I Became a Sick Nobleman

Ruel lay on the bed. 

Tomorrow, he will have to leave Setiria. 

The tasks that needed completion before his departure weighed heavily on him, leaving him too exhausted to do anything but grumble.

‘I’m tired. Really tired.’

Leo, who had been playing with the spirits, rushed over and climbed onto Ruel’s stomach.

—You should change your clothes. Cassion will scold you if you don’t.

“It’s fine. Let him be mad if he wants to.”

—Has Ruel finished everything?

“Maybe?”

—This body has been bored all the time. You’re always talking to the magic knights, the regular knights, the barons, Cassion… You just keep talking.

After a brief bout of complaints, Leo sulked and flopped weakly on Ruel’s stomach.

—You don’t even play with this body anymore. Always busy talking to other humans.

“I knew you’d say that. Cough, cough, but I used to play with you a lot. We built snowmen, had snowball fights, and climbed mountains.”

—Those were the best times! Aris is busy too. This body is the only one not busy.

Leo muttered sulkily but then perked up his ears.

—And Ruel has not told this body what a birthday is.

Leo crawled up to Ruel’s face with bright eyes.

Ruel inhaled Breath before answering, “A birthday refers to the day you were born.”

—When is this body’s birthday then?

Even when Leo looked at him with sparkling eyes, Ruel couldn’t answer. 

After all, the first time he had seen Leo was in the Beast Forest, so he had no way of knowing how or when Leo had been born.

“I don’t know.”

—Ruel and this body are the same! We both don’t know our birthdays!

Yet, it seemed that Leo had little interest in his own birthday, as his tail wagged with excitement, seemingly forgetting his earlier sulking.

‘Is being the same really that great?’

Ruel enveloped the bouncing Leo with his shadow on the bed.

Leo smiled brightly.

It wasn’t for fun that he wrapped Leo up; previously, Jan had said that the energy of darkness could be food for great purifiers. 

So, whenever Ruel had the chance, he attempted to create shadows around Leo or envelop him in various ways, but he still didn’t know how Leo could consume it.

“Do you still not know how to eat the darkness?”

—This body feels the warmth of the darkness.

Kuroo kuru.

The spirits that were spread out in the room came rushing in, clinging to the shadows.

At first, the spirits had been wary of the shadows, but now they treated them as their playground.

“How about resting today to prepare for tomorrow?”

Cassion’s voice drew Ruel’s attention.

“You’re right.”

“Ruel-nim.”

“Speak.”

“The Kingdom of Kran is very dangerous, unlike the Cyronian Kingdom.”

The Kran Kingdom had a Red Ash executive, the monsters were on a rampage, and, most importantly, there was the Great Man.

“I know.”

Despite the dangers, Ruel knew he had to proceed, even if it felt like walking into a minefield unarmed.

“You and Ganien will find a way.”

“Are you saying this because you trust me, or are you just trying to pass the responsibility onto me?”

Ruel stared at Cassion with a confused expression, not understanding what he meant.

Cassion looked more serious than usual. 

Thinking about it, Ruel realized he probably hadn’t said that ‘thing’ to Cassion, considering it the most obvious thing in the world.

Ruel thought Cassion might need more assurance from his perspective, so he sat up straight.

“I’m not good with sentimental words; they make me feel awkward.”

Previously, he hadn’t even properly conveyed to Leo how precious he was, just nodding his head instead.

“So listen carefully.”

Ruel took a deep breath, feeling the awkwardness creeping in.

“Whatever you do, I hold the responsibility. I am your master.”

Meeting Cassion’s gaze, Ruel spoke with conviction.

“I trust you, Cassion.”

“…”

Cassion’s eyes slightly wavered.

“Are you serious…?”

“That’s enough. You’ve understood.”

Ruel intervened, sensing Cassion might dwell on it too long. He wanted to prevent overthinking.

“I am already a fish caught in the net.”

Cassion, still looking surprised, responded to Ruel.

“Even a fish in a net is still a fish. Well, that’s enough. If you have nothing more to say, you may leave.”

“…”

Even when Ruel waved his hand, Cassion stood there, stunned.

It seemed he was deeply shocked.

‘Yeah, I admit this. He’s been working hard, so it’s understandable.’

Ruel suppressed his growing impatience as he looked at Cassion. 

Then, as he inhaled Breath, he suddenly recalled something and asked Cassion.

“Oh, what about the First Tomb of Setiria?”

Cassion answered a beat late.

“I dug up the grave as you instructed, but it was completely empty inside.”

“Nothing at all? Not even a body?”

“None. While I was digging, I found an old trace. The color of the soil was slightly different from the other tombs.This is just my guess, but it seems like someone had dug up the tomb before.”

“You mean it was robbed?”

