Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The morning sun shone through the open windows, a pretty refreshing start of the day. The servants and maids had been up early, the kitchen was busy preparing breakfast for the householders.

Another servant, an old man, had his own job like any other servants and maids who kept the estate clean. With his measured steps, the old man arrived at the young master's room which was his job.

Like a proper servant, the old man knocked on the door, there was a docile smile on his face and his gentle voice said to the people in the room that he would come in.

“Young master-nim, I will come in.”

The door opened and the servant approached his young master's bed.

His steps became slower as the old man noticed something strange.

He looked at his young master who was lying on his side, breathing heavily, rough but also weak. There was a blush on his cheeks, and as soon as the old man touched his young master's forehead, he could feel a burning heat.

"Fever? It's too hot," he muttered before peeking at the door.

With agile steps the old man fixed the blanket to properly wrap the young man on the bed. He then turned around, taking measured and silent steps out of the room to report.

"Ron."

A low voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Young master Cale? Did I wake you up?”

The old man, Ron, turned to the source of the voice. Disheveled red hair, and haggard face, shivering under the covers.

"Cold, blanket."

Young Master Cale, as Ron always called him, rolled himself up in a blanket, looking so out of the real world, his consciousness still floating in the dream world as Ron saw it in those reddish brown eyes.

Ron told him to wait a bit. Ron's heels turned and taking a step away, he disappeared behind closed door.

Cale's heavy eyelids didn't keep him awake for long enough, he fell asleep again almost instantly.

A few minutes later Ron came in with an extra blanket and another servant came with water and a towel to compress the young master.

The two servants slowly nursed the sick young master as the door opened and Deruth, Young Master Cale's father and Count, came into the room with a healer next to him.

After checking the young master's condition for a while, the healer explained what had happened and handed him the medicinal formula.

"It's just an ordinary fever sir, get enough rest and young master will recover. I will prescribe the medicine so please ask young master to drink it. Since the heat is quite high I suggest having someone watch over him. I don't know if there will be any further illness, so, if young master is having trouble please contact me or the nearest healer immediately."

Leaving behind a medicinal note, the healer then left.

Deruth stared for a while, brushing off the annoying hair on Cale's face. Before he finally faced Ron.

“Ron, you know what to do, I leave Cale to you.”

"Yes sir, this Ron will do a great job."

With that Deruth left with the other servant, not forgetting that he ordered to take care of Cale's medicine and food and a few other things for Ron to do.

Tsk, really troublesome. Ron grumbled to himself even though he was still doing his job.

Normally, he wouldn't have to do much work to take care of the young master, as Cale would instantly disappear outside after breakfast.

"Yesterday he was fine, he also drank a little yesterday. Why is this puppy suddenly sick? Troublesome." Ron muttered in confusion and a little annoyed as he went into the kitchen to prepare food and medicine for the ailing young master.

He didn't realize that his muttering was heard by Cale who had been awake since the healer had examined him. The fact that even Ron, who was an expert assassin didn't notice him awake, it proved that Cale's acting skills were very good.

As soon as Ron arrived with the food cart next to Cale's bed and was about to wake him, Cale suddenly sat up. His head spun for a moment but he soon calmed down to speak.

"You can go, Ron. I can feed myself."

Ron's brows furrowed slightly, but he soon put on a tame smile.

"Sorry Young master-nim, I was told to accompany you so I won't be leaving."

Ron said softly, but Cale knew, Ron didn't really want to do it. Cale had known for a long time that Ron didn't really want to take care of him. Well, who would want to take care of the trash young master?

"No, you can go. I'm fine." Cale shook his head and said quietly. He knew Ron's feelings so he would make sure Ron was comfortable with his job.

Seeing the young master insisting on making him leave, Ron couldn't help but comply, although he was a little happy to stay away from the trash young master. However, it made him taste bitter for some reason.

Ron bowed, "If that's what you want young master, I'll be going. If you need anything please call me."

Ron finally turned around without seeing the young master who wore a sad face as his back disappeared from behind the door.

Cale was alone again. He sighed, rubbing his face with both hands, thinking for a moment.

"This is my choice, why should I be sad?" He muttered to himself. His feelings swayed a bit because of Ron's behavior and his ill condition.

Cale shook his head slowly to drive the thought out of his mind. Choosing to forget about it, Cale turned around to look at the contents on the food cart.

There was mush there and a bottle of liquid that looked like medicine.

"At least I don't have to act today." He smiled wryly and tried to finish his food, which took a long time.

The first time Cale realized something was wrong was when the next morning arrived, it wasn't the pain that rose in his chest, nor was it the nausea that made him hold his stomach.

Something rose towards his mouth and Cale only knew it wasn't vomit, because the taste that touched the base of his tongue wasn't sour, just something bitter and coppery in taste similar to a medium rare steak, except it tasted nothing but bitter.

Cough

"... Young master?"

Cale had never seen Ron shocked before, watching a new reaction from his personal servant tickle Cale's stomach, he would have laughed if it weren't for the blood that was running down his chin and dripping onto the blanket he was wearing.

"There seems to be something wrong." He said quietly, wiping the trail of blood on his dripping chin.

That brought Ron to his senses, he immediately grabbed a towel and started cleaning Cale's mouth area.

There was an ominous feeling as Ron wiped the dripping blood away. Especially when Cale was so quiet.

"I will call the healer."

Cale nodded, so briefly that Ron questioned his own vision.

The frequency of coughing up blood is actually getting higher day by day. What was more worrying was Cale who didn't move or act much.

He especially didn't talk much or even opened his eyes at all.

It was a bit scary for Hans, once the deputy butler had replaced Ron for a routine task of delivering medicine, he rarely saw anyone vomit blood, let alone seeing the state of the Young Master vomiting blood while remaining unconscious, it made him hysterical.

“Young master Cale?!”

He practically ran to the bed, left the food cart in the doorway, and practically tripped over the carpet until he could barely balance himself on the nearest table.

Everything got worse from there.

To be honest, Cale didn't feel that bad. Maybe yes, he was shivering pretty badly, but more than that the searing heat every time he was covered in the blanket was annoying.

His eyes were also very heavy whenever he tried to come to his senses. Moreover, he did not expect to be spun while sitting by the world. Perhaps the vision of the world revolving in his eyes was more appropriate, but he wasn't in a position to think properly right now.

Not with everyone bustling around him like he was dying. No, he's fine, just let him sleep for a while.

“Cale, stay sober, will you?”

That... was his father's voice? Cale wasn't sure. The man's voice was quite heartbreaking if not more so, it was almost desperate and Cale didn't have enough energy to open his eyes again to take a peek at what was happening. Cale just wanted to sleep, and that was it.

It was a busy five days in mid-March, Ron not understanding what went wrong and how it could go wrong in the first place.

The first time was just an ordinary fever, he, everyone to be precise, didn't expect it to be this severe.

Prolonged vomiting of blood while unconscious with liters staining the sheets which made everyone wonder how the young man was still alive.

Even though Ron knew Cale was nothing more than a walking trunk with his life as a burden, Ron couldn't allow himself to be so heartless as to allow this child he had raised for more than 15 years to die in vain.

"I assure you, Master, I found nothing wrong with the young master's body other than the fever."

The healer assures, again, this is the 8th examination with the 3rd healer being summoned. All the results are the same, and everyone is confused.

Deruth rubbed his face in frustration.