If the subject of the treatment was a member of the Imperial Family,
Even if it meant that they had to go against the will of heaven, Brutein would do it without thinking twice.
Overwhelmed by Ferzen's resolute spirit, the five young doctors instinctively made way for him.
Ferzen stepped into the operating room, where the scent of death hung heavily in the air.
Contrary to the room's blood-soaked atmosphere, Princess Elizabeth lay on the operating table with her abdomen neatly closed.
Her pure white, naked body appeared as if she was a sleeping beauty.
"Are you here to pass severe judgment on me?"
"No."
Perhaps, the doctor had been silently waiting for Princess Elizabeth's last breath, poised to declare her as dead at the right moment.
After all, it had been a grueling surgery that had lasted almost 20 hours.
The elderly man before him, Doctor Greenwich, must have fought tirelessly to prevent Princess Elizabeth from crossing into the realm of the dead.
Therefore, Ferzen couldn't bring himself to criticize the visibly exhausted doctor, who seemed to be on the brink of collapsing at any moment.
Furthermore, no one had the right to do so.
"…How much time does the princess have?"
"About 10 minutes…"
10 minutes.
Although it wasn't a long period, Ferzen deemed it to be sufficient and slowly moved toward her.
Her abdomen, which had been meticulously opened and then closed, should not be contaminated by his external presence.
"Do you know why humans fear death, often referred to as eternal sleep… even though they sleep every night?"
Ferzen responded apathetically to the old man's question, who appeared to carry a faint sense of liberation.
"It's because people who have fallen into eternal sleep can no longer dream."
"I see…"
Having given his answer, Ferzen reached out to the table, retrieved a syringe, and expertly drew a drug into it.
"What… are you trying to do?"
Observing his actions, the old man who had been by Princess Elizabeth's deathbed widened his eyes in alarm.
But Ferzen paid him no heed. He awkwardly located a blood vessel and injected the drug into himself.
"..."
The drug coursing through his bloodstream and his body was a stimulant.
"Doctor Greenwich."
As his hazy mind suddenly cleared, Ferzen stumbled.
"Close your eyes."
"..."
"If you were to witness this entire scene… I would have no choice but to kill you."
If that couldn't be done,
"I would have to silence your voice so you can't speak and sever your hands so you can't write..."
The doctor still had many questions he wanted to ask Ferzen.
However, as Ferzen gazed into his eyes while approaching him, the old man could not resist his command. He stepped back, closed his eyes, and held his breath.
Human curiosity was undoubtedly the driving force behind the field of medicine. So, the old man felt the urge to open his eyes several times. Yet, once closed, he couldn't open them of his own volition.
Perhaps this meant it was a sight one dared not look upon.
Before long, Ferzen glanced at the old man, standing like a statue, eyes closed, and holding his breath. He picked up the scalpel lying nearby.
It was only natural that after a warm, breezy day, a cold, freezing night would follow.
Human birth and death were probably no different.
Their names would someday be forgotten.
No one would remember what had transpired.
A person's life would vanish like a passing cloud and dissipate like morning fog.
However, if the subject was a member of the Imperial Family the Brutein had served for generations,
There would be a white night where the sun never set, lasting forever.
If they couldn't dispel the encroaching darkness,
They would become the night itself, transforming the members of the Imperial Family into stars that shone brilliantly even in the darkest of nights.
Slash-!!
Ferzen Von Schweig Brutein.
When he cut open both of his wrists with the scalpel he was holding, the bleeding that ensued was more profuse than he had anticipated.
His blood quickly saturated the floor of the operating room.
Dizziness surged over Ferzen, causing him to collapse to his knees. Fortunately, thanks to the stimulant, his mind clung to his consciousness like a candle in the wind.
It was a natural occurrence for a mere human's clock to stop ticking entirely.
It was the world's natural order for those with broken clocks to visit the underworld.
Wooong-!!
Yet, the underworld refused to let Ferzen's clock come to a halt.
It forcibly moved the seconds hand.
It forcibly moved the minute hand.
It forcibly moved the hour hand.
Compelling time, which was attempting to cease, to flow normally.
Gradually, beyond his hazy focus, a strangely shaped book radiating a corrupted aura appeared, its pages turned even in the absence of wind.
Letters not recorded anywhere in this world were arranged in a dizzying manner.
However, Ferzen could read them perfectly.
Eventually, the pages of the book ceased turning according to his will. He then recited one name that shone particularly brightly...
Squeak-!!
Shortly thereafter, a chain darker than night pierced deep into the door of the Underworld, roughly seizing something and hauling it out.
Warlocks were known to coexist with monsters through equal dealings.
However, the sight of the monster being forcibly yanked out from beyond the open door of the underworld clearly indicated an unequal relationship.
