Don't Remember Me - Chapter 66

Chapter 66

“… Pardon?”

Rose’s eyes widened at the child’s question. Flitta squeezed her eyes shut, shedding tears, and asked again.

“I spread germs, so everyone hates me?”

“Princess, that’s…”

Rosé tried to hurriedly deny the child’s words. But Flitta continued to speak while sobbing.

“In the past, when a bug with many legs fell from a tree, the maid screamed like that. I… am a bug with many legs?”

I was speechless. At the same time, my heart ached. The child clearly felt hatred toward herself.

It’s not that they can’t feel others’ feelings toward them because she’s young. Rather, because they’re young, they accept people’s feelings directly. Without distorting them, purely. Even negative emotions that sometimes hurt them directly.

“Then, I’ll keep living here. I won’t go outside. Rosé too… Heung, Rosé can go out too. If you’re scared of me, and if you don’t like me… .”

Flitta wiped her tears repeatedly with her hand. Still, tears kept flowing down the child’s cheeks. The handkerchief covering the child’s nose and mouth became wet and stuck to her.

Rosé looked at the sight and then looked at the child’s hand. The small hand was also soaked with tears. She reached out and grabbed the child’s hand. It was a shame that she couldn’t hold the child’s hand tightly with both hands because she had a splint on her arm and couldn’t move properly.

“Princess.”

Instead, Rosé spoke to Flitta in a warm voice.

“Your illness will definitely get better. Your doctor said the same thing. Your Highness’s condition has improved a lot.”

“But… … .”

If it were any other time, the child would have smiled brightly at Rosé’s words. But this time, the shadow on Flitta’s face wouldn’t easily disappear.

* * *

“Did Flitta come out of the annex?”

Haven was looking through the documents while receiving the butler’s report, and suddenly he heard the news of the child and narrowed his eyes. The butler nodded with an embarrassed expression.

“Yes, Your Highness. Ah… Of course, she didn’t come far, she stood in front of the door.”

“Still, she came out.”

Haven’s expression hardened and he muttered. The butler hurriedly continued, fearing that his master might scold the child.

“Her Highness is only five years old. It’s amazing that you’ve been so quiet in the annex. If it were another child, you wouldn’t have lasted a day and come out. But since you’re Her Highness’s….”

“I know that too, Yannick. However… We have to pay Flitta some kind of attention. So that she doesn’t get caught up in unnecessary words.”

Haven has seen many times that minor mistakes are blown out of proportion and distorted into major ones. Even the fact that the child briefly stepped outside the annex could have been blown out of proportion and become groundless rumors.

In that case, it would have been better for him to step forward and point out the child’s mistake and warn her. Then, no one would dare add to the mistakes the Grand Duke mentioned and spread false rumors.

“Haah…”

His face darkened. In fact, Flitta deserved praise. How frustrating it must have been for a child who was only five years old to live without being able to go outside.

Moreover, since her physical condition was improving day by day, the child must have wanted to get some fresh air and feel the warm sunlight. She must have stepped outside with such trivial thoughts…

“As a father, I can’t even grant one of his child’s wishes.”

Haven smiled bitterly and stood up from his seat. The butler bowed his head as if he was sorry. No one was to blame. If the child’s illness spreads further because of his mistake, it would be a big deal.

“I’ll go to the annex.”

He grabbed a handkerchief to cover his face and was about to leave the office. Just then, the door opened with hurried footsteps.

“Your Highness!”

The one who burst through the door was none other than Pedwin. Haven looked at him with his brows furrowed. Pedwin’s expression was unusual.

“What’s the matter, Lord Fedwin?”

Haven’s voice as he asked him hushed. Instead of escorting him, he had ordered him to keep an eye on the child near the annex, but he couldn’t help but feel nervous when he came with such an urgent expression.

“It seems that there’s something wrong with the, uh, princess.”

Fedwin continued, lost in thought.

“In the annex bedroom, there’s, uh, a handkerchief…”

“… !”

“There’s a red handkerchief!”

Haven listened and quickly clenched his teeth. Then he immediately passed by Pedwin and went out of the office. Behind him, the butler could be heard inhaling in confusion.

