Pretending to Be Human Is Exhausting Again Today - Chapter 55

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Struggling to Pretend to Be Human Today Episode 055

 

After cleaning up the blood to some extent, Liribel carefully spoke to Viscount Gorden.

 

“Viscount, I’m sorry, but I think any further relief activities will be difficult today. The bedroom…”

 

“Ah, I’ll guide you!”

 

Viscount Gorden hurriedly guided Liribel and Deina to the prepared bedroom.

 

He had ordered the chamberlain in advance to gather all the expensive decorations in the castle to create this lavish room.

 

However, all those decorations and paintings couldn’t heal Deina’s aftereffects. She sat on the sofa with a pale complexion.

 

“Is there anything Her Highness the Princess needs? Medicine, or holy water…”

 

Viscount Gorden wanted to help somehow, but Liribel firmly shook her head.

 

“No, it’s fine. Rest is the best option.”

 

“But…”

 

“I’ll excuse myself now. I need to help Her Highness.”

 

Liribel bowed deeply and then went to Deina. It was an expression telling him not to interfere anymore.

 

Viscount Gorden couldn’t say anything and quietly left the bedroom.

 

‘How powerless. Even if she’s royalty, to make such a small girl bear this burden…’

 

How foolish he had been to rejoice that a miracle had come. To take someone else’s sacrifice for granted—could he still call himself a nobleman of the Empire?

 

‘The maid seemed familiar with this situation. Her Highness must have known the aftereffects would occur. Yet she didn’t hesitate to say she would help…’

 

What was most shameful was that even knowing about such aftereffects, he couldn’t bring himself to say it was okay to stop the relief activities.

 

“Ah…”

 

‘Sun God, why are you so cruel?’

 

As he trudged away from Deina’s bedroom, he spotted a familiar servant’s face in the opposite corridor.

 

It was Ivan, the servant who had been guarding Deina’s side along with Liribel.

 

“Hey, you there.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Didn’t you say Her Highness had recovered her health? Does she always… cough up blood like that?”

 

“Ah~ You saw her coughing up blood?”

 

His manner of speech was rather frivolous for a servant, but Viscount Gorden, with his mind in chaos, didn’t notice. Ivan tilted his head, wondering how to explain this, then spoke.

 

“She doesn’t do it often. She does that sometimes when she overexerts herself.”

 

“But… she might die from that.”

 

“What can we do? Her Highness wants to do it.”

 

Ivan shrugged his shoulders. Then he glanced at Viscount Gorden, who was crumbling under guilt, and smiled mischievously.

 

“If you feel sorry, how about giving some compensation?”

 

“B-but Her Highness doesn’t want anything.”

 

“Really? Our princess isn’t someone without desires… Anyway, if she won’t take money, you can help with something else.”

 

For example, he whispered to Viscount Gorden.

 

“Our princess is going to manage land from now on.”

 

“Ah, the Imperial Domain?”

 

“But she lacks the manpower to manage it, so how about supporting her?”

 

It was common sense not to interfere carelessly in managing someone else’s domain. Especially an Imperial Family member’s direct domain—the moment he supported her, it would be tantamount to publicly declaring his sponsorship of that royal.

 

Like aligning himself with the successors vying for the crown prince position.

 

“…Alright, I’ll help.”

 

But Viscount Gorden agreed without hesitation. This wasn’t the time to consider the risks of sponsoring a weak royal.

 

To repay his debt of gratitude, he could sacrifice his political life without hesitation.

 

Thinking he had something, even a little, to give back made his heart feel much lighter. Viscount Gorden turned around with a calmed expression.

 

“Thank you for the advice. Your name is…?”

 

But Ivan wasn’t there. Only Viscount Gorden remained alone in the long corridor with no intersections or doorways.

 

“Did, did I see things?”

 

There was no one to answer his question.

 

‘No, no. This isn’t the time for this. If I’ve decided to sponsor royalty, I need to cut ties with my previous connections first.’

 

And coincidentally, the faction he had been with was the Delchis Family. Those who had sent no reply when he wrote asking for support due to the epidemic.

 

The time had come to sever ties with them.

 

‘The successor… they said Loreil was passing through nearby. I should send a messenger to tell him.’

 

His steps quickened.

 

* * *

 

‘Should I call this good luck or bad luck?’

 

I opened my eyes looking at the pillow covered in blood.

 

I thought I had fallen asleep after coughing up all the blood, but it seemed I had been spitting out the remaining blood in my throat all night.

