The Moment I Almost Collapsed

After taking care of Kazen’s breakfast, Eren’s workday truly began.
However, there was one place he had to stop by before heading to the study.

Walking hurriedly down the corridor, he happened to meet Butler Brennen, who was approaching from the opposite direction.
Unlike the busy Eren this early in the morning, he looked quite relaxed.

“Good morning, Mr. Brennen.”

“Ahh, good morning.”

Brennen was an elderly gentleman who had worked as the butler at this ducal estate for quite a long time.
He and Eren often had to meet for official matters, but they weren’t particularly close.

It was understandable, as Brennen was indifferent to the duties he was supposed to perform.
While Eren ran around until his feet sweat to resolve matters at the ducal residence, Brennen often took leisurely rests.

“Today’s mail.”

Brennen handed the documents that had arrived at the ducal estate this morning to Eren and turned to leave, then added as if he’d just remembered something.

“By the way, the mana in the oven’s mage-stone ran out.
You should check if any others are depleted soon.
It seems the replacement date is approaching.”

While treating other work like someone else’s business, why did he take an interest in mage-stone replacements?
If only he’d pay attention to other minor issues.
Eren barely managed to swallow the surging discontent.

“Ah, I checked the oven this morning.
If I find some time later, I’ll check the others.”

Forcing a polite answer, Eren turned on his heel.
He didn’t want to waste his emotions on something pointless.

Surely, only about two hours had passed since he woke up, but a tremendous fatigue washed over him.
It seemed like he’d feel better if he could just lie down and close his eyes for a moment, but there was still far too much work left to do.

Eren organized his tasks in his head as he busily moved his feet.
However, before he had walked far, a sudden, rising headache stopped him in his tracks.
For a moment, it felt like his vision went dark, and his body swayed heavily.

“Ugh, my head…”

Leaning hastily against the wall, Eren clutched his throbbing head.
Lately, headaches had become frequent.
It was probably because he couldn’t sleep at night.
But knowing the cause didn’t mean he had a solution.

It had already been over a year since Eren started working while skimping on sleep.
As the ducal estate’s responsibilities piled up one by one on his shoulders, he no longer even had time for a proper night’s rest.

‘Should I ask for a vacation this weekend?’

Leaning against the corridor wall and closing his eyes for a moment, Eren sank into thought.
The word ‘vacation’ felt unfamiliar to him.
He had never taken one before.

‘What vacation? There’s so much to do.’

If he were to rest, it would only be possible after the social season ended in winter.

As his breathing stabilized, it felt like all strength drained from his body.
He wanted to sink down right there, but to meet Kazen’s lunch schedule, he had to finish his morning tasks now.

“Pull yourself together.”

Slapping his cheeks with his palms, Eren moved forward again.
No, he tried to.
But before he could even take five steps, he staggered once more.

This time, he swayed a bit more than before.
The mail tucked under his arm scattered to the floor with a rustle.

“Ah—”

In the moment he was about to fall to the floor along with the documents, something suddenly sprang from behind and wrapped around Eren’s waist.
Thanks to that, he didn’t fall, but the plate he was holding dropped to the floor.

Crash!
With a loud sound, the sandwich Eren had been carefully carrying rolled on the floor along with the plate.

“Are you all right?”

Startled by the sudden voice, Eren turned his head.
There, he saw Harold’s handsome face.

Harold was the Crown Prince of the Espel Empire, a figure currently dominating the social scene.
He was famous for his looks, a perfect copy of his mother the Empress, who was a renowned beauty from the Pelosia Kingdom, and for his kind demeanor, which was unusual for his position.

“Y-your Highness, why are you here so early…?”

Staring blankly at the sandwich rolling on the floor amid the glass shards, Eren belatedly came to his senses and asked.

He knew Harold was scheduled to come in the morning, but he thought he’d arrive around 11 at the earliest.
For him to appear at this early hour was quite disconcerting.
Harold usually arrived early for appointments anyway, but this was too early even for him.

“Ah, I came a bit early, didn’t I?
The palace clock is broken, you see.
I came without realizing how early it was.”

He knew it was a pointless joke, but his head hurt too much to muster the energy to laugh.
When Eren showed no reaction, Harold, perhaps feeling awkward, cleared his throat with an unnecessary cough.

“Ahem, are you okay?
You were staggering.”

