Episode 7

“… Lady Anaïs?”

Lost in overwhelming joy and emotion, Lloydin Blighton suddenly called out to me.

“Yes?”

Pulling myself together as best as I could, I answered his call.

As I followed his gaze, I noticed my hands were wrapped around his large hand with both of mine.

When did I start holding onto his hand like this?

“Oh! I-I’m sorry.”

Feeling flustered, I quickly let go of his hand.

However, as soon as I released his hand, I felt the rapid flow of energy within me come to a halt.

“Oh no…”

In an instant, my body felt tired again, and perhaps because of the tremendous healing effect I experienced just moments ago, my heart also started to feel uneasy.

Seemingly sensing my inner turmoil, Lloydin reached out his hand to me once more, as if he could read my mind.

I grabbed his hand again, just like a person who had found their savior.

“Please come down.”

Though his intentions were different from what I had imagined, I didn’t need to scrutinize the details right now.

Upon Lloydin’s suggestion to get off the carriage, I used his hand as support and quickly stepped down.

Once my feet touched the ground, I sensed him attempting to withdraw his hand from mine, so I held on tightly.

“Wait, just a moment. I suddenly feel dizzy.”

Telling a white lie, I leaned on him slightly, doing my best to stay close to him and not let go.

“Feeling dizzy?”

Lloydin’s pleasant, deep voice resonated from above, sounding close.

“Oh, I’ll be fine in a bit. Sometimes I get bouts of dizziness like this. I’m sorry, can I lean on you until I feel better?”

To be honest, what I just said wasn’t an outright lie. Almost every time I fell into a deep sleep, dizziness accompanied it.

“I understand. Let’s go inside…”

“Miss!”

Fooling Lloydin, who was about to support me and enter the building together, I heard Lia’s surprised voice from behind. We had just gotten off the carriage.

“Miss! Are you alright?”

Lia hurriedly came to my side, trying to support me, but I quickly stopped her.

“Lia, I’m fine. I’ll be alright soon, so don’t worry.”

“Miss! You’re not okay…”

“Lia.”

As someone who had been with me all day, Lia knew my condition well. Worried that she might say something about my illness, I cut her off.

“I’m really fine, so wait for me in the carriage.”

“But, Miss…”

“Quickly.”

It wouldn’t be wise to have a long conversation with Lia here. So, just as before, I took a firm stance with her, and Lia reluctantly nodded her head.

Leaving Lia behind, I entered the mansion with Lloydin.

* * *

‘The interior of the mansion is indeed not much different from what I saw from the outside.’Anaïs

Compared to our own Anaïs Mansion, which looked grand from the outside, the Blighton Mansion was only about half its size.

Passing through a relatively short corridor, the spacious hall was also quite small, and there was only one staircase in the center leading up to the second floor.

Of course, just like what I felt from the garden, it was well-maintained for an old and small mansion.

The large chandelier hanging from the hall ceiling indicated that this place was indeed the residence of a noble family.

As I explored the interior of the mansion leaning on Lloydin, we arrived at the drawing-room on the first floor.

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

Lloydin carefully helped me sit on a chair and tried to distance himself from me.

I felt a great sense of regret inwardly as I finally let go of his hand that I had been holding on to like a lifeline.

Just like before, I felt the lively energy drain from my body all at once.

‘I have to find a way to stay by his side, no matter what.’

Staring at him as he gradually moved away, I pondered and pondered on what to do.

Getting married would be the best way to stay by his side, but whether he would easily accept a marriage with me was still uncertain.

Still pretending to be dizzy, I was deep in thought when Lloydin took a seat across from me.

‘He really is handsome.’

I had already noticed it the first time we met; he was an incredibly handsome man.

‘Well, he is the male lead’s older brother, so it’s natural, I guess.’

I think the male lead also had black hair and black eyes. Perhaps, if he grows up, he would resemble that man.

I was lost in thoughts about the male lead and the original story when something suddenly struck my mind.

‘Why did I forget about that?’

Since I had already planned to cure myself and leave before the original story began, I hadn’t paid much attention to it until now.

But it was such an important fact that I had completely forgotten.

So, during the time when the original story begins, the male lead, Ian Blighton, was spending a long time alone and lonely in the capital city.

‘Is that what they were talking about during the tea party?’

The price I’ll pay for using my powers is that something big will happen to Lloydin Blighton?

I tried my best to dig up the deeply buried memories.

‘I have to remember. I must remember.’

Fortunately, one good thing about the original story that faintly came to mind was that there was no mention of Lloydin dying until the end of the original story.

Even with my terrible memory, if the original story had mentioned that the male lead’s older brother died, I would have remembered it from the beginning.

“Lady?”

I must have been lost in thought, staring at the person in front of me for too long.

He called me, and Lloydin’s voice brought me back to reality.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I still feel a bit dizzy, so I spaced out for a moment.”

“If you’re still feeling unwell, it might be better for you to go back now. I’ll call a maid to escort you…”

“No, it’s okay!”

I couldn’t afford to give him even a moment to drive me away.

Feeling a sense of crisis from Lloydin’s attitude, I quickly interrupted his words and raised my voice in a hurry.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

When Lloydin asked again with a concerned tone, I deliberately smiled brighter and reassured him.

“Alright then. If you feel worse, please let me know.”

“Yes, I will. Thank you for your concern.”

Even though I was worried, I desperately wanted to hold his hand like before.

I managed to hold back the urge and looked at the spot where his hand should be, then turned my gaze back to him.

“Also, thank you for meeting me without any prior contact.”

To be honest, even if I had rudely shown up without contacting him, no one would have blamed me.

If anything, the blame would be on me for stubbornly insisting on coming without notifying him.

Knowing that, I still took the gamble, and in the end, it paid off as Lloydin let me inside.

“I heard that the Lady has something to tell me.”

“Yes, I have something important to tell you.”

And now, it was time for an even bigger gamble, one that would involve my entire life.

As we began to talk, fortunately, the contents of the original story came back to my mind quite vividly.

So, as the fleeting memories suggested, it was true that the male lead, Ian Blighton, who was just a young child at the time, had been left abandoned in the capital for a long time.

The reason for this was that Lloydin had committed some crime and was supposed to be killed, but instead, he was driven out of the capital and never allowed to return.

‘But what crime did he commit?’

What crime could he have committed?

No matter how hard I tried to recall, I couldn’t remember at all.

‘If it’s not that I can’t remember, then maybe it’s something that wasn’t mentioned in the original story?’

If that’s the case, I have to make deductions based on the current situation and the information I have. Could it be related to what happened to Lloydin during the recent extermination mission mentioned at the tea party?

That seemed to be the most likely possibility, but if not, could there be another reason?

I don’t know exactly what the reason is, but one thing is certain: in the original story, Lloydin was supposed to die, yet the empire didn’t kill him. Instead, they drove him out to the borderlands where demons roam for a long period.

The reason the empire didn’t kill him wasn’t because they were concerned about young Ian.