When asked why he did it, Lucio was going to answer after a bit of thinking. Because he himself did not know the answer. Then, after thinking for a long time, he would finally choose from one of two answers. One of them would be ‘I just moved my body without my knowledge’, and the other one… It would be ‘to repay the debt of the heart.’ Lucio thought it would probably be one of the two.
To be honest, the two answers above barely fit as reasons, and they were not the exact reason. Even he couldn’t explain and know the exact reason for his actions.
Obviously, he always had a feeling of being sorry towards her. To leave her alone when she was his real wife, and to favor Rosemond the mistress, and the crime Rosemond committed when she had the meeting with the envoys’ wives, all of it. But for both reasons, there was nothing he could do about it anymore.
If so, was that the reason he had chosen to be hit by the poisoned arrow in her stead? Perhaps it had just been a conditional reflex, without the need for such complicated explanations. The only person who could answer this complex question was Lucio himself, but he definitely did not have any clear reason as to why he did it.
So, if someone asked him for the reason for his sacrifice, he would give the latter of the two reasons mentioned above, but it was only an external story, and internally, he would constantly look for answers.
He liked riddles after all. Especially, if it related to himself.
So that may have been why he had still not been able to awaken until now. Because he had not yet found the answer to the question he asked himself.
Why did he take an arrow and suffer possible death for the Empress Patrizia, whom he didn’t even love? Whether he would only wake up if he found the answer, or wake up without finding the answer, maybe even this was unknown.
“Right, you sure are eating well.”
Patrizia softly stroked through Sally’s mane as if she was dependable, and the horse trembled with a loud nicker as if she felt good. After Patrizia gave the horse enough water, she gathered together enough grass for the horse to eat. After feeding the horse plenty of the grass, Patrizia tied Sally back. Of course, she thought the horse was so loyal that it wouldn’t water off anywhere, but you never knew. Patrizia made the rope as long as possible, tied it near the cave, and went out to find the herbs she could use to feed Lucio.
Truthfully, she didn’t have much knowledge of herbs, and maybe it was closer to the opposite, but fortunately, she was able to make some basic herbal discrimination because of what she had learned during the Empress classes. Patrizia thought that the education she had received at that time was very useful, and she lit her eyes on fire to try to find herbs that could help. However, what was seen were plenty of poisonous plants disguised as herbs, and the desired herbs were not visible. When she had walked for about an hour, something caught her eye.
“Ah!”
Patrizia, discovering a small purple flower, gave an outburst of joy without her knowledge.
“Sculler.”
It was a sculler, a precious flower that bloomed and disappeared in the shortest period of time in Marvinus. Most people considered this sculler high only in terms of aesthetics, but it was different in the herbalist world. Sculler was a flower that had enormous medical value with its scarcity and had the ability to detoxify most of any poison.
It was a great fortune to find these flowers here. Patrizia gleefully ran over to where the sculler was. But she was soon hit with the wall of reality. The sculler was blooming on a fairly high cliff. Patrizia looked up and down alternately, measuring the height. If she went after it and then fell, she would fall to her death. Patrizia struggled with her thoughts for a short time. Should she go after them or not? However, her worries were over quickly. She had to go pick that flower unconditionally.
This was not a painful effort, or sacrifice, to save a lover. If she didn’t get that flower, Lucio would die today.
If that happened, then she would die as well. If she was going to die this way or that way, it was worth it to at least try and die. Patrizia grabbed the rock in front of her with a determined look. Her athletic ability wasn’t very good, and so she was going to believe in her luck. Anyways, it wasn’t just any good luck to see the sculler blooming right in front of her eyes anyway.
“Haa haa…”
Patrizia began to climb the cliff, exhaling rough breaths. Because she had a slight fear of heights, her toes seemed to be conducting electricity, and she could feel her whole body getting stiff, but survival was first. She really wanted to cry in her parents’ arms, but for that to happen, she had to overcome this fear first.
Patrizia bit her lips, put all her strength in her toes. She had to live. She had to live.
“A little bit… more!”
In a precarious position, Patrizia trembled as her fingers felt like they were going numb. She felt tears in her eyes, but this wasn’t the time to cry. Crying could happen after picking up this flower, or unfortunately just before falling off and dying.
Patrizia focused all her nerves on the sculler, reaching her arm out with all her might. Her arms and body were beyond trembling, but it didn’t matter. If she could just get that…!
“Ahh!”
At that moment, the rock she was stepping on broke off and rolled down. Patrizia felt her life was being threatened, and quickly stepped on to another rock. When she realized that she was almost going to the underworld, her heart filled with fear. Patrizia gave a sigh of relief and then reached out to pick the sculler again.
“Ah… a little bit…!”
It really was on the verge. Patrizia squeezed with all the power she had from the time of her nursing, and desperately moved her fingers. Finally, the sculler was caught by her finger, and Patrizia ripped it off without hesitation. She shouted with a smile drowned in victory.
“Done!”
Now that she pulled out the sculler, the only thing left was to go down carefully. Patrizia held onto the sculler tightly in her hand, in case she lost it, and began to descend down the rocky cliff with caution. Fortunately, there was less anxiety and fear than when she had gone up, because of the satisfaction of achieving her goal.
When she finally set her feet on the ground, Patrizia was grateful that she was still alive. She hurriedly ran towards the cave where Lucio would be, without giving herself enough time to be intoxicated by happiness.