Sick

This chapter's song is: Dis-ease by BTS! Get it? because the title is sick.

I just gotta thank Athy_13 for giving me the motivation to continue this. I had severe writers' block and this chapter was left unfinished for weeks but thanks to her comment, I managed to just type and I'm just going to publish this as a treat for everyone and as a thanks for reading my story up till now. Enjoy!

Sylvia's POV:

I open my eyes. My limbs are as heavy as lead and my throat is dry. As I try to move, I am met with pain and disorientation.

"Tut Tut Tut, a fever. She will need bed rest and a light meal. I suggest some hearty soup," I hear a voice say. As I focus my eyes, I realise that there are several people crowded around me. The person who spoke first was the Scilla Family Physician.

"Silverdrop, are you awake?" My mother says soothingly.

"Fetch some more blankets for her. And get rid of any strong scents," I hear my dad say.

"Wa...ter..." I rasp.

"Here you are miss," Lillian says as she brings some water to me. I gulp it down slowly, ignoring the stares fixated on me.

"What could make her catch a fever like this?" My mother asks the doctor.

"It seems this fever was caused by severe stress. I wouldn't worry too much about it my lady, she should be good as new in two days so long as you take my advice," the doctor says as he packs up his things. "If you'll excuse me."

My father nodded at the Physician before returning his attention to me. The Physician bowed and left the room.

"Oh my sweet Silverdrop, you must be in so much pain," my mother says as she strokes my forehead. "Honey, let's cancel today's schedule and take care of Silverdrop," she says to my father.

"That's a good idea. Andrew, cancel all my plans today. I'm planning on spending it with my family," my father says to his assistant.

"I'm afraid that's not possible sir, it's the annual king's meeting. Your attendance is mandatory," Andrew says.

"My presence here is needed more. You can tell the King that he can take that meeting and-"

"Darling, not in front of the servants," my mother says, keeping her eyes on me.

"I understand your plight sir, but this meeting cannot be missed. However, the banquet after it is easy to disappear from," Andrew hints.

"...Alright fine, let's get this over with. I'll be back as soon as I can," my father says reluctantly.

"Be back soon," my mother says to my father, looking at him. (Yes, imagine a loving couple. Which is kinda hard for you single people.)

"I will, get better Sylvia," my father says as he kisses me on my forehead before leaving. I watched my father and his assistant leave my room, along with most of the servants. Those who stayed were my personal maids and my mother.

"I heard that minestrone soup is best for illnesses. Prepare some along with some freshly baked bread. Also, bring up a bow of water and some damp cloths," My mother says to Jez, one of my maids.

"Yes, my lady," Jez replies as she bows before leaving.

"Mom... It's cold..." I say weakly, my eyes getting heavy.

"The blankets will be here soon Silverdrop, please bear with it until then. Go on, go to sleep," my mother says gently. Her voice lulled me into sleep, I was too tired to think of anything else.

Narrator's POV:

"So, how long will this meeting take?" The Duke asks as he sits inside the carriage with his assistant. Andrew the assistant eyed the Dukedom and didn't reply until the carriage had begun moving.

"It will take approximately 6 hours to complete, 9 hours if we include the travel to the Palace and back and 13 hours including the banquet, 15 hours if you decide to stay at the banquet without leaving early," Andrew says.

"Stop the carriage!" The Duke says angrily.

"I'm afraid we cannot do that your Grace, that'll only lengthen your trip," Andrew says.

"You're awfully bold for an assistant who just betrayed me," Argent Scilla says darkly.

"On the contrary, your grace. I am merely helping you fulfil your duty as this Kingdom's Duke, therefore I am not betraying you but rather am helping you and this Kingdom," Andrew says with a smile.

"I despise you," Argent says.

"I can live with that. You will be personally sitting next to the King at the meeting. If you manage to dupe him, then you can leave early. However the meeting will be a long one so I suggest that you not waste your energy hoping that I will fall off a cliff," Andrew says. The Duke clicked his tongue as he eyes his sword, before remembering that Andrew was indeed a hardworking assistant and one that was very sought out in high society due to his remarkable skills. The Duke clicked his tongue as he counted down the seconds until he could return to his family.

"I should've just sent that brat instead..." The Duke mutters, remembering his son.

As Sylvia was sleeping, her mother had the windows opened for ventilation and had stacked layers upon layers on top of Sylvia. She even used her magic in order to set the humidity and atmosphere to the optimum temperature.

Once Arabella was done, she turned towards Lillian.

"Leave Sylvia for now, let her sleep peacefully until she wakes. Once she does, I want her food served and a warm bath prepared. I will be taking a visit to the Magic Tower personally for some quality medicine. If there is anything Sylvia needs, you shall give it to her no matter what."

