How to Survive as a terminally-ill Dragon - Chapter 24

Chapter 24. The White Stork (5)

The day Lois visited the Duke’s office.

That evening, in the room of Lois and the twins.

“Khan, Kani, you’ve worked hard.”

“Yeah! It was fun!”

“We had a blast!”

Lois praised the twins who had returned after playing with the Duchess all day. It seems the twins thoroughly enjoyed their time with her. Both were beaming with happiness.

Lois turned his attention from the twins and looked towards Finn.

“Did you get everything noted?”

“Yes!”

Finn, sporting glasses from who-knows-where, pushed them up on her nose and opened the notebook she had been holding.

She began to recite everything she had learned in detail.

“The Duke usually wakes up at 5 AM, does light exercises at the training ground, and then has breakfast. Immediately after, he receives a report from the steward and the administrative bureaucrats and starts his morning work.

Around noon he takes his lunch, and it’s known that he sometimes enjoys a light dessert afterward.

His afternoon consists of inspecting domains or finishing remaining work, and after dinner until bedtime, he practices personal training. His average bedtime is around 11 PM, and he meets with the Duchess about five times a day on average!

The most important thing to note is that they share a bedroom and the Duchess is soon to enter her fertile period.

Thus, I believe the success rate of our current plan will be very high. That concludes my report!”

“Very good!”

Lois showed a satisfied expression at Finn’s report.

‘Thankfully, the Duchess and the Duke aren’t in separate bedrooms!’

He had worried in vain that their strained relationship might lead them to sleep separately. Now all conditions had been met.

Lois’s hand delved into the subspace.

“Let’s see, let’s see…”

His hand busily searched for something.

Rustle, rustle.

The first skill Lois learned after he began studying space attribute sacred arts was the subspace. That’s why his subspace was filled with various items he had collected over a long time. Of course, all of them had come from Genelocer’s treasure trove.

“Found it!”

After rummaging in his subspace for a while, Lois pulled out an old book. A pleased expression crossed his face as he looked down at the book.

[1,000 Prescriptions for Making Secret Elixirs Using Spiritual Medicine]

With his life on the line, Lois’s nervousness had spread to a slight obsession with spiritual medicine. He wasn’t content to just consume elixirs; he also looked for more effective ways to use them and stumbled upon this book.

After a few experiments, Lois discovered that the elixirs listed in the book were quite effective. Of course, a great deal of spiritual medicine was consumed in the learning process.

When Genelocer saw Lois using the spiritual medicine meant for his growth on strange concoctions, he scolded him for playing with his food. Thus, Lois was forced to carefully seal away “1,000 Prescriptions for Making Secret Elixirs” in his subspace.

‘I’m actually finding a use for this.’

The old book contained truly diverse prescriptions for secret elixirs. Out of these, there were two particular elixirs that Lois planned to make this time.

Flip, flip.

Lois’s hands stopped on a certain page, where the names of the elixir were written.

[A Potion of Ecstasy for An Indifferent Couple]
Effect: Just a few drops can reignite even the fading embers of love.
※Notice※
1. Depending on the Constitution of the subjects, the type of spiritual medicine used in the concoction may vary.
2. To see full effects, take it 30 minutes after a meal.

[Get it Done in One Shot!]
Effect: An elixir made for couples who wish to have a child, boasting a 100% success rate.
※Notice※
1. Depending on the Constitution of the subjects, the type of spiritual medicine used in the concoction may vary.
2. It is only effective on women in their fertile period.
3. Both the woman and the man must take it for it to be effective.

‘Hmm… The names are a bit provocative, but the effects are certain. I can trust these.’

Lois gave a small nod and approached a wardrobe placed in one corner of the room.

He opened the wardrobe and reached inside.

Additionally, Lois’s dragon heart began to churn, responding to the natural spatial attribute power, strengthened by his will.

“Expand.”

With a crisp command, the space within the wardrobe, which could barely fit an adult man, stretched to the size of a small room.

With a slight smile at the magic he had wrought, Lois awkwardly climbed into the wardrobe. It was a rare sight to see a great wizard scaling a piece of furniture with such difficulty.

Once he had conquered the wardrobe, Lois grabbed the door and instructed,

“If anyone asks about me, just say you don’t know. I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay!”

“Got it!”

After hearing Khan and Kani’s responses, Lois closed the door.

Click.

The wardrobe door was firmly shut.

And it would not open again until several hours had passed.

* * *

A dark night in the vast kitchen of Silver Lotus Castle, a small shadow meandered about.

Clatter.

“Eek!”

The shadow must have touched some cooking utensil, making a loud noise. The sound echoed unusually loudly given the depth of the night.

The small shadow, Finn, quickly hid and looked around cautiously. Lois’s instructions ran through her head.

“Finn, you must sprinkle this potion into the Duke and Duchess’s food ingredients tomorrow.”

And with that, Lois had handed her two small bottles. One had a light pink liquid, the other a deep pink, both undulating gently within.

