Cora lay in bed, feeling as though her heart was about to leap out of her throat.
Sidney sat beside her bed, soothing her gently.
"You don't need to worry. We've already informed Duke Sterling. He knows you have Deep Diving Sickness."
"Deep Diving Sickness? Right, I-I have Deep Diving Sickness!" Cora now looked exactly like Elliot. She wore casual clothes, but her appearance was flawless.
Yet her overly nervous expression and tone still gave her away. Never mind the Old Duke-even Michel, who hardly knew Elliot, could spot the problem at a glance.
At that moment, Michel stood in the doorway with his arms folded, looking at Sidney as though he wanted to say something but held back.
He lowered his voice. "Is this really going to work?"
"Relax. Two of the symptoms of Deep Diving Sickness are mental dissociation and confusion. Essentially, this illness involves a separation of Spirit and flesh, weakening the Spirit Body's control over the physical body."
"Then, won't Lord Elliot have a very severe case of Deep Diving Sickness when he comes back?" Cora was somewhat startled. "Don't you get Deep Diving Sickness from spending too long in the sea?"
"That's right. The Sea of the Moon is the gap between the Present World and Dreams. If you stay in the sea too long, you become tainted with the aura of Dreams and gradually assimilated into them. Your physical body remains in the Present World, but your Spirit Body gradually transforms into an existence within Dreams. That is Deep Diving Sickness."
"Its actual symptoms are like... you've seen drunk people, haven't you? They stagger when they walk, and their thoughts become muddled, as though they haven't fully woken up."
Sidney's expression grew a little gloomier. "Deep Diving Sickness is troublesome, but it isn't incurable.