Charlotte listened attentively to Taemi’s story while chewing and swallowing the rest of the donut.
Moving her gaze slowly as if observing passersby, she said:
“The pay?”
“Didn’t I just say? A man struck by money, with an only daughter he cherishes more than gold. Name your price.”
The eyes as blue as a field of green barley moved slowly. Very slowly…
Eventually, Charlotte nodded.
“Alright. Tell them I’ll visit.”
“The sooner the better. I don’t know what illness it is, but once that daughter’s breath stops, it’s over.”
“Did you see her directly? What were the symptoms?”
Taemi swallowed a large donut and thumped his chest before exhaling.
“I only saw her briefly. She’s unconscious like she’s dead and her breathing is weak. I lightly touched her stomach but there were no lumps or anything. Still, they say until the day before yesterday she was conscious and kept saying her stomach hurt… Her mother said it felt like someone was wandering around inside her stomach, pinching it.”
“Pinching… It’s definitely not indigestion.”
“Do you think she swallowed something strange?”
After a moment of silence, Charlotte said:
“Whether she swallowed it or was invaded, that’s unknown. For now, we’ll have to make her vomit everything in her stomach. If she’s unconscious, the signs aren’t very good. There may not be much time left. She might even be physically ‘eaten away’.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to go quickly. Even I could see it. Not a hint of color in her face…”
Damn it. Charlotte inwardly uttered a brief curse.
As if she didn’t have enough to do today, now this. Even three bodies wouldn’t be enough at this rate.
“I can’t go today. Instead, I’ll give you some medicine that can help restore consciousness. Take that and go to this Grimel or whoever’s house first, Taemi.”
“When will you come?”
“At the earliest, this evening. At the latest, before midnight. It won’t be any later than that. Probably.”
“Alright.”
Taemi brushed off his mouth and stood up.
Charlotte roughly wrapped up the unfinished donut in paper before throwing it away and getting up to follow.
On the way back to Charlotte’s shop, the two walked separately as if they were strangers.
Every time Charlotte exchanged friendly greetings or brief words with people, Taemi had to hold back laughter several times. He still couldn’t get used to that pretense, no matter how many times he saw it.
“Oh, Charlotte! Did you already finish lunch?”
Yuno from the fruit shop waved. Charlotte smiled brightly and said:
“They said they ran out of ingredients. So I had donuts.”
“Oh no! Wait. I’ll pack some fruit for you to eat. You need to eat well.”
As she had expected, Yuno filled the basket Charlotte had given her to the brim with fruit.
Oranges, limes, and peaches ripe with juice that looked fresh and sweet at a glance overflowed from the basket.
“Yuno! This is too much. You’re making me feel bad.”
Yuno laughed heartily.
“Don’t feel bad. You saved my son’s life when he almost died. Isn’t this the least I can do? Take it and eat, and if it’s not enough, feel free to come back for more.”
Charlotte received the heavy basket with a gentle smile.
“Thank you, Yuno.”
She unlocked the door and went inside the shop, but didn’t flip the ‘Out’ sign.
Taemi lingered around for a while, killing time, and only opened the door a little while after Charlotte had gone inside.
The silver bell tinkled, spreading through the shop like soft music.
“You’re really a bundle of pretense. ‘Thank you, Yuno~’. Wow, doesn’t it make you cringe to live like that?”
“Shut up if you don’t want to die, Taemi.”
While Charlotte searched for tinctures on the shelf, Taemi chuckled and picked up a peach from the basket, taking a big bite.
As juice splattered everywhere, Charlotte said without even turning around:
“Are you going to lick up everything you spilled? If not, clean it up right now. I hate sticky things.”
“Yes, yes. Your Highness. As you command.”
Taemi roughly wiped up the juice with his sleeve and shoe, then finished off the large peach in just three bites.
Meanwhile, Charlotte placed two brown tincture bottles and a bundle of dried herbs that smelled bitter on the glass countertop.
“First, give this tincture to that girl. One or two drops each is enough. If her color improves, up to three drops is fine, but no more than that.”
“And if that doesn’t work?”
Charlotte held up the bundle of herbs.
“Soak this in warm water, then grind it and apply it to her forehead and under her eyes. Also between her palms and collarbone. This will definitely bring back consciousness. But the pain will still remain. Then.”
Her body dipped below the counter.
When she rose again, she held a strangely glittering stone in her hand.
“Tell her to hold this in her mouth. Don’t swallow it. It’s a real stone.”
“Even after all this, she still won’t be able to vomit what’s in her stomach?”
Charlotte’s round shoulders shrugged slightly.
“Probably not. If she’s lucky enough to vomit, that’s fortunate. Whatever comes out, save it.”
