After gathering nearly a hundred tubers, the bitter potato squad returned to the capital. Olivia started to stagger over to join them in going back, but they stopped her.
“Olivia, you’re released from duty. You’re not looking very good. Let us take care of the rest. And here is your portion of the bitter potatoes,” said Ulysse.
“Thank you, Doctor Ulysse. If you insist, then, I’ll go home. Please take care.”
“No, thank you for caring for the patients and for the bitter potatoes. You’ve been a massive help. I’ll see you later!”
The squad left, trailing a cloud of dust in their wake. Arthur and Olivia watched them go, then turned towards home.
They returned to Soup Forest, where Olivia washed the grime from herself with warm water, then she realized she actually had a fever herself.
“Arthur, I think I’ve caught the illness,” she said. “Stay away, I don’t want you to catch it too. I’ll stay in my old room; you go on to work.”
Arthur froze for a moment, but then decided what his priorities were. “No, I’ll take the day off work. The pharmacy will manage without me. I’ll contact Freddy later.”
“Fine. But it’d be bad if we both end up bedridden, so stay away from me.”
“I got it, I got it. Just go lay down.”
“All right, I’m going.”
With that, Olivia tottered up the stairs and went into the room she’d used when she was single. She was already starting to feel lightheaded and chilly.
“I need to prepare things while I can still move for when my fever gets worse,” she said. She got out a change of clothes and put it by her pillow, then placed a bucket on the floor for if she started feeling nauseous. There was a knock on the door so she called back, “Arthur, could you draw some water for me to drink and use to cool myself?”
Her head was starting to throb.
“Come at me, you silly cold!” she said. “I’ve got plenty of bitter potatoes. Oh, wait, they need to be prepared…”
She gave up on the idea of making bitter potato soup and slipped slowly into bed. Her fatigue crashed into her, from both not getting much rest at the castle because she was so busy treating the ill and from all the travel back and forth. The moment she closed her eyes, she felt like she was sinking into a swamp as she slipped into sleep.
She had the vague feeling that she was shivering in her sleep, and that Arthur had come into the room, but he wasn’t there when her eyes snapped open.
Ugh, my throat hurts. My head hurts. My joints hurt. Everything hurts. I’m so miserable, so in pain.
It was then, when she was complaining in her head, that she realized something.
The soldiers were overflowing with thoughts like that. And in that case, shouldn’t I have spoken to them in a gentle voice, encouraged them, tried to help ease their worry? But I just shut off my heart and kept on grinning! I’m such a complete idiot!
She pulled her cover up to her face and realized her pajamas were clean and dry. Someone had changed her out of her other ones at some point. Not long after that, Arthur came to check on her.
“Thank you, Arthur,” she said. “I would’ve felt so hopeless if I’d been alone for this.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m here. Just relax and get some sleep.”
“Oh, you’ll catch this illness if you’re in the same room as me.”
“It’s all right. I’m doing what you taught me, opening the window bit by bit. And the bitter potato soup’ll be ready soon. Just sleep until then.”
Even talking was a pain, so she just nodded slightly then went back to sleep. In a haze, she found herself being sat up and a warm liquid spooned into her mouth. It seemed like the cool towel on her forehead had been changed out several times, too. She continued to sleep; all her memories vague.
During that period, she had a feeling Arthur was there gripping her hand and saying something to her, but she wasn’t entirely sure if it was real or a dream. It seemed like he was saying the same thing over and over: “Don’t take any more family from me. Please, please. God, please help her.”
He was overflowing with pained emotions, and she wanted to tell him she was fine, but she didn’t have the energy to get the words out. She just kept on sleeping, weighed down heavily. She slept, then woke, then slept again.
Throughout all of it, she gradually started to feel better.
The next time she opened her eyes, her headache was gone and her breathing was steadier.
“Arthur, I think I’ve gotten over the worst of this,” she said, but there was no answer. She looked over to see Arthur sitting in a chair he’d brought over to the bedside, his arms crossed as he slept.
There was a soup bowl on the bedside table with roughly chopped chunks of bitter potato remaining at the bottom.
“I noticed you were reading my note, but I didn’t think you’d go all the way through that tedious preparation for me. Thank you, Arthur. I’m not going to leave you all alone.”
She reached out and gently laid her hand on his knee. For the first time in a while, she thought back to what the golden deer had said about true mates.
“I’ve found my soulmate, after all. I’m not going to go and die first and leave you behind.”
Olivia sat up in bed with a huff of effort, then lowered her weak legs to the floor and gently draped a blanket over Arthur.
“My precious mate,” she said quietly as she softly wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders.