordered the servants to bring out more meat.

It was then that the healer, who had remained silent until now, cautiously made a suggestion.

“Why don’t you eat something as well, Your Highness? You skipped breakfast too.”

Talia turned to her with narrowed eyes. Only then did she seem to realize that Tiuran had used Khan as an excuse to bring her to the kitchen so she could get her to eat.

The healer added carefully, as though dealing with a wary wild animal.

“If Your Highness permits, I could prepare a soup that will help restore your strength.”

“You’re going to cook it yourself?”

“Providing food suited to the patient is also one of a healer’s duties. It may not taste as good as something made by a professional cook, but it will be better for your health.”

Talia stared intently at the healer’s face, curiosity and suspicion mingling in her expression, before slowly nodding.

Tiuran let out a small sigh of relief and immediately gathered various ingredients from around the kitchen. Then she filled a basin with cold water and thoroughly washed her hands before beginning to prepare onions, potatoes, and a large piece of chicken.

Once the ingredients were finally ready, she placed a small brazier on the table, brought over a pan, greased it, and began frying the finely chopped vegetables until they looked appetizing.

A faint trace of interest appeared in Talia’s eyes as she watched. She had never before taken the time to observe how food was made, so the experience seemed quite novel to her.

“Are there any ingredients you particularly enjoy, Your Highness?”

“No. I hate pretty much everything.”

Tiuran gave a wry smile at the curt response, took out a pot, filled it with water, and added chicken bones to make a broth. Then she put in all the ingredients she had prepared and left everything to simmer thoroughly.

Soon, the savory aroma of soup filled the kitchen.

He carefully observed Talia’s reaction. A faint anticipation shimmered in her brightly gleaming blue eyes. Watching the cooking process seemed to have awakened her appetite.

Tiuran seasoned the pot with salt, then filled a large bowl with soup and placed it before her.

“It’s hot, so please be careful.”

As though she had been waiting for those very words, Talia picked up a spoon, scooped up some of the steaming broth, and tasted it. Apparently it suited her palate quite well, because the movements of her hand as she brought the food to her mouth gradually became quicker.

“Would you like some more?”

The bowl had already been emptied by the time the healer brought the pot over to her side and asked.

Talia looked up at her in silence with an odd expression, then slowly nodded.

“Just a little.”

With a smile on her lips, Tiuran ladled out some soup and added it to her bowl.

After that, whenever they went out for a walk, the healer began making various dishes for her.

Talia would sample little by little dishes made from fish and various meats that she ordinarily would never have touched. At times, she even personally asked Tiuran to make bread or pastries, and occasionally she took part in the cooking process herself.

He watched with pained eyes as she ate every last one of the cookies she had overbaked until they became hard.

He had been vaguely aware that eating was difficult for her, but he had never tried to think deeply about why. He had simply dismissed it as another consequence of her sensitive, finicky temperament and had done nothing but scold her or force her to eat against her will.

Bitter remorse overwhelmed him.