"I will do everything in my power to make sure that the lady is comfortable," Lillian replies.

"Good, I'll be off then," Arabella says as she walks off, her maids following after her. Lillian sighs as she reenters Sylvia's room. She quietly closes the curtains, puts out the candles, cleans out any dust, and changes Sylvia's cloth before leaving to attend to her other duties.

Sylvia was left alone for an hour. In that time, she was undisturbed when she was sleeping which I am actually very jealous of.

After an hour and a half, a certain black-haired, silver-eyed brother passed her room and heard a faint calling.

"Mom...Lillian..." Sylvia voiced weakly. He opened the door to find Sylvia calling out for water. The normal thing someone would do is give the sick person some water. However, Silver just stood there, looking down at his younger sister.

Silver was hardly a loving brother like the sis-con brothers in other novels. He had certainly no severe hate for his sister but nothing else that hinted at family love. After all, Silver was sent away at a young age for his training. He barely remembered the times where his mother had taken care of him so lovingly. He was also surprised at how his father acts towards Sylvia, his new attitude is entirely unfamiliar to Silver.

I guess you could call Silver jealous. He was rather envious of the loving life his sister had, her days filled with the warmth and love he had missed out on. As he looks down at his little sister, he thinks hard at what she has done to deserve all this love. What she has done to receive this warmth, or if she has done anything at all.

Suddenly, Sylvia opens her eyes ever so slightly.

"Sil...ver?" She says raspily. Her throat was indeed dry.

"You look a sorry state," he says.

"Not... everyone has such... great genes that they can't... get sick," she says slowly but sarcastically. This sentence almost made Silver laugh.

"I'm... thirsty. Can you get me some... water?"

"I don't know, I could," he says smugly. Even though she was sick, Sylvia gave her best 'really?' face. "Well, if my dearest little sister is asking for water, as her only older brother I should grant her wish," Silver says as he pours some water from the pitcher into the glass and holds it towards Sylvia.

He patiently let Sylvia sit up and take the water, sip as much as she could, and then took the cup and put it on the table. What Silver did next was a surprise to both Sylvia and himself: He put his hand on top of Sylvia's forehead.

"W-what are you doing?" She asks.

"Hm, your fever isn't going down. Perhaps you need more sleep," he says.

"I already slept enough, I don't want to g-"

"I said sleep," he says more clearly, his silver eyes shining a little. Suddenly, Sylvia felt heavy again. Her eyelids were shutting on their own and she had no energy to keep herself propped up. She slumped back down into her bed and fell asleep.

Silver, realising what he was doing, grabbed his hair in frustration.

"Damn," he says as he leaves the room. Silver had unintentionally activated his magic. Magic that was so powerful yet hard to control that he had to be sent away at a young age to learn how to control it...

Sylvia's POV:

As Silver touched my head slightly. I fell asleep again. When I woke up again, it was already high noon. I don't know how I slept that much. As I sit up, my head felt dizzy again. I groan in pain as I put my hand to my head.

"You're still sick if you wanted to know." I immediately turn my head to the side and see Ace sitting on my usual chair by the window, reading a book.

"What... are you doing here?" I ask slowly, trying not to trip on my words.

"Well I was originally going to visit here as a break from my work, but then I heard you were sick, so I came with some ginseng," he says as he holds a flask up.

"How long... were you here for?" I ask tiredly.

"Only ten minutes. Enough time for me to pick a book to read," he says. I immediately open my eyes wide at the book he was reading. It was a special romance book to say the least.

"Put that back!" I say.

"Why? It's certainly very interesting. 'The Duke's Royal lover... A romance between the lone wolf Duke and the tyrant of the kingdom.' My my, how scandalous," he smiles as he reads the title.

"That's not mine!" I lie.

"Are you sure? I decided to read from the bookmarked page. The scene where the Duke and the tyrant queen share a tent in a dark, desolate place... Oh my, I'm not sure if I should say this next part out loud," he says as he flips the page.

"Stop it Ace!" I cover my face from embarrassment.

"It seems you like women in control..."

"No I-" As soon as I lift my face out of my covers, Ace was sitting right next to me, his face so close to mine.

"That's fine though, I'll let you be in charge if you want. I'll let you take the lead anytime you wish," he smirks. I don't know if it was because of my fever, but my face was burning.

"W-what are you saying to a sick person?!" I blabber.

"Oh yes, you're sick. You should really drink this ginseng, I got it straight from the royal treasury."

"The royal treasury?! Don't tell me this is the 100-year-old ginseng?!" I shout.

"No, it's not." I sigh in relief. The 100-year-old ginseng was not something that just anyone could get their hands on.

