Chapter Text
Birds started to chirp, the sun started to rise. Neuvillette usually woke up before the sun even rose, so it was uncommon for him to be woken up by the rays of morning sunlight through the window curtains.
He blinked slowly, realized he woke up later than usual, he quickly sat up and looked at the clock beside the bed. He wasn't late to work, there is still time to go to Palais Mermonia on time. Neuvillette stood up, and a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over him. But it passed rather fast, he didn't pay any attention to it. He wore his justice robe, got himself a cup of fresh Liyue water, and headed out.
"Good morning, Monsieur Neuvillette. The documents you need to sign today have been put on your table in the office. There are two trials that will require you to oversee today, both of them start in the afternoon. Oh also, there's an appointment this morning, I will notify you once they have arrived." Sedene stated once she saw the Iudex walk in the front door. He nodded her thanks and started working in his office.
He couldn't help but sigh quietly at the stacks of paper on his desk. Well he has done it for more than 400 years, and he'll continue today.
As he worked, he couldn't help but start to feel a bit hot. He stood up to open a window, letting the soft breeze enter the room. Even though it did help a bit, it's still not enough, he still feels hot. Then he poured a cup of Mondstadt water, hoping it would refreshen him. He went back to his seat, stared at the documents, and worked.
Sedene noticed the sky started to darken. It did not rain but she knew something was wrong. She knocked on the door to Monsieur Neuvillette’s office.
No response…
She knocked once again.
Still no response…
Sedene knew it was impolite to enter a room without the owner’s permission but the darkening skies made her worry about Monsieur Neuvillette. She pushed the large door open, peaking through the gap between the door. “Monsieur Neuvillette?”
What she saw was a bit surprising, his hands were crossed on the table and his head was resting upon them. Though the melusine couldn’t see his face as she was standing far from where he is, she figured he might need the rest, since the workload these days has been skyrocketing.
So she closed the door back and returned to her position, hoping the gray skies were nothing serious.
“Duke Wriothesley, welcome. You are early for the appointment with Monsieur Neuvillette, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind it. Last I checked, he was taking a break so please enter his room quietly, he may still be taking a rest.” Sedene beamed after seeing the Duke arrive.
“It’s nice to see you too, Sedene. Ah yes, Sigewinne gave me these gifts and requested me to hand it to you and your sisters. Could you please help me with this favor? I can enter Neuvillette’s room by myself.” Wriothesley greeted back with a smile, while handing the gift boxes to her.
It has been a while since Wriothesley last saw Neuvillette, the last time they saw each other was almost three months ago. Their relationship was secret to the public, no one, especially the Steambird, should know about their love.
They have only been together for a year and Wriotheley has been the perfect partner for Neuvillette. He would always surprise Neuvillette with his arrival and gifts. Only the melusines knew of their relationship, so Sedene sometimes helped Wriothesley with his plans and surprise.
They usually met each other at least once every two weeks, with Wriothesley sneaking up to the overworld whenever he is free. Neuvillette was always busy during working hours, so he would come up at nights to accompany him and maybe cook dinner at Neuvillette’s home and enjoy the special moment together. But due to the fact that work has been piling up in both places, they wouldn’t find the time to be together.
Wriothesley raised his hand to knock on the door, and again no response came through the door. So it was only natural for him to think that his lover is still resting. He opened the door and walked to the sleeping figure.
He looked so peaceful in his sleep.
Neuvillette was breathing softly through his mouth, Wriothesley just leaned against the table full of paper. He schemed through all the paperwork on the table, and started to wonder how much work his love needed to do. He gently combed his hair with his fingers, but something was amiss–why is he burning?
The Duke pulled back his hand and placed it on his forehead instead, he immediately noticed that the heat radiated was immense. Wriothesley shook the Iudex, hoping to wake him up.
“Neuvillette? Hey, wake up sweetness.”
Seeing that he was not moving at all, he quickly picked up Neuvillette in a bridal carry and put him on one of couches in his office. He summoned Sedene in and she was shocked to see him in this state.
“Oh I’m so sorry Wriothesley, I really didn’t know he was feeling sick… He looked completely fine earlier today, I should have noticed it sooner…” Sedene was dejected and her antanas dropped as she said this. Melusines have special vision and could see things normal humans couldn't, she was too focused on organizing the documents this morning and didn’t take a close look at the poor dragon.
“It’s not your fault that he’s sick and for you to notice it. It’s alright, let him rest for a bit for now. I’ll be staying with him here, you can go back to your work. If he has trials or other appointments later today, it would be best to cancel them, he isn’t in the state to finish his work properly. ” He replied as he gently caressed the heated cheeks, applying a small amount of cryo energy to his hand to try alleviate the high fever.
“Send a message to Sigewinne to come up here to check up on him. Also, if other people ask for the reason why the Iudex is canceling appointments and trials, just tell them something urgent has come up and it requires the Iudex’s attention immediately.” As the Duke of Meropide, he has the ability to deal with urgent situations in the best way possible. He just didn’t think that he would use this ability to cope with this.
Wriothesley got up and grabbed a cloth with some water, channeling his cryo energy to make the cloth cool but not freeze. Kneeling next to the couch, he put the wet cloth onto Neuvillette’s forehead, hoping it would relieve his fever furthermore. Wriothesley then placed his coat over Neuvillette, letting his coat act as a temporary blanket.
Now they would just wait for Sigewinne to come here.
Neuvillette did not know when he fell asleep (or rather passed out), but he was sure that he was sick. He felt awful, his throat ached whenever he swallowed his saliva, like there were nails stabbing it. Also, the burning hot temperature was unbearable. He felt really hot for a few minutes, then he felt cold. He was supposed to feel hot due to his fever, why would he feel cold?
