STP 07

Chapter 7

“Hmm-hmm……!”

After some time, Raud, who had been holding her in his arms, seemed even more startled by his own actions and hurriedly pushed Theodora away.

Suddenly deprived of the warmth of his embrace, she staggered from the momentum and, embarrassed, grabbed hold of the wall.

“……I was worried you might have been hurt, even if only a little, my spoils of war.”

His face had already returned to its usual cold expression as he spoke icily.

Theodora desperately tried to calm her pounding heart and barely managed to open her mouth.

“……I-I’m glad you’re safe……”

She looked as though even getting the words out was difficult.

Raud stared at Theodora for a moment before opening the door wide and saying,

“Come in.”

Theodora, still standing with one hand firmly against the wall, glanced at him. For a moment, their eyes met.

Startled, Theodora quickly lowered her gaze.

Then she stared blankly at the open door and thought,

‘Will he not call me by my name again?’

By then, her cheeks had flushed red as though she had come down with a fever.

“Can’t you hear me? I said come in.”

“Ah! S-sorry…….”

At Raud’s cold voice urging her to answer, Theodora’s shoulders flinched in surprise.

‘Oh, no. How dare someone like me have such thoughts?’

Only then did she come back to her senses. The Emperor was someone she could never even dream of reaching for.

He had given her the status of a secondary consort, provided her with a magnificent palace, even given her a garden, and had saved her life twice already.

To dare hope for anything more would surely be an indulgence far beyond her station.

Blinking rapidly, she swallowed dryly, embarrassed.

The warmth of the first embrace she had ever received from someone, and the gentle voice that had called her by her name, had been so wonderful that she had allowed herself to expect something she should never have hoped for.

After hesitating for a long while, Theodora slipped through the open door.

“Your Majesty, shouldn’t you see the Imperial Physician first……?”

“Have him wait. I’m hungry, so I’ll have some refreshments first.”

“……Yes, Your Majesty.”

After sending Marquis Eors away, Raud shut the door with a heavy thud.

“Sit down. Don’t just stand there making me uneasy.”

“Ah, yes……!”

Like a diligent student listening obediently to her teacher, she answered energetically and went to sit on the sofa.

He, too, walked over slowly and sat across from Theodora.

A suffocating silence settled between them.

She wondered if she should say something, anything at all, but whenever she looked at Raud’s cold, rigid expression, she simply could not bring herself to part her lips.

“What is that bottle?”

Just then, he noticed the medicine bottle in her hand and asked.

“Ah……! Th-this…….”

Theodora stammered in surprise. She could simply have told him that she had made it for him, but perhaps because her heart was pounding so hard, the words would not come out properly.

Unlike the excitement that had filled her only moments ago, fear was once again beginning to creep slowly through her chest.

“This is, well…….”

“Haa.”

He let out an exaggeratedly loud sigh.

At the sound of Raud’s sigh, Theodora’s mind went even blanker. It was as though a thick fog had descended inside her head.

“Why are you so tense, and why are you stammering like this?”

“I-I’m sorry…….”

His words made her shrink even further, and she stammered worse than before.

The warmth and excitement she had felt from Raud just moments ago had vanished like a mirage.

“Are you perhaps afraid of your husband?”

“Th-that’s not…….”

“You’re stammering again.”

He spoke as though scolding her.

Theodora gripped the bottle tightly with her trembling hands.

What was wrong with her? Though Raud had erased it from her life now, she was, after all, a princess by birth, even if she was an illegitimate child.

‘But I’m scared…….’

She squeezed her eyes shut in distress.

“Get that thing out of my sight immediately!”

“Who said you were my brother?!”

Theodora did not have many good memories when it came to men.

Most of her half-siblings, with whom she shared roughly half her blood, had blatantly ignored her.

Being ignored had been the gentlemanly treatment, at least.

There had also been brothers and sisters who resorted to verbal abuse or violence whenever she caught their attention.

“And they call someone like that a princess. She’ll probably marry into a good family, too.”

“A good marriage? She’ll be lucky if she doesn’t end up as some old nobleman’s plaything.”

The knights who guarded the tower at their master’s command also looked down on Theodora whenever they had the chance, never hesitating to hurl humiliating words at her.

‘Yes. But even so, I’m…… just a princess of the attic.’

So perhaps it was only natural that she became even more intimidated in front of domineering men.

“That’s because you’re trying to rush yourself.”

Suddenly, Raud’s voice, slightly lower than before, reached Theodora’s ears.

She slowly raised her head and looked at him.

“……Pardon?”

“Organize what you want to say in your head first, then say it slowly.”

“Ah…….”

For some reason, Raud’s words felt as gentle as the warmth of the arms that had held her only moments ago.

“You are my precious spoils of war.”

He leaned languidly against the back of the sofa and continued speaking.

