I Became a Barbarian's Bride - Chapter 35
“……What?”
Kagan saw Nisha’s wide-eyed expression and gave a meaningful smile as he subtly stepped back.
“I’ll visit you tonight as well, Princess.”
Kagan brought her hand to his lips and kissed it lightly before turning away with an expressionless face as if nothing had happened.
“……Princess, are you really okay?”
“Ah, yes. I’m not treated as badly as I thought… No, it’s actually better than I expected. Of course, I don’t know what will happen once we enter the capital.”
She clasped her hands tightly and exhaled slowly.
“It’s okay, I have my ability.”
She smiled brightly at Mesh, sharing her life force with him.
“They’ll probably value me too much to treat me poorly.”
“……Yes, how is your body?”
“I still cough a lot at night, but taking the medicine Xieman provides has helped reduce it.”
“That’s good to hear. But once we reach Xieman’s capital, you should rest well in your room for a while. You tend to fall seriously ill if you overexert yourself.”
Mary adjusted her clothes as she added this.
Nisha let out a small laugh as she felt the luxurious, fluffy cape against her cheek.
“Yes, thank you.”
Nisha nodded as Mary brushed her cheek, and soon after, she heard that the tent was ready. Following the soldier’s guidance, she disappeared inside the tent.
***
“Cough-, cough-…!”
As soon as night fell, Nisha was overtaken by a fit of coughing, covering her mouth and curling up against the covers.
“Cough-….”
She panted for breath, unable to catch it between the relentless coughs, and rubbed her face harshly before burying it in the pillow.
“Ha, cough-, cough-…!”
She had lived with weak bronchial tubes all her life, and even a slight chill or the onset of night made the coughing worse.
When she tasted blood in her throat and her ribs ached from coughing too much, everything felt exhausting and overwhelming, making her want to give up.
Nisha panted heavily, slowly rubbing her face.
It had always been like this. She had never had control over her life and had always wanted to give up.
“Cough-… gasp-, gasp-….”
As she stifled her coughs, she was startled by something touching her back and quickly raised her head.
“Sorry if I startled you, Princess.”
“…Ah, you should have said something.”
“I called you several times. When you didn’t answer, I thought you might be struggling to breathe, so I came in.”
With a light voice, Kagan placed something in Nisha’s hand, then poured water from the jug on the bedside table into a glass and offered it to her.
“Here, it’s warm water, so drink it slowly.”
“Thank you.”
Barely managing to speak with a hoarse voice, she took the medicine and drank the water in gulps. Her dry throat probably made her cough worse, and as she smacked her lips, wanting more water, he quickly tilted the jug.
“When we reach the capital, the first thing we’ll do is find a personal physician for you.”
“It’s fine, I’m used to it…”
It’s not something that can be cured anyway.
It had almost become chronic, and she had lived without worrying about it for quite a while, since it wasn’t fatal.
As her cough subsided, she rested her cheek on her raised knees, exhaling a breath.
“It’s ironic. You have the ability to heal everything, yet you can’t heal yourself.”
“……”
At Kagan’s words, Nisha silently laughed.
For the past few nights, Kagan had come to her regularly for ‘therapy,’ and he would often fall asleep next to her under the pretext of needing her treatment.
It wasn’t really surprising.
They were married after all, even if only on paper
What puzzled her was how living with the Xieman, which she had expected to be dreadful, turned out to be strangely better than life in Roshan.
Except for the fact that he would often sit her on his lap like a doll and hold her tight.
