The Villainess Lives Twice
Chapter 272

Chapter 272

22. 22. Prince Regent

It was ten days later that the Emperor regained his consciousness.

He opened his eyes, but couldn’t come to his senses. His vision was blurry.

The doctor, who had been by his side day and night, rushed to him in surprise.

“Your Majesty, are you awake? Can you see me?”

The Emperor, who was about to close his eyes with fatigue, woke up again at the call.

But his vision was still blurry.

His limbs were stiff and he couldn’t hear well. It had been years ago when he woke up without a numbness in his leg or fingers.

The fatigue he had accumulated over the past few months was reaching its limit.

But it was the first time he had felt so sick all over his body.

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It wasn’t where he was injured or overworked when he was young, but his whole body ached. It was to the extent that he suddenly realized that there was pain in the skin of his whole body.

The Emperor tried to speak, but it didn’t go well.

The doctor noticed quickly and poured a little water into his mouth. Then he moistened his lips with a damp towel.

The Emperor said hard in a shriveled voice,

“What happened…… to me?”

“You collapsed.”

The doctor said with a tearful face.

No one rebuked him. But no one has been more terrified in the last ten days than the doctor.

He was worried about whether the prescription he had written so far was wrong, or whether the diagnosis for a chronic disease was wrong, and he went crazy.

At least the first aid didn’t seem wrong.

The Emperor blinked his eyes a few more times. His vision has returned a bit.

‘I collapsed…….’

He couldn’t remember when it happened.

The Emperor asked in a low voice,

“Can I recover?”

“Your Majesty…….”

“You don’t have to lie. You must not err in judgment by speaking nonsense to give hope.”

The doctor said hesitantly and cautiously,

“Your condition is not very good.”

The Emperor had been warned about the matter for several years already. That’s why he didn’t question the doctor.

“I thought we were very careful.”

“Forgive me.”

The doctor fell on his face and trembled.

The Emperor did not rebuke him. Instead, he spoke slowly,

“So, what to do now?”

The doctor swallowed a gulp.

The Emperor barely made it through the crisis. However, this will accelerate the rate at which the body is damaged.

“You need to be stricter than ever before on dietary restrictions. Where the climate is nice and quiet…… You must live in peace.”

“Is that all?”

At the Emperor’s question, the doctor carefully asked,

“Most of the foods that give you energy should not be eaten. You have to carefully control the amount of water you drink every day.”

“…….”

“So, you can’t do it the way you did before. You must rest. If you collapse one more time, then even if the God of Underworld and Saintess Olga come alive, your Majesty will not be able to be saved.”

Those words flashed into the Emperor’s mind.

“The Crown Princess?”

“Yes?”

“No.”

The doctor couldn’t understand the Emperor’s intent to ask the question.

“No.”

The Emperor murmured. He thought he had said nonsense.

Instead, the chief attendant answered.

“I haven’t heard of anyone coming back. Shall I call the investigator?”

He was referring to the undercover investigator, not Ferguson, of course.

Since the Emperor valued the Crown Princess, they would have been following her after leaving the Capital.

But the Emperor muttered in a weary voice.

“Enough.”

He was already very tired.

He had a hard time accepting the fact that he was sick. He was a man who lived his life energetically, both publicly and privately.

But he had no energy, even though he had only said a few words. That fact made him even more exhausted.

“You should have a little soup before you go to sleep again.”

said the chief attendant softly.

The Emperor nodded his head.

The guard knight standing at the foot of the bed was restless. The dignitaries were eagerly waiting for the Emperor to wake up.

The servant has already gone outside to announce the news. In the ears of the sensitive knight, the impatient footsteps pacing outside the door could be heard.

But the chief attendant restrained him from opening his mouth by placing a finger on his lips.

The Emperor drank about half a bowl of soup. And he sat waiting for it to go down a little, then muttered out of nowhere,

“I miss Miraila.”

There was no one to answer that.

＊＊＊

Cedric was summoned after the Emperor had slept once more and had awakened.

The Emperor ate one more time and had an attendant put makeup on his face.

It was just to look a little bit healthier.

“You haven’t decided on anything except what I have already entrusted to you?”

“Your Majesty is in good health, how can I arbitrarily execute state affairs?”

