The Status Effect Count - Chapter 32

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Abnormal Symptoms Count 032
The next morning.
“Well, this is remarkable.”
Gale, the attending physician of House of Freneta, looked up with an expression of surprise.
Belence stood beside him, her face tense.
“What is it?”
Even for Gale, a renowned and capable physician in the Capital, the mysterious illness afflicting Count Nadan of House of Freneta proved vexingly intractable.
It was neither Magical Energy corruption nor poisoning.
Yet some inexplicable force had flooded through his entire body, and no matter how carefully Gale examined his pulse, he could discern no source of the affliction.
And yet.
“It’s all gone.”
Belence tilted her head, her expression uncertain.
“Is that a good thing?”
“Of course!”
Gale took the Count’s wrist again, feeling for his pulse.
“Before, that strange force was blocking the path through your body, making it impossible to read clearly. Now that the obstruction is gone, I can see your condition so plainly. Hmm, your muscles have wasted somewhat, but you’re remarkably healthy.”
Belence exhaled in relief, one hand pressed to her chest.
After checking his pulse several more times, Gale nodded slowly.
“I’m not certain what it was, but that strange force appears to have been the source of the illness. Still, it’s peculiar that it vanished entirely all at once. Has anything occurred to you—any substance consumed or contact made—in the interim?”
Nadan did not answer Gale’s question, merely staring at his own hand. Sensation had returned.
When he had awakened this morning, Nadan found himself lying in his own bed.
‘The strange spring, and the even stranger sprite—it must have all been a dream.’
Yet as that thought crossed his mind, a Leaf caught his eye, adhered to his ankle—a plant that did not grow wild anywhere in the Capital.
Nadan realized that his body now differed markedly from how he remembered it before the mysterious sap had covered him.
Not only had sensation returned; the suffocating breathlessness and the crushing pain that had occasionally seized his mind had both vanished entirely.
“Given such an abrupt recovery, I confess myself at a loss for diagnosis. There remains a possibility of recurrence, so for some time you ought to exercise caution, and—”
“No, I’m fine.”
Gale looked up.
His long-standing patient Nadan had such a deeply suspicious nature that he detested words like “naturally” or “by coincidence.”
For such a man to declare himself “fine” when his Abnormal Symptoms had suddenly vanished without rhyme or reason—it was startling.
Gale ventured carefully, “Do you have some sense of what happened?”
“I bathed. Very peacefully.”
“Bathed?”
Nadan let out a soft laugh.
A charming stone statue. A sprite attached to a winged stone figure.
“Said it would cure my curse. Told me not to worry.”
“…Who said this? Should I perhaps recommend a consultation with a specialist in mental health?”
“I’m perfectly sound. You can go now.”
Nadan rose from his bed and ushered Gale out with his own hand.
It was impossible to believe this was the same man who had been confined to bed yesterday.
“Your body hasn’t fully recovered yet! No, Count—!”
At Nadan’s command, the knights exchanged helpless glances as they politely guided Gale toward the door.
Even as Gale’s voice trailed behind them—pleading not to overexert himself, urging rest—Nadan had already forgotten it the moment the door closed.
“My lord.”
“You’ve endured much hardship these past days, Belence.”
Nadan commended Belence for the strain she had borne, managing both inner and outer affairs during his illness.
Yet Belence still regarded him with an expression suggesting much remained unsaid.
“While I am grateful for your acknowledgment of my effort, I must ask: henceforth, please prioritize your own health first.”
“Very well. I understand.”
Nadan waved his hand dismissively.
It seemed clear that her young lord had little intention of heeding either her counsel or Gale’s.
* * *
The moment the Golden Cylinder above the Count’s head had filled completely the night before, he vanished from sight as abruptly as he had first appeared at the spring.
The thought occurred to her—’I should verify that the Count returned safely to his chamber’—but crushing fatigue swept it away like snow melting before the sun.
Aine eventually made her way back to her own room and slept soundly until morning.
She had intended to wake early and check on the Count’s condition,
but this happened to be a day with medical consultations scheduled for the morning.
Left with no choice, Aine—

