Chapter 71: Vaporized Warmth

“Shasha, are you feeling better now?”

“…Mmm, Sis. I thought it was a dream when you came earlier.”

“If you’re sick, you must call for me. Why didn’t you want them to tell me?”

Edelweiss gently caressed Princess Charlotte’s cheek, her voice tinged with sadness.

“You’re busy… I didn’t wanna bother you…”

Princess Charlotte stuck her tongue out slightly and smiled. She then stretched out her arms as if wanting to sit up. Edelweiss placed a pillow behind her back to support her.

“But it’s so weird. What you gave me and what big brother gave me before taste the same. When I eat it, here—” She pointed to her chest, “—it feels like the blocked part opens right up. I like it.”

“I’m glad it helped.”

“Can’t you tell me what it is?”

Edelweiss was briefly flustered. It seemed Princess Charlotte didn’t know what she’d eaten was the Blossomweaver’s blue rose.

There must be a reason why Damian didn’t tell her.

Knowing the princess’s personality, she likely wouldn’t eat it if she knew the truth. So Edelweiss simply smiled and said,

“It’s just something like a fever reducer.”

“Oh, okay. Sis, can you stay with me until I fall asleep?”

Without asking further, the princess nodded in understanding.

“Of course. Should I read you a fairy tale?”

“Yes!”

Edelweiss read fairy tales to her throughout the night. Even after the princess fell asleep, she didn’t leave her side.

When she dozed off briefly and woke again, she checked on Princess Charlotte—who was now sound asleep, as if she’d never been ill.

She pulled the blanket up to the girl’s shoulders and gently patted her stomach. Just then, footsteps approached from nearby.

At first, she thought it was Anna.

“Anna, quietly—

She whispered, afraid Princess Charlotte might wake, and lifted her head.

But—

“….Damian?”

Damian, his left arm wounded, was standing at the door.

The moment Edelweiss saw him, her breath caught. His pupils were vacant, as if proving he was barely on his feet.

Just seeing him wavering there made it hard for her to exhale; her lungs felt stabbed by something sharp.

Damian approached Edelweiss.

“When did you arrive? And what happened to your arm this time?”

“..…It’s not badly hurt, so it’s fine. I still have feeling in it.” He shrugged as though it were nothing, and Edelweiss sighed even more deeply.

“But is it really all right to come straight here? Shouldn’t you report to His Majesty first?” Naval officers normally reported to the Emperor immediately upon return; it seemed he’d come straight here without entering the palace.

“There’ll be a victory banquet soon. The Emperor will attend, so I only need to show my face there.”

“……”

Edelweiss was speechless at his disregard for protocol. Damian stretched out both hands and looked down at the sleeping Princess Charlotte.

“Why were you here? Did Charlotte bother you again?”

“It’s not that. She had a high fever, so I gave her a blue rose. She seems better now.” Edelweiss reached out and placed a hand on the princess’s round forehead. It was merely warm; the fever had gone down completely.

At her answer, Damian’s expression darkened.

“It hasn’t been long since the last blue rose, and her fever spiked again? Any seizures?”

“She only had the fever.”

Damian fell silent. After touching the tip of the princess’s nose and seeming reassured, he rubbed his forehead.

“Perhaps the blue roses I bloom aren’t as perfect as Aunt’s, so the interval has shortened.”

“…..”

“I’ll give her a blue rose whenever her fever rises, so please don’t worry.” The fever was completely gone now; it was time to treat Damian’s left arm, though his gaze still rested on Princess Charlotte.

“If we stay here any longer, Shasha might wake, so let’s go.” She led him out and toward the marital chamber, telling Anna, waiting in the corridor, to fetch a physician.

The physician, still at Ruer Palace because of Princess Charlotte, was startled at the sight of Damian and treated him.

Once the coat was removed, the exposed left arm looked even worse. Edelweiss remembered cleaning the top of his foot when it had been cut by a chandelier shard.

He had bitten his lip then to bear the pain.

This wound was deeper, yet Damian seemed unfazed throughout the treatment.

Watching, Edelweiss frowned and fidgeted with her hands. The usually impassive Damian glanced at her and gave a small smile.

“I’m the one who’s hurt—why are you hurting for me?” The calm light in his blue eyes deepened.

The physician finished, sternly warning him not to use his left arm for a while, and left.

As soon as the doctor was gone, Damian looked around the marital chamber as if curious; Edelweiss stepped closer to ask him—

Suddenly Damian pulled her toward him. Her view dropped, and before she knew it she was seated on his knee.

“…..Your Highness?”

Edelweiss froze for a moment. An unstable emotion flickered in Damian’s eyes.

“What’s wrong…?” she asked in a trembling voice, unable to grasp why he was acting this way.

Their faces were so close she could feel his breath.

Damian wrapped his right arm around the nape of her neck and pressed his forehead to hers.

“You have a fever too. How long have you been like this?”

“It always happens around this time of year. I’ll be fine after getting through it once.”

Damian had practically ignored his own injured arm, yet he clearly didn’t like Edelweiss’s answer.

It felt awkward to stay in his arms when she herself wasn’t feeling well either.

As she tried to get up, Damian grabbed her arm—

As if telling her to stay.

She didn’t quite understand why, but chose to remain seated.

He looked exhausted.

Though he’d acted fine while the physician was present, now Damian looked completely worn down.

“…Your Highness, does that mean you won’t be deployed again for a while?”

“Yeah. We’ve handled most of it this time. There were more casualties than expected, so if the Emperor tries to send us out again, even the nobles will push back.”

“……”

Edelweiss suddenly felt a twinge of confusion.

‘If there were so many casualties, why is there still a naval victory banquet?’

Wouldn’t a memorial or moment of silence be more appropriate?

Then again, there had always been victory banquets. Without fail.

“Is the victory banquet His Majesty’s idea?”

“Yeah. He’d call it a noble sacrifice.”

Damian clenched his jaw, as if he already knew what the Emperor would say.

He was the admiral of the fleet.

Those heavy losses were his own men.

And yet, because it was the Emperor’s will, he couldn’t skip the celebration.

‘People he’d just spoken to not long ago are now dead…’

Edelweiss could understand how painful it must be for him.

“Your Highness, did something happen?”

In response, Damian pulled out a military dog tag from his pocket.

He rubbed the name on it—“Kyle Lement.”

“…A major died. A shell explosion.”

“……”

“He was my direct aide. The body was so badly damaged, we wouldn’t have recognized him without this.”

That meant it was completely mutilated.

‘If he was Damian’s aide, they must’ve spent quite a bit of time together.’

Especially knowing Damian never kept people close.

‘He’s barely holding it together.’

Only then did Edelweiss understand why he had pulled her into his lap.

After witnessing so much death, he needed someone’s warmth.

Without a word, Damian buried his face in the curve of her neck.

His breath against her skin was deep and heavy—

As though emotions he’d suppressed were quietly spilling out.

Edelweiss gently stroked his back.

And so, the night deepened.