CH 194

“Miss Popo.”

When Helios drew back from her and clasped her shoulders, Sera quickly retracted her arms from him.

He leaned down and soon wrapped both hands around Sera’s cheeks. They were so close together, their noses only centimeters apart.

“I’ll ask you again. Are you truly alright? If you don’t feel well, if you have a headache, even the most minor things— tell me everything.”

He carefully looked into Sera’s eyes as he spoke in a warm tone.

It was clear that he was truly trying to check whether there was anything strange or different with her condition.

“I don’t feel pain anywhere, and I don’t feel strange either. I’m fine,” Sera said, smiling faintly.

“We’d better head back soon.”

After saying so, Helios then carried Sera in his arms. One arm under her knees and one arm supporting her back, he swept her up in a princess carry in an instant.

Flustered, she instinctively reached up to cling onto his neck for fear of falling.

“Your Majesty, you don’t have to do this…”

“But you’re hurt.”

“That’s true, but…”

Sera answered dazedly as she faced Helios’s purple eyes.

Unlike the gentle smile upon his countenance, the arms holding her were trembling slightly.

It seemed like he was also quite agitated, but he was only pretending to be alright for her sake. She could feel that he had to force himself to hide his apprehensions.

“You don’t even have shoes on now.”

Helios pointed out this important fact and further refused to let Sera walk on her own.

Just as he mentioned, her shoes had been dropped in the panic that ensued after she had been bit by the snake, and it’s more likely than not that those shoes had already been swept away by the waves.

Glancing at her sandy feet that were up in the air now, Sera certainly agreed that it would cause some problems if she were to go back while barefooted.

“Th…Then it can’t be helped.”

Sera whispered back in a very small voice, agreeing that it was inevitably the only choice.

As he was carrying her, Helios gave her a warm look and smiled.

“See, I told you. Now, hold on tight.”

“Yes, thank you, Your Majesty. For saving me and healing me as well. Thank you for everything.”

“You’re very welcome.”

When he answered her in a low voice, Sera could feel her heart pounding loudly.

On the other hand, however, it was the first time for her to see Helios be so worried like this, and she couldn’t erase the anxious thoughts swirling around her mind.

As they made their way back, the breeze was very cold.

* * *

It was a quiet dawn, and by this time, everyone should still be asleep.

But the moment they heard the news, several people immediately got up from their beds and frantically headed towards Sera’s room. Not only were Sera and Helios present in the room, but even Jean, a mage and some maids—who were still in their nightwear—were gathered there.

They were all trying their best to keep silent and keep their reactions neutral.

So many things happened in such a short period of time that they could hardly keep up.

His Majesty the Emperor said that he had wanted to go out on a stroll alone when he left his chambers earlier, but he suddenly came back with Sera Popo in his arms.

Besides that, Miss Popo had no shoes on and her clothes were quite soaked.

This alone was a shocking, flustering fact, but when it was made known that she had been attacked by a snake, everyone’s confusion turned into outright bewilderment.

The mage went on to examine Sera, who was somewhat forced to lie back down on her bed. Everyone in the room waited with bated breath until the mage broke the silence.

“It’s a little… strange, Your Majesty.”

The mage felt cold sweat trickling down his temples. For all his life as a mage, he felt very troubled because it’s the first time he’s seeing a condition such as this.

“What do you mean, strange? Explain in detail.”

Helios was sitting next to Sera, his gaze turning clouded.

He was a man who rarely ever got worked up, but when he urged the mage to answer quite hurriedly, the mage couldn’t help but stare for a moment.

The emperor had ordered him to come here posthaste, not even given the time to change out of his nightwear, and he wondered what urgent thing could have happened.

Then he soon found out that it was an incident regarding Sera Popo, the famous tutor. The mage couldn’t recall any rumors regarding the two of them, but he could guess from the way Helios was infinitely worried at this moment.

“I’m… I’m quite certain that the snake Your Majesty saw earlier had left a hex. One that could pose a great danger to the target’s life…”

As his firm tone carried the unique cadence of a wise old man, the mage revealed this fact.

“Goodness!”

The same moment Jean let out an exclamation, Helios’s eyes cooled.

The emperor’s reaction surprised the mage further. His long gray beard trembled as he quickly added.

“Y-Your Majesty. P…Please listen to the end. It’s true that a hex had been infused in the Lady’s body, but the outcome left nothing untoward to her. Your Majesty was quick to treat her with your divine power, and the hex was cured. That’s not what’s strange about this… After all, as Your Majesty said, the curse doesn’t seem to have spread.”

Though Sera was lying there silently, Sera had a serious expression as she listened intently to the mage.

“It was a hex that aimed to induce the target’s immediate death, so even if Your Majesty had used divine power immediately, Lady Sera should have lost her life instantaneously… But it’s quite strange how the curse didn’t spread within her…”

Sera asked gravely, “But I can’t use magic, so perhaps that has something to do with it? My constitution, I mean…”

“Well, that’s a matter that needs to be looked into… Right away…”

The mage tried to gauge Helios’s reaction and trailed off.

As he had been listening seriously all this time, Helios let out a long, deep sigh as he reconsidered all the facts that had been laid down here.

The mage slowly rose from his seat.

When the mage bowed as a respectful goodbye, Helios gave him and the others permission to leave.

“You can all leave. Jean, let’s talk later.”

So, while everyone left through the door, Helios once again quietly sat down by the bedside.

“Shouldn’t you also go back to bed, Your Majesty?”

It had dawned on Sera just how serious the situation was, but she felt calmer than before.

“Would you prefer that I leave as well?”

Helios knew that this wasn’t what she meant, but nonetheless felt a bit sad to hear it. Yet again, a sigh left through his lips.

“It’s just… I don’t think you should stay, Your Majesty.”

“Why is that?”

“Well… It would look strange in other people’s eyes if you were to stay here and take care of me, Your Majesty. My position is a bit…”

“Even if I want to do it?”

Sera’s blue eyes quivered.

Helios smiled gently as he looked at Sera with worried eyes, still.

“Go ahead and sleep, please,” Helios said. “The tea you drank earlier has properties to relieve tension, so you’ll feel sleepy soon. Besides, this too is my responsibility. You don’t have to worry.”

Not long after, Sera’s eyelids began to fall heavily.

He watched as she slipped into the comforts of slumber. He listened to the sound of her even breaths that filled the space between them, and he smoothed her black hair, which had spilled across the sheets.