Chapter 280: Adele Falls Ill

The carriage swiftly arrived at the Viscount’s Residence. Leon, wearing a protective mask, was the first to get out, rushing through the gates with quick strides. Rena and Weiss followed closely behind, and only then did Dorothy, who had traveled with them, leisurely get out of the carriage and follow after them.

They entered the residence and went all the way to Adele’s bedroom, which was being used as a temporary ward. Petra, who normally served as Adele’s attendant, was currently standing outside the bedroom door waiting.

“Tell me the exact situation.” Leon began questioning Petra before she even had time to salute him.

“Two hours ago, I accompanied Madam by ship to Caster City to handle some matters. At that time, Madam suddenly began feeling somewhat unwell. We thought it was merely seasickness at first and even had her take some medicine we had prepared, but after getting off the ship, Madam’s complexion darkened, and then she became somewhat unsteady on her feet.

We felt something was wrong at the time, so we checked her temperature and discovered that she had started running a fever. We immediately canceled the arrangements and began returning. Halfway back, Madam could no longer even remain seated. We hurried back to the residence as quickly as possible and called the doctor directly here. The doctor is examining her now.”

As Petra spoke, she looked into the bedroom. Leon and the others followed her gaze and looked inside as well. A doctor wearing a mask and protective clothing was standing to the side reading a thermometer, while Adele lay beneath the covers on the bed, breathing with some difficulty.

Leon stepped into the room and asked the doctor: “What’s her condition?”

Hearing Leon’s voice, the bedridden Adele showed a slight reaction and slowly turned her face toward him, but her gaze was unfocused, clearly unable to control where her eyes focused.

“My Lord.” The doctor walked over to Leon, cautiously considered for a moment, then ultimately chose to tell him as directly as possible, “It has basically been confirmed. It’s the Red Death. Red blotches have already begun appearing on her neck, and some things that look like feathers have grown on the back of her hand.”

“She didn’t have any symptoms before.” Leon said.

“Yes, we’ve currently discovered a total of five cases like this. They had no symptoms whatsoever during the early stage—no coughing, sneezing, or rashes, only a little fatigue. This incubation period lasts slightly longer than the mild-symptom stage of ordinary patients. But once the course of the disease reaches the end, it still breaks out, and once it does, it immediately enters the severe stage. I believe Madam was probably already infected before the plague was discovered. Her fever has already exceeded thirty-nine degrees, and her consciousness has also been affected to a certain extent.” The doctor explained his diagnosis.

Leon looked gravely at Adele, gestured for the doctor to leave, then turned to look at Rena and Weiss, preparing to have them examine Adele again.

Adele was now extremely important to this territory. Most of the trivial affairs within the territory were basically handled by Adele. If Adele were gone now, affairs throughout the territory would fall into chaos.

Moreover, from Leon’s personal perspective, now that he had already begun to acknowledge Adele and had grown accustomed to spending time with her, he did not want to see Adele die of illness at all.

At that moment, Adele suddenly made a sound and spoke weakly: “Who’s…… there?”

Because of the fever, her body beneath the blankets had been shivering continuously from the cold, and her voice trembled slightly as well.

Leon, Rena, and the others looked at one another. After a brief moment of thought, Leon took two steps closer to the bedside first: “It’s me.”

“Grandfather?” Adele struggled to narrow her eyes and did everything she could to distinguish the figure before her, “No, it’s…… Leon? Is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me, Leon.” Leon realized that Adele’s consciousness had indeed become blurred, and she might even be experiencing slight hallucinations, “How are you feeling?”

“So cold, it’s really cold! Leon, is the fireplace lit?” Adele kept shivering as she asked somewhat indistinctly.

“It’s already burning.” Leon answered. The room was actually already quite warm, but unless Adele turned over, she could not see the firelight from the fireplace.

“Am I…… about to die?” Adele asked while panting.

“You won’t die. I’ll find a way to save you.” Leon said.

Hearing this, Adele merely smiled, and her smile looked somewhat forlorn. She did not know that Leon was currently researching medicine and only thought that he was comforting her.

Anyone who contracted the Red Death basically died. Once severe symptoms began, they generally could not survive for more than three days. Taking Holy Water could only delay it slightly by another two or three days, which did not mean much for her.

“Thank you for still being willing to comfort me. I really never imagined that in the end, I would die like this…… I finally managed to revive the territory Grandfather left behind……” Adele said with a face full of regret. After pausing for a while, she continued, “I finally…… managed to make you acknowledge me.”

“You’ll have plenty of time afterward. Stop talking and get some proper rest.” Leon said.

