**Chapter 49: Aierjisi is Taking Care of Me, Am I Dreaming?**
“Ah…”
After a day had passed, Yake finally woke up successfully.
“Yake? You finally woke up! Do you know how worried I was? You need to take better care of yourself! When you came back, you looked almost on the brink of collapsing from overwork!”
Seeing that Yake had awakened, Aierjisi helped him sit up on the edge of the bed.
“Sorry. How long have I been asleep?”
Yake didn’t know what else to say, so he could only apologize first.
“A day and two nights. A total of 36 hours. If my guess is correct, your stomach should be growling by now from hunger.”
Aierjisi looked at Yake’s gaunt little belly. After 36 hours without food or drink, his stomach must be desperate.
“Not yet, actually. But if I’ve slept for 36 hours, I should probably go grab something to eat…”
As Yake spoke, he tried to get out of bed and head to the kitchen to see if he could scrounge up some food. However, the moment he tried to stand, his legs gave way beneath him, and he dropped to the floor, unable to rise no matter how hard he tried.
“Don’t push yourself. You’ve been lying in bed for a full day and two nights; it’s perfectly normal for your legs to not cooperate. Just rest here on the bed, and I’ll go find some food for you.”
Aierjisi helped Yake back onto the bed and then went to find a guard to assist her in bringing food.
**”Who would’ve thought I’d have a day where Aier takes care of me?”**
Looking at Aierjisi, who was bustling around to take care of him, Yake couldn’t believe that the girl he had always looked after was now the one looking after him. He half-expected her to say, “Who told you to let your body get this way? Figure it out yourself!” and leave him to fend for himself.
“Here, drink some porridge first. If someone has been hungry for too long, it’s best to start with porridge. Open up, I’ll feed you.”
Aierjisi held the porridge brought by the guard in her hand, scooped up a spoonful, and blew on it a couple of times. After tasting it to check the temperature and deeming it okay, she brought the porridge to Yake’s mouth.
Back on Earth, she had seen somewhere online that if someone had been hungry for too long, their stomach would contract, and they couldn’t be fed heavy foods right away—only porridge, or else they might end up bursting. Besides, porridge seemed easier to digest.
“Hey! What’s up? Didn’t I tell you to open your mouth? Why are you just staring like a statue?”
Seeing Yake lost in thought, Aierjisi waved her hand in front of his face.
No reaction… what’s wrong with this guy?
*Smack!*
Seeing no response from Yake, Aierjisi had no choice but to lightly slap him.
“Huh? What’s wrong, Aier?”
After being slapped by Aierjisi, Yake finally snapped back to reality.
“What do you mean what’s wrong? It’s time to drink some porridge! I kindly blew on it to cool it down for you, so hurry up and eat. Open your mouth.”
Aierjisi looked at Yake with dissatisfaction. How could he even ask what was wrong?
“Ah… okay. Ah~. This porridge tastes a bit sweet.”
“Huh? Sweet? That’s strange! I didn’t taste any sweetness when I had it myself. Is my sense of taste starting to decline?”
Hearing Yake say the porridge was sweet, Aierjisi took another spoonful for herself.
How peculiar. How come she couldn’t taste that sweetness? Could it be her taste buds that were off? Or was it Yake’s taste buds that were the problem?
Though she didn’t know, the sweet flavor didn’t come from the porridge but rather from Yake’s mouth. He had been stunned not by the porridge but by Aierjisi feeding him.
In that moment, Yake even began to fantasize about his life after marrying Aierjisi. Until he got slapped by her again.
“Done eating? Then let’s move around a bit. You can’t just lie there any longer. Come on, lean on me.”
Once Aierjisi had taken care of Yake’s food situation, she pulled him up from the bed and began to help him with rehabilitation exercises, commonly known as walking.
Because he had been asleep for so long, Yake’s legs were still a bit unsteady. He couldn’t engage in vigorous activity just yet, so they had to take slow and steady steps around the Royal Palace to help restore his leg strength.
“Aier, can I ask you something?”
While Aierjisi supported him, walking around the Royal Palace, Yake couldn’t help but ask her a question.
“What is it? Go ahead and ask.”
“Is it possible? That I’m still dreaming right now? That the real me is still unconscious?”
“Why are you suddenly saying that? Do you need me to give you a smack to help you figure out whether this is reality or a dream?”
Aierjisi wondered what had gotten into Yake. Why was he suddenly talking about this being a dream?
“Because Aier, you feel like a different person today. Normally, you’re this headstrong and unreasonable Little Princess, but today you’ve turned into this caring little girl. It’s hard for me to believe that this is reality.”
Previously, Yake had thought of Aierjisi as someone who, aside from having strong combat skills, was mostly just a headstrong and unreasonable Princess. Now, seeing Aierjisi’s 720-degree turnaround (though she indeed reverted back), he couldn’t help but question if he was still in a dream. If so, he really hoped he would never wake up.
“I see, so that’s the impression I leave in your mind. Since you’ve said that, let me show you whether it’s a dream or reality.”
After hearing Yake’s impression of her, Aierjisi smirked and then, without warning, bit down on his neck.
“Ow! That hurts! This pain is definitely real, so this must be reality.”
Yake covered the spot on his neck where Aierjisi had bitten him. Now he clearly recognized: this is reality! His little Princess really had started taking care of him—it’s a miracle from the sun rising in the west!
“It seems you’ve figured it out. That’s right, this is the real world! And what was that ridiculous impression you had of me? What do you mean headstrong and unreasonable? Have I really acted like that toward you? Besides, just because I can take care of someone isn’t anything special. Don’t forget, I’m not just a member of the Blood Clan’s Little Princess; I’m also a traveler from Earth. I have the ability to take care of myself. If I wanted to care for you, I could certainly do that.”
As Aierjisi helped Yake up from the floor, she scolded him fiercely.
This guy, seriously! He has such a terrible impression of her! How disappointing!
