Doctor Resignation

Since the end of the night I continued to care for Erhan, his condition had improved considerably.

He is not yet fully cured, but his high fever, which has been bothering him continuously, has greatly improved, thanks to my hard work and careful prescription of herbs.

“…Thank you.”

Erhan came to my room and thanked me in person as he cleared his throat.

“I feel so much better.”

“Absolutely.
Who do you think prescribed it for you?”

“Weren’t you tired that day? Nursing me all night.”

“Well, it was really hard, to keep injecting herbal infusions, watching the mana flow … changing wet towels and … when you’re having a nightmare, holding your hand to calm your raging mana discharge.”

“But I slept well thanks to you.
I’ve never slept so well at night.”

“Sleeping well at night is a necessary condition for health, did you sleep well last night?”

Erhan shook his head slowly.

“I want to sleep well again….
but I don’t want you to be exhausted because of me.”

With eyes shining because my efforts paid off, I told him.

“There is a way to sleep well at night, even if I don’t do all that.”

“What is it?”

“Will you listen to me?”

“…Yes.”

“Really?”

I stuck out my pinky finger.

“When I say listen to me, you have to do it unconditionally.”

“…Being for the moment.”

He grasped my pinky finger slowly.

The condition was ‘for the moment’, but I laughed with joy inside anyway.

‘Gotcha now!’

Now I had to train him to listen to me better than Wederick.

“If you’re done eating, let’s go outside first.
You need to move your body and get some sunshine.”

After the brief tea time was over, I took Erhan by the wrist.
It was nice weather and the sun was warm today.

“Would you like to run with me?”

Erhan’s illness is chronic and his current immunity level was terrible.
If a 13-year-old doesn’t move and eat properly, his health will inevitably be bad.

“It will be hard for you at first because you don’t move much, so eat this first…”

I gave Erhan some herbal medicine to strengthen his physical capacity while he was blinking.
He spent most of his time lying in bed, so for the time being this prescription will be necessary for him to exercise lightly.

Still, the last time we played ball, I thought he was good at sports, so he could start having fun right away.

I planned to make these simple things a little easier for him before handing him over to the Knights when he gets a little stronger.
After all, the Knights will be better at building his body through training than I am.

To do that, he first had to learn the joy of moving his body.
The running match was just bait.
After that, I ordered him to do it again and again.

“Master Erhan! Run! More!”

I sat under a beautiful tree and screamed, drinking the lemon juice Jenny brought me.

“One more round! Watching you run is great!”

It was a snappy comment, but Erhan looked at me and started running even more vigorously.

With all this hard work, the amount of food he eats will increase.
Anyway, during the growing season, it was best to move a lot, eat a lot, and sleep a lot.

“Let’s run two more laps and have dinner together!”

I was just planning to exercise him and expend some of his energy, but I also ended up having dinner with him.

“Master Erhan, you have to finish it.”

“…But…”

“You’re hungry, eat it all.
Go on.”

I discovered a well-balanced diet and started feeding him foods full of nutrients for growth.
For him, I would even cut up steak, salad, and seafood and put them in his mouth.

When I offered him a fork, he would eat it helplessly.

Wederick would constantly brainwash him with, ‘You shouldn’t eat it.
You’ll turn into a mess and everyone will think you’re funny.’ I eagerly pushed a fork into the little 13-year-old Duke to break the belief of such messy lies.

‘It’s like babysitting the younger kids in daycare.’

As I watched him open his mouth, I felt a strange sense of pride inside me.

“Now, wash up and read until you get sleepy.
I’ll keep you company.”

“Book?”

“Yes, there are many books here.”

In the spirit of service to the Duke of Cerseus, I even decided to take care of the successor’s studies.

After washing with the help of a servant, he was already half asleep in his underwear.
I handed him the thickest book I could find and I too opened a book of herbs for paternity tests.

“Tell me when you feel you are about to fall asleep.”

You’ve been moving around quite a bit today unlike usual, so of course, you’ll fall asleep if you look at a boring book.

But it was my mistake, and Erhan concentrated on the book until midnight.

‘This can’t go on.
You have to sleep early to grow up.’

A little embarrassed, I spoke quietly to Erhan.

“Aren’t you sleepy, Master Erhan?”

“The book is funny.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it.”

“Long time?”

“I read a lot until Wederick told me not to.”

“…”

No matter how you look at it, Wederick was the problem.

I made a gentle suggestion.

“… So, would you like to close your book and just sleep?”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Lie down for now.”

After turning out the lights, I sat down next to his bed and held his little white hand, as I had done with the Duchess.
Erhan was surprised, but soon smiled and held my hand.

I didn’t have to inject mana because he didn’t have a headache, but I had to pretend to do something.

“If you close your eyes and stay like this, you’ll fall asleep.”

“Don’t you feel uncomfortable, Lise, how about sitting with me?”

“What? I’m fine like this.”

“It’s wide here.
Would you like to lie down with me? You should be tired, too.”

I shook my head in surprise.

Even if a 13-year-old boy suggested it with pure intentions, I couldn’t imagine lying side by side in a man’s bed.

“It’s okay, Master Erhan.
Just close your eyes and sleep.
I’m going to watch over you until you fall asleep comfortably.”

I patted him slowly, looking at his long eyelashes, red lips, and high nose.

I thought I would watch him fall asleep, but when the lights went out, my eyes flickered and I fell asleep.

Come to think of it, I couldn’t sleep well yesterday and I studied from dusk until dawn, so I’m also lacking some rest.
After that, I started to fall asleep without even realizing it.

»»————-　♡　————-««

“Lise.”

It was Erhan’s bed.

‘I definitely said I wouldn’t sleep with you…’

But before I knew it, Erhan was already holding my hand gently.

“Uh, but why are your hands so big?”

When I looked up and saw Erhan, I swallowed my breath.

Not a 13-year-old boy, but a young man with a surprisingly strong body, looked up at me.

‘Dream? It must be a dream…’

Realizing that it was a dream, I was so surprised that I couldn’t say anything.

It was completely different from Erhan’s dry and thin appearance before my return, but the beautiful features and black eyes were definitely his.

“You said you don’t lie.”

The cold, decadent atmosphere in his eyes drooped slightly.
His presence above me was so large that I almost gagged.

He was a man with an impressive appearance and a sense of intimidation.

“You said you’re the smartest, simplest person I’ll ever meet…You said you’re the only one who really cares about me.”

Uh … I said it.

He blinked silently, just looking at me.

“Now I know everything you said was right.”

His legs entwined with mine, then he whispered softly in my ears as if trying to seduce me.

“But letting you go? I’m no fool, Lise.”

He was so close you could even feel his 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 was going to die.

I had never felt like this before.

As soon as I was about to say something with my trembling lips, my eyes suddenly opened.

»»————-　♡　————-««

“Ah.”

Likewise, it was Erhan’s room.

I was thirteen, and likewise, a thirteen-year-old Erhan was sleeping next to me.

“Must be just a silly dream…”

I tried to let go of the hand he was holding to return to my room, but he wouldn’t let go because of how strong his grip was, even if he was sleeping.

I struggled and moaned on my own, and when I finally pulled my hand away and returned to my room, the hazy dream I was having was forgotten.