I Am The Dying Emperor’s Doctor

“So, did you enjoy your walk with Nocturne?” Azeid asked with a crooked smile. Serena, not noticing his tone, answered honestly.

“Yes, it was nice. The forest path is so pretty. I often go there alone these days.”

“So, you’re saying it was that beautiful?”

Azeid hid his discomfort behind a smile and asked sarcastically. Finally, Serena looked at him, sensing something off about his laughter.

‘What’s his problem?’

Before she could respond, Azeid mumbled,

“If you liked it so much, you should walk with Nocturne from now on. I’ll stay in bed.”

“What?”

“It’s better to walk with someone who shows you beautiful places than to force someone who doesn’t want to walk.”

Azeid’s unreasonable stubbornness made Serena laugh out loud. After finally getting him used to walking, he’s refusing now? This is ridiculous.

She couldn’t ignore Azeid’s attempts to subtly avoid their walks. Plus, why did Nocturne keep coming up? Serena argued back, eyes wide open.

“What are you talking about? You need to walk every day. And I don’t care who I walk with.”

“What?”

Azeid’s lips parted as if her words had deeply wounded him. Serena, unaware of his feelings, didn’t understand why he was so hurt.

After a moment, Azeid replied with a deeply hurt expression.

“I don’t care about walking either.”

What was making him so upset? Serena couldn’t understand his thought process.

What is it? Why is he acting like this?

Serena was sweating at Azeid’s sudden refusal to walk. She felt like every word she said made things worse.

Could he dislike her being friendly with Nocturne? Did he think she was taking a friend away from him?

Serena knew Azeid was very protective of his friends. It wasn’t entirely surprising if he was worried about losing a friend. She cautiously met his gaze and started to speak.

“Your Majesty, are you sulking?”

“Sulking? I’m just dissatisfied with your treatment methods.”

“It’s a problem if you refuse to walk like this.”

“What does your problem have to do with me?”

“Hm.”

Azeid seemed to have a strong attachment to his friends. Remembering how sensitive he was around Jack confirmed it.

Serena tried to persuade him differently.

“Your Majesty, I’m not close with Mr. Nocturne.”

“You’re on a first-name basis now?”

Seriously, is that what matters here?

Serena wasn’t used to dealing with someone sulking at her. She had never considered how to soothe someone upset with her.

As she stood there puzzled, Azeid asked slyly,

“Who do you prefer to walk with?”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

“……”

Azeid frowned, realizing he shouldn’t have asked. He couldn’t understand why he wanted to win against Nocturne, who wasn’t even here.

Walking with Serena was part of his treatment. Going out with Nocturne was like a date.

That clear fact irritated Azeid like a thorn in his throat.

Serena stared at Azeid’s frowning face. Even with a scowl, he was still strikingly handsome. Thinking about his good looks made her smile. It seemed best to support the emperor for now.

“Though it’s silly to discuss preferences, I like it best when Your Majesty can walk and move well on your own.”

Do you know how hard it is to drag you around?

Serena left out the last part and smiled. Azeid, misunderstanding, muttered,

“That sounds like you find walking with me troublesome.”

He seemed determined to twist everything. Serena sighed internally and continued.

“No. I mean I like watching you walk from beside you. You only walk when I go with you.”

“That’s not always true.”

Azeid’s voice softened. Seeing an opportunity, Serena spoke gently.

“I’d be really happy if you showed that side of you more often.”

Soon, Azeid’s face relaxed completely. Trying to maintain a stern look, he asked,

“So, Serena, you prefer walking with me?”

“Yes. So refusing to walk is not okay, Your Majesty.”

When Serena confirmed, Azeid stopped showing his displeasure.

Look at that smile creeping up. Competing over something so trivial.

‘I feel like a doctor dealing with a pediatric patient.’

Relieved, Serena explained,

“And the reason I partnered with Mr. Nocturne was because of the people in the library.”

“Oh, that’s why.”

Azeid had found it strange when Serena suddenly asked him to come to the terrace, leaving her partner behind.

Looking back at yesterday’s events, it seemed Nocturne had asked Serena to take him to the terrace to talk with Ophelia.

‘He could have done it alone. Why did he involve Serena? And why make it so obvious by bringing her as a partner?’

Azeid didn’t like Nocturne’s overly friendly attitude towards Serena.

Jack was unreliable in one way, and Nocturne was concerning in another. Even Azeid sometimes found Nocturne hard to read, making him even more uneasy.

Then Serena muttered absentmindedly,

“Yes. I wonder if it was resolved well. I can’t remember what happened last night.”

She frowned, trying to recall the previous night. Azeid chuckled and said,

“You were so drunk last night, it’s no wonder you can’t remember.”

“What? I was drunk?”

“Technically, you got drunk on chocolate. The ones you kept saying were delicious were actually whiskey chocolates.”

“Oh my.”

No wonder her head felt like a hangover since morning. Serena tried to piece together the events of the previous night.

She vaguely remembered struggling with Azeid, but the details were blurry.

‘I feel like I did something really regrettable…’

Feeling a strange premonition, Serena stared at Azeid. What if she had grabbed his hair again? But his hair looked fine. Just in case, she asked cautiously,

“Your Majesty, did I do something wrong?”

Azeid looked at her and laughed. She seemed quite worried about not remembering last night.

He was about to say nothing happened but recalled Serena biting his finger. Her sudden realization made her cry out internally.

‘I must have done something!’

It seemed like she had been making a fool of herself in front of Azeid lately. First grabbing his hair, then saying silly things…

As Serena revisited last night’s events, Azeid spoke.

“In the future, drink moderately. You become quite a beast when drunk.”

“A beast?”

Serena wasn’t usually a drinker. She often drank when feeling down after a tough surgery or when in a bad mood, then slept it off. She had never turned into a beast when drunk.

“Yes. I had to stop you from crawling on all fours.”

“Lies.”

Seeing Azeid’s smug smile, Serena denied it. It looked like he was teasing her because she couldn’t remember.

Azeid laughed at her visible discomfort. It was new and kind of cute to see her so flustered. Leaning in close, he said,

“Curious about what you did to me last night?”

“What did I do?”

“You’ll regret it. It’s better if you don’t remember.”

Azeid grinned, enjoying the situation. Serena, wanting a straightforward answer, found his roundabout way annoying.

“I won’t regret it. Please tell me.”

“Hm.”

Azeid lightly tapped his fingers on the blanket, contemplating whether to reveal it without gaining something in return.

Finally, he gently took Serena’s hand. His firm, large hand made hers look small.

His gaze fixed on her, Azeid began to speak. And slowly, her fingers went into his mouth.

It was all very slow, like a movie in slow motion.

Serena realized she should stop his bold actions too late.

“What are you doin…ah!”

But she was too late. Without warning, Azeid bit down on her finger. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to startle her.

‘Are you the beast?!’

Just as Serena was about to scream in shock, memories of last night flashed back quickly.

‘Let go! Let go…!’

Struggling to push Azeid away-

‘I said let go! You don’t let go! (No! Let go, you won’t let go!)’

Holding onto his arm and resisting.

“……”

Serena stood there, mouth agape, frozen in place.

Oh my, no matter how reckless I decided to be, biting the emperor’s fingers like a dog…

Recalling Azeid’s bewildered expression made her ears burn with embarrassment.

Serena hung her head low. She couldn’t face him. She wanted to disappear into a hole and never come out.

Azeid, trying to suppress a smile, spoke with mock seriousness.

“Seems you had a lot of pent-up frustrations with me, Serena.”