“I’m so sleepy, but if I fall asleep, I probably won’t have another chance to wake up, right?” Adele’s eyelids were already beginning to droop, but she still forced herself to remain conscious.

She had seen those severely infected patients before. Once they lost consciousness and fell into a coma, or entered hallucinations and became confused, they basically remained in that state until they died.

“You won’t.” Leon comforted her.

“I…… I……” Adele struggled to say something, but her consciousness drifted in and out, preventing her from thinking smoothly, “Leon, I really…… at first, I really hated you. I hated you, and I was afraid of you……”

“I know.” Leon answered.

“But now I really feel differently. Sometimes I even think that marrying you…… actually wouldn’t be so bad……”

Perhaps because she felt she would never have another chance to say it, or perhaps simply because her consciousness was blurred, Adele spoke in a dreamlike voice words she would absolutely never normally say aloud.

Hearing this, Weiss quietly looked toward Rena. Rena lowered her gaze and remained silent.

“It’s just a pity that it’s a little too late now.” As Adele spoke to this point, her voice grew softer and softer, while her gaze became increasingly unfocused, “If only…… I had gotten to know you a little better before……”

After saying that, her voice became so faint that it was almost impossible to hear. A moment later, Adele half-closed her eyes and stopped speaking, merely breathing with difficulty while her body continued trembling slightly.

Weiss and Rena stepped forward and gave Weiss a simple examination. In the end, they both nodded toward Leon, indicating that there was no doubt whatsoever that this was an infection with the Red Death.

“While she still has a swallowing reflex, let’s first have her take Number Nineteen Holy Water.” Weiss said as she took out the medicine case.

Leon nodded.

At that moment, Rena noticed the small patch of downy feathers growing on the back of Adele’s hand and asked: “Why do patients keep developing these traits that resemble the Demonic Human Form?”

Leon turned toward Dorothy, signaling for her to explain. His intuition told him that Dorothy probably knew something.

Dorothy considered it briefly before ultimately revealing the information she had previously concealed: “The final objective of Arachne’s plague weapon is actually to transform the infected into Magical Beasts, allowing them to be influenced by Moylai’s power.”

As soon as these words came out, both Weiss and Rena’s expressions changed slightly. This was also the first time Weiss had heard about this. Great Witch Lamia had never revealed any related information in the Empire.

If humans were forcibly transformed into Magical Beasts, theoretically they should acquire the characteristics of Magical Beasts, such as intense hostility toward ordinary humans, as well as the characteristic of being controlled by Witches.

This was an extremely inhumane method, but for Moiland, which exclusively worshiped Moylai, it undoubtedly possessed extremely high practical value as a strategic weapon.

“However, Arachne’s research is still far from complete at present. This transformation into Magical Beasts has only shown a few signs. And compared with transforming people into Magical Beasts, she personally actually prefers developing the deadly plague that emerged as a byproduct.” Dorothy said.

“This is only a byproduct?” Leon furrowed his brows, “You concealed this from Johnny and me before, didn’t you?”

“But I’m telling you now, aren’t I?” Dorothy answered.

“You said before that the plague Arachne developed was ineffective against Witches, right?” Leon said.

“In principle, it should be, but at present there’s no guarantee.” Dorothy answered.

“If Adele or other women were transformed into Witches, could that render the Pathogen ineffective?” Leon asked.

“If they became Witches before infection, then perhaps it could provide some prevention, assuming Arachne designed it with that requirement in mind. But it won’t work for those who are already infected. Although the extent isn’t high, this plague truly does have an effect that transforms people into Magical Beasts, and the result is unknown.

Under these circumstances, taking in Magic Essence to undergo the transformation ritual and absorbing the magical power within the Labyrinth would probably cause them to lose control, accelerate the mutation of their bodies, and lead to even more serious consequences!” Dorothy urged with a serious expression.

“So we still have no choice but to rely on the serum?” Leon let out a long breath as he looked at Adele, who had already fallen unconscious.

After thinking for a moment, Leon turned toward Weiss and said: “Go test the symptoms of the Demonic Wolves again. If any individual shows a clear drop in body temperature, start extracting serum and give it a try.”

“Inject it into her first?” Weiss looked at Adele and asked Leon for confirmation.

“No, prioritize the severely ill patients in the most critical condition. Let’s try it.” Leon said.

Using serum extracted from Demonic Wolves whose symptoms had improved but which had not yet been confirmed as fully recovered directly on humans still carried considerable risk, but for those who might not survive until tomorrow, Leon felt that the risk was acceptable. After all, for them, there was already no room left to worry about such risks.