Chapter 63: Brothers and a Cold (4)
My head was throbbing. Not just my head—my throat was sore too.
The worst part was the fever spreading throughout my body. It was clear I had caught a cold.
On top of that, my sense of taste was gone, and I had to rely purely on instinct to cook.
When I took my temperature, it read over 39°C.
Catching a cold—this is the worst.
I was so dizzy that it was impossible to keep the restaurant open.
Realizing I couldn’t manage, I closed the restaurant and headed upstairs.
It had been a week since the brothers started working.
Today was the day I was supposed to visit the ranch to check in on them, but in this state, it was out of the question.
I had already informed Ment about the wages and my intentions, so there shouldn’t be any issues.
But how did I end up with a cold in the first place?
Playing in the storm with Rurin was quite some time ago. It couldn’t have taken this long for the cold to set in from that incident.
I didn’t know the reason, but the symptoms were definitely of a cold.
My body felt weak, and I had no energy. I kept alternating between chills and nausea. It was undoubtedly the work of a virus.
*Cough, cough, cough.*
I kept coughing uncontrollably. Desperate to do something about the dizziness, I barely made it to the second floor and lay down. As I was trying to catch my breath, a loud noise echoed in my ears.
*Bang!*
Someone barged in, throwing the door open violently. Can’t this dragon enter quietly for once? Geez.
“Hey! Are you in here?!”
Rurin rushed in and, upon spotting me lying on the bed, sprinted over in a flash.
“Huh? You’re sleeping in the middle of the day? How strange! Just like me!”
“Just like you? Don’t make me laugh. By the way, you were asleep at the table earlier. When did you wake up?”
“Just now! But you weren’t there! I was shocked, so I searched everywhere for you!”
Usually, at this time, I’d be preparing the restaurant, so even when Rurin was napping, she kept an eye on me. She’d roll around, either at the table or at the bar, but always within view.
She hated it when I was out of her sight. It was her rule to stay near me whenever she took a nap. She couldn’t help it if I disappeared overnight while she was asleep, but during the day, she insisted on being close by.
Given her attachment, I could easily imagine her searching the house in a panic when she woke up and didn’t find me in the kitchen. It was obvious.
*Cough, cough, cough.*
Despite trying to hold it in, the coughs erupted from my lungs. Rurin’s expression shifted when she saw me.
“Hey! What’s wrong? You look weird!”
She crawled onto the bed, placing her hands on either side of my head, leaning over me. Her black hair dangled down, tickling my face as she hovered, her body nearly on top of mine.
“It’s called a cold, in the language of my homeland. It means—”
“A what?”
The moment I mentioned “illness,” Rurin’s face turned pale. Her eyes started trembling intensely.
She seemed way too panicked, so I quickly corrected myself.
“No, no, not the kind of illness you’re thinking of. It’s a common thing. I just need to rest for a bit.”
“Really? Really, really? I hate illness!”
Rurin, her face tense, buried her head in my chest and wrapped her arms tightly around my waist as if she’d never let go.
“Rurin, could you get up? You’ll catch this if you stay close.”
“No!”
She shook her head vigorously, her face pressed against my chest, puffing out her cheeks in protest. She was stubbornly determined to stay close, her cheeks swelling with defiance.
I don’t know when I became so good at reading a dragon’s emotions just by looking at her face, but it’s scary how easily I can tell what she’s thinking now.
“Well then, how about you take care of me?”
“What’s taking care of someone?”
“It’s a human custom where you help someone who’s sick recover faster. It’d be better than lying next to me. Plus, I can’t cook for you if I’m lying down.”
“That sounds bad. I’m hungry…!”
*Cough, cough, cough!*
I faked another cough, making it sound worse than it was. It was a perfect opportunity to teach Rurin about the concept of caregiving, so I couldn’t pass it up.
“Fine! I’ll do it! Whatever it takes, just don’t die!”
Startled by my dramatic coughing, Rurin quickly lifted herself off me and answered with determination.
“I’m not going to die. Stop thinking about death all the time, you silly dragon. Please, just trust me.”
“Alright, alright, now tell me! What do I need to do to take care of you?”
“Well, first, I’m feeling weak, so could you cook something for me to help me recover? But before that, can you wet a towel with cold water and bring it over? I need to bring my fever down.”
“Me, taking care of you? That doesn’t sound bad! It’s usually the other way around!”
Does she even realize I’ve been taking care of her?
Ever since I mentioned being sick, Rurin hadn’t cracked a single smile. Normally, she’d be giggling and exuding happiness, but not today.
With incredible speed, she ran out of the room and down to the first floor. Moments later, I heard her clattering back upstairs, holding a towel.
“Here!”
Rurin handed me the wet towel.
“Put it on my forehead. The fever is making me dizzy.”
“You really are in bad shape. Can’t you just use magic?”
“If I use magic to cool myself down, I might lower my body temperature too much, which would make things worse.”
