“Episode 42”
Daphne’s voice came out in a hushed tone. She was torn between whether to remove the frozen scarf or not.
As she hesitated, unsure of what to do, Kilian’s weathered hand, heavy with calluses, gently rose to stroke her head.
Despite the small commotion, the lake keeper quickly rushed over and hastily called for a carriage.
Daphne and Kilian returned safely to the mansion, sitting side by side in front of the blazing fire, melting away while sipping tea.
It was the scent that Daphne loved.
❖ ❖ ❖
Kilian, bedridden for three days, no longer pestered her.
Daphne found this even more frightening, so she quickly attended to Kilian’s face, shaving and grooming him, taking care of the household chores.
Daphne secretly hoped for the usual nagging, but Kilian remained silent, only grumbling occasionally.
“He refused to go for a walk.”
Was that all? Now he even refused to go for a walk. The servants and maids had to step in to assist him.
After finishing her duties, Daphne paced in her room, wringing her hands in worry. The schoolgirls were now pushed to the back of her mind.
With conversations becoming even more infrequent, Daphne’s guilt grew day by day.
“What if someone finds out I almost killed the Viscount?”
If she had been a few seconds later, she would have become the person who stood by as Kilian of Serenade died. The wheelchair was practically hers, so she could have become a murderer.
“Should I go back to Mother?”
Out of concern that Kilian might mention something about her, Daphne tried even harder to please him.
But the Viscount remained silent. With the storm looming unexpectedly, Daphne became more and more anxious, living day by day.
❖ ❖ ❖
Kilian summoned Daphne after a long time. Sitting facing each other at the round table in the greenhouse, the Viscount’s face looked even more gaunt than before. It made Daphne feel stifled, as if it was because of her.
“Daphne.”
“Yes.”
Kilian hesitated without replying.
“At Alden Lake…”
So it had come! Daphne’s heart pounded as if she were the one who had returned empty-handed.
“Please don’t say it.”
She swallowed the words pleading not to tell anyone about her hesitation in the face of life and death.
“What about it?”
“Please don’t tell anyone that I hesitated. That you… back then…”
“Daphne.”
“I was wrong. I made a mistake.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Speak up. What did you do wrong?”
“Well…”
Kilian looked at Daphne with his misty gray eyes, then furrowed his brow. Daphne could only quiver her lips under that pressure.
“What should I say?”
In reality, did I wish for a moment that you would die? Ultimately, you didn’t. Don’t tell Romeo, don’t tell Mother. Not to the schoolgirls, not to the headmaster at the university. Someday, not even to the man I’ll love.
But she couldn’t say everything. As a well-educated noblewoman, those were very embarrassing thoughts.
Above all, it seemed unbearable to endure the contemptuous gaze of the Viscount sitting right in front of her.
“Is that your way of saying you saved me?”
Daphne’s head shot up at the unexpected response.
“I’m grateful for saving my life.”
Kilian smiled kindly. Daphne thought that if the Viscount were just ten years younger, he would have been quite a handsome young man, a realization that came too late.
“Please continue to respond that way in the future.”
“Yes?”
“I won’t say it again.”
He reached out for the teapot and poured tea into Daphne’s cup, perfectly complementing the atmosphere.
“Viscount, they say if you eat these tea leaves raw, bears turn into humans.”
Daphne hesitated for a moment after saying it. It was a story she had never heard from anywhere, yet she remembered it vividly.
“What an intriguing story.”
Kilian didn’t bother to ask for the source.
“You’ve been drinking it every day, so if you drink it for another 80 days, Daphne, you’ll become a human too.”
“What did you say?”
Daphne burst into laughter at his words and laughed for a few minutes.
“Even if the boss lives longer than that, he can’t become human. Carnivores like tigers have such impulsive personalities, they can’t become human.”
“You never run out of words.”
His cane end rested on Daphne’s head. Daphne didn’t feel any pain, but she lowered her eyebrow as if in pain.
—
It was spring, graduation day. Lanen Callie, who ignored her when she invited her to chat, called Daphne to the back of the school for some reason.
Daphne felt suffocated facing those girls. She kept wringing her cold hands.
“I hated how you approached us as if you were favoring us.”
Janet, who was next to Lanen, added with tears in her eyes.
‘What am I supposed to do?’
Daphne thought.
“You don’t understand because you’ve never been a commoner like us. Do you know how much our pride was hurt by the things you did for us?”
Daphne couldn’t understand what they were talking about. Her golden eyes blinked rapidly.
“I see.”
But Daphne kept thinking as she had met them to talk. But she could never understand.
If I have something good, I can share it, and if I share it, isn’t it good for both parties?
Daphne thought so. She had never approached anyone with the intention of taking advantage, she just wanted to be a good friend.
“But do I need to know why?”
