As Edgar continued to speak, he realized what his fear was. He was cursed. His legs went numb during the day even if they were fine at night. Moreover, the symptom was getting worse and worse. At first, only his toes had gone numb, but the numbness had gone up and now he couldn’t move the parts under his knees at all. His nurse had told him to find a way to break the curse before it reached his heart before leaving.

Lately, his heart had been beating like crazy and his mood had been swinging like the fickle rain of summertime. He feared it might be another symptom of the curse. What would Rubica do if he got a heart attack and died? He made her his wife when she knew nothing only because she was a lead. He couldn’t just die and leave her alone like that.

“Um, uh… it’s, um…”

Zigmont couldn’t continue and even his apprentice stopped writing and stared at Edgar with a very weird expression.

Edgar started to feel afraid.

Was there really something wrong with him? Was it a huge disease? Was he about to die and leave Rubica alone again?

“Is it serious?”

“No, no. I don’t think it is.”

Zigmont quickly shook his head and looked down to get a moment. Here, there was a beautiful man in front of him moaning in pain, and it made him anxious. What made him even more anxious was what the patient was babbling about.

‘Does he really not know the answer?’

Zigmont knew well about how smart Edgar was and how he excelled at the Academy. He himself had managed to get the permission to enter the Academy only at the age of 40, and he had heard so much about the duke’s greatness. And now, that great man was babbling like a fool. He really couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

‘… is he trying to test me to see if I’m a quack?’

Zigmont carefully looked at Edgar again, but it didn’t look like he was joking or acting.

“If it’s not a serious disease, then what is wrong with me?”

“Khmm, hmm, hmm. So, I’ve finished examining your symptoms related to your heart. It often happens when you are with Rubi… um, your wife.”

“Now that I think about it, yes.”

Edgar sighed deeply while his black eyelashes above his blue eyes fluttered. His sadness was the finishing piece to his beauty.

‘… I think I should worry more about the duchess’ heart!’

What would it feel like to be the wife of such a handsome man? Every morning it would feel like a dream, probably. Imagining such a beautiful man confess his love every day made Zigmont’s heart beat fast even though he was a man. The duchess’ heart must be ready to explode.

“Hmm, that’s enough about your heart. What about getting irritated abruptly? When does that happen?”

Before reaching a conclusion, he decided to gather data about all the symptoms like a proper doctor. A heart beating fast because of love was normal, but if Edgar’s sway of mood had nothing to do with his wife, it could be a psychological disease. Psychiatrists had been making theories about mental diseases that had been unexplainable before like hysteria and finding effective treatment these days. Edgar was one of his important clients and he had a duty to closely examine him.

“I get angry quite often, and sometimes I feel so skeptical that I wonder why I was born into this world.’

‘Hmm.’

Now that sounded like a proper symptom. The apprentice thought so as well and started to quickly write on the chart.

“But sometimes I feel so good as if I were flying over the clouds. Then, I feel like I own the world and everything in it. I feel grateful that I was born, and the world seems so colorful and everything in the world looks so good.”

Zigmont nodded. He now could recall the name of a mental disease which a scholar he met a while ago had taught him. It was bipolar disorder, and it was slightly different from depression.

Someone who was as busy as the duke could indeed get such a disease.

Zigmont decided to dig in a little deeper for the next doctor Edgar would see.

“When do you feel so happy like that?”

“When Rubica smiles at me.”

“Okay, when… what?”

The sadness on Edgar’s face vanished in a second. He then laughed like a child at recalling a funny prank he had pulled some time ago.

“A while ago, she also hugged me first.”

It was not like it was as important as ‘my baby can walk on her own now.’ Was it really necessary to brag about it when it was only a hug?

“And she closed her eyes when I looked down, then I… um, kissed her.”

Ugh! I can’t take it anymore.

Zigmont’s apprentice was probably thinking that too as he almost pierced the chart with his pen. Drops of ink were even running down and smudging the paper.

“Your Grace! You are not ill at all.”

“I’m not ill? What are you talking about? Have you heard a word I said? How can you say that after hearing such serious symptoms?”

Edgar, who had been smiling just a second ago, angrily replied. He was serious indeed. He had to have his disease healed to protect Rubica with a strong heart, but this quack-like doctor was saying it wasn’t a disease. Was he supposed to live on with a malfunctioning heart till the end of his days then?

“Your Grace, your condition is nothing but normal.”

“It isn’t! I swear, my heart has never beaten like this before. I’ve never felt so miserable either.”

“When did you feel that miserable? It was when your wife cried, wasn’t it?”

No!

No!

Edgar’s lips were about to yell that, but then they stopped in the middle.

Huh?

Yes. He did feel like the world was being shattered to pieces when Rubica cried. His heart had ached so much that he couldn’t breathe. He had been so sad, mad, and miserable.

‘Maybe he is not a quack.’

Edgar looked at Zigmont, quite impressed. The rumors were right, the old doctor was good. He could even guess a symptom he hadn’t even mentioned yet.

‘No, he’s still a quack. I am definitely ill.’

At first, he thought it was a mere flu. He then thought it was because he was tired. Next, he thought it was the side effect of taking the flu medicine and champagne together.

But when he asked a scholar from the Academy to look into it, he said it could happen when taking the flu medicine and alcohol at the same time but was only a temporary phenomenon and didn’t deserve a serious research.

So, Edgar waited for that temporary phenomenon to fade. However, it didn’t. The sound of his heart only grew bigger and bigger day after day, and he started to feel more and more miserable.

If he felt like he was walking on the clouds when he felt good, nowadays he felt like he was standing next to the sun and was about to melt.

Moreover, he kept thinking about someone’s face like an idiot. It was like he had been hypnotized since he even thought about her when he worked or read something. This had never happened before as he had both a great brain and great concentration.

If this wasn’t a serious disease, what was?

“Yes, but what does that have to do with me being normal? I’m sick and that’s an undeniable truth.”

Zigmont gave him a pathetic look, and Edgar had been never looked like that by anyone before, so he was quite shocked. However, compared to the shock he would soon get from what the doctor said, this was nothing.

“Your condition is extremely normal. It’s just that you are in love.”

“Lo, lo… what? Love?”

“Yes. It is only normal. As a husband you love your wife, so your heart beats fast when you see her, you feel like you own the world when she laughs and feel like the world is being shattered when she cries. That’s all.”

His apprentice nodded as well. That was a simple diagnosis that didn’t require any psychological knowledge, no, not even any medical knowledge. They rather couldn’t believe the smart and great duke had called them for such a problem.

‘Well, it differs from person to person. One might be late in this regardless of their intelligence.’

Zigmont glanced at the duke who had both hands on the forehead. It looked like he wasn’t going to sell any expensive medication or prescription, but as he made a huge sum of money for such a simple matter, it wasn’t like he was losing. His apprentice also realized it was time for them to leave and started to pack their things.

“Therefore, Your Grace, you don’t need any further service of me. You don’t have to do anything about your problem. Just go see your wife often and…”

“… you quack.”

“What?”

Edgar jumped to his feet and grabbed Zigmont by his collar. Although he was an old man, he did surgeries, so his arms and legs were strong. Still, he was helplessly dragged out by Edgar.