“Do you really think I would harm my own spoils of war?”

“……N-no.”

“Then there is no reason for you to be afraid.”

Raud let out a dry little laugh.

Whether it was because his bangs had fallen over his forehead unlike usual, or because his complexion seemed paler than normal, she could not tell.

“So speak slowly.”

Theodora stared at him blankly.

There was something strangely familiar about Raud today.

“What is that medicine?”

At his question, she pressed her lips together. Then, following Raud’s advice, she slowly gathered her thoughts.

“This medicine…….”

After taking one deep breath, Theodora began speaking very slowly, but clearly and without faltering.

“I made it last night from thorn grass.”

“From thorn grass? I believe thorn grass is poisonous.”

“Only the thorns are poisonous. If you remove the thorns completely, the stems make very good medicine…….”

Though her voice trailed off at the end, it was the first time she had been able to speak clearly in front of him.

Her face slightly flushed, she continued shyly.

“Of course, it has to be boiled for an entire day to remove any poison that might remain. Naturally…… I removed all the impurities.”

Without even realizing how red her cheeks had become, Theodora shyly and carefully held the medicine bottle out toward him.

“Thank you…… for saving me.”

As she expressed her gratitude, she suddenly felt as though she might cry.

She had managed to speak this far, and she did not want to ruin this moment by bursting into tears again.

‘I have to hold it in. His Majesty must be suffering more than I am. I can’t cry like a fool.’

She repeated Raud’s advice to herself once more.

“Organize what you want to say in your head first, then say it slowly.”

After calmly swallowing back her tears, she exhaled deeply. As she tried to settle her emotions, the sadness that had been threatening to spill over gradually began to subside.

‘I did it……!’

His words, which had somehow felt so gentle, had become a very effective sedative for her.

Theodora lifted the corners of her lips slightly in quiet pride.

Soon, Raud slowly reached toward the medicine bottle in her hand.

The moment his fingertips touched the hand holding the bottle, she flinched.

He was merely trying to take the bottle, yet there was something tender and gentle about Raud’s touch.

With her face turning completely red, Theodora unconsciously looked at Raud.

His red eyes, sharp enough to make her feel as though he might devour her at any moment, stared straight at her.

‘W-what is this……?’

There was no sign of anger in his expression, so it could not be an angry gaze, yet it was too sharp to be called an affectionate one.

Not knowing how she was supposed to react, she quickly placed the medicine bottle in his hand and said,

“It’s homemade, so…… it should work well. Of course, I think the medicine made by the Imperial Physician would probably be better, though…….”

“You said it’s good for wounds, right?”

“Yes…….”

“Then apply it yourself.”

Raud immediately shrugged off the toga that had already been hanging so loosely that his chest was nearly exposed.

“……Eek!”

Then, without the slightest hesitation, he turned his back to her.

“I think I injured my back when I fell. It’s throbbing, but I can’t see it myself.”

His snow-white skin was covered with well-defined muscles.

Flustered by his sudden action, Theodora covered her face with both hands and blurted out,

“B-but shouldn’t you show it to the Imperial Physician first?!”

“No. I know my own body well enough. Apply it. It’s the medicine you brought, isn’t it?”

He raised one corner of his mouth in a sly smile.

It was the first time she had seen him smile so playfully.

In the end, Theodora gave a small nod, her face completely flushed red.

“I understa…… stand. Then…….”

Fidgeting nervously, Theodora moved to stand beside Raud.

‘Could it be that he’s treating me a little more kindly?’

Was talking to someone without stammering really this enjoyable?

It might have been something others would laugh at, but to her, it was something she could call happiness.

‘If only I could stay like this, getting along so peacefully…… just a little longer…….’

Just as the small wish to savor this happiness a little longer began to stir within her heart—

“Huh?”

Raud’s gaze fell upon the bandage wrapped around her ankle.

“Why are you wearing a bandage?”

“Ah, this…….”

“Come sit here.”

He lifted Theodora up effortlessly and seated her beside him. Then he carefully unwound the bandage around her ankle.

“……It’s bruised.”

Theodora’s ankle was badly swollen and covered in bruises.

She merely shrugged as though it were nothing.

“It’s fine. It’ll get better if I just leave it alone…….”

When Theodora had been in the Kingdom of Selene, she had faced countless dangers and suffered countless injuries, as though death itself were constantly after her.

Every time, she had simply left them like this. They had healed on their own.

Even though this was not the tower where she had lived, the habit of treating her own injuries as insignificant remained unchanged.

“You made medicine for my wounds and brought it to me, yet you just wrapped a bandage around your own injury and left it at that?”

Raud’s hand, still holding the bandage, trembled.

He was so angry that the muscles in his face twitched, and he roughly threw the bandage onto the floor.

Soon, his voice, filled with fury, rang throughout the bedroom.

“Why on earth are you such a fool?!”