Raise Me, So That I Can Eat You Up - Chapter 22

‘What should I do when there’s such a high fever.’

I definitely knew, but when it actually happened, my mind went blank and I couldn’t think of anything.

What should I do? First…

Oh, really. What should I do? Everything went dark before my eyes.

Knock knock.

Just then, I heard a knock and Leon entered my room.

“Sister. You left this behind.”

It seemed he came in to bring me the belongings I had left in the carriage.

Why? The moment I saw Leon, I felt both sad and relieved.

Tears welled up in my eyes without me realizing.

“What’s this, why are you like this? Are you crying, sister?”

Leon asked, startled by my appearance he had never seen before.

“O-Oscar… Oscar…”

“What? Speak clearly.”

“He, he seems sick. His, his fever is too high.”

“Oh s**t! This is frustrating. Move aside!”

Leon pushed me aside as I trembled in fear and went to the bed.

He placed his hand on Oscar’s forehead, and his face hardened as if the situation wasn’t good.

“Damn, he’s burning up. What should we do?”

“Fi-first, we need to take off his clothes.”

“Huh?”

“Cold towel. Co-cold towel.”

I muttered repeatedly to not forget, to keep my senses.

So, generally, that’s what you do to cool down a sudden high fever, I think.

My mind was urgent, but was I too flustered? My body wouldn’t cooperate.

I felt like I was broken.

“Alright.”

“Wait. I’ll, I’ll do it.”

“It’s fine. How are you going to bring anything with your hands shaking like that? Just undress him.”

Seeing me just stamping my feet, Leon decided to go get it himself, seemingly frustrated.

While Leon went to the kitchen, I hurriedly took off the pillowcase and soaked it with water from the kettle.

‘What if something happens to Oscar?’

Just the thought made it feel like a heavy stone had dropped on my heart.

Stay calm. There’s no time to tremble.

I need to pull myself together.

I shook my head vigorously and bit my lip to try and hold onto my hazy consciousness.

“I’m sorry. Just bear with it a little, I’ll make you feel better.”

My hands were trembling and I felt like I was losing my mind, but I forced myself to swallow dry saliva and rubbed Oscar’s hand.

“…Ari.”

Did he regain consciousness in all this commotion? Oscar called me in a drowsy voice.

“Yes, Oscar. I’m here.”

I tried to answer as if nothing was wrong, swallowing the tears that were about to burst out.

‘How scared would Oscar be if I cried too?’

I had to maintain my composure.

It’s okay. It’ll be okay.

I’ll make it okay.

I let out a faint sigh and clenched my trembling fist tightly.

I quickly undressed Oscar and started wiping down his entire body.

His arms and legs, which were always fidgeting, were now limp and without any strength.

“Hehe…”

Despite burning up with fever, Oscar grinned happily when he saw me.

“Oscar, you know. I danced.”

Oscar spoke unintelligibly, exhaling hot breaths.

‘What is he saying?’

He must have been dreaming, having fallen asleep early in the evening.

I was glad he seemed to have had a pleasant dream despite being sick.

“Really? Did you enjoy it?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Seeing that innocent face made my heart feel like it was being torn apart.

“I kept my promise, but what’s this? We’re supposed to play peekaboo together.”

“…We’ll play. Peekaboo.”

I kept stroking Oscar’s head as he kept dropping it, and whispered in his ear.

“It’s okay. Just bear with it a little. It’ll be alright.”

“But I’m so cold, Ari.”

Oscar curled up tightly, seeming to have chills. He hugged me, his shoulders shaking like aspen leaves.

“Just a little more, Oscar. We need to do this to bring down the fever.”

I climbed onto the bed and laid Oscar on my lap. Oscar kept burrowing into my arms, seeming to like it.

“We need to wipe you down first. Just a little more, okay?”

“Mm-hmm.”

I lifted Oscar’s arms as he kept curling up, and wiped him down thoroughly, dampening every part.

Yes. Even if it seems useless, I should do what I can right now.

In the meantime, I heard Leon rushing in.

“He was fine until early evening, what happened?”

Viscount Hayworth was with him, in his nightclothes.

Since it was Viscount Hayworth who had put Oscar to bed and left, he seemed uneasy.

“First, let’s try to feed him this.”

Leon carefully spooned a thin liquid into Oscar’s mouth.

“What are you feeding him?”

“Sugar water. To prevent dehydration.”

Is it the power of collective intelligence? Indeed, with more people gathered, the response was somewhat quicker.

As we kept feeding him, Oscar shook his head, seemingly disliking it.

