Chapter: 105
Ah.
Dietrich blinked his eyes blankly.
“Could it be… that you were worried about me?”
His voice came out terribly hoarse.
Even with his haggard face, Dietrich playfully smiled with his eyes.
“I’m glad to hear that. At least getting sick was worth it.”
“Really, is this the time to be making jokes?!”
Larit scolded him sternly.
Then she hurriedly got to her feet.
“Please wait a moment. I need to send someone to tell the Young Lady that the Duke has awakened…”
“Where is Eva?”
“She’s resting in the next room. You have no idea how much she cried because of you, Duke.”
“……”
For a moment, Dietrich felt a sharp pang of guilt in his chest.
He had intended to protect Eva somehow, no matter what.
He had vowed that, at the very least, he would make his only blood relative happy.
But this time, too…
“That’s enough.”
Dietrich struggled to shake his head.
“Just let her rest.”
“But still…”
“Besides, I don’t think I’ll be able to stay awake for very long anyway.”
His head still felt heavy.
He wanted nothing more than to collapse and fall asleep right away, but…
…strangely enough, simply knowing that Larit was by his side warmed his heart.
“By the way, Lady Ansi, have you been taking care of me this whole time?”
Dietrich asked in a somewhat gentler tone.
Larit answered awkwardly.
“Um… I suppose you could say that?”
“I see.”
Dietrich’s smile deepened slightly.
“I owe you one.”
“Owe me? It’s nothing. I just…”
After hesitating for a moment, Larit gave him a faint smile.
“I feel the same way as you, Duke.”
Dietrich looked a little bewildered.
“You feel the same way as me?”
“Well…”
Both of Larit’s cheeks flushed red like ripe apples.
Fidgeting for no reason with the fingers clutching the wet cloth, Larit carefully opened her mouth.
“I took care of you because I wanted to.”
Then she finished her sentence with emphasis.
“Because I was worried about you, Duke.”
What?
For a moment, Dietrich wondered if he had heard her correctly.
She had always been cautious, always taking a step back from everything.
For Larit to say something like that…
“Since you’re awake now, have something to eat and take your medicine before going back to sleep. I’ll call someone to…”
Larit deliberately avoided his gaze as she tried to slip out of the room.
But Dietrich was a little faster.
“No.”
His fingertips lightly caught the collar of her clothes.
“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble—no, I suppose it would be a little troublesome.”
The sharp, composed gaze he usually wore was nowhere to be seen. His loosened blue eyes quietly looked up at Larit.
“Could you just… stay by my side?”
“……”
For a brief moment, a tremor ran through Larit’s pink irises.
Soon, she sat back down.
“I will. I’ll stay by your side…”
Her soft, downy voice tickled Dietrich’s ears.
“You have to get better quickly too, Duke. All right?”
That day.
Dietrich fell asleep as though he had passed out, only to wake up several times.
Even through his hazy consciousness, he instinctively checked whether Larit was beside him.
Each time, Larit was there.
Whenever she noticed his gaze, she met his eyes and smiled brightly at him.
And Dietrich…
…felt deeply reassured by that alone.
Three days later.
“You’re perfectly healthy.”
The Duke was officially declared fully recovered by the doctor.
The Duke muttered somewhat sheepishly.
“No, I told you several times that I was already completely better…”
In truth, the Duke had been perfectly fine since the next day, but the Young Lady and I had joined forces to keep him in bed the entire time.
“We just figured you should get some proper rest while you had the chance. You know what they say about taking a break while you’re already down?”
The Young Lady shrugged.
“Oh my, Eva.”
The Duke looked at the Young Lady in admiration.
“I never knew you were capable of making such a sophisticated metaphor.”
“What?!”
The Young Lady immediately glared at him with narrowed eyes.
While the two of them bickered for quite some time, the Duke and I happened to meet each other’s eyes.
“Come to think of it, Lady Ansi was also caught in the rain with me. Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine.”
At that, the Duke’s expression genuinely became one of relief.
“That’s a relief.”
“Thank you.”
For some reason, I felt a ticklish sensation in my chest, so I subtly stood up, using it as an excuse to avert my gaze.