“The attending physician?”

“He went to the annex.”

Pedwin followed Haven and answered his question immediately, who gritted his teeth again with an anxious expression and hurried his steps. No, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he almost ran down the hallway.

* * *

“Cough! Cough!”

The sound of Flitta coughing from inside the bedroom was unpleasant even to hear. It was a painful sound, as if his lungs were being squeezed. Haven went into the bedroom with a distorted face.

The attending physician looked at Flitta’s condition in thought, and when Heyburn approached, he quickly bowed.

“Uh, Your Highness.”

“What about the child? How is Flitta?”

“That… … That.”

The attending physician could not easily answer his question. He was just busy wiping the sweat from his forehead. However, since he could no longer delay answering his master’s question, the attending physician had no choice but to bow his head with a miserable expression and answer.

“…The condition has rapidly worsened.”

“…”

“Most people with Dunfers’ disease had the same prognosis, but fortunately, the princess was not like that…However, the princess was also….”

The attending physician trailed off with a miserable expression, as if he could not bear to say the rest of the story. He unconsciously closed his eyes and clenched his fist.

The Grand Duke’s attending physician had outstanding skills. No one in the capital could surpass his skills. No, even if he searched around the entire Kingdom for another physician, the result would be the same. It was doubtful whether even the royal court physicians would be better than him.

But he could not guarantee the child’s prognosis. He even predicted the child’s death. The attending physician did not directly mention the child’s death, but everyone in the bedroom understood what he could not say.

Haven, and Pedwin who followed him into the annex. And…

“No!”

At the moment when everyone was about to collapse in despair, a desperate voice raised them up.

“That can’t be! Sir, don’t give up! Your Majesty, you must not give up yet!”

The owner of that voice was none other than Rosé. She bit her lip next to the bed where Flitta was lying and approached them. Her disheveled hair flowed down her pale face. Then she looked at Haven with a sharp gaze and said firmly.

“The princess can get better, she will definitely recover.”

The attending physician who was watching this scene clicked his tongue and opened his mouth again with a sigh.

“Miss Rosé, I feel the same way. Who wouldn’t want the princess to recover? However, since the possibility is slim, we should prepare ourselves to some extent…”

“Stop it, physician!”

Rosé turned her gaze from Haven to glare at the attending physician. It was sharp, unlike the person who was usually gentle and well-behaved. The attending physician was taken aback by her appearance and shut his mouth.

“The child… No, listen, Your Highness. If Flitta’s heard the adults she believed would make you better talking about such pessimistic things.”

Rosé almost slipped up without realizing it and quickly corrected herself. The attending physician, who didn’t notice it, shook his head as he listened to her.

“I feel bad saying this, but Your Highness is unconscious. But what…”

“No. Rosé is right.”

At that moment, Haven, who had been silent, cut off the attending physician. Then he looked at Rosé who looked at him with a pale face.

It seemed as if she would suffocate at any moment. It was as if that woman would die before Flitta right now. He let out a heavy sigh and continued.

“Just because she’s unconscious doesn’t mean she has lost her hearing sense. In reality, isn’t hearing the last sense that survives even when you’re about to die?”

Haven recalled a passage he had read in a medical book. The attending physician bowed his head, unable to find a word to respond.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I wasn’t… considerate of the princess.”

“That’s fine. You just need to focus on treating the child.”

Haven accepted the attending physician’s apology and walked toward the bed. Rose also seemed to have calmed down, taking a deep breath and turning to the bed.

“Euuuung, sob….”

Flitta couldn’t open her eyes despite the commotion and continued to groan. He clenched his fists at the sight of the child. Fear surged through his chest as if it were freezing. It was a different level of fear than when he vaguely found out that the child’s condition was worsening. He had a premonition that he might lose her.

… Rose had said that Flitta would definitely recover.

Honestly, he thought that was a vain expectation. The child seemed to be already on the brink of death. His pale face and his rapid breathing told him so.

“Ugh….”

He unconsciously grabbed the bed and staggered, overcome with grief. At that moment, someone grabbed Haven’s arm. It was a comforting, affectionate hand.