Alisto's expectations were betrayed when the saint began to press her chest forcefully upon hearing his marriage proposal.
At first, he thought she was just trying to calm down some natural tension.
But as time passed, the saint's face turned completely pale, and her breathing became heavy and turbulent, as if she was suffocating.
Alisto's mind began to empty of thoughts and turn as white as her face.
“Where do you feel pain?”
She just shook her head, as if she didn't have the strength to even speak.
"Are you in pain?
Do you feel tightness in your chest?"
It was clear that her body was experiencing abnormal symptoms, but her silence and shaking of her head made anxiety pile up in his heart like mountains.
She opened her mouth only after taking several deep breaths with difficulty.
“Wait a minute, please.
I feel like my heart… is about to jump out of my mouth right now.”
It was a sentence that no one could hear without feeling threatened.
“Has anything like this happened to you in the past?”
“No, this is the first time...”
Before her words reached the ground, Alisto had carried the saint in his arms and started running.
He supported her small torso with his left arm, surrounding her thighs, and with his right hand, he surrounded her small head and pulled her tightly towards his neck.
Then, he realized once again how frail and weak this woman's petite and slender body was.
She was so thin that he felt like her bones might shatter if he pressed her a little harder.
'Shit, am I an idiot?'
He shouldn't have ignored the fact that she had fallen asleep without eating yesterday.
He has to give her regular medical check-ups from now on.
'Fuck'
“Please, put me down.”
Alisto thought that he might be holding her too tightly, so he adjusted his position while calming her down: “Be patient a little, even if you are uncomfortable.
We are almost there.”
“No, I'm not sick.”
“I told you, I'm fine.”
Of course, her words fell on deaf ears.
Alisto was aware that some people were afraid of doctors.
His secretary Custer is a good example, as he had previously let his illness fester pathetically simply because he didn't want to see a doctor.
'It seems that Saint is a bit cowardly...'
So it wouldn't be strange to be afraid of the doctor.
Living with such a small, delicate body makes many things in the world seem scary.
'Yesterday she was examined as soon as she woke up, so she probably didn't have a chance to refuse.'
Maybe she said she was fine yesterday just to escape the situation.
Thinking of this, his features tightened.
In the end, after drawing various dark scenarios in his mind, he pledged to tighten control over their validity even more.
Then, in as comforting a tone as possible, as if caressing a frightened child, he tried to reassure her: “Do you remember my personal doctor that you saw yesterday?
Chino is very good, and he will find out the cause and treatment quickly.
I promise it won’t be painful.”
He ran as fast as he could.
He couldn't remember the last time he ran like this.
Despite his shortness of breath, he did not slow down; But he couldn't do that.
Of course he wasn't a fool.
He did not really think that the saint's heart would physically come out of her mouth as she said before meeting the doctor.
But, isn't it possible that there is a problem equally serious?
“No, it's not like that...”
“We have arrived”
After covering the distance to Blossom Palace at full speed, he headed straight to the sunny private doctor's suite on the first floor.
And— Bam—!!
He opened the door violently without knocking, and placed the saint on the bed next to the window while shouting: “Chino!”
Chino had already put on his glasses and went out into the hall as soon as he heard the violent sound of the door.
“I have the honor of meeting the character…”
“Stop greetings, and come quickly to see this woman’s condition.”
“Y- Yes-”
Atha tried to get out of bed at that moment as well.
“No, I'm not really sick-”
Alisto gently squeezed her shoulders and forced her to lie down completely.
“There is nothing to be afraid of here.
He will just check where the pain is and it will be over quickly.”
Atha had no means of resisting his power.
At this point, I gave up trying to clear up the misunderstanding.
'Ah, I don't care'
'Let whatever happens happen'
Atha abandoned everything and obeyed the orders of Chino, the crown prince's physician.
When he asked her to look up, she looked up.
When he asked her to open her mouth, she opened it.
When he placed an instrument on her back to hear sounds—which she guessed was the stethoscope of this world—she lay down quietly.