“Oscar. You need to drink all of this.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“You have to finish it so we can play peekaboo. I’m waiting, you know.”

When I coaxed him, he reluctantly swallowed it.

Gulp, gulp.

Even that seemed difficult; he swallowed half and half dribbled out. While Leon fed him the sugar water, I continuously wiped the sticky liquid that leaked from his mouth.

It pained me to see him listening to me even when he was so sick and out of it.

Despite our earnest nursing, it wasn’t enough to bring down the fever immediately.

We couldn’t carelessly give him fever reducers since he wasn’t a human child.

‘Right. Maybe we could find some clues if we search through the books!’

I hurriedly flipped through the dragon encyclopedia. My hands kept trembling and tears kept coming, so Leon helped me.

We finally found out about herbs that have a calming effect on dragons, and fortunately, they were also used for humans, so it wasn’t difficult to obtain.

I felt so foolish for not knowing about even basic medicines while raising a dragon.

It all felt like my fault.

If I had checked Oscar’s condition more carefully before leaving.

No, if I hadn’t left the house at all.

Maybe Oscar wouldn’t have gotten this sick.

Did someone like me even deserve to take care of Oscar in the first place?

Oscar only has me.

But when he needed me, I was distracted by other things and couldn’t be there for him.

Tears kept coming, and my heart felt like it was crumbling.

***

It was already the dim dawn before I knew it.

I was still keeping vigil by Oscar’s side with wide-open eyes.

Oscar seemed to have calmed down a bit, no longer shivering. The urgent fever had subsided, and he had stabilized.

He was sleeping, breathing evenly.

“Ariella. Try drinking this.”

Viscount Hayworth handed me a cup of water with a worried face.

He seemed concerned that I might collapse from crying too much.

“I’m fine.”

I wasn’t in the state of mind to drink water or anything. After crying for so long, my throat felt choked up, and I didn’t think I could swallow anything.

“Raising a dragon child might just kill my child.”

He clicked his tongue and wiped my wet eyes.

“Where did you pick up such a dreadful thing…”

It seemed he was more worried about me than the sick Oscar, probably because blood is thicker than water.

Like a fallen child who cries even harder when comforted.

When Viscount Hayworth consoled me, I was overcome with sadness and tears fell without me realizing.

Oscar only looked like a young child; he was a dragon.

Because we didn’t know how Oscar’s condition might turn out, it was difficult to carelessly order the employees around.

He seemed to feel sorry for me, nursing Oscar while dragging my tired body.

“The fever has gone down, so he’ll be fine soon. I’ll watch over him, so you should get some sleep.”

“I’ll do it. Father, you should go to sleep now.”

Viscount Hayworth stroked my head as I cried my eyes out, letting out a faint sigh.

“It’s not your fault.”

“…It feels like it’s all my fault.”

“I’m telling you it’s not.”

“I shouldn’t have gone to that party.”

Tears kept falling even though I tried not to cry.

“I guess I’m not qualified to protect Oscar.”

Viscount Hayworth clicked his tongue, seemingly finding this sight pitiful, but he kept leaning in to meet my gaze.

“Ariella.”

“…”

“Look at your father.”

When I met his eyes while hiccuping, he seemed to feel a bit relieved and smiled faintly.

“It’s natural for children to get sick as they grow up. It’s no one’s fault.”

“Still…”

“But you were here to discover it right away.”

“…”

“You noticed because you were observing carefully.”

“Really…?”

“Of course. He’s getting better because you stayed by his side all night.”

He kept patting my trembling shoulders, comforting me that it was okay, that I did well.

“But I’m so clumsy and foolish.”

“Who’s skilled from the beginning?”

“…”

“Shall I tell you about the day you had a terrible fever when you were two years old?”

“What did you do?”

“I couldn’t do anything and just kept pacing around the room.”

Viscount Hayworth chuckled, finding it amusing even now as he recalled. Yet, he patted my back as if to say I was doing well enough.

“So I’m doing well?”

I smiled, making a joke on purpose, grateful for the Viscount’s efforts to comfort me.

“Of course. I always say it, don’t I? Our Ari is perfect. Your father isn’t one to make empty words.”

Father neatly brushed back my hair, which was a mess from crying.

“I wish I could be sick instead of him.”

This little one, where could he possibly be sick? If I could be sick in his place, I wanted to do even that.

“Then what would this father do?”

He clicked his tongue as if finding me unkind.

“I’ll just be sick for all of you. So stop crying, okay? Hmm?”

Well, I suppose it’s the same for Viscount Hayworth with me. It’s always the one maintaining the relationship who feels more sorry and regretful.