‘It’s been a while. Work this straightforward.’
I picked up the Magical Iron, heated to a pleasant warmth, and pressed it against the fabric.
Each time the wrinkles smoothed away, a satisfying coolness washed over me.
‘Much better now.’
These were clothes I’d collected from the household knights in exchange for a small fee.
Officially, side work wasn’t permitted.
‘But if I say the knights asked me to run errands for them—’
If Belence saw this mountain of garments piled high, she’d surely be baffled, wondering if “light” errands meant all this.
‘But with this, I’ll finish in no time!’
I lifted the Magical Iron high.
Unlike anything I’d used before, the Magical Iron from House of Freneta maintained its warmth with just a breath or a gentle rub against the smooth orange stone at the center of the handle—a precious magical tool indeed.
To think the count would let the servants use something like this!
‘The count truly has a generous spirit.’
Thinking of the count naturally drew me into my own thoughts.
“Love, she said…….”
To think a count with such a stony face was harboring an unrequited love!
I found myself curious about the object of his affection.
In that strange space I’d witnessed last night, unlike everything else, the Saint’s face had remained oddly obscured.
Since I’d never seen the Saint directly, I couldn’t even imagine her.
All that remained in my memory was the brightly shining flower garden and the cascading silver hair that fluttered so elegantly.
‘They say if you see something too beautiful, you can lose your memory. I wonder if that happened to me?’
Just how beautiful could she be for the count to fall into unrequited love?
‘Well, even the Crown Prince, who has a betrothed, fell in love. The count could too.’
“But if the count smiled at the Saint the way he did last night, she’d surely fall for him in an instant.”
The scene from last night came flooding back.
The softly glowing spring and the man who remained strangely vivid even beneath the dark night sky.
That frozen face melting away in an instant…….
“Ahhhhh!”
I bolted upright.
I, I need to work!
I grabbed the Magical Iron and moved at a frantic pace.
As if the faster I pressed the cloth, the sooner that face would vanish from my mind.
Despite my muddled thoughts, my hands—practiced at ironing—worked with flawless precision, smoothing every wrinkle from the garments.
Then I heard the laundry room door open.
“Ah—there you are, Anne!”
“Sir Hayden?”
“I heard it was your rest time, but you’re…… working here too?”
Oh no—unauthorized side work, no matter how small the pay. If I’m caught, I’m done for!
I hurriedly used my body to shield the pile of clothes and changed the subject.
“I was just tidying things for a moment. All the count’s clothes were wrinkled, so……!”
“You work too hard, you know? Tell the other servants to do it…… wait, there aren’t any others, are there.”
“It’s fine. I actually enjoy ironing. But more importantly…… what’s the matter?”
“I’m sorry to ask this right after giving you rest time, but—”
He looked at me with an uncomfortable expression.
“Belence is asking for you.”
“Me?”
Is her medical treatment finished already?
I did have something I wanted to confirm with the count today anyway.
I quickly tidied the laundry room and hurried after Hayden, my feet moving swiftly.
I wonder if something’s happened?
* * *
“You need to rest more!”
“Yes, Captain!”
‘What in the world is all this?’
Hayden had taken me not to the count’s bedroom, but to the Central Courtyard.
In the middle of the courtyard, a heated argument was unfolding between the count, who held the reins of an enormous warhorse, and the knights.
I asked Hayden quietly.
“What’s all this about?”
“Sigh, Captain—or rather, the count is insisting on heading to the Imperial Palace right now.”
“Right now?”
The examination is already over?
That much aside, someone who couldn’t lift a finger in bed yesterday suddenly insists on going to the Imperial Palace—now that’s remarkable resolve.
At that moment, the Count shook off the knights who’d swarmed him, their arms clinging desperately to his own.
“Argh!”
With that single motion, the knights dangling from the Count’s arm tumbled like kindling scattered by a storm.

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