"Understood!"
In an instant, Winteren Castle became a flurry of activity.
The servants were all rushing about, desperately searching for Estelle.
Lennox himself set out to look for her. His body was moving before his mind could think.
"Even if she took the mandrake medicine, she's still the woman who was bedridden just moments ago."
Whoever had the audacity to sneak into the main keep and take her away—whoever that bastard was—once found, he would not be allowed to close his eyes peacefully.
Crack.
Grinding his teeth, Lennox prowled around the castle grounds.
His steps eventually brought him to the annex where Estelle had been staying.
"Here…"
When he was young, it had been a hideout where he often played with his sister. But after their father was caught committing adultery in this very place, it was abandoned.
His mother—then Duchess of Winteren—furious at her beloved husband's betrayal, ordered the annex sealed off.
Since then, the children's hideout had been forgotten, left neglected without even the barest upkeep.
"It was as if they wanted to erase the fact that such a thing had ever happened."
But—
"So they didn't just cast spells on people, but even on places as well, it seems."
Although the annex was a place tainted by a disgraceful incident, a gentle warmth seemed to linger there.
"No, Mani… this isn't the time to dwell on that."
Just as Lennox was about to continue searching for Estelle, he heard the faint sound of someone groaning.
It was so weak that an ordinary person wouldn't have noticed it, but Lennox's heightened senses surpassed those of most criminals, and he froze in place.
Could it be…?
Following the sound, he stepped into the annex.
And then—
"Estelle."
She was lying in bed.
Aside from being tightly wrapped in blankets from head to toe, she appeared unharmed.
And it wasn't as though anyone had bound her up; it looked more like she had cocooned herself, like a caterpillar, of her own will.
"Are you all right? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
Estelle's eyelids trembled, and then her bright golden eyes slowly opened.
Thankfully, she had regained consciousness.
Too weak to speak, Estelle gave the faintest nod.
"Where's the one who kidnapped you?"
Lennox demanded with a fierce momentum, as though he might seize the culprit by the collar that very instant.
A flicker of puzzlement crossed Estelle's eyes.
With difficulty, she parted her lips.
"I came… on my own."
Her voice was cracked and fragile.
Contrary to Lennox's assumption, Estelle hadn't been abducted.
"You came here by yourself?"
Lennox's expression showed disbelief, yet her words were true.
It had happened precisely during the brief moment he was away—Estelle had regained her senses.
[This is the main keep…]
She realized at once that she was within the main castle. And with that realization, she had left her bed.
[I have to go back.]
Back to the place where I belong.
Though feverish and weighed down by her body, Estelle forced herself to move, dragging her steps back to the annex.
Because if Lennox saw her inside the main keep, he would surely be displeased.
Yet Lennox himself could not understand why, while sick, Estelle had chosen to leave the main castle.
"Why?"
"Because… you don't like it."
Me being there.
The explanation was brief but unmistakably clear.
For a moment, Lennox was at a loss for words.
Because she wasn't wrong.
It had been none other than Lennox who had pressured her so thoroughly that even her shadow could not fall upon the main keep.
Realizing his own karma, Lennox faltered. Meanwhile, Estelle, unbothered, only pulled the blanket tighter around herself.
"Cold."
Her body shivered with chills.
She couldn't even remember how she had managed to return to the annex.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere…" Estelle muttered faintly in reply.
"That can't be."
Why does it feel like her condition has gotten worse, even after giving her the mandrake medicine?
"You still seem to have a fever."
At Lennox's remark, Estelle felt wronged.
She was already miserable from being sick, but now being treated like a liar made it even worse.
Estelle suddenly grabbed his hand.
Then she pulled it to her forehead.
"I'm not… lying."
It was her way of telling him to see for himself. Any trace of his usual obsession with cleanliness was forgotten in the face of her burning fever.
"..."
Lennox froze.
Of all times, he hadn't put his gloves back on after removing them earlier—his bare hand was touching her directly.
And her forehead, in all its blazing heat, felt as though it was boiling.
He was too shaken to even wonder if a human body could really burn this hot.
No matter how much he scrubbed his hands until the skin nearly peeled, no matter how many times he reassured himself after contact that the other person was still alive—
Lennox had always feared touching others.
That was why he never laid hands on anyone. Yet Estelle shattered that barrier so effortlessly.
When he poured potions into her mouth before, at least he had time to brace himself.
But now, staring into her golden eyes shimmering with unshed tears—tears born of some deep sorrow—Lennox's mind went utterly blank.
Soon after Estelle closed her eyes, she drifted in and out of awareness.
"I apologize. I didn't mean to interrogate you."
Estelle gave a faint nod.
She simply found comfort in the coolness of the hand resting on her fevered forehead.