 

I got up, roughly wiping the blood from the corners of my mouth.

 

“Wow…”

 

And I was amazed as I felt my body’s condition.

 

‘Completely refreshed.’

 

This was the first such fantastic morning since being born in this body. The air was sweet, and my whole body was full of vitality. It felt like I had fallen into a sea of recovery potions and emerged.

 

‘I didn’t absorb that much mana… Is it definitely because it was mana that had been in a human body?’

 

Just like putting whiskey in a barrel that had held sherry wine creates a new liquor, mana that had passed through humans also had a distinctive flavor.

 

The mana absorbed this way clung perfectly to my body, bringing unexpected vitality.

 

‘This makes me seem too inhuman.’

 

It was a perfectly apt comparison, but not something to say as a human.

 

Getting up from bed, I moved my body this way and that, loosening my muscles. My physical condition was indeed good.

 

‘It would have been perfect if I hadn’t coughed up blood.’

 

The act of absorbing mana was ultimately the same as using mana, so naturally the aftereffects came along with it.

 

Thanks to that, I felt uncomfortable knowing I had made the people around me worry.

 

‘Even when I say I’ll be fine soon, they don’t really believe it.’

 

I might need to give a proper lecture about my body’s mana physiology sometime.

 

After loosening up my body well, I was about to call Liribel when someone knocked on the door.

 

“Princess, it’s me.”

 

It was Ivan. I roughly tied up my disheveled hair and opened the door.

 

“…”

 

The moment Ivan saw my face, he blinked blankly. It was such an intense gaze that I wondered if something was on my face.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“…No, it’s nothing.”

 

Then he came into the room with quick steps and plopped down on the sofa.

 

As if wanting to gloss over what had just happened, he immediately got to the point.

 

“Liribel worked until late at night, so I came to check on your condition first. Other maids will come a little later too.”

 

“Then Liribel is sleeping?”

 

“Right. Don’t you remember? Even after you fell asleep yesterday, she kept going in and out of the bedroom.”

 

‘Ah, so that presence was Liribel.’

 

It seemed she had been going in and out of the bedroom all night, worried that something might happen to me.

 

‘Well, Liribel has been seeing my aftereffects since I opened my eyes.’

 

Somehow I feel like I’m only causing that child worry.

 

Then, Ivan, who had been watching me sigh, spoke.

 

“Are you going out to treat people today too?”

 

“Of course. I’m planning to finish everything today if possible.”

 

Now that I had gotten the hang of it, I could treat people faster than yesterday. My goal was to treat all the residents and eliminate the cause at the lake before midnight today.

 

‘That should fit the schedule.’

 

There wasn’t much time left until the Princess of Jins Kingdom arrived at the port. I couldn’t let the exile set foot on foreign soil with no one to greet her.

 

“Then we’ll be saying goodbye to this city soon too. Shall we go finish it quickly?”

 

Perhaps feeling stifled from staying in one area, Ivan stretched, saying he was finally going out.

 

Then a question suddenly occurred to me.

 

“But Ivan, you didn’t seem very surprised even when I coughed up blood.”

 

“Hm? What, did you want me to worry about you?”

 

“No. I’m just surprised by how calm you are.”

 

The Ivan in my mind was far from having a rational and composed personality.

 

Ivan stretched out his arm and said, “Well, you see.”

 

“Just coughing up blood doesn’t seem like it would kill Your Highness, right? You know, there are people like that. The type where you think, ‘No matter what I do, I can’t kill this person.'”

 

‘He’s still evaluating me as an assassination target.’

 

In a way, it was an attitude befitting his role as an assassin. If that was the case, I could understand it. Ivan was pathetic, but he had the proper professional spirit of an assassin ingrained in him.

 

“And also.”

 

“Hm?”

 

I was about to leave after roughly putting on my coat, when he had gotten up from the sofa at some point and followed closely behind me, whispering.

 

“Your Highness has no openings, so you’re boring. You need to have days when you’re in pain like that, so you’ll lean on me, don’t you think?”

 

“The day I lean on you will never come, will it?”

 

“You never know. There will definitely come a moment when you realize how capable this subordinate is.”

 

He made a confident expression, telling me to trust him.

 

That look was quite adorable, so I laughed without noticing that my tied hair was coming undone.

 

“You’re such a funny subordinate.”

 

“…”

 

Just like when Ivan first entered the room, I failed to notice that the strength had left his eyes.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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