And then, a twisted rag doll, as if sewn together haphazardly, was captured by the chains, appearing before Ferzen. It soon trembled and lowered its head to the floor.
Thud-!!
Thud-!!
Then, the cotton that covered the creature's body fell to the floor, absorbing all of Ferzen's spilled blood.
However, Ferzen hadn't gone to the brink of death just to be treated by the entity before him.
He raised his arm, now so pale it could be mistaken for white, and pointed towards Princess Elizabeth, lying nearly lifeless on the operating table.
The ragdoll, which had nodded at him, staggered as it stood, unraveling the countless threads binding its form.
It was a creature from the Third Level of The Underworld, an enigmatic entity with the power to mend and heal any defects or wounds in the body.
To be precise, it was the creature's weaving ability that allowed it to perform these feats, as it could craft anything from nothing.
Before long, the threads enveloping Ferzen's wrist connected to his severed artery.
The creature rapidly remedied the blood loss Ferzen had endured by weaving threads to create blood and injecting it into him from the outside.
Weaving threads to create blood was a supernatural realm forbidden to humans.
The creature then turned its attention to Princess Elizabeth, who lay on her back.
After connecting her severed colon with threads, it removed her damaged womb and wove a new one from the damaged flesh.
To love one another, to bring that love to fruition, and to give birth to new life.
These were acts that appeared to defy the will of heaven when undertaken by humans.
But the creature's actions went beyond mere revival.
Princess Elizabeth's beautiful platinum blond hair was fully restored.
Her fair skin, which had been burned in some places, now had a fair rosy complexion.
It seemed as though it was reversing time, pulling the past into the present.
Flinch-!!
Perhaps that was the reason...
Princess Elizabeth felt as if she were waking up from an exceptionally long slumber when she regained consciousness.
After squinting her eyes, she rubbed their corners with her delicate hand and lifted her upper body.
"..."
Thankfully, her platinum-blonde hair was so disheveled that it effectively concealed her naked body.
However, Ferzen regarded the sight with no hint of lust.
Instead, he moved decisively, carefully grasping her small, pure-white feet with his large hands just before they touched the ground.
"Ah..."
Only then did Princess Elizabeth flinch as she saw Ferzen kneeling beneath her operating table with her own eyes.
Although she couldn't fully comprehend the situation and desperately wanted to ask him what he was doing…
"Brutein never… not once, served the Imperial Family in search of favors"
"..."
"So please do not consider our loyalty as a debt that must be repaid..."
Like a gentle spring breeze, his soft voice brought clarity to Princess Elizabeth's clouded mind.
"And… I implore you to forgive me for the disloyalty I have displayed due to my greed..."
Ferzen lowered his head and pressed a gentle kiss onto the top of her foot.
Princess Elizabeth instinctively curled her toes in response to the ticklish sensation. Yet, the warmth she felt from his lips instantly calmed her anxious heart.
'So it was like that, huh...'
Quietly.
As if not wanting to disrupt the moment.
The door to the underworld opened behind Ferzen once more.
Just like before, several chains forcibly captured the creature. However, this time, it didn't drag it to an unfamiliar place. Instead, it was returning the creature to its original location.
On the Third Floor of The Underworld, there resided a creature capable of healing and mending the body's defects and wounds.
Because it was well-known, Princess Elizabeth could make a rough guess about what had occurred.
Splat-!
After Ferzen's lips withdrew from her toes, Princess Elizabeth descended from the operating table and carefully stepped through the sticky blood scattered on the floor.
Unlike the cold atmosphere of the room, the blood was warm.
The pool of blood undoubtedly belonged to the man before her—Ferzen von Schweig Brutein.
That's right.
'This time as well...'
They were treading on Brutein's blood.
However, one thing he had stated was that the Imperial Family had no debt to repay.
Those words alone lightened some of the burdens the Imperial Family had carried.
Perhaps… Brutein's confrontation with the Claudia family
Occurred because the Imperial Family had been too cautious to act promptly and had been paying attention to them.
If they had tried to correct things from the beginning without being so cautious,
Perhaps their loyalty would have never wavered.
"It's really ironic…"
"..."
"To think we steeled ourselves to be hated, yet you give us the courage to be loved…"
With a bitter smile, Princess Elizabeth extended her delicate hand toward Ferzen and gently stroked his hair.
"Ferzen Von Schweig Brutein."
"Yes..."
"I hope this relationship is an enduring one. I wish for it to be a bond, not just a contract…"
At the sound of Princess Elizabeth's voice, which penetrated his ears,
Ferzen lowered his head a little further and spoke.
"Without a doubt… It will be so."
In the novel, time flowed for the protagonist alone.
The time of others and events moved according to the protagonist's flow.
But reality was different.
Each individual's clock developed its own flow, its own set of events.
That's right.
Ferzen Von Schweig Brutein.
Both his clock and his life, continued to tick.