Episode 3 - Her Butler, Trained to Heal
"Is she still asleep?" the doctor said as he entered the hospital room, and I gazed over at him, still standing by Yumi's bedside.
"Yes," I answered, gazing back down at her, "alas, she is."
She still looked innocent like this—which she wasn't—her brows were relaxed as she slept, but her cheeks were flushed, and her breaths were small and shortened.
She was still struggling to breathe, and she had a fever... I knew the doctors wanted her to wake but I secretly hoped she'd stay asleep.
"The test results came back," the doctor answered then, making me gaze up in question. "There are some problems... a couple problems."
"What?" I urged.
"Yumi Phantomhive's symptoms..." he said, sighing. "Well, I'm glad they gave her oxygen in the ER because they suspected this as well... but the nausea, chest pain, and dizziness came from Carbon Monoxide poisoning."
My eyes widened. "She was poisoned?"
"Well... sir... uhm, does she have family around or anything?"
My eyes narrowed. "Who do you think I am?"
"Oh..." he laughed nervously, "I'm sorry, I thought you were just escorting her or something." He cleared his throat and pointed his pen to his paper. "May I ask your name and your relation to Miss Phantomhive here?"
My lips parted.
Relation?
If I said I was her butler... that wouldn't be good, wouldn't it? Especially at a hospital like this. And I didn't want the doctors and the nurses bother's master's work in the near future, she would not appreciate that. If I told them I was her butler, then they would immediately assume I had no relation to her, but... her parents had passed, and she had no siblings, uncles, or aunts.
"Uhm... sir?" the doctor said.
I blinked, and pressed my fist to my mouth, clearing my throat. "I am Sebastian Michaelis, and I am Yumi's lover."
A small smile crept onto my mouth.
Okay, now I wished she was awake and the death glare she would've given me.
"Ah, I see..." he scraped my answers down onto his paper, "and... were you on the way to a convention or something?"
"Hmm?" I blinked, brows arching. "A convention?"
"Why, yes..." he laughed nervously, "you're dressed like a butler. Those old-fashioned ones, you know? I just thought you were cosplaying."
I blinked, genuinely curious. "What's a cosplaying?"
He stared at me for a moment. "Oh... uh... when someone dresses up in a costume."
"Oh, yes," I nodded then, "that is what I'm doing, yes."
He blinked and then laughed again, scratching the back of his neck. "Alright, anyways, about Miss Phantomhive here."
"Ah, yes, the poisoning," I said, getting more serious now. "I don't understand how she could've gotten it, though. Is it possible someone gave it to her?"
The doctor gazed up and laughed a little. "Uh, no, Mister Sebastian. Carbon Monoxide is a gas, you see. It's scentless and sightless. Usually it's found in expelled gas from cars, or smoke from campfires, sometimes even in gas-lines in houses."
My eyes narrowed.
That would make sense.
"Although the gas-lines in the houses are supposed to be scented with this rotten-egg scent. Have you had any of these scents in your manor, Mister Sebastian?"
"No," I said, narrowing my eyes further. "But is it possible that one can... remove this scent from the gas pipes?"
"Aha, no," the doctor scratched his neck nervously, "it's localized."
I set my finger on my chin, thinking.
Localized. Within a mile?
My eyes widened then.
Oh, my lord... the houses we visited today. I knew something was off.
I clenched my teeth, looking away.
Localized... a mile radius. That 'father' person must've gotten into the gas lines and de-scented the whole thing... that's why the air felt so oddly thick. The entire neighborhood was covered in that poisonous gas.
I gritted my teeth.
That "doll girl" said that her 'father' was wanting to meet my master, he must've suspected that we were coming. That's why the body in the house we went to—the one on the suspect list—was murdered most recently than the others. That's so peculiar... how did he know we were going there? He must've broken the pipelines and poisoned the air knowing that master would be there.
My eyes glowed a dark red.
He tried to kill her.
HE TRIED TO KILL MY MASTER.
"Uhm... sir?" the doctor said. "Did you think of the source?"
I gazed over at him then, erasing every hint of anger and replacing it with a bored expression. "Ah, yes... I do assume that I smelt something odd in the basement the other day. That must've been it. I will make sure to call one of those piping people almost immediately."
The doctor sank back in his seat, staring down at his clipboard. "That's not the only thing."
I blinked, brows drawing together.
"Yumi, here, has contracted two other illnesses."