Ruel asked in confusion.

Although the First Tomb of Setiria was more elaborate than the rest, he didn’t expect everything, including the body, to be looted.

“It’s just my speculation.”

“Have Noah investigate around the tomb. We need to confirm if it was really robbed.”

Noah, a hunter, was just as good at finding traces as Cassion.

Since Cassion was busy, someone had to go in his place.

“Will Noah be accompanying us on this journey?”

Ruel blinked in response to Cassion’s question.

“Why? Does he not want to go?”

“Since Ruel-nim didn’t say anything, I was curious, as was Noah.”

“Are you saying he doesn’t want to go on purpose? Noah is definitely coming along, but make sure to keep his mouth shut and have him stick close to the delegation.”

“I understand. Then.”

After bowing to Ruel, Cassion left the room.

Ruel smiled softly as he lay back on the bed.

‘Serves you right, First Generation Setiria.’

He had known since he had to hand over the burdens that were too heavy to bear.

It ends up like this.

The previous Setirias should have seen this coming.

They probably would have laughed and mocked.

Ruel fought back his heavy eyelids, adjusted his mana, and contacted Jan.

-Oh, child. Long time no see.

“I contacted you two days ago.”

-Was it about the door we discussed earlier?

Jan pretended not to notice Ruel’s point and changed the subject.

“That’s right. You mentioned before that the spirit’s house can open anywhere except for areas where corruption has occurred, correct?”

If there were places that could be opened from anywhere, it would be good to have at least one refuge prepared.

-Hmm. Hold on, don’t hang up. Just wait a moment.

“Understood.”

Ruel inhaled Breath while enduring the fatigue that came over him.

The laughter of the spirits, including Leo, continued without pause.

Now that it was almost time to withdraw the shadows, he wanted to give them a heads-up.

“I’ll be withdrawing the shadows shortly.”

Kuroo kuru.

As if protesting, the spirits hopped around, but Ruel had no intention of changing his mind.

-Did you wait long?

“No.”

-Now that my power resides within you, you can open this place anytime. Go ahead and try.

“Really?”

Ruel was genuinely surprised.

It felt akin to demonstrating how to swim and then asking him to dive into the ocean.

-Oh, you don’t need to match your mana to this door. Just think about opening the door, and it will materialize before you.

Feeling like he was trying to catch dust in the air, Ruel wasn’t sure what that meant, but he closed his eyes and imagined opening the door, just as Jan instructed.

—Whoa!

At Leo’s exclamation, Ruel opened his eyes.

A door had indeed appeared right before him!

Though it was small enough that he had to hunch down to enter, so what?

—This body wants to go in quickly!

Leo’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the door.

“Should we? How about a quick look?”

Ruel had been curious too. 

As soon as he opened the door, beautiful flowers that he could see in the house of the spirits that day welcomed him.

Feeling the warm air, Ruel was about to reach out his hand when he suddenly got startled by a suddenly visible lower body.

“Welcome, my dear. The door’s small size is due to containing a portion of my power. But it won’t hinder your entry, so don’t worry.”

—Come, come, release the shadows!

Caught in the shadows, Leo flailed about, moving his short legs.

The moment Ruel dispelled the shadows, Leo bolted through the door.

—It’s really the Spirit’s house!

With a big smile, Leo circled around Jan’s legs.

—Jan! It’s good to see you! Aris told this body to say hello if we met anyone!

“It’s great to see you, Leo.”

Jan smiled brightly, bending down to pet Leo.

“But is there no toll for passing through this door…?”

Before Ruel could complete his sentence, he hastily covered his mouth.

He struggled to focus as he felt the familiar taste of blood in his mouth, trying to hold onto his blurry consciousness.

‘Of course, there can’t be no cost.’

The moment he fully crossed through the door, his mana drained away all at once.

At least he hadn’t gotten a nosebleed, indicating he still had a minimal amount of mana left, but it was a serious problem.

Their departure was scheduled for tomorrow.

Unplanned complications loomed before him, and he could almost see the disappointed expressions of those who would scold him.

“Are you okay…?” Jan hesitated and called out to Ruel.

Since passing through the door, Ruel had remained motionless.

Only then did Jan realize something was wrong.

—Oh no! This is bad! This body needs to call Fran! Ruel is sick again!

Leo, staring at Ruel, was startled by his pale complexion and the smell of blood.

“T-Tell me who Fran is. Ah, never mind. I’ll be right back!”

Jan spread his wings and flew off in search of someone.

—Ruel, Ruel. Are you in pain again?

Ruel shook his head at Leo’s question but then stopped moving as dizziness overwhelmed him.

“Ruel-nim!”

A familiar voice called, and he heard Drianna’s voice, likely brought by Jan, but even at Drianna’s urgent call, Ruel couldn’t muster the strength to lift his head.

