Chapitre 158: She Gets Heat Exhaustion.
After another 10 minutes, Quinn luckily got everyone out of the bath to keep them from getting overheated. He showed them how to wear the kimono and they soon returned to their room. Liam, who was fine with the temperature, remained behind to continue enjoying the bath.
In the hallway outside, they saw a familiar figure lying down on a bench. Her wrist on the forehead also covered her eyes. She was being fanned by Merry with a paper fan. Luckily, Robin's kimono covered her entire figure, and she was wearing her bindings, so nothing looked out of place.
"That's why I told ye, ye need to get out when ye start ta feel dizzy, deary. Why dinna ye know yer limits?" Mery was clicking her tongue at Robin's stubborness.
"Robin?" Christian asked. What happened to you?"
"Ah, tha la-lad was clearly overheated after sharing the hot spring with mah cousin during their talk. But he insisted on coming over here, even though he could barely walk. He collapsed on tha bench here not five minutes ago."
"Will he be all right?" Christian asked.
"He'll be right healthy in a bit. But he needs someone ta fan his head ta cool it down." Merry replied, then blinked coquettishly. "I actually have something I need ta do right now. One of ye lads wouldna be willing ta help out, would ye?"
'Mind your own business, Merry.' Robin inwardly retorted. Robin was heat-fatigued, not deaf. Although she didn't have the energy to move, she could still hear things just fine.
"Sure. I'll do it." Christian volunteered. Robin inwardly stiffened.
'Why does it have to be you!?' She despaired, as her face blushed red again. It was a good thing her arm was covering her eyes.
"See? His face is so flushed right now. Even his ears are all red. You need to fan him until he returns to a normal color." Merry pointed out with a smile as she handed the fan to Christian.
"Well then, I'm counting on you." Merry winked before hurrying off somewhere.
The guards all looked at each other, and smirked. Then they all bowed in respect to Robin's stubborness. Unfortunately, since Robin had covered her eyes, she hadn't seen any of it.
The guards then returned to the men's room, leaving Christian and Robin alone. There, Quinn helped pull out the futons to prepare for bed.
It was pretty quiet in the hallway. But for the subtle sound of the fan, it would be completely silent. Neither Christian nor Robin were eager to say anything.
Robin, however, was now keenly aware of Christian's presence.
'That meddling Merry! This is all her fault!' Robin grumbled in her heart as she tried to calm her heartbeat back down to normal levels.
It was indeed Merry's fault. If that crossdresser hadn't said anything, Robin wouldn't have been pondering it, and wouldn't have missed the warning signs of overheating. As things were, she barely managed to make it back to this bench.
And the first thing Merry had said when she had found Robin?
"Very good. Now you don't even need an excuse. It actually happened~!"
Perhaps it was just the heat exaustion, but, suddenly, Robin couldn't take it anymore. Her chest felt stuffy, and her throat closed up as she despaired at the situation.
'Christian, I'm not the one you should be this nice to. And I hate myself for wanting to be that one, if only for a while. You're really too nice. Nice to the point that I hate myself for enjoying your care.' Robin kept in her heart.
She managed to regulate her breath so that she didn't sob, but she couldn't stop the hot tears from running dow her face.
Christian, who was watching Robin's complexion carefully, couldn't help but notice when they dripped out from under Robin's arm. Robin, at this point looked especially frail.
"Robin? What's wrong?" Christian asked, worried.
"...orry....I'm sorry..." Robin choked out.
Christian, pondering over this, mistook that Robin's tears were on account of him not being able to keep his word that he would join them later.
"...No need to apologize." Christian patted Robin's shoulder. "It couldn't be helped this time, right? You tried your hardest, and that's all that matters. No need to injure your health just to keep a promise with me."
But, Robin's tears fell even more. She felt guilty about hiding things from Christian. She felt homesick due to the familiar decor. She felt tired and drained, frustrated and despairing all at once.
'Might as well just let it all out, then.' She decided.
"I'm sorry. Just...let me stay like this for a bit." She murmured.
"Got it." Christian replied as he continued to fan Robin. Instead, he felt somewhat elated. Robin was relying upon him for something. In a way, this could also be considered deepening one's friendship.
They stayed that way for a whole hour. During that time, Christian noticed how incredibly skinny Robin was. His shoulders were small, his figure was somewhat dwarfed. Heck, the guards were right: he even kind of looked like a doll. It amazed Christian that such a small figure could bear so much.
'Cry all you need to, Robin. I won't allow anyone to say anything about it.' Christian determined.
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Of course, there was a big misunderstanding when Jasmine and Chelsea emerged from the hot springs later on. Because Chelsea was a water mage, she had been able to conjure ice to cool their heads down so they could continue to enjoy the hot springs.
Yet, upon emerging, they saw Robin collapsed on a bench, crying, while Christian fanned her. With such a picture, the girls definitely got the wrong idea. It got really noisy for a bit, until Christian managed to explain what happened.
At that point, Chelsea took over, conjuring some ice to stave off the heat. After that, it wasn't long before Robin fell asleep.
But, it turns out the ice treatment had gone too far. Robin woke the next morning with a high fever and a bad cough.
"Do ye even know how ta take care of a person?" Ayva scolded Chelsea. "All Robin needed was to cool his head down to normal temperatures. Then change out of his damp clothes. What ye did was to chill the damp too so that it gave The poor dear a fever."
Chelsea could only take the tongue lashing from Ayva. It had indeed been her oversight upon the matter. the king slime was more interested in the hot springs than Robin's fever.
Thus, their hot springs stay was extended until Robin was well enough to leave.
But, then, while Jasmine was enjoying the hot springs again, she got overheated. Then Gerard got overheated. Then Grey got overheated. Every day, someone experienced overheating. In taking care of cooling down the three of them, Chelsea could only leave Robin in the care of Christian once again....
But was it truly an accident? Liam looked at Chelsea's expert care of the three. It didn't seem likely that someone who was so good at taking care of the team could fail in taking care of Robin. Moreover, Chelsea had a glowing smile upon her face that turned smug whenever she glanced at Robin's room.
In that case, Chelsea definitely had something to do with it. But Liam did not detect any malicious intent. And so, he was quite puzzled. He could only watch Chelsea and wonder what it was she was trying to do.
Christian took over the duty of helping Robin, faithfully. He didn't allow anyone else to help. He became Robin's hands and feet during this time.
Poor Robin could only allow Christian to take care of her in everything except changing clothes. Even then, she had to do it on the sly, sending christian out for soup, or a glass of water, or a cup of tea. Then she would quickly switch out kimonos from the chest of drawers in the room.
Surprisingly, Christian never asked why Robin didn't just grab things from her storage bracer. He was happy simply doing things for Robin. If she shooed him out for her to rest, he would sit outside the door, in case she needed something.
After three days, Robin still had a fever, but she had had enough of the hot springs. She was determined to head back to the inn for the rest of her recovery period.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone