Thud—
It felt as if his heart had dropped out of his chest.
Lennox couldn't think calmly enough to understand how things had come to this.
Her pale face.
Blood not only staining her clothes but smeared at the corner of her lips.
Scooping her into his arms, Lennox rushed out in a panic.
"Doctor—bring a doctor!"
He ran blindly through the halls, desperate to find anyone who could help.
"Your Grace? When did you return? No, more importantly—"
By chance, he ran into Pippin, who was carrying a thick stack of documents to the office.
"I said call a doctor at once!"
"…What?"
"Estelle is dying!"
Pippin glanced at Estelle.
"Was it you, Your Grace?"
"Don't even joke about that."
Lennox snapped fiercely, his expression twisting in anguish. Pippin tilted his head as he studied him.
"My lady."
"..."
"You're only pretending to be unconscious, aren't you?"
"What are you—"
"If you keep this up, His Grace is going to turn the whole manor upside down. You may as well open your eyes now."
"…Thank you, Pippin."
With her face flushed bright red, Estelle opened her eyes.
Lennox, who had truly believed she was at death's door, was thrown into confusion.
"Since when…?"
"Since you started calling for a doctor."
She had woken the moment she heard his desperate cries, but missed the chance to reassure him, so she had awkwardly kept up the act.
If not for Pippin, she would have quietly pretended to sleep until the doctor arrived.
"As you can see, I'm perfectly fine—so could you put me down now?"
"I can't."
"…Pardon?"
"I can't put you down. There's blood on you. It's not mine—so it must be yours, isn't it?"
His words carried absolute certainty that he himself could never be wounded.
"I just… coughed."
"Coughed?"
"No, it was just a nosebleed that happened at the worst possible moment—that's all."
Fearing he might take it too seriously if she admitted she'd coughed up blood, Estelle slipped in the lie.
"Pippin. Fetch a doctor."
But it didn't work.
"Pippin! That's not necessary!"
In the end, Lennox carried Estelle back to the bedchamber himself.
Estelle desperately tried to persuade Pippin that there was no need to summon a physician.
"Perhaps His Grace is… overreacting a little—"
"Exactly!"
As Lennox finally accepted that Estelle's condition wasn't dire, a bit of mental space returned to him—
And suddenly, a sense of wrongness struck.
"There's no trace of miasma on her."
After finding the relics and minerals, his whole body had been drenched in miasma.
And yet now, there wasn't a trace of that suffocating taint left. It was as if someone had washed him clean.
But Glesia, shut away in seclusion, certainly hadn't been the one to do it.
'Honestly, I don't even know how I made it back home.'
Exposed to such a massive amount of demonic energy for so long, he'd lost his reason—his memory gone blank.
It was much like the aftermath of his past rampages.
'Hah. Come to think of it… I was touching her so casually.'
But why?
Even the fact that he had fallen asleep clutching Estelle in his arms was another mystery.
Though the posture had been uncomfortable, the fragile, warm body resting against his chest had felt so…
"Your Grace, shall I fetch a doctor?"
Thankfully, before his recollections went too far, Pippin's voice cut in.
"Didn't I say—call one?"
"No, milord. I meant you should be examined. You seem to have a fever."
"What?"
Lennox pressed the back of his hand to his cheek.
It was burning hot.
"…It's nothing."
A fever rising,
his heart racing,
and his gaze constantly drawn toward her.
He had thought that if he simply avoided Estelle for a while, the symptoms would subside—but instead, they had only grown worse.
"Ah, right! Your Grace!"
Startled, Lennox hastily fumbled for words, and Estelle called out.
"Wh–what is it?"
He reacted far too sharply, like a man on edge.
Estelle's eyes held a rather intimidating glint.
Had she somehow seen through him?
"I heard you didn't tell Lady Glesia about our contract."
So that was it.
"Would it be a problem if we revealed the truth about the contract?"
"It would be… troublesome."
In truth, more than troublesome.
Having once lost her beloved in such a way, Glesia had grown hostile to the very idea of keeping anyone close by her side.
And if she were to hear that it was a contract marriage?
'That would make it worse.'
No doubt she would raise a storm, demanding what right he had to toy with another's life over something as trivial as a contract.
"I told Lady Glesia that once you return, I'll be divorcing."
"D–divorcing?"
"If I didn't say at least that much, I thought she might drive me away. If it would only be a little troublesome, then perhaps it's better to just reveal the truth about our contract."
"I already told her the mandrake medicine was given to me. So then…"
Lennox's expression darkened.
In his mind, like a reflex, he heard the strains of an austere classical piece.
And with it, the image of his elder sister approaching him, pillow in hand.
Catching his sudden shift, Estelle asked hesitantly, surely not—
"Are you… afraid of Lady Glesia?"
"What nonsense. I told you, it would just be troublesome."
It didn't sound convincing.
Under the weight of her suspicious gaze, Lennox secretly broke into a cold sweat.
