Our Summer Isn't Over Yet - Chapter 43

I Answered the Phone. It Was Aaron, Left at the Capital Residence.

“Lord Aaron, there’s something I urgently need to confirm.” Dylan was about to continue when he felt a sense of unease. Unlike usual, there was a hint of urgency in Aaron’s voice.

For a moment, his grip tightened on the phone. However, his voice remained calm and collected, so much so that the person on the other end wouldn’t notice anything different.

“Is something happening in the capital?”

A cacophony of static and mechanical noise crackled between Aaron and Dylan. With no response forthcoming, Dylan nervously tapped his fingers on the desk. The noise was almost enough to drown out the sound of raindrops battering against the window.

Dylan turned his head and muttered a curse under his breath. It seemed the heavy rain was disrupting the communication.

How long did he wait with bated breath? Finally, Aaron’s voice came through the receiver.

A-, A. Can you hear me, Your Excellency?

“It seems the rain is causing communication issues. Report quickly.”

Urged on by Dylan, Aaron hastily relayed the situation at the residence. The voice was still crackling with static, but that wasn’t what mattered to Dylan right now.

The Lady is suffering from a fever.

“…A fever?”

It started after she returned from the royal banquet yesterday.

“Why didn’t you contact me immediately?”

I tried to reach Your Excellency several times yesterday, but I couldn’t get through. After that, I was preoccupied with the Lady’s condition. I apologize.

Dylan’s mouth snapped shut.

After a moment of silence, Dylan asked again, “Where, how, and how bad is it?”

Aaron calmly recounted the details.

He had noticed Mia’s unusual condition when he went to escort her upon her arrival at the residence, but at the time, he thought it was just a slight fever. Not long after Mia returned to her room, a servant found her collapsed on the floor, revealing the severity of the situation.

If the servant hadn’t gone to check on the Lady’s room when the light seemed to be out, we wouldn’t have noticed.

“…Continue.” It seemed like a matter for a doctor, so I tried to summon the residence physician, but the Lady refused.

Dylan easily understood why Mia had made that choice.

If someone were to see the countless scars on her body, they would surely realize that she wasn’t ‘Seidemia’. She was so adamant that we couldn’t do anything.

Currently, Mia was the highest authority in the capital residence.

Neither the servants nor Aaron could force or coerce Mia.

Dylan ran a hand over his face a couple of times and let out a deep sigh. The fact that this was happening while he was away from the capital was frustrating beyond words.

She was prescribed some simple medication and has been drinking it. We’ve been monitoring her condition since last night.

Since last night meant at least eight hours had passed. Mia had been suffering alone for that long.

Some people get very sick during the transition to summer, and the doctor said that the Lady might be one of them. Especially considering her usual eating habits.

Dylan pressed hard on his eyes. Soon, a headache started, and he irritably ran his fingers through his hair.

As if sensing Dylan’s reaction on the other end of the line, Aaron paused for a moment before speaking again.

However, the concern is that this fever could lead to pneumonia. She’s been taking antipyretics and drinking honey water, but if the fever persists, we have to suspect pneumonia. She needs an accurate diagnosis as soon as possible.

Aaron’s message was clear.

He wanted Dylan to persuade Mia to see a doctor. That was all it would take to resolve the situation.

“Go to the address I’m about to give you and discreetly bring the doctor there.”

Aaron hesitated before answering.

We have a doctor at the residence. Are you saying we should bring one from outside?

Aaron, who usually carried out orders without question, seemed puzzled by this command.

Aaron’s question was reasonable.

Anyone entering the residence had to undergo thorough scrutiny. It was common practice to subject them to interrogations lasting from a few days to several months. Moreover, there was already a doctor at the residence. Considering gender, both a female and a male doctor were stationed there.

The Lady doesn’t receive treatment from the residence doctors, but her lifestyle is always recorded. Wouldn’t it be better for the doctors inside to examine her rather than bringing someone from outside?

Aaron respectfully asked again.

“It’s someone who has examined the Lady’s condition in the past. Just explain to the Lady that the doctor is here at my request, and she’ll agree to be examined. So, move quickly.”

Dylan’s attitude was firm. Since he couldn’t be by Mia’s side to check on her condition himself, he had to use any means necessary to get her to see a doctor.

Yes, I understand. I will bring the doctor immediately.

“And ask the doctor to note any differences from what was recorded on ‘Duchess Richardt’s’ chart that I checked recently.”

Dylan emphasized that the matter of bringing the doctor should be kept strictly confidential from those outside the residence. Aaron acknowledged his command.

Only after hearing the reply did Dylan hang up the phone.

Just moments before, he had been puzzled by Morgan’s actions, but now his mind was filled with thoughts of Mia. Dylan struggled to shake off the uneasy feeling and muttered, “What could be wrong?”

Until Dylan came to Rhodia, there was definitely nothing different about her.

They had talked on the phone without any issues.

“Has she been overdoing it lately?”

Clicking his tongue, Dylan sighed.

“I thought she was getting better.”

As if to show him how naive that thought was, Mia was sick when he wasn’t by her side. Or perhaps, she had been unwell even when Dylan was with her.

Mia’s expression was always so even that it was impossible to tell unless you paid close attention. He did try to notice and pay attention to the subtle changes in Mia, but if Mia was determined to hide something, there was no way for Dylan to know.

“Would I have known better if we hadn’t been apart for three years?”

Suddenly, the time he had spent away from Mia felt unbearably long.

He had never thought that way during the war, when battles were raging every day.

Dylan scoffed at his situation in Rhodia. Damn it, the reason to catch Jose had become even clearer than before. There were personal scores to settle, but what he had to do first was clear. Catch Jose and return to Mia’s side.

Reaching a clear conclusion, Dylan forced himself to refocus and sharpened his senses to track down Jose’s whereabouts.

Questions swirled in Aaron’s mind as he hurriedly made his way to the address Dylan had given him. The place where the doctor was supposed to be was heavily guarded.

‘Is the doctor a son of a high-ranking noble?’

It wasn’t a grand mansion, but a small residence surrounded by guards. In fact, Aaron couldn’t tell whether they were guards or watchers.

Pushing through the drizzling rain, Aaron moved forward. He stopped in front of the men guarding the small residence. One of them asked him, “What business do you have here?”

Aaron lowered his umbrella, revealing his face.

Unfazed by the other man’s surprised reaction to the eyepatch covering one of his eyes, he spoke, “I’ve come on behalf of Duke Richardt. The Duchess Richardt is unwell. I was told that the doctor here could examine her, so I’ve come to bring him.”

The faces of the men, who had been radiating a menacing aura, relaxed.

“Is that so? Could you wait here for a moment?”

“There’s no time to lose. Please hurry.”

One of them went inside the residence.

Raindrops pattered on the umbrella.

Aaron checked his watch and squinted his right eye. It had taken him over thirty minutes to get here. The rain showed no signs of stopping, and he had come in a carriage instead of a car. He could have moved faster in a car, but Dylan had ordered him not to reveal the doctor’s existence.

It was an incomprehensible order in a situation where time was of the essence, but Aaron, who had heard that Mia’s fever had started to subside slightly before he left the residence, relaxed his expression and muttered, “Still, it’s best to get her checked.”

About three minutes later, the man who had gone inside came running out.

“He’s preparing to leave immediately.”

Aaron nodded, told him to come to the carriage prepared in the back, and turned to leave. In his sight, he caught sight of an old carriage driving through the rain.

Just before the curtains inside were drawn, he saw a familiar face.

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