"What is it? .....Is Mabel in pain?

"She suddenly started sweating a lot. I called for the doctor.

"Mabel!"

Oscar quickly tossed his towel aside and ran to the cradle, looking at me wide-eyed.

"Please don't be in pain, Mabel..."

"Ababu..." (I'm not in pain.)

".....Look at her weak replies... she's in a lot of pain, nanny..."

"....."

I don't know what to say. They'll freely interpret what they hear to their liking, don't they?

Oscar looked down with empathetic eyes and patted my head.

'Sigh... fine. Think whatever you want.'

I gave up and turned my head. Oscar's reaction grew stronger.

"Mabel...! No, Mabel! Don't lose consciousness!"

"Your Highness, please wait a little bit longer! The doctor will be here soon...!"

"Waaah..."

I felt thoroughly embarrassed to the point of wanting to die... why... why are they like this? Why must I go through this chagrin dilemma? Though thankfully (not really), the doctor arrived quicker than I thought.

'Okay... I'll just get quickly checked up and show them that I'm completely fine. That would be the best-case scenario.'

.....But as usual, god would not allow things to go as I wished it to.

Slam!

"Mabel!"

The door swung open with a loud bang and the emperor hurried inside with a sense of heavy urgency.

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

"Mabel, are you all right?"

.....Did... did he just ignore her...? Yes... he did.

The emperor passed by the nanny who bowed to him. He never once realized her presence as he dashed straight away to the cradle, his hands stretching out towards me.

"!"

I turned my head to the side and shut my eyes tight. A moment later, his hand reached out and touched me softly, his movements cautious, afraid I'd break apart. When I opened my eyes, albeit slowly, I saw the emperor's face. He was sweating, his hair madly disheveled. A weird feeling went through me.

"Doctor!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

A fairly aged doctor expert examined me, then turned around to face the emperor.

"After examining her–"

"Well, what is it?"

"Her Highness is–"

"Is she sick? Go on, tell me."

"....."

Because the emperor kept cutting off the doctor before he could finish his words, even he lost the energy to reply. Even I felt tired from their sorry exchange.

'Just let him talk.'

In this suffocating and tense moment, the person who broke the ice was Oscar who stood at the corner without showing signs of his presence.

"Your Majesty, please calm down first and listen to what the doctor has to say."

"Why are you here?"

".....Ah...!"

Oscar let out a surprised gasp realizing that he was not supposed to be here.

'.....Dummy.'

The emperor dominated over Oscar with a simple glare, then turned around to face the doctor.

"Well, go on. Speak."

"Your Majesty, after examining Her Highness, the conclusive result I found was that she's very healthy. According to reports, it was stated that she was having cold sweats, but it seems to be from a sudden rise in temperature than anything else."

Yes, that's right. It was hot. The doctor's examination was spot on, but the emperor's eyes filled with suspicion did not stop.

"Why would she suddenly feel a heated temperature? You know well the inside of the palace has its temperature controlled by magic."

"I-I'm not sure the reason why, but since she's no longer sweating, Her Highness will do just fine."

At the doctor's assurance, the emperor's tense mood quickly subsided.

".....Then that's good."

He put his hands on my underarm and lifted me, pulling me into his chest and patting my back with better finesse this time.

'Huh...'

A strange feeling swelled over me this time as well. His comforting pats that were annoying at first caught me off guard and for a slight moment gave me a feeling of assurance and comfort...

T/N: This father and son duo crack me up.