Late afternoon.
Glesia lay in bed, eyes wide open.
Normally, she would have drifted off by now, but ever since her conversation with Estelle, her daily rhythm had changed—if only a little.
'What might happen tomorrow?'
With that faint sense of anticipation, she found it hard to fall asleep.
Just then—
"They say His Grace has returned."
The whispers of the maids slipped through the door.
"Gasp—did we forget to clean anywhere?"
Lennox is back?
Glesia bolted upright.
"No, that's not the point! The moment he arrived, he swept milady into his arms and carried her down the corridors!"
"What? Why?"
"If someone as composed as him was shouting for a doctor the instant he got back, isn't it obvious?"
"Oh my…"
The maids let out soft squeals.
"They say milady, too embarrassed, kept her eyes squeezed tightly shut!"
Wasn't this far too shamelessly exposing the details of their bedchamber life?
While the maids giggled mischievously, Glesia went pale as a sheet.
It was clear now—Lennox truly had feelings for Estelle!
'Of course. He's not blind. How could he not fall for someone as pretty and kind as Estelle?'
Until now, she hadn't cared whether Lennox stayed at home or wandered about outside.
But things were different now.
'If he's back… Estelle will ask for a divorce…!'
Wait.
'If Estelle is to survive, then divorce is the right choice.'
Glesia pushed herself up as if to storm out, but then forced herself to calm down and lay back down again.
Thud—
Something heavy fell to the floor.
"…?"
Turning her head, she saw that a stack of fairy tale books Duren had brought over had tumbled down.
One book lay open, and between its pages was a well-dried rose.
[I picked this one because it reminded me of you, Lady Glesia.]
The very rose she had once coldly refused.
—And they lived happily ever after.
Glesia, as if possessed, opened another fairy tale book.
Here too, and there, and again—
Pressed flowers were tucked into the endings, each one at the final happy scene.
Who else would deliberately place a bookmark on the very last page?
"…So foolish."
Estelle had pressed those flowers so that Glesia could always open to the ending—because it was the happiest moment.
"…I suppose… I'll have to delay becoming a stranger to her."
It wasn't because Estelle had been tainted by miasma. It was because, if the divorce happened suddenly, Duren would be heartbroken.
'Yes… only for that reason.'
Convincing herself, Glesia hatched a plan.
'I'll tell Lennox to stay away from the house for a while! And if they've already signed the divorce papers, I'll just hide them!'
It was a fine plan.
Without hesitation, Glesia ran straight to Lennox.
Grrr—
Meanwhile, Duren sat bristling, every bit of downy hair on end as he kept his guard up.
"Duren, it's time for your snack."
Estelle coaxed him gently.
But even with a treat right in front of him, Duren wouldn't budge.
The reason was sitting directly across from Estelle—Lennox.
Brought to the study by maid Riley, Duren clung behind her and glared at Lennox.
It had only been a few days since they'd last seen each other, yet his wariness now seemed to pierce the sky.
"Take a closer look at his face, Duren. It's the man you know."
"Papa."
"…What?"
"Not 'the man I know.' The papa I know."
Lennox corrected her.
After all, when he'd left to search for the relics, Duren had called him papa.
That embarrassing little word "papa" still rang vividly in his ears—and yet now, he was being treated worse than a stranger.
"Duren, do you hate papa?"
"…Don't like."
"Why? Mama doesn't think you're acting like this for no reason, so she wants to know why."
Until Lennox had left, the father–son relationship hadn't been bad at all.
When Estelle looked puzzled, Duren—clutching tightly at Riley's hem—spoke up.
"You left Doo-doo."
…! "That was because something urgent came up—"
"Hmph!"
Duren snapped his head away coldly.
"Doo-doo won't eat cookies!"
He actually refused his snack!
Everyone was shocked as Duren trotted out of the study.
"I'll go after him!"
Riley, coming to her senses belatedly, hurried to follow.
"It seems Young Master Duren is hurt because Your Grace left for so long without a word."
"That was never my intention."
He had thought he'd find the relics quickly and return.
Even when he realized the barrier would delay his return by a day or two, Duren hadn't crossed his mind.
Swept away by the strange emotions Estelle had stirred in him, he had no room left to consider anything else.
"The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. Recently, Duren seemed to have grown quite fond of you, Your Grace."
Despite being neglected for over a month, just a few shared meals and story readings had been enough for Duren to open his heart.
But just because Duren had opened his heart so easily didn't mean that his affection was shallow.
Estelle wanted Lennox to feel the weight of responsibility.
Fortunately, it seemed he did—his expression showed no small measure of shock.
"What do you think I should do?"
The heaviness in his voice betrayed the turmoil he couldn't hide.
"…Are you asking for my opinion now?"
"Your advice has always been useful. Rather than cloaking things in riddles that are hard to decipher, if you speak plainly, I'll take it to heart immediately."
Estelle froze.
'He's realized.'
That she had been the one to leak the relic's location.
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