"Two?" I echoed. "But she seemed fine before this poisoning thing. How could she be sick?"
"Well... one is very minor. It's a small little influenza virus that just started reacting recently. She probably got that from someone coughing on her or something. That would explain her coughing, fever, runny nose, and sore throat."
I narrowed my eyes. "And the other one?"
He sighed and gazed up. "This one seems to be dormant in her for a while if you've never heard of it, but it is not an illness, it's more of a tissue problem." He gazed over at her. "She has scarring in her lungs and inner throat from something. It could be effects from the birthing process, she had some kind of illness that caused it. It showed in the X-ray. The scarring is pretty bad and can cause breathing problems as well as chest pains. I would say to keep alert with her, this can be almost as bad as asthma—especially with how bad it is—she can start to struggle breathing by air quality, smoke, or even exercise. Not only that, but when she gets sick, it will take longer for her lungs to recover."
My brows drew together as I stared down at her.
Could this be the result of her trauma? The one I saved her from? How did they scar her lungs like that, though?
And why had she never told me?
"I see..." I lightly set my finger on my chin, thinking, "although I do admit... I'd never seen her so ill before. She's had colds and flus before, but none of them were this bad."
"Well, she has three problems, Mister Sebastian," the doctor lightly pressed his glasses up to his nose. "That's probably why."
I gazed down at her then, finding her breathing still shallow. "How long will it take for her to heal?"
"Well, she's been in the hospital for about day," he explained. "Which tells me she's no longer in contact with the carbon monoxide, and I might have to run some tests first, but the poison should be getting out of her system soon."
My lashes lowered as I watched her breathe shakily, still asleep.
"You're lucky, Mister Sebastian," the doctor said, making me gaze up. "This could've killed her if you hadn't gotten to the ER sooner."
A tumble of shock slammed through me.
Killed her.
My master? KILLED my master?
I closed my eyes tightly and sighed.
I want to know who's responsible for this. I parted my lashes, feeling my eyes glow in anger. And I want to kill them.
No one's taking my dinner away from me.
The doctor stood then, sighing as he finished scraping down his notes. "Alright, I'll be off then. They'll be nurses coming in to do an assessment on the poisoning very soon."
He then gazed up and bowed kindly, finishing by exiting the room.
I watched as the door closed behind him, and I sighed, closing my eyes tightly.
"Se—bas—tian..." Yumi said.
I quickly gazed down at her, rushing over to find her eyes open, but she was still breathing shallowly. "Master, you're awake."
She continued breathing shallowly, gazing up at me. "Sebastian... I want to go home."
"We have to stay here, master," I told her. "This is a hospital. You were poisoned."
"I want to go home," she said again, breathing shallowly. "I don't like this place. Take me home at once, Sebastian."
I watched her for a moment, and I stepped over to her head, watching her stance. "Nausea, dizziness?"
She shook her head, but still breathed shallowly.
"Master," I said gently, "you still look very ill."
"Take me—home," she repeated, cheeks still flushed with fever. "You can take care of me... can't you?"
I smiled then, eyes softening. "Master, you never fail to disappoint, do you? You really want to go back to the manor that badly?"
She nodded.
"My," I chuckled, lightly pulling the blankets off her as I guided her arms over my shoulders, "you must really hate hospitals, master."
She wrapped her arms around my neck as I lifted her, carrying her gently in my arms as she set her head on my shoulder, still struggling to breathe.
"Master, your body's very warm," I said as I started walking. "In a 'you have a fever' way."
"I get it," she replied. "Calm down."
A small smile split my face.
The nurses all rushed past us, clearly not caring about what we were doing as I stepped into the elevator and clicked the door closed.
"Master, do tell me if you feel sick," I said. "Vomit stains are hard to wash off this tailcoat."
"I don't feel sick," she breathed, still struggling a little.
The bell chimed as the doors opened, and I stepped out. "I think it would do you nicely with a warm cup of tea and a hot bath, don't you think?"
"Yes," she murmured, breaths straining.
"Alright," I said, carrying her out the doors, "be quiet now. Don't waste your breath, my lord."
She just turned her face into my neck, closing her eyes as she relaxed into me.
"You can go to sleep, too," I suggested. "Sleep is every illness's healer, you know. That's what I learned with Master Ciel's asthma problems."
She was silent.
I just smiled, knowing she was asleep already. "I understand, master, you must feel very ill indeed."
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