He regained consciousness once he felt someone lifting him up, but was too fatigued to pay attention to the conversation around him or just even open his eyes. He panicked for a second but then realized he didn’t have the energy to do anything. He was extremely tired. When that person moved him around, he felt really dizzy, he felt as if the world was spinning on itself, he couldn’t identify whether they were still moving around or not when in fact, he was lying on the sofa already.
The conversation kept going, but he just couldn’t process anything they said, he just felt their tones were a panicked one. He suddenly felt something cool on his cheeks. It burned for a moment due to the temperature difference, but it did feel good after a few seconds. The cool thing on top of his forehead was so cold that it made him wide awake, this however, made him feel even colder and shiver.
As soon as something heavy was over his entire body, the scent on it made Neuvillette recognize whose it was–Wriothesley. Knowing that his mate was by his side, he relaxed, even if he felt horrible. Also, if Wriothesley was here, Neuvillette knew he would do anything to protect him from any eyes and ears from outside these walls.
He is safe.
After a few hours, Neuvillette woke up from his slumber. The sweat around his neck was sticking to his hair, it was very uncomfortable. He tilted his head to the left to see Wriothesley was sitting on the floor beside him, with his upper body leaning on the couch, sleeping. The sight before his eyes was beautiful. Not having enough strength to sit up, he just continued to lie down as he capture the scene before his unfocused eyes.
Neuvillette looked down to see his fingers were laced between the Duke’s. He gently squeezed them, and that action seemed to alert him.
It has become a habit that Wriothesley wouldn’t be in a deep sleep if he weren’t sure if he is safe from prying eyes or not. Ever since he was sent to the fortress, he has participated in fights with other convicts and it has gained him a ton of enemies, so he would need to be alert for any unexpecting attack.
As soon as he felt something tugged on his hand, he awoke immediately. He opened his eyes and was met with Neuvillette’s glazed, unfocused eyes. He rose up and used his hand to caress his lover’s face.
“Sweetness? Mon chou? You okay? Shit, you still have a high fever.” Wriothesley channeled some cryo to help relieve the heat on his face. It hurts to see his lover suffering through this fever. It made him wonder whether this is the first time Neuvillette falls sick as the hydro dragon.
Neuvillette just mumbles something in return, but nothing audible is heard from Wriothesley's perspective. His ragged breath was hurting his throat, and it didn’t help that almost everything was spinning in the room. He just stared at his mate’s face, starting to feel sleepy again.
Wriothesley seemed to notice the drowsiness in his eyes, “If you wanted to sleep, sweetness, feel free to do so. We are now waiting for Sigewinne to come up to the surface.” He mumbled as he constantly applied small amounts of cryo to cool him down.
Being fatigue as the dragon is, he closed his eyes once again, feeling the coolness of his mate’s palm on his cheeks, he drifted off to sleep.
Once Sigewinne arrived up to the surface and in the office, she instantly did a quick check up on Monsieur Neuvillette. Neuvillette sat up with the help of the Duke and leaned himself against his mate, shoving his face inside the Duke's neck. Despite Wriothesley doing his best to cool him down with his vision, heat still radiated from him.
“Well, he didn’t get any serious sickness. From my analysis, this is just a normal flu. However, since this may be the first time he’s ever been sick, his immune system just doesn't know how to react and defend its host. Here, take some medicine and get plenty of rest. As a nurse, working is prohibited before you get better from a sickness.” She handed some medicine to the Duke and glanced at the sleeping figure.
“Your grace, I need to head back down to the fortress as there was a fight earlier and some prisoners required my attention.You need not worry, your grace, the situation has been dealt with and you can stay here to look after him. I know it has been some time since you two spent some alone time together.” Sigewinne gave Wriothesley a wink with a grin before packing her own bag and waved goodbye, ready to head back to the fortress. She promised to visit them for a next check up tomorrow in Neuvillette’s home.
“Mhmmm… I’m tired.” Neuvillette suddenly spoke before taking the medicine. Wriothesley chuckled lightly and bitterly, as he handed out medicines and a cup of water to Neuvillette, signaling him to open his mouth.
After swallowing the bitter substance, the dragon let out a yawn. “Come on, let’s get you back home and rest. Sleeping on the couch for long periods of time does no good for your body.Trust me, I’ve tried it before in my office down in the fortress and oh boy, does my body ache the next day.” Though Neuvillette did not give an obvious response, the thought of lying on his comfy bed never sounded this good for him, he couldn’t help but give a small smile.
So Wriothesley took the opportunity of the lunch break of the Palais and quickly carried him out, avoiding anyone in sight. If Neuvillette were clear minded now, he would definitely be embarrassed to be seen like this.
After a long road trip, they finally arrive at his home, a place where both Neuvillette and Wriothesley were just too familiar with. Once they entered, he put the sleeping dragon on his comfortable bed, his pale face immediately relaxed.
Satisfied, Wriothesley checked the kitchen and started to prepare lunch for themselves. He looked around, deciding to make something light for the both of them so he chose consomme. After cooking, he went back to the bedroom and woke Neuvillette up. They went down and enjoyed the light lunch together.
Despite being fatigued and awful due to his sickness, the consomme tasted wonderful. It wasn’t the best (as he could make it better), but it made his mouth water after a few spoons of it. He ate slowly while Wriothesley watched him eat. “So, does it taste good?”
He gave a small nod as a response, and continued to enjoy the broth. He yawned once again after eating to his heart’s content, Wriothesley chuckled and came near to him, embracing him lightly. "You got me so worried my love, I know you are going to be tired now, so let's get you to bed you big sleepy dragon." Neuvillette gave a groan but made no effort to resist, so he accompanied him back to the bedroom and continuing his rest.
Wriothesley is a wonderful, caring mate.
These were his last thoughts before he drifted off.