On the second day of Christmas, Albert woke up very late. His original intention to get up early and do something had been extinguished by the aftereffects of overexertion. All he felt now was aching all over, like the symptoms after a severe fever.
"Still not getting up?"
Isabelle swept aside her long hair, leaned down, and kissed Albert on the forehead.
"My whole body aches. I don't want to get up. I'm planning to lie here all day," Albert said lazily. "Why don't you lie here with me? There shouldn't be anything we need to do today, right?"
"Weren't you planning to go back today?" Isabelle seemed to be in a good mood.
"We can go back tomorrow," Albert said without hesitation.
Watching Albert stubbornly stay in bed like a child, Isabelle found it rather amusing. In the tone of someone coaxing a child, she said, "All right, if you want to lie down, you still need to get up and eat something first. Then we can lie down together."
"All right. Being cool always comes at a price," Albert muttered. "Also, I shouldn't have gone to soak in the hot springs yesterday. I should have used a cold compress first."
"Isn't there a potion that can deal with this?" Isabelle asked. "Should we try some spells and see if they can treat it?"
She fetched the Healing Manual from beside the fireplace in the Great Hall and quickly flipped through it in search of a treatment, but... there was no doubt that she found nothing.
"Forget it. At least none of the healing spells I know are effective against these symptoms," Albert said, signaling for Isabelle not to bother. If there really had been a way, he would have used it on himself long ago.
"Perhaps, like nearsightedness,