“…!”

Drianna scrutinized the faint traces of mana around Ruel and the small door, her gaze shifting between them.

It appeared that all his mana had dissipated in a single swoop..

“Could it be… that you made the door and crossed over, Ruel-nim?”

“T-That’s right. So that Ruel can come over here as much as he wants….”

“I need to move him to a safe place.”

Drianna, suppressing her rising anxiety, glanced at Jan and carefully placed a Hold on Ruel.

***

Ruel opened his eyes and quickly sat up, realizing he wasn’t in his own room.

This was Banios’s room.

“Doesn’t this situation feel all too familiar to you?” Cassion spoke with a sigh.

As Ruel cautiously surveyed the room, his gaze met Tyson standing beside Cassion. 

It had become the same situation as before, before heading to Cyronian, except for the fact that Fran, who had been sitting next to Tyson, was now staring at him intensely.

—Ruel!

Ruel lowered his head as Leo rushed towards him.

He truly felt ashamed of this incident.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, there’s no need to apologize; just the fact that nothing serious happened is enough,” Tyson smiled warmly, observing the mana swirling around Ruel.

Ruel’s mana was replenishing at a more normal pace — so it was much quicker than before. 

He believed that even if Ruel were to open the door to the spirit’s house again, he wouldn’t collapse as he did that day.

“Are you feeling dizzy or nauseous?” Fran’s tone was sharp.

“No, I’m fine. I’m alright.” Ruel avoided meeting Fran’s eyes.

“I had told you to be careful, as anything could happen in this brief time before joining the delegation to the Kran Kingdom.”

“I know. I… I’m really sorry about this.”

“Lord Ruel,” Fran called Ruel calmly, her anger having subsided by now, “When we meet again in the Kran Kingdom, I hope it will be with smiles. So, you must be careful while I’m away.”

Ruel was doing something separately, though she didn’t know exactly what it was. 

It had to be something important yet simultaneously dangerous.

Unable to ask what it was, Fran forced a bright smile as she said goodbye.

“Don’t worry.”

Although she knew that the words coming out of Ruel’s mouth were unreliable, she wanted to believe him once again.

Fran stood up, knowing that the longer she stayed, the more rumors about Ruel’s condition would arise outside, so she decided it was best to leave.

“Ruel-nim, you’re truly remarkable.”

As soon as Fran left, Cassion spoke sarcastically.

—Ruel has done nothing wrong.

Leo observed the atmosphere carefully and said, 

—It was this body’s fault. If this body hadn’t insisted on going through the door, Ruel wouldn’t have…!

Ruel hushed Leo, placing a hand over his mouth.

It wasn’t Leo’s fault. This was due to his own lack of caution.

“This time, I was the one at fault.”

“I’m glad you understand your mistake. Please don’t open that door again.”

Cassion said firmly.

Though he had a rough idea of why Ruel had opened the door to the spirit’s house and why he was so interested in it, what good would it do if he collapsed this way?

“You’ll be fine now,” Tyson interjected, breaking the tense silence, “Ruel, you are free to open the door to the Spirit’s house again.”

Ruel looked surprised.

“Tyson-nim?” Cassion raised his voice.

“Have you not noticed the increase in Ruel’s mana compared to before?”

Tyson’s words gave Cassion pause.

“I learned that just protecting him isn’t the answer from the last experience.”

Even now, if he closed his eyes, he could vividly recall the scene of Ruel climbing the mountain.

Though his body was weak, he was a child capable of achieving anything.

Tyson smiled at Ruel.

“Go ahead and try anything.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

Regardless of Cassion’s sighs, Ruel couldn’t help but smile.

“Ruel.”

“Yes.”

Ruel answered while petting Leo.

“If anything happens, call for me.”

“I will.”

“Do not bear everything alone. If it becomes overwhelming, don’t hesitate to reach out to me anytime.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

Tyson felt reassured that Ruel’s smile was genuine as he walked towards the door.

Before turning the handle, he glanced back at Ruel and waved lightly.

“Then let’s ensure a safe reunion and take good care of yourself.”

“I will return in good health.”

Tyson seemed like he could repeat those words several times, but without any lingering feelings, he stepped outside.

Slightly disappointed, Ruel cut off his lingering feelings by inhaling Breath.

“Cassion.”

“Yes.”

Cassion’s voice had a slightly sharp edge to it.

“Is it because of me that the appointment ceremony has been postponed again?”

“You hit the nail on the head.”

Ruel shared a smile with Cassion, who raised the corner of his mouth.

He felt sorry, but King Brans would have handled everything on his own.

“Let’s prepare. It’s time to depart.”

Towards the Kran Kingdom.