Kaichen nodded. Julius thanked his lucky stars. Hopefully, he would stop feeding this hellish thing to the Countess. The goal now was to make a simple porridge that Kaichen can make himself that won’t taste like the blackish thing.
“By the way, what’s wrong with the Countess’?” asked Julius. The Countess had looked frail and skinny, like a corpse. Kaichen’s repulsive porridge might not be the only reason for this.
“She is recovering from addiction.”
“What kind of addiction?”
“Alcohol addiction.”
Julius sighed and pressed down on his temples. He wanted to abandon the sympathy he had felt for her. He had half a mind to return to his palace. “You and the Countess…. Are you doing this to me on purpose?”
“You knew she was an alcoholic,” said Kaichen in defense.
“That’s true, but… her condition was that serious?”
With a frown on his face, Kaichen said, “Yeah. It’s strange. It has only been a little over two years since she started drinking. I have only seen addicts of over ten years suffering from such a condition. Is it possible to develop such serious symptoms when you have been an alcoholic for only two years?”
Julius thought it sounded really pathetic, but he looked at Kaichen’s hard and determined face and thought better than to say it aloud. But if he was right…
“Could that mean that the Countess’ addiction symptoms were accelerated? Maybe by magic?”
“It is highly likely. After she recovers… I plan to look into it.”
“It must have been the Momalhaut forces who used the forbidden magic,” suggested Julius. “Maybe they chose her as a medium and used drugs to turn her into an alcoholic. But why?”
“I am not sure…,” said Kaichen, deep in thought. “maybe they had a strong reason for it.”
If Kaichen’s words were true then Countess Alshine may not have been involved with Momalhaut, at least not willingly. Julius stroked his chin, thinking. He glanced at Kaichen. Julius saw that Kaichen’s face was set and looked cold, but he knew his friend. His friend was worried and conflicted at this information. Julius smiled.
“So, just to clarify… you really had no intention of getting revenge on her?”
Kaichen was quiet. “It was refreshing, at least for me, to see her ruined because of alcoholism,” said Julius, “Maybe for you as well? But if it was caused by someone’s conspiracy and not by her own will, you must be feeling complicated.”
“It has nothing to do with me. It’s not refreshing… I don’t feel complicated either,” he said coldly, but he hesitated a little while answering. Seeing Kaichen like this, Julius was glad he visited.
“Hm,” said Julius, “You seemed to enjoy living with her.”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“Why? Didn’t you say it didn’t matter to you?”
Julius decided not to tease him any longer seeing how conflicted he looked. “I want her to come to her senses. I want to have a proper conversation with her,” said Julius.
His wish however did not come true. Countess Alshine did not wake up on that day and Julius had no choice but to return to his palace as it began getting dark. He taught the simple recipe to Kaichen so that he could at least make a porridge that was edible. Julius was sure that he would get to meet her very soon.
“Your Highness! Really! There are so many things to do!” said Bart. “Where have you been?”
“Nowhere Bart, nowhere,” said Julius, with a sly smile “Just saved a life and returned.”
***
It took me ten days to come to my senses after eating the hellish, black, repulsive thing that Kaichen generously called a ‘porridge’. I don’t know what had happened in the time I was unconscious but the black porridge from hell had suddenly changed.
It looked better and tasted better. I didn’t know if I had become immune to the revolting thing and was seeing it differently, or if it was a different recipe, but it certainly didn’t feel as disgusting as the previous one. Besides, it didn’t make me lose consciousness.
The effect of this new porridge was excellent. I ate the new special porridge for a few more days and gained a bit of weight! I didn’t look like a corpse anymore. I looked like a normal human being. It still tastes terrible, but it certainly feels nutritious and edible. I wasn’t in a perfect condition but thanks to Kaichen’s nursing, it was possible for me to return to daily life. If I were alone, I would have died. But it was strange. Dahlia, in the original novel, lived as an alcoholic and suddenly died in an accident.
The original never described her symptoms. It only said she had been an alcoholic for two years, then she gets trapped in the magic tower as Kaichen’s subject for research, goes crazy and dies. The book didn’t really talk about anything else except that she was a ‘crazy’ woman. I scoffed. Typical!
The events here weren’t going according to the original novel. The flow was already disrupted because I hadn’t turned out to be crazy, first of all. And unlike the original novel, I had spent a hundred years in the time magic. For Kaichen, it had been just a day when he came to rescue Acrab. So, it was very strange that the plot was going drastically different from the original novel and this body suffered from severe symptoms. The time frames didn’t fit.
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