Finally, after careful and long observation, Chino opened his mouth to speak in a sober voice: “Except for malnutrition which has been neglected for a long time like last time, she doesn’t seem to have any other problem, fortunately.”
“Check it again”
“Your order, Your Highness.”
Chino re-examined as carefully as he had done the first time.
And after that—
“The result is the same.
Except for the malnutrition...”
“Her face suddenly turned pale, and she began to pant, then she grabbed her chest and said that her heart was about to jump out of her mouth.
Find out what the problem is.”
'Hearing this man's words, it seems as if I truly have an incurable disease.'
The doctor seemed to think the same thing, as his features hardened seriously and he began to ask about several things.
“Please tell me more details about the ‘Heart Feels Like It's Going to Jump Out of the Mouth' show.”
Atha searched for a hole to hide in, as usual, but she did not find anything.
She alternately looked at Alisto and Chino's eyes directed at her, then with a completely desperate expression, she slowly opened her mouth: “My heart was beating so hard that the pulse echoed within me, so I said it would come out of my mouth.
I did not mean that the heart physically moved and went up my throat.”
Alisto turned his gaze towards Chino with a serious expression, as if demanding an explanation of why this happened.
Chino tilted his head as if it was strange and continued his questions: “Heart palpitations to the point of shortness of breath for no apparent reason is certainly strange, but do you have any idea why your heartbeat is so rapid?”
"… Yes"
Before she answered, Atha searched for the quilt and pulled it over her head to cover her completely, then she left a final sentence as if it were a will: “Because His Highness the Crown Prince asked me to marry him.”
***
At that time—
Meeting room on the second floor of Blossom Mansion—
Gerold and the Owls were gathered there, along with Cedric d'Albert and his followers.
The reason was a meeting related to maritime trade.
Or rather.
Can this be called a meeting?
In fact, this encounter was a place where the “boms” of Alisto, those in charge of the Empire’s diplomacy, pressured d’Albert to fully participate in opening new navigation routes.
Maybe it was normal.
From the beginning, the Crown Prince's support with the army to eliminate the Dalbert Pirates was aimed at opening shipping routes.
Alisto needed many things.
First, money.
Before he took charge of state affairs, the empire's budget was in complete chaos, much of it due to the emperor's feminine whims and indulgences in luxurious retreats.
This goes on for a long time, and in short, the Emperor was an irredeemable person.
For this reason, even the highest officials of the empire could not prevent the Crown Prince who began to interfere in the affairs of state, enabling Alisto to firmly control the government.
Thanks to this, the budget is now in a largely stable state.
But—
However, Alisto was of the opinion that this was not enough.
Because what they aspire to is to raise the intellectual and living standards of all citizens of the empire.
Frankly, for a monarchy to last so long, it is easier for the people to remain ignorant.
Who doesn't know that?
However—
Perhaps because Alisto was not born with a golden spoon in his mouth like the rest of the imperial family.
He did not want an unshakable monarchy that would last for thousands of years so much as he wanted to raise everyone's consciousness.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that improving this level of awareness ultimately stems from “education” and “welfare.”
But for people to trust educational institutions to their children, the standard of living must be supported, as well as provide strong well-being.
Accordingly, there was an urgent need for money.
And a lot of it—
As we mentioned above, although the budget was stable, it was far from achieving its goals.
So, the way out that Alisto found to solve this problem was—sea trade.
The reason he focused on maritime trade among many ventures was simple.
Through it, new material resources can be secured, and profits can be maximized to create a solid economic base.
Especially, if the opening of shipping routes succeeds and a regular trade route is found at sea?
Permanent communication will become possible even with countries with which exchange previously took place only via long and circuitous land routes.
Then, the iron industry, which was suffering from export restrictions due to heavy weights, will recover.
This will have a positive impact not only on the empire's budget, but on the general economy of the empire as a whole.
At least, that was Alisto and Blossom Palace's thinking.
So…
What is the position of Dalbert—who will be the actual party in opening the shipping routes?