Dominating the Love of the Villains

Joshua and Benjamin, who entered Rocent Castle under Dane’s guidance, looked around with nostalgia as they were seeing the castle again for the first time in four years.

Benjamin was behind the scheduled time because he was organizing gifts, so he was relaxed, which was the complete opposite of Dane, who checked his pocket watch every now and then.

The warm red walls and vases decorated in each hallway are different from Forn Castle. This familiar scene brought back memories of her childhood, running around ignoring Loray’s nagging and dropping her vase.

Joshua, who was staring out the window, tilted his head at the sight of a pure white figure getting off the carriage. The carriage was different from the one that came every year. It was not a light pink carriage, but a carriage with lilies engraved on a pure white background.

That was the carriage ridden by the lord of Poweep.

“Edmond…?”

Edmond, flower wizard and lord of Poweep. When he unconsciously pronounced his name, Benjamin’s head moved out the window to follow Joshua.

At the same time as the sight of flowers blooming with each step was captured in golden eyes, a loud sound was heard from not far away.

“Miss! Miss!”

There was only one person in this castle who could