Beyond the wide window, vivid red autumn leaves were blooming everywhere.
And the reflection of my face in the window…
…was even redder than the autumn leaves.
You Over Destiny
It had already been two weeks since I returned to the capital from the Claudius Duchy.
The days had continued to grow colder.
Before I knew it, the weather had become cold enough to be called early winter.
Yesterday, frost had fallen over the entire capital for the first time.
‘Time has really flown.’
I stood by the window, gazing at the frost as it painted all sorts of delicate patterns across the glass.
Come to think of it, so many things had happened this year.
I had become friends with the young lady of the duchy.
I had somehow ended up participating in Claudius’s events.
I had even made new acquaintances through the book club.
Above all, there was the Duke……
“……”
I lowered my eyes with mixed feelings.
Ever since the day we had gone to the villa, the relationship between the Duke and me had maintained a subtle distance.
Of course, it was true that we had become much closer than before.
I didn’t know how the Duke felt, but it wasn’t as though I had absolutely no romantic feelings for him either……
‘……I wonder how the Duke feels?’
I clenched my fists tightly.
‘Honestly, I don’t think he feels nothing toward me.’
It felt as though all I needed to do was take one more step.
The destined partner of Seraphina.
Every time I thought of those words, I found myself hesitating.
My heart began beating wildly of its own accord.
The sound of my pounding heart was like raindrops pouring down as they drummed against an autumn forest.
Whoosh—
Before I knew it, I found myself falling into the illusion that I was sitting inside that cave once again.
The Duke’s strong arms that had wrapped firmly around my shoulders.
His warm body heat that had spread throughout me.
And those vivid blue eyes that had stared intently at me, looking only at me……
‘Aaaah.’
For some reason, my cheeks grew burning hot.
‘L-Let’s stop thinking about it.’
I fanned my face with my hand for no reason.
Seriously, the Duke was far too bad for my heart health……
‘Well, there are plenty of other problems I need to worry about besides the Duke.’
My eyes sharpened.
‘I’ve heard Seraphina has been making waves in society again lately.’
While I had been away from the capital visiting the Claudius Duchy,
news had reached me that Seraphina had once again been rising rapidly through high society.
The first time I heard the news was at the Watkins Book Club, which I had attended for the first time in a while.
“Lady Lopez, you know, apparently she’s recently become quite close with High Priest Evans.”
Lady Sherwood took a sip of black tea and spoke with a smiling, mocking expression.
“I wonder how Lady Sanchez is feeling? She’d been practically clinging to High Priest Evans all this time.”
Apparently, Lady Sherwood found it quite amusing that Seraphina had swooped in and snatched away High Priest Evans, whom Lady Sanchez had been showing interest in……
‘High Priest Evans and Seraphina?’
The young lady of the duchy and I exchanged glances for a moment.
I cautiously opened my mouth.
“But the two of them never had any connection before. How did they become acquainted?”
“I heard that Lady Lopez regularly volunteers at an orphanage run by the temple.”
What? Volunteer work?
I immediately widened my eyes.
That Seraphina, who hated getting even a single drop of water on her fingertips?
Even though I had heard the words with my own ears, I couldn’t quite understand the sentence.
Lady Sherwood shrugged.
“Apparently, they happened to run into each other there, and that’s how they became acquainted.”
As soon as the gathering ended and the two of us had moved elsewhere to be alone, the young lady of the duchy spoke abruptly.
“Isn’t it a little strange?”
“I think so too.”
I nodded.
It was strange, wasn’t it? The combination was far too coincidental.
Putting aside the fact that, as though she were the female protagonist of this world, Seraphina somehow managed to claw her way back to prominence no matter how many connections she lost with Gregory……
There was High Priest Evans, who had been strangely hostile toward the Claudius ducal family.
And Seraphina, who disliked both me and the young lady of the duchy.
‘……The two of them are joining forces.’
That didn’t seem like good news for either me or the Claudius ducal family.
Hmm.
My eyes narrowed as I recalled that moment.
‘As I thought, I don’t have a good feeling about this.’
It seemed like we needed to be on our guard.
