IBYSRHML | Chapter 48

Episode 48

François came, and I had to drink the bubbling, awful-tasting mana beverage.

They say bitter medicine is good for the body, but I’m not sure if the mana drink is actually effective.

Still, maybe because I had been sick for three days straight, my body slowly started to get better.

Marius took care of me on the first day and then disappeared somewhere.

After that, Emilia sister and François took care of me.

“Little one. Want some water? Or would you like a drink instead?”

“I want milk.”

“Okay. Let’s have some milk. Aren’t you hungry?”

“Mm. I want some soup.”

The maid sisters went off to get some soup.

Emilia sister took my temperature one last time and pricked the tip of my finger to draw blood.

I don’t know what they use my blood for.

Every time they poke my skin with a needle, I get so scared that my heart races.

“Hey, sis. Edgar hasn’t come to see me at all, right?”

“Do you want to play with Edgar?”

“Mm. It’s nothing.”

As far as I know, Edgar hasn’t visited me even once.

As if to say that we’re no longer friends.

Even Marius and Leopold came to see me……

Is our friendship really over?

Well. I guess if Antonio liked playing with Vicky more than with me, I would have bawled my eyes out too.

“Lady Emilia. Sir François is here to see you.”

“Oh, it must be for the blood test.”

“Sis, are you going?”

“I’ll be right back. Eat some soup when it arrives, okay?”

“Mm. See you later.”

After Emilia sister left, I was alone in the room.

I kept watching out the window. Just in case Edgar might come.

But not even the maid sisters passed by, let alone Edgar.

‘I should go to Edgar and ask him to make up.’

I left a note on my bed saying I was going to see Edgar, put on my slippers, and went to Orion Palace.

Every time I came here, I thought how big Orion Palace was.

So many rooms that Edgar being alone here seemed kind of lonely.

Knock. Knock.

When I knocked on the door, a voice came from inside.

“I said I wanted to be alone!”

Knock knock.

I knocked again, then gently opened the door.

A sharp voice stabbed into my ears.

“Do my words mean nothing to you? I said, leave me alone!”

Edgar was lying down, hugging Cookie tightly.

“Edgar.”

At the sound of my voice, Edgar sprang up from the bed.

His eyes widened in surprise and met mine.

When he saw it was me, he moved his lips but couldn’t say anything.

Then, when I sniffled, he rushed over and covered me with a blanket.

Then he demanded in a sharp voice.

“I told you not to come in, so why did you?”

“Sorry. But I wanted to see you.”

“…If you’re sick, you should stay in your room. What if you get worse coming all the way here?”

“I don’t know. It hurts more because you didn’t come to see me.”

Every time I thought our friendship was over, my chest ached so much I thought I might cry.

Maybe it was the backlight, but Edgar’s green eyes looked darker, like seaweed.

Hearing my answer, Edgar looked like he might cry too, then firmly shut his mouth.

“We’re not friends anymore?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t want to be friends with me?”

“…That’s not it. I’m just mad.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Antonio is your mega best friend, so why am I just a friend? We looked at butterflies in the garden and explored the Imperial Palace together. And you said Leo is your best friend too, right? Why am I nothing?”

“Edgar and I don’t have secrets between us.”

“What?”

“Best friends are people you make secrets with. Mega best friends are the ones who can forgive you even when you tell them your secrets.”

With Leopold, we secretly shared chocolate behind our sisters’ backs, and Antonio and I shared many secrets growing up.

There were times we broke a flowerpot and lied that the wind knocked it over, or doodled on the neighbor’s dog’s belly and ran away.

Even if we exposed each other’s faults, we would forgive and stay friends—that’s what a mega best friend is.

But Edgar and I had never done that.

Edgar wasn’t the kind to cause trouble like me, and even when he did, he just obediently got scolded.

Like the day I fought with Helen.

Unlike me, who desperately claimed it wasn’t my fault, Edgar just stayed indifferent even when Leopold nagged him.

“We never made any secrets together. Sniff. Because Edgar is good at everything on his own……”

Even though he has a bad temper, Edgar is brilliant at everything.

Unlike me, he reads well and knows all the words.

So he never caused trouble with me like Antonio did.

“What? That’s all it was?”

While I was sniffling from feeling hurt, Edgar chuckled like he was dumbfounded.

Instead, he took out a handkerchief and scrubbed under my nose.

This is kind of humiliating……

“Then do it with me too. Whatever-friend.”

“Are we going to make a secret?”

“We’ll make a secret and, uh… just do everything. But it has to be something Helen Eldridge and Chris Ruman can’t do.”

