There was nothing Eirian or Yuze could do as Chenzhou seized; the miasma was desperate to fight off Eirian's magic.
Eirian was tempted to push more of her magic to see if it could overwhelm and expel the miasma entirely, but if Chenzhou was seizing already at such a small amount, any more might kill him before Eirian could figure out how to remove the miasma without causing serious or permanent damage.
She withdrew her magic, not quite guilty but not guiltless either. She hadn't intended to hurt him, but at some point, it was inevitable. She would have needed to see the miasma's reaction to her magic. Mostly, she just felt bad for not warning him.
The seizure faded away after Eirian removed her magic. The miasma continued to writhe, pouring out of Chenzhou with even more ferocity than before.
Yuze, pale, eyes wide, brushed Chenzhou's hair off his face as his friend finally went still and his body relaxed. "He's never seized before."
"Never?"
"Not unless he didn't tell me." And he would have went unsaid.
"I need to see what treatments they tried on him. Someone should have noticed something if he reacted so extremely to so little magic."
"They have tried magical remedies before. At worst, he was bedridden for several days. Once, he couldn't eat cheese for a month."
Eirian glanced at him. "Cheese?"
Yuze shrugged. "Couldn't even smell it without bursting into hives and getting nauseous."
Eirian stared at him. She'd never heard of such a ridiculous reaction. "What the hell did they do?"
"Some kind of thistle milk potion. It's in the records. It was years ago, but he's still iffy about cheese sometimes."
Eirian couldn't think of anything else to say, so she said. "I love cheese."
"So do I," Yuze admitted solemnly.
Their eyes met.
They burst into giggles, relief and disbelief and the kind of amusement that came from those situations where you didn't know what was happening while it happened and afterward you could only laugh about it.
Chenzhou came awake to the two of them laughing over him like fools. Sore, in body and heart, he scowled at them, pushing them away to sit up. "So pleased I could amuse you."
"Cheese," Eirian wheezes, and it takes Chenzhou a moment to realize what she's talking about.
He shoots Yuze a wounded look. "You told her that?"
"It's not embarrassing," Yuze says, "It's just weird. Maybe she can figure out why."
"I can't believe you drank thistle milk." Is the first thing Eirian gets out once she stops laughing.
They both stare at her, clueless.
Eirian stares back, astonished. "It doesn't do anything." They keep staring at her. "It has no medicinal value at all."
"What?" They squawk in sync, which is kind of adorable.
Chenzhou continues. "I drank it every day for a week. It's the worst thing I've tasted!"
Eirian gasped, "What do you mean, horrible? It tastes like cheese, it is delicious! That's how it became so popular as a white drug."
"White drug?" Yuze asked.
"Cheese is disgusting," Chenzhou declared. "I had it banned from the Camelia."
Yuze's eyes went wide when he looked at her. Even Chenzhou blinked rapidly a few times, like he was trying to convince himself of what he was seeing.
She wasn't sure what expression she was making, but it hardly mattered. Cheese was one of her guilty pleasures, sometimes she ate a pound of it just to relax.
If it was really banned…Eirian couldn't decide which one of them to respond to first-
No, food won out. She turned to her husband. "Cheese is delicious. What's wrong with you?"
"Cheese is an abomination. What's wrong with you?" Chenzhou returned, still pale and weak but unwilling to accept defeat.
"I think there are more pressing matters," Yuze muttered as Eirian and Chenzhou stared one another down.
"You were so perfect before this," Chenzhou sighed, defeated and leaving Eirian stunned into silence. He even slumped back, leaning against the chair Yuze had shoved aside when he'd started seizing.
She was on the verge of saying something cutting about his complete lack of taste when Yuze smothered a suspicious sound with his hand.
Her eyes narrow, darting between them until Yuze has to stick his face in the crook of his arm.
Chenzhou at least managed to keep a straight face when Eirian glared at him.
"Really?" She drawled, "You're trying to be funny?"
"Trying?" Chenzhou looked wounded, not convincingly, but enough that Eirian got the general idea.
She glanced at Yuze. "You're a terrible spy."
"I am not," he sputtered, but his lips were still turned up in a way that betrayed his amusement. "You're face when he said it was banned. I've never seen someone look so affronted over cheese."
Eirian turned back to Chenzhou, and she must have looked fiercer than normal because he raised his hands in a mock surrender. "It's not actually banned."
She relaxed a fraction.
"I just hate it," he continued.
"Well, I guess that makes you the most disappointing husband I've ever had." Eirian sniffed, turning her nose up. Only fools hated cheese.
"I'm the only husband you've ever had." Chenzhou pointed out, because Eirian's father had been a bit terrifying in his need to assure Chenzhou his daughter was intact. Chenzhou couldn't have cared less, but also, her father was a fool to believe that by Eirian's own words. He clearly hadn't paid much attention to her, which added another unfortunate layer to the entire marriage.
"For now," Eirian returned with a vicious smile. A normal husband would probably be concerned when his wife was so confident in his soon(ish) demise, but Chenzhou hadn't behaved normally so far, and this was no exception.
"As long as he's titled Second Husband. I may not have achieved much in my life but at least I married you first."
~ tbc