Chapter 37:
This man! He truly was a tyrant.
He was a terrible man.
He was showing the signs of becoming an oppressor. His father, the forr emperor, apparently was the sa.
Lucretius’s grandfather, Emperor Kentius, was supposedly a great king who ruled for over 30 years with a firm but fair hand. Unfortunately, Lucretius was showing his resemblance to his horrible father rather than his kind grandfather.
Coming from 21st century Korea, I couldn’t accept a punishnt of cutting off soone’s finger especially when I was the reason behind it.
“Don’t do it! You said he is a doctor! Why would you cut off a doctor’s finger? That’s terrible!”
“He is right-handed, so I was planning to cut his left finger. It won’t affect his job at all. I am actually being generous considering he hard a royal mber.”
He sounded as if this was normal. How could he talk about cutting soone’s finger off so nonchalantly?
I beca angrier. I shouted at him.
“You are the one who fed poison, so why are you blaming the doctor?!”
The emperor frowned and didn’t answer . He just stared quietly.
I couldn’t stop talking. I couldn’t let an innocent man get hurt because of . However, I realized convincing Lucretius with my 21st-century logic wouldn’t work. I had to try sothing else.
“Shouldn’t you be the one to be punished first before anyone?”
I wasn’t sure how he would react to my words.
I expected him to get angry or sarcastic, but after staring at for a while longer, he unexpectedly nodded.
What?
“You’re right.”
“... pardon?”
He grabbed my hand.
Lucretius’s body temperature was usually lower than mine, so whenever he touched , it felt like a cool air gently blowing against my skin. However, this ti, his hands were warr than mine. My body obviously hadn’t recovered fully yet.
The point was, his reaction was shocking. What he said after was even more baffling.
“What kind of punishnt do you think is fair?”
“...”
Did he lose his mind? Was he ok?
I couldn’t understand, so I just stared at him like an idiot. After a long pause, I finally asked him.
“Why... Why are you acting this way?”
Lucretius’s green snake eyes looked at .
He whispered quietly, “Why? I don’t know.”
“...”
This was very strange. How was I supposed to take this?
I decided to push aside my confusion. Let’s slow down a little. My first goal was to make sure that the doctor didn’t lose his finger. My second goal was to make the emperor understand it was never okay to cut soone’s finger off.
Poisoning and plotting was one thing, but he needed to stop at the finger chopping.
Well, I suppose I had to talk about the poisoning too. I felt like no matter what kind of promise I got from him, he would do it all over again if necessary. The problem was that the next ti I get poisoned, I may not wake up.
I chose my words carefully and said to him, “I think I get why you did this. I do believe you didn’t an to kill or cause permanent damage.”
“...”
“It was a smart thing to attack Marchioness Toruka. It was really a good idea. I agree with you on that, but...”
He seed to get nervous. His shoulders beca rigid.
“But it’s only acceptable if you explained the plan to in advance and get my consent. To be honest... When I collapsed, my imdiate thought was that you were trying to kill .”
“...”
I sighed deeply and continued, “I won’t ask you not to do sothing like this again in the future, but please let know ahead so I am prepared.”
He asked in confusion, “Is that my punishnt?”
I opened my eyes wide and asked, “Seriously?! You think that’s an appropriate punishnt?”
“...”
I smiled slowly. I thought maybe I saw him smile too.
“You owe one. I will take my ti to think of a proper punishnt for you.”
“I suppose... I guess it makes sense.”
I would take all the ti in the world to make the best decision. I wouldn’t let this go easily.
Besides, I was unconscious for the past three days! I couldn’t think clearly at this point.
I decided to find out how far I could go with this punishnt. This could be my chance for sothing big in the future.
“What are the paraters for this punishnt? How far would you let go with it?”
Surprisingly, he answered easily. “Whatever you want.”
Whatever?
I couldn’t believe my ears.
This was not what I expected from the great tyrant Lucretius.
Wasn’t he afraid of what I might do to him?
I waved my palm in front of his face and asked, “Can you see okay?”
“...”
He frowned, but I yelled at him.
“Do you have a fever or sothing?”
“What?”
“Well... That’s the only possible explanation for your answer. Whatever? You must be ill.”
Lucretius’s face crumpled as he replied, “You... are so rude.”
I was surprised again.
“You an... You really an whatever I want...?”
Before I could finish my question, he interrupted sharply. He now had his signature sneaky smile on his face.
“Well, I guess ‘whatever’ doesn’t make sense.”
“Huh?”
“I misspoke. I will give you a better answer. I will listen to your idea, and if I find it acceptable, I will take it.”
“Huh!? You can’t do that! [You can’t change your mind just like that!]”
I was so frustrated I used my mother tongue. I forgot my condition and turned my face so quickly I collapsed on the bed from sudden dizziness.
He looked down at as if I deserved this pain.
“... Was that your old language again? I don’t care what you said to , but I’m not going to change my mind.”
I glared at him.
“You are so small-minded!”
Even after days of complaining, he really didn’t change his mind. I regretted how I didn’t just take his initial offer. I was an idiot.
I should have just gone with his first answer!
Dammit!
***
Officially, I was poisoned and lost my baby, so I was given a long ti to rest.
It was nice to relax. My body was poisoned for real too, so I did need so ti off. The emperor allowed over a month of vacation.
Lowson took excellent care of during this ti. When he first ca to , he kneeled before and thanked for saving him from losing his finger. He swore to serve with his life. I was shocked because I didn’t know how he found out about the whole finger situation. Lucretius must have told him about it.
There was no doubt he was a skilled physician. I took his dication every day and I recovered quickly. I didn’t need over a month of rest at all. In only two weeks, I was almost back to myself.
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