Chapter 8
Lucy was still in a daze.
Cecil had brought her to her bedroom and examined her condition.
Lucy obediently went along with his examination, but her face was full of discontent.
‘There’s no need to be so angry.’
“Wanting attention?”
The thought made Lucy almost laugh in disbelief. His words had struck the nail on the head.
‘Fine! Since my true feelings are already exposed, I might as well get him to marry me and escape this game!’
But today’s outing wasn’t about Cecil—it was about Bartholomew.
In the end, Bartholomew didn’t even get a glimpse of her; she was dragged along by Cecil.
Lucy glanced at Cecil, her sharp gaze softening bit by bit.
Sweat was beading on his forehead.
Cecil was so focused on the healing that he didn’t even notice her gaze.
He wanted to identify exactly what was wrong with her so he could free himself from her, once and for all.
Yet, no matter how closely he examined her, Lucy’s body was healthy.
‘Why is she still suffering from aftereffects?’
Regardless of what he thought of Lucy, her condition as a healer could not go unnoticed.
Cecil prided himself on having excellent skills as a healer.
Lucy appeared before him like a test he could not bypass.
No matter how he tried, it wouldn’t budge.
It was as if she were telling him that he would need to utilize all of his accumulated knowledge to succeed.
Thus, Cecil poured more energy into healing her than usual.
‘The principle of healing is for the healer to transfer their energy to the patient.’
This energy identifies problem areas, breaks them down, and reconstructs them.
Normally, the issue is resolved quickly, and energy can be recovered. But in Lucy’s case, the cause was unknown, and healing her felt like pouring water into a bottomless container.
“Haah.”
Cecil let out a small sigh.
Even opening his eyes was difficult due to the headache that felt like his skull was being squeezed.
Yet, stubbornly, he continued the healing.
“!”
Suddenly, Lucy placed her hand over the back of Cecil’s hand.
Her touch was gentle, but the unexpected contact made him flinch as if touching a hot flame.
His focus shattered, and the healing abruptly stopped.
“What are you doing…!”
Cecil tried to snap at her, but Lucy, half-sitting up, reached for him again.
Faced with such incomprehensible behavior, he found himself unable to respond.
Looking into Lucy’s calm eyes, he thought it might be better to figure out her intentions.
Lucy’s hand moved to his forehead.
She wiped the sweat from his brow with her sleeve.
The soft fabric absorbed the moisture, and the slightly cool touch of her hand over his heated skin made him nearly sigh in relief.
‘I’m going crazy too.’
Cecil stiffened his expression further and spoke.
“What are you doing?”
He swatted her hand away, the anger at her touching him uninvited clearly evident.
“Do not interfere with my healing again.”
Lucy looked at her hand and then back at him.
Despite his sharp tone, she felt no anger.
‘Healing requires the healer to sacrifice their own flesh to help others.’
She felt guilty for putting Cecil through this, even though she wasn’t sick.
‘Cecil is excessively patient.’
It had to be difficult, yet he never showed it.
That was the duty of a healer, but also his nature—he hated revealing weakness to others.
Only when left alone could he collapse from exhaustion caused by healing.
‘And today, it’s raining.’
Lucy could guess just how bad his condition must be.
Rainy days always triggered his chronic headaches.
Although she had been harshly swatted for touching him, Lucy worried about Cecil.
“Let’s stop for today.”
Cecil rose and headed for the door.
He paused for a moment.
“I’ll say it again—do not interfere with healing again.”
With that, he left the room.
Lucy stayed still, worried the system might notify her that her favorability had dropped again.
Fortunately, the system was silent.
She let out a small sigh.
‘In my previous life, Cecil was the easiest to approach.’
He was like a proud cat—difficult to get close to, but once he opened up, he would approach you himself.
‘Will it be the same this time?’
Recalling his behavior moments ago, she couldn’t be optimistic.
Especially since she was now a sadistic healer for her own purposes.
‘I need to stop before diving into that strange route.’
As she pondered, her eyes grew heavy.
Cecil’s healing had left her body languid.
Eventually, she fell asleep and didn’t wake until the next day.
What woke her was not the chirping of birds, but a strange commotion.
Through the servant who brought her breakfast, Lucy learned what was happening.
“It’s a bit chaotic outside. Priest Cecil is tearing through the temple. Apparently, he’s lost something very important.”
Something important?
Lucy tilted her head in confusion, then suddenly jumped up.
Her head spun, but it didn’t matter.
She felt she could find the object Cecil had lost.
Cecil was in a panic.
He had lost something more important than anything else.
When did it go missing?
He retraced his steps, searching every place he had stayed.
‘Not here.’
It was nowhere to be found.
Even after overturning his study, checking the temple corridors and common spaces, it was gone.
‘Was it stolen?’
He shook his head.
To think of a theft in the temple was absurd.
Even if someone had ill intentions, the object he lost looked trivial to outsiders.
Cecil saw the anxious servants looking for clues.
If anyone saw the lost object, they would call the commotion unnecessary.
He sighed.
‘If it’s not inside the temple, it must be outside.’
Looking up at the clear sky compared to yesterday, he suddenly felt fear.
‘With that much rain, the water may have swept everything away.’
There was no guarantee the object was safe.
Yet, searching outside would only confirm to him that it was truly lost.
As he hesitated, he heard a group of servants chattering.
“Why is the princess acting like this?”
“I don’t know! She suddenly ran outside!”
Seeing the servants rush out, Cecil’s anger surged.
‘She went out again in that brief moment!’
He could not understand Lucy at all.
At first, he assumed she was pretending to be ill.
He had heard rumors that her terrace accident was a ploy to gain the emperor’s attention.
But Lucy didn’t stop there.
She endured severe aftereffects and even became bedridden.
Would that gain the emperor’s attention?
It might even give him the perfect excuse to discard her entirely.
A foolish woman, knowing little of the consequences.
Cecil irritably ran his hand through his hair.
What frustrated him more was his own inability.
If he wanted no further involvement with Lucy, he only needed to heal her completely.
But he had been struggling since the diagnosis stage.
Stopping midway would hurt his pride as a healer.
‘I’m already exhausted.’
Cecil let out a deep sigh and resolved to go outside.
Finding Lucy was not difficult.
He headed straight toward the cluster of servants murmuring outside.
Approaching them, he heard their distressed voices.
“Princess, please stop!”
“Your hands are a mess!”
Even hearing them protest made Cecil’s irritation flare.
‘What is she doing this time?’