Rurin nodded, then placed the towel on my forehead.
It felt cold.
Not a drop of water dripped from the towel.
Honestly, I expected her to bring it up without wringing it out properly, imagining a soaked towel dripping everywhere, but instead, she was surprisingly thorough.
When she bothers to do something, she does it right. Given that she’s a dragon, I suppose it’s only natural.
On top of that, the towel stayed cold much longer than usual.
“Did you do something to the towel?”
“Isn’t cold good? I cast a preservation spell. It’s not frozen with magic, so it shouldn’t be ice cold. Is the preservation spell okay?”
Rurin kept glancing at me, unsure if she had made a mistake. In fact, it was a great decision.
The coolness was just right, soothing my head. I grabbed her hand and gave it a shake.
“No, no, you did great. This is perfect.”
“Really? I’m glad! Now I’ll cook something!”
Without waiting for my response, Rurin dashed down to the first floor again. Normally, she would hate doing something like this, but not when I’m sick.
Still, cooking is very different from wetting a towel.
She did manage to make tomato scrambled eggs once, back when I playfully challenged her to cook, but there’s a big difference between cooking with someone’s help and doing it completely on your own.
Sure enough, after a short while…
*Crash, bang!*
I heard the sound of something falling over.
*Clatter, smash!*
Then, the unmistakable sound of dishes breaking.
Oh no.
My head was already throbbing, and now it hurt even more. I didn’t want to move. I just wanted to lie still. But there was no way I could leave this alone. I was the one who brought up the idea of cooking, after all.
I dragged myself downstairs.
In the kitchen, Rurin was tossing every ingredient she could find into a pot, letting it boil.
An overwhelming stench hit my nose. This was no ordinary food disaster. It was a food catastrophe.
“Rurin…”
“Why did you come down? Just leave it to me!”
“I appreciate the thought, but… are you sure this is going to taste good?”
Rurin shook her head fiercely.
“I tasted it. It’s awful. You eat it. I won’t.”
“What are you talking about? Weren’t you making it for me because I’m sick?”
“Yes, so you eat it. Ugh.”
Rurin, her face scrunched up in disgust, shook her head again. I was completely at a loss.
“Wait, just… ugh.”
Feeling too dizzy to stand, I slumped down at the bar. The situation felt reversed—normally, Rurin would be sitting here while I stood in the kitchen.
“Let me guide you. I know a dish that will give me strength.”
Rurin nodded eagerly, dumping out the ruined concoction.
As much as it pained me to waste food, eating that would’ve been close to suicide.
“Alright, listen carefully. Go to the storage and get some pallenque and a long vegetable.”
“Pallenque? I know that one! But what’s the long vegetable?”
“The long green one.”
I gestured with my hands to indicate its length. I was talking about scallions.
What I needed was pallenque and scallions.
“Oh, that one! Got it!”
With heavy footsteps, Rurin ran off to the storage.
The dish I had in mind was chicken soup.
Even though I had no appetite, eating something good for colds would help me recover faster.
Chicken is rich in protein, which makes it easy to digest, even when sick. Plus, it contains thiamine and niacin, which improve blood circulation and boost the immune system when consumed, even forcefully.
On top of that, the ingredients in chicken help to alleviate phlegm. If I cooked it down into a soup, it would soothe my sore throat too.
And if I added scallions, it’d be even better. The white part of the scallion helps clear the lungs and relieve coughing. It’s no coincidence that scallion-based remedies have been used to treat colds for centuries.
But instead of relying on those remedies, the best approach is to cook it into a proper meal. Slowly simmered with chicken to create a synergistic effect, it’s the ultimate cold-fighting dish.
It’s the best, but my head’s spinning.
“Here it is!”
Rurin came back, holding pallenque and scallions in her arms. The more she moved, the dizzier I got.
“Wash those, throw them in the pot, and simmer them. Just let it boil for a while. Once they’re cooked, take out the chicken, separate the meat from the bones, put the meat back in, and that’s it. Simple, right?”
“Hey?”
With those words, I lost consciousness.
***
“She’s the daughter of a traitor!”
“That’s filthy!”
“Filthy, filthy!”
In the place where the young dragons gathered, Rurin was always the target of bullying. Little dragon Rurin, to escape their torment, spent all her time curled up in the lair she had inherited, sleeping her days away.
Those were truly empty, meaningless years.
Resentment toward her kind.
Hatred for the world.
A heart tightly sealed.
The one who forcefully opened that heart was a human.
Of course, it wasn’t an easy process. After overcoming countless obstacles, Rurin finally opened up to someone other than her mother.
And that human gradually became the reason she lived.
Nothing else in the world mattered.
For Rurin, just being by El’s side…
That was happiness.
She could laugh with her whole heart, complain sincerely, and get angry with true emotion. He was the only one with whom she could be her true self.
Now, that very person had collapsed before her eyes. This was the first time something like this had happened since she met El, and it threw her into a panic.