“Then we can’t be best friends or mega best friends……”

But if we didn’t do anything, it felt like I’d lose Edgar forever.

Just then, something popped into my head.

A week ago, Regina sister said this during tea time with my eldest sister.

— Mr. Leo and I might be soulmates.

I didn’t really know what a soulmate was, but Regina sister  looked so happy when she said it.

She smiled as brightly as if the sun were shining on her, and her voice was full of excitement.

My eldest sister also looked very pleased, so I remembered thinking “soulmate” must mean a really good friend.

“Then Edgar, let’s be soulmates.”

“Soulmates? What’s that?”

“Uh… it’s really great! A friend you’re with forever, I think?”

“Then it’s only with me. Antonio and Helen Eldridge can’t be. Just me. Got it?”

“Mm. I promise.”

“Can you swear?”

When I hesitated, Edgar narrowed his eyes.

I didn’t know exactly what a soulmate was, but I was sure something bad would happen if I didn’t say yes now.
I quickly nodded.

“I swear! I’ll only be soulmates with Edgar!”

“Good. Pinky promise.”

Edgar held out his pinky finger.

Even though he was taller than me, his finger was longer by a whole joint.

When I hooked my tiny finger onto his long one, Edgar clasped them tightly.

Then he pressed our thumbs together like a stamp.

“If you break it, I won’t forgive you.”

“Don’t worry. We’re soulmates now. I’ll never break it.”

Only then did Edgar look satisfied.

His lips curled up gently, and he seemed to be in a better mood.

“Then let’s go back to Lette Palace now.”

As I was about to leave the room with the blanket Edgar had wrapped me in, he suddenly ran to the bed and brought something back.

It was the teddy bear Jelly that Edgar had taken from me last time.

“Now Jelly is yours to raise.”

“He was my little brother to begin with?”

“I only took him hostage because you were being mean. If you bring him again, I’ll cook him into bear soup, so treat him well.”

Seriously, he’s awful. Threatening me with my little brother.

I hugged Jelly again, and the soft texture made me feel happy.

Both Jelly and Edgar had returned to how they used to be.

Maybe that’s why the next day I was fully recovered and able to get out of bed.

It was only after that that I found out what a soulmate really was.

Leopold was about to meet Regina.

They hadn’t gotten back together.

Regina had decided to focus on adjusting to the Empire for now.
So Leopold had to cling on just to be friends.

It might have felt burdensome, but Regina was the first person to accept even his supernatural abilities, so they decided to stay in a strange relationship—like friends, like lovers.

“Your Grace. The Duchess of Aykroyd has sent a letter.”

“Great-aunt?”

The Duchess of Ackroyd, mentioned once by the Duchess of Berg, was Leopold’s great-aunt.

Since there was still time before his date, Leopold checked the letter.

…Leopold. You’re already twenty-five.

Isn’t it time you took a wife and started a family?

I feel bad thinking the lack of elders in the household is why you haven’t married yet.

And raising your cousin alone must be hard in many ways.

So I’ve found some quite decent young ladies. The second daughter of the Duke of Roiman from the Kingdom of Irfman…

Leopold didn’t read any further and stuffed the letter into his drawer.

He didn’t need any other women. Regina was enough.

Regina was waiting for him at the entrance of the Imperial Palace.

Today was their first date outside the palace.

“Mr. Leo!”

Wearing a blue dress the color of her eyes, Regina waved at him.

When Regina smiled at him, Leopold’s heart swelled.

For the first time in his life, he felt a powerful sense of fulfillment.

“Did you wait long?”

“No. I just came out and saw you.”

Since they decided to stay friends, Regina seemed a little different.

Her clothes were more casual, and her expression and tone were more relaxed.

Even that made Leopold feel like his heart would burst.

He didn’t even understand how he could love everything about one person so much.

“How is Lilliana doing?”

“She’s full of energy now. She woke up early and was so excited to play with Edgar that she ran outside.”

“That’s a relief. I was really worried because she had such a high fever. Shall we go? I’ll take you to the international street with the Trovancha store.”

Leopold politely kept his distance as he led Regina.

A gang of Hans, loitering near the palace, saw the two and sneered.

“He used to treat her like a rock, but even the Duke of Baltrahein’s still a guy, huh? She’s not an ordinary woman, that’s for sure. Right?”

Hans was a pathetic man who did nothing but make filthy bets.

That’s why he wanted to restore his trampled pride after Regina laughed at him.

Even if it meant making an enemy of the Duke of Baltrahein.