“Damn, now I have to scrape up vomit too.”
Though Taemi complained playfully, he carefully packed what Charlotte had given him into an old leather pouch. He wrapped the stone separately in a worn cloth.
Charlotte watched him work with her arms crossed, then carefully gestured with her chin.
“How’s your leg these days?”
Taemi looked at Charlotte as if wondering why she suddenly asked, then lowered his gaze.
“Well, same as always.”
“The pain too?”
“It aches a bit on rainy days. But it’s manageable.”
“Come see me if it hurts a lot. Don’t stubbornly endure it.”
Though gruff, her words were mixed with concern. Taemi grinned, revealing white teeth.
His clothes may be shabby, but upon close inspection, he was truly a handsome young man.
“Then I’ll go ahead. Don’t be too late.”
“Don’t worry. Have you ever seen me be late for an appointment?”
The silver bell tinkled again. Charlotte watched Taemi’s retreating figure through the glass window until the echo of the bell faded.
Seeing his shoulder rise and fall greatly on one side with each step filled her with unease and an indescribable irritation up to her throat.
The terrible voice like scraping metal was filled with pain.
Charlotte shuddered at the thick smell of blood in her nose and shook her head.
That’s all in the past.
She changed the sign on the door to ‘Closed’.
Then she lowered the blinds on the glass window and hurried into her small house attached to the back of the shop.
[This is the timeline separator]
The luxurious four-wheeled carriage that had been gliding over the cobblestones slowly came to a stop.
As the servant sitting next to the coachman opened the door, a tall man stepped out.
Though his wide-brimmed hat was tilted to cover half his face, he was a young man with a very sharp nose and lips.
His wrinkle-free mouth was tightly drawn as if tense or angry.
Without any awareness of the passersby, he naturally entered the alley.
After glancing around the deserted surroundings from under the brim of his hat, he knocked on the shabby wooden door, and someone came out from inside as if they had been waiting.
“You’ve arrived.”
An elderly man greeted him politely and ushered him in. The man glanced towards the carriage before stepping into the old door without hesitation.
Even though it was broad daylight, it was as dark as night inside the door.
Though lamps were lit here and there, it only added to the eerie atmosphere.
“Your hat.”
At the old man’s words, the man finally took off the hat that had been covering his entire face and handed it to him.
Even under the lamplight, he was a handsome man with striking dark blonde hair and eyes the color of sunset that gleamed sharply.
“The others?”
The man’s voice was low and calm. Though he looked young enough to be not yet thirty, he also had an authority that no one would dare defy.
“They are waiting inside. Please come in.”
The old man led the way. The interior was wider than it appeared from the outside.
Though there were no lavish decorations, a subtle fragrance wafted from various places, and antique furniture occupied the space.
As he opened the solid door made of ebony, three people sitting around a round table turned their heads towards him.
Two of them were middle-aged, a man and a woman, and one was a man who looked even older than them.
“Duke of Elinak, you’ve come.”
The middle-aged woman smiled faintly as she broke the silence.
The man called Duke of Elinak bowed his head slightly.
“I’m late.”
“It’s alright. We haven’t arrived long ago either. Please, sit down.”
The oldest man offered him a seat. As the Duke of Elinak sat down, the sound of the door closing was heard from behind.
“It’s been a while since all the Hook Inspectors were summoned.”
The woman said. Then the other middle-aged man sitting next to her bowed his head politely.
“Please tell us what this is about, Your Majesty.”
The woman slowly raised her head. Though a smile still lingered on her face illuminated by the light, there was an unapproachable dignity and spirit.
This woman in a plain dress without even a veil was Lyuen Vandrop, the monarch of this country.
The 19th ruler of Roynoke, the first leader to adopt a bureaucratic system after dissolving the revolutionary government that had fallen into corruption after much confusion, and reviving the monarchy again, learning from the failures of her predecessors.
Lyuen slowly looked around at the three people excluding herself.
The oldest Count Scrapster, the experienced Marquis Martelle, and the youngest but sharp and intelligent Duke Matiel of Elinak whom she greatly cherished.
They were members of the Hook Inspectors (Gukyo-won), who investigated various incidents and accidents in the Kingdom of Roynoke.
Separate from officials belonging to the royal court such as the Minister of Royal Administration, Minister of the Army, or Chief Justice, they received direct orders from the monarch, and only the individuals themselves and Queen Lyuen knew that the three were part of the Hook Inspectors.
Queen Lyuen calmly opened her mouth.
“There are two important matters. One is the serial killings taking place in the western Eliki region, and the other is related to illegally distributed drugs.”
Male lead says he’s pregnant — and it’s female lead’s child
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
__________
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