The tears in her eyes were merely the result of the high fever.
What she truly wanted was to just faint and be freed, even briefly, from the torment racking her body.
"Estelle."
Lennox called her softly.
"Estelle Winteren."
Her name was spoken again, but too weak to answer, Estelle only furrowed her brow.
"So annoying…"
Meanwhile, the hand serving as a cold compress kept twitching, as though he might pull it away at any moment.
Was that why he kept calling her name—just to remove it?
With a voice wrung out like water from a dry cloth, Estelle whispered:
"Don't… make such a fuss."
Heh.
A hollow laugh escaped Lennox.
Seeing that Estelle was at least conscious, he decided he ought to fetch a physician.
But the only reason Lennox had called her name was to tell her to let go—since Estelle hadn't released his hand.
She hadn't answered when he spoke before, yet now she mumbled weakly, telling him not to make such a fuss.
"My worth really is expensive."
Yet Estelle gave no reply.
She only turned her head slightly to the side, as if even responding was bothersome.
So, in her sickness, she's become like a child.
Her fever was blazing that fiercely.
He could have pulled away and gone to summon a physician, but he didn't want to.
Instead, he simply stayed there, silently playing the role of a cold compress.
"…Hm?"
When his hand, once hot, gradually cooled to a lukewarm touch, Estelle finally let go first, abandoning her grip.
Thud—
Her hand pushed his away almost carelessly, as if discarding it.
Lennox looked down at his nearly tossed-aside hand and let out a hollow laugh.
"There was a time you clung to me so desperately."
Was this what it meant—that she had drained all the sweetness from him?
If Estelle were in her right mind, she would have retorted that she had never clung to him at all.
But as she slept, she only tossed and groaned in her fevered state.
"You're far too fragile."
Was the mandrake medicine I gave her a fake?
It was well known that the Tower Master—who had been in a coma for over ten years and only recently awakened—had become an eccentric obsessed with nothing but money.
Even so, he was still an undeniable genius despite his quirks, and Lennox had trusted him with this.
But if that medicine had been tampered with…
Then he'll have to die.
Lennox thought it with calm indifference as he removed the glove from his other hand.
With that hand, still cool to the touch, he continued serving as a cold compress, keeping his vigil by Estelle's side.
For a long while.
Estelle had vanished from the main keep in the late hours of the night.
And it wasn't until dawn, when Lennox finally found her in the annex, that he managed to tear himself away from her side.
"I'm sorry, my lord. We still haven't found the lady."
The servants who had failed to locate Estelle bowed their heads.
"She may have already slipped outside the castle walls. Perhaps we should increase the search parties—"
"There's no need for that."
"…Pardon?"
"I found her in the annex. There was no kidnapper—so call off the search."
The servants let out a collective sigh of relief.
With the tension easing, they finally had the presence of mind to look at Lennox objectively.
"Then… shall we prepare a bath for you now, my lord?"
"What nonsense is that? The physician must be summoned first."
Everyone was taken aback.
Lennox, having rushed about the castle searching for Estelle, was completely disheveled.
Yet the man who normally couldn't tolerate so much as a wrinkle in his collar seemed utterly unconcerned with his own appearance.
"We will fetch the physician, my lord."
"It will be faster if I go myself. I'll be back shortly—watch over Estelle in the meantime."
She was sleeping peacefully for now, but there was no telling what might happen while he was gone.
After stressing his instructions, Lennox strode away in haste.
"Mom!"
Waaah—
What stirred Estelle from her fevered sleep was Durén's wailing cry.
"Don't die!"
Mommy's not going to die…
She wanted to reassure him, to reach out and stroke his hair—but she didn't have the strength to lift even a finger.
Then Lennox's voice rang out.
"She's not going to die."
"Uwaaah!"
Durén's crying only grew louder.
"With a body temperature of thirty-nine degrees, it's dangerous, yes—but she won't die immediately."
It was a remarkably cold and clinical tone.
Are you trying to comfort the child, or make him cry more?
With that thought, Estelle drifted back into unconsciousness.
"…Quack."
She thought she faintly heard Lennox mutter an insult under his breath.
When she awoke again from her feverish, incoherent dreams, her body felt noticeably lighter.
Not fully recovered, of course—but at least her eyes no longer brimmed with tears simply from being open. That alone was considerable progress.
I suppose it's time I got up…
Moving sluggishly, Estelle rose from the bed and opened the window to breathe in the outside air.
But outside—she saw someone she should never have seen.
Huh?
Why is that person here?
Am I burning up so badly that I'm seeing hallucinations?
Estelle blinked her eyes.
READ MORE CHAPTERS HERE: https://payhip.com/pokemon1920