Finn’s head tilted.

“Now that I think about it, which ones are the Duke and Duchess’s food ingredients?”

After much fretting, her face lit up with realization.

“Eh, whatever. I’ll just sprinkle it on everything.”

Not one for lengthy pondering, Finn acted quickly.

“Hehehe.”

With a mischievous grin, Finn zipped about, sprinkling the potion on the ingredients. Even after covering everything present in the dining area, she had about half of the potion left in the bottles.

“Uh… quite a bit left over?”

As she pondered what to do with the remnants, Finn flew over to a nearby granary.

“They’ll make bread, too!”

With that declaration, Finn twirled her hand, and a puddle of water lifted into the air from one corner of the dining area. After mixing the potion into it, she flicked her hand again.

Whoosh.

Like a mist spray, the diluted potion settled over the grains.

“Mission accomplished!”

Finn’s proud expression faded as she disappeared from the kitchen.

At that point, she had no idea what her actions would bring about the following day.

And the next night, Lois sneaked out from his room and looked around. Startled by nearby voices, he pressed himself against the wall. Soon, his figure blended into the background.

“What happened next?”

“So, you see…”

As two maids walked past the wall Lois had leaned against, Lois reappeared and grumbled to himself.

“Camouflage really is the worst value for money among the sacred arts.”

Camouflage, as the name implies, is a technique that replicates space, making an individual perfectly blend in with their surroundings. It’s somewhat akin to how a chameleon changes its color to match the environment.

Because of this, the technique could only be performed in a fixed location, and even slight movements would disrupt the camouflage.

‘But it’s better than not having it at all.’

Moving carefully, Lois headed towards the Duke’s bedroom.

‘If Finn did her job right, the couple’s food today should contain the elixir.’

The elixir crafted by Lois was not a love potion that instantly caused infatuation but rather a catalyst to reignite fizzling feelings of affection, akin to adding oil to a fire.

Lois had snuck out in the dead of night to check on the efficacy of his own creation.

Soon arriving at the Duke’s bedroom, Lois pressed against the wall, and his figure disappeared once more.

Having deployed his camouflaging, Lois swallowed dryly and listened intently to the bedroom.

* * *

The Duke had been restless from the morning, his heartbeat making it impossible to sleep.

‘Oh dear…’

The Duchess was experiencing the same issue. Her heart was pounding unusually hard since the day, worsening when her husband was near.

Thump, thump.

In the silent bedroom, the sound of racing hearts loudly resonated.

Then their arms brushed against each other.

Startled, the couple looked into each other’s eyes deeply.

“My lady… tonight you seem exceptionally beautiful.”

“Your Grace…”

As passionately as on the day they first met at a society party, they exuded an aura of fervent love, filling the bedroom with a pulsating heart emoticon.

* * *

Lois’s face lit up with contentment.

“Truly a holy night.”

As he nodded to himself in satisfaction.

“Lois?”

“Holy? What’s holy?”

“Wha-!”

Caught off guard by the sudden voice from behind, Lois gave a start. He quickly covered his mouth, fearing discovery, and cautiously scanned the surroundings.

Fortunately, hearts still appeared to float outside the door.

Shaking off the lingering panic, Lois waved dismissively at the twins, looking at him innocently as if shooing away a bird.

“Shoo, shoo! Go away.”

“No! Tell me too!”

“What is it, what is it?”

Racing towards him, the precocious twins found Lois’s stern face grabbing their ears.

“Hush now! Children shouldn’t know about these things!”

“Ouch, Lois!”

“It hurts, Lois!”

“Shh! Quiet now and follow me.”

Dragged away by Lois, the twins’ background was filled with emoticons of hearts floating outside the Duke’s bedroom.

* * *

The next morning, the Duchess was particularly cheery as she walked briskly towards the room occupied by Lois and the twins.

She noticed the maids bustling about, which caught her attention. Accelerating her pace, the Duchess grew curious.

“Oh, have you arrived?”

As the Duchess appeared, the maids quickly bowed their heads.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, it’s just that…”

As other maids milled about uncertainly, an experienced maid took the lead to speak up.

“The children… have disappeared.”

“What?!”

The Duchess’s eyes widened dramatically.

“What do you mean they’ve disappeared? How could the children just vanish!”

“That’s exactly it… We saw them go to sleep yesterday without issue, but this morning, they were gone. We’ve sent people to search everywhere, but there have been no reports of them inside the castle grounds yet.”

“That’s terrible…”

The Duchess paled. The maids, knowing how much she had grown to love the children Lois had brought, hung their heads in regret.

Then, at that moment.

“Mi, Milady!”

A young maid approached the Duchess in haste, handing her a letter.

“What’s this?”

“We found it on the bed where young Master Lois was staying. It wasn’t there yesterday…”

With that, the Duchess quickly unfolded the letter. Neat handwriting densely covered the page, far too mature to be a child’s writing. The Duchess, taken aback, steadied her heart and began reading the letter intently.