"Well hand it over then, I'm sick of these headaches," I say. Ace hands me the flask and I drink it all. It had a weird tangy taste but my headache was instantly relieved.

"That's some good ginseng," I sigh.

"It was actually a thousand-year-old ginseng," Ace finishes. I choke on the air.

"T-the national treasure ginseng that was grown on the highest mountain for over 1000 years and is only accessible to members of the royal family?" I say in disbelief.

"That's the one," he answers. I feel faint. I just chugged the juice of a national treasure. This stomach is the host of a national treasure. National treasure... I feel faint. I slump back in my bed.

"It seems the ginseng is working, your complexion looks healthier."

"Ace, are you trying to frame me for stealing a national treasure or something?" I ask.

"Hm, not really. It wouldn't matter if you ate the ginseng, you are the crown princess and future queen so of course these resources would be open to you," he says.

"I'd much rather live with the headaches than eat something that precious," I say as I stare at the ceiling.

"It seems you don't understand how precious your body is," Ace says.

"Not as precious as a 1000-year-old ginseng."

"Even more precious than a 1000-year-old ginseng," he says as he invades my vision, his arms at either side of my body. I feel my face turning red again. Suddenly, I hear footsteps.

"Quickly hide! Someone's coming!" I whisper-shout.

"So what? Let them see," he says. The footsteps were coming closer. Out of desperation, I tackled Ace and threw him under my bed.

"Stay," I order him as I quickly pretend to be asleep. The door opened. I didn't dare to open my eyes. I was sincerely praying that Ace would just shut up until whoever is inside is gone. There were sounds of scuffling, must be a maid then. A few minutes went by until the maid left and closed the door. I sighed in relief. I didn't open my eyes until I heard the footsteps leaving the hallway.

"That was a close one," I say as I look under my bed. Ace was laying down with one of my books in his hand.

"Hush Sylvia, this is getting good," he smiles. I blush as I snatch my book out of his hands.

"Don't go through my stuff," I say.

"So you admit that it was yours?" He smiles as he gets up from the floor. Since I had no response, I did what anyone would do: I made a mocking face at him and turned the other way. Unfortunately, this was met with laughter by Ace.

"Alright, I'm leaving. I shouldn't tease you while you're sick," he says.

"Should've done that earlier then," I pout.

"I'll visit again, perhaps we can organise a book club," he says as he walks towards my window.

"I hope you fall," I say.

"I already fell for you," he says as he jumps out the window. My blushing couldn't be controlled as I cover my face with the book.

"He crumpled the page..." I whine to myself as I scan it. I spend the next few hours reading. No one really bothered me, and soon I was tired again. Since I was supposed to be sick, I went to sleep again.

Narrator's POV:

An hour after Sylvia fell asleep again, Silver returned to her room. There, he stared at her again. He then placed a hand on her forehead. Sylvia's mouth smiled at the coolness, making her brother form a slight grin.

"I remember when you were like that," a voice said. Suddenly, Silver whirled around to the voice.

"When did you come mother?" he asks, regaining his composure.

"Just now," she responds as she walks closer to Sylvia, laying a hand on her forehead. "The fever's broken. That's good."

"She certainly looks well enough to make that face," Silver commented. "And I never made that face."

"You did on a winter's day. When you were four. You were playing with Elijah Redcliffe if I remember. You both decided to go ice skating. The ice broke though, and you fell in the water. You caught a vicious cold. I was so worried that day. I wouldn't leave your side. Your father was at the palace however he came home when he heard you were sick. That idiot left in the middle of a meeting with the King. It was such a mess but your father didn't care," she chuckles.

Silver was shocked at the sentence. He had no recollection of this.

"Throughout the night, I was constantly there. I changed your cloth, kept you warm, and even slept with you, I couldn't leave you. You were my first child. I was so heartbroken when we had to send you away, I wouldn't eat for a week. I nearly collapsed," she says.

Arabella looks at her son, whose eyes were moist. She places a hand to his cheek.

"I always wanted to bring you back. I begged your father so many times. I knew it killed him too but I would always beg him. After a year, I stopped begging. But I didn't stop worrying. I soon began counting down the days. After four years I was pregnant again, and I was so scared. I didn't want what happened to you to happen to her. I'm not sure I could've handled it. What you went through, it was my fault as your mother. I wish I could've helped you." She starts tearing up.

"I'm fine now, I'm here. I've grown stronger," he says.

"Yes, you've grown so much. You're taller than me now. I'm sorry for not being there for you, Silverling, I hope you don't blame Sylvia for growing up without any hardships. I just wish you both would get along. Just like the Silverling butterfly and the Silverdrop flower. Remember that story? It was your favourite."

"I remember..." Silver says...

So... who wants a backstory on Silver?