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"Umm......"
When I regained consciousness, I saw a familiar ceiling.
It was my room in the annex of the Grand Duke's mansion.
'...I'm alive.'
I briefly regained consciousness right after being rescued from the pond, but it was fleeting, and I didn't have time to think about anything else.
I blinked and slowly exhaled, and it became real.
That I was still alive.
As I stared blankly, I sensed someone next to me.
It was Idris.
His eyes, meeting mine, wavered for a moment in surprise, but he quickly regained his usual composure.
He waited silently, watching me.
Until I spoke first.
"Why aren't you asleep?"
"I was worried."
Since the servants seem to think we're lovers, he probably had to pretend to be taking care of me.
Feeling sorry, I was about to check on a few things and send Idris back, but he stopped me as I tried to get up.
"You might still be too weak, so lie down a little longer."
"I remembered something I need to talk about."
Instead of asking what it was, Idris looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"What happened to the maid who tried to kill His Highness the Crown Prince?"
"She's dead."
"What about the mastermind?"
If we catch the mastermind, we might be able to prevent the Emperor from being poisoned.
'Then I can save Idris, and I can save myself, who took his hand.'
It was a very important issue for me, but Idris asked as if he couldn't believe it.
"Seriously, you got up just to ask about that?"
"I survived a near-death experience and found a clue, so I should track down the mastermind while I'm at it. To prevent this from happening again."
"Is that what's important right now?"
Is there anything more important than that?
As I looked at Idris with a puzzled expression, he sighed as if giving up and replied.
"...I'm looking into it. It won't be easy since they'll probably try to cut off the tail."
"I see..."
"Now, don't worry and go to sleep quickly. I'll watch you sleep before I leave."
Idris's voice was strangely brusque as he said that.
Almost like a sulking child.
'Why is he reacting like that?'
I was wondering about Idris's reaction when I suddenly remembered the time I vaguely regained consciousness in the pond.
The reddened eyes looking at me.
The precarious expression, as if he was about to collapse.
'I didn't know this person could make such an expression...'
That was the first time I had seen that side of him, and even though I was out of it, that's what I was thinking.
As I recalled that face, I realized.
'This person was worried about me.'
Even though we have a simple business relationship, it's understandable that he would be surprised since someone he's close to almost died.
'Even though I've experienced it countless times in war, death will never be something I get used to.'
Because he's a kind person who cares about others.
Somehow, I felt a warmth in my heart.
I stared silently at Idris, who was waiting for me to fall asleep, and murmured.
"So this is what it feels like."
"What feels like?"
"When I was sick, no one was ever there for me. My mother was weak, so I had to take care of her instead..."
"..."
"So this is what it feels like to have someone worry about me..."
Maybe it was because my body was weakened by today's accident, and my heart was weakened as well, or maybe it was because there was someone taking care of me.
A story from my childhood, which I wouldn't normally have shared, just flowed out.
After finishing my almost sentimental words, I lowered my heavy eyelids.
Beyond my blurring consciousness, I heard Idris's low voice.
"If you like being worried about, I'll do that. So..."
"..."
"Don't go rushing into dangerous things alone next time."
His voice sounded somehow earnest, so in my sleepy state, I nodded obediently like a good child.
"I will..."
Just as I was about to fall into slumber, I suddenly remembered something important I had to say.
"Idris."
He didn't answer, but I could feel him listening to my voice.
I mumbled to finish what I wanted to say.
"Thank you. For saving me..."
With those words, I fell into a deep sleep.
Like that peaceful afternoon when I had dozed off, leaning on the shoulder of that nameless child.
On the way back after the banquet.
The carriage carrying Elise and Peidan was filled with an almost frightening silence.
Elise glared at Peidan, who was sitting across from her, not next to her as usual, with a displeased look.
'Ha, who was it that abandoned me at the mansion, and now he's the one getting angry?'
She was already feeling annoyed that he wasn't even apologizing for it, but seeing Peidan's dissatisfied expression made her simmering anger explode.
At the same time, the face of the person who had helped her in her moment of desperation, unlike Peidan, came to mind.
'Grand Duke Zahir treated me like a gentleman.'
And more than anything...
'Everyone was looking at me.'
Many people approached her when she appeared at the banquet hall, holding Deon's hand.
Wondering what kind of relationship she had with him.
It was different from her relationship with Peidan, where she couldn't even hold his hand in public.
For that moment, she felt like she had become the main character of the banquet.
Until the news came that Leticia had fallen into the pond while trying to save the Crown Prince.
The feeling of joy plummeted in an instant.
'If it weren't for that woman, I could have been the main character of today's banquet!'
Leticia kept stealing the spotlight that she should have been receiving.
'I wish she had just died.'
As Elise was grinding her teeth while thinking about Leticia, Peidan, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke.
"Elise, do you think what I say is a joke?"
"...What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Didn't you hear me tell you not to come to the banquet?"
Peidan glared fiercely at Elise, who was blinking stupidly.
The plan to sway public opinion and frame Leticia as a villainess had failed miserably.
Tomorrow, the front page of every newspaper would be decorated with Leticia.
Not as a villainess seducing the Grand Duke while having a husband...
But as a righteous person who risked her life to save the Crown Prince.
Moreover...
'Elise appeared holding the Grand Duke's hand.'
Even those who had been suspicious of the relationship between Elise and him, wondering if it was an affair, now felt sorry for him.
'I couldn't acknowledge my relationship with Elise in that situation...'
In the end, he became a pitiful man abandoned by two women.
And it was at a time when no one was paying attention and it would have been buried.
His pride was hurt to the point of going crazy.
That anger was directed towards the person in front of him.
"Where did you meet Grand Duke Zahir again? Don't tell me... you were flirting with him behind my back?"
"A, are you questioning me now? After you abandoned me first?"
Elise would have usually coaxed Peidan, but this time, her pent-up frustration finally exploded.
"I forgot my invitation and couldn't enter the Imperial Palace, but the Grand Duke kindly helped me. Unlike someone who abandoned me."
"So you were happy to hold another man's hand and attend the banquet? Right in front of my eyes?"
"Why? Shouldn't I have? We're not even together yet."
"...What?"
"Are we married, or even engaged? We can't even say we're dating."
Elise took this opportunity to provoke Peidan.
But Peidan wasn't one to just let that provocation slide.
"Ha! Elise, you can't say that. Then your child will be a bastard, won't it?"
Child.
At the mention of the forgotten existence that flowed from Peidan's mouth, Elise flinched without realizing it.
The lie she had made up to steal the Duchess's position had returned as a pretext to threaten her at this moment.
However, Peidan, judging that Elise's heart had weakened at the word 'bastard', pressed on with his momentum.
"You're always like this. Your face and greed always come first, and I'm not even in your thoughts."
"..."
"Leticia was better."
Not only did he use the bastard threat, but he also reached the peak of gaslighting.
And that attack accurately scratched Elise's nerves.
"...What did you say?"
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