“If I am absent, the Crown Prince should take over the government affairs in my place.”

“I handled ordinary political affairs and investigative activities arbitrarily. But for things that require a decision, it deserves Your Majesty’s approval.”

So when the Emperor woke up, he would be ready to make a decision any time, Cedric said.

The Emperor looked at Cedric with a feeling of exhaustion.

He was stuffy and annoying. It was not known whether this faithfulness was sincere, or whether it was because he had not yet attained military power.

Or is it that Cedric is taking his time, thinking the Emperor is going to die anyway?

The doctor would have been the first to report to Cedric about his health.

Cedric would be resentful of him as Artizea said.

Cedric buried his grudge against his lost parents and for his wife and child.

The Emperor pushed his wife west to die.

It was strange if Cedric did not hold grudges. He wouldn’t have missed an opportunity if the Emperor had been in that place.

He cannot avenge the dead.

“You must have heard from the doctor that I am sick. Even now, I don’t have the energy to take care of the delayed state affairs. You may know that and you have sufficient authority yet you waited on my approval. Isn’t this rather mocking me?”

“I was just concerned about the fact that if the supreme court canceled the decision after arbitrarily executing it, national power would be wasted.”

The Emperor understood Cedric’s will.

So it seems Cedric thought the Emperor would undo whatever he had done when the Emperor woke up.

“Whoo…….”

His chest tightened and he was sweating, and the Emperor bent his neck and leaned back on the cushion.

He hasn’t even gotten to the stage where he could take good care of himself yet. He couldn’t leave the government behind, so he decided to meet some people only today.

He had not yet fully accepted the reality in his heart. But in the end he had to admit it.

“Lin.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Sir, please assist the Crown Prince to take care of the overall affairs of the Empire.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will honor you with all my devotion.”

Lin knelt down on his knees and answered.

“We will do our best.”

Cedric quietly lowered his eyes and answered just like that.

The expression could not be read. At least he didn’t seem happy with the transfer of power.

The Emperor thought that Cedric might now be able to disguise his feelings beyond hiding them.

As he thought about it, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten Artizea.

He didn’t even realize that Cedric had a depressed face because of that.

His body was ill, so his thoughts could not be connected as one.

“Are you blaming me for your wife’s affairs?”

“…… Tia would have gone west even if Your Majesty had not sent her.”

Cedric answered in a calm voice.

“Did you receive the news?”

“…… Her lady-in-waiting sent it.”

The Emperor looked at Cedric with dark eyes.

“Tell her to come back.”

“Your Majesty.”

“I am now ill and have no power to harm you and your wife. So tell her to come back.”

Realistically, it was.

Is there any reason to kill Artizea even by risking his own life? There wasn’t.

Even if he wanted to make Leticia his successor, it was already too late in this state of affairs.

If he has no choice but to ascend Cedric anyway, it would be better to reconcile with Artizea.

Artizea was the Saintess.

The Emperor was speculating whether Artizea’s divine power could redo the miracle of the holy relic.

When Mielle recovered, there was a statue of Saintess Olga. In the West, there was also information that Lysia was healing the plague by carrying the relic as an agent of the Saint.

He knew that the bishops’ conference had the same view.

“I will entrust it to you and your wife.”

said the Emperor.

Can he give his life to Artizea? He couldn’t. He won’t be able to do it even if he was anxious.

Objectively speaking, it was.

Cedric considered that the state affairs and the noise that occurred during the succession would affect the government, but Artizea would not.

Knowing this, he felt compelled to cling to a glimmer of hope.

He wanted to pray to a god he did not believe in, after decades. Still, doubts and impatience scratched his heart.

‘It’s ugly to be old.’

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The Emperor himself thought so.

There was a time when he risked his life and jumped in, saying that if he couldn’t get what he wanted, he’d rather die.

He was crazy about wanting to live now.

“I am honored.”

Cedric lowered his head. The Emperor looked at the top of his head, then averted his gaze and closed his eyes.

“Go back and do your duty, Crown Prince.”

“Yes.”

Cedric answered, and he withdrew.

The Emperor sighed lightly.

The chief attendant laid him down again. The Emperor soon fell asleep again.