“Thank you for catching me.
If not for you, I might have been seriously hurt.
I was dizzy for a moment, but I’m fine now, so if you’d please let go…”

At Eren’s polite voice, Harold finally released the arm he had wrapped around Eren’s waist.
Eren bowed his head in acknowledgment and straightened his clothes.

At the moment, Eren felt worse about the sandwich on the floor than his own condition.
Holding back tears, he knelt on the floor and began to tidy up the sandwich and the broken plate.

Since someone could get hurt, he planned to first pick up the larger pieces and roughly clean up, then have a servant finish the job.

But as he reached to pick up a large shard of the plate, his hand collided with another hand reaching out from across the way.
With a feeling like a spark flying, the startled Eren jerked his hand back.

“Eek!”

In the process, it seemed his hand got cut on the plate shard, as a stinging sensation shot through it.
He hastily clenched his palm, and Harold reached out.

“Are you hurt?
Let me see.”

Eren was more flustered by Harold kneeling right in front of him than by his injured palm.

Why on earth was the noble Crown Prince kneeling on the floor to pick up something like a broken plate?
It was such a shocking sight he felt he might lose his mind.

“Y-your Highness, why are you kneeling?
I will clean it up, please don’t concern yourself.”

If this matter reached Kazen’s ears, he would undoubtedly be furious.
Not only making the Crown Prince kneel, but also having him do such trivial cleanup work.

If Harold had hurt his hand, it could have been a major incident, with Eren potentially punished for attempting to harm a member of the imperial family.

“But your hand…”

Harold muttered worriedly, pointing to the torn spot.
Eren glanced down at his own palm, where blood was seeping out, and shook his head.

“It’s nothing.
It’s not a big injury anyway.”

“If it’s nothing, then isn’t it okay to show me?”

But he couldn’t possibly refuse a request from the Crown Prince either.
In this awkward situation, Eren glanced around the corridor and slowly extended his hand to him.

Harold very slowly took Eren’s hand and pulled it toward himself.

“The cut is deep.
Moreover, the palm is an area that moves often, so you must be very careful.”

Harold and Kazen were connected through the complicated imperial family tree.
They were distant enough to be called distant cousins, but because of that, they had grown up almost like friends.

Thus, Eren, as his aide, couldn’t help but meet him often.
Even normally, Harold acted with an un-Crown Prince-like familiarity, but they had never had a conversation this close before.

“I’m fine, Your Highness.
You needn’t worry…”

As Eren stammered, Harold calmly took a handkerchief from his pocket and even tied it around Eren’s palm.

Seeing the expensive silk soak with red blood, Eren felt an inexplicable pang in his chest.

“If Kazen asks what happened, just say I pushed you and it was an accident.”

Then, as if worried Eren might get scolded by Kazen, he even fabricated an excuse for him.

Should he be grateful for this?
He had no idea what the other’s intentions were, so he had no idea how to react, only feeling awkward.

“You are too considerate, Your Highness, I am deeply grateful.
It was my mistake, so please don’t trouble yourself over it.”

“You were staggering.
Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

Since he was bent over, their eye levels were roughly aligned.
Eren lowered his head to avoid Harold’s bright golden eyes staring intently at him.

He was almost scared because he didn’t know why Harold was being this kind.

“I’m not ill, I just had a moment of dizziness.
A servant will clean this up, so let me escort you to the drawing room.”

If he stubbornly tried to clean it himself, Harold would likely try to help again, so he decided to just leave it.
Eren hastily gathered only the documents scattered on the floor and stood up.

“By the way, when did you arrive?
I hadn’t heard any news of your arrival.”

Surely a footman would have opened the door, so he wondered why Harold was wandering the corridor alone.

“I arrived a short while ago.
They told me to wait in the drawing room, so I was on my way there.”

To tell the Crown Prince to go wait in the drawing room—what an impertinent thing to do.
When a guest arrives, they should be made comfortable and attended to without any lack until they are settled.

Of course, it wasn’t that Harold, who visited the mansion often, wouldn’t know where the drawing room was.
He was just puzzled that the footman hadn’t done his duty.

He didn’t even want to imagine how angry Kazen would be if he found out about this later.
What he hated most was people not fulfilling their responsibilities.

“Let me escort you to the drawing room.”

Thinking he’d have to have a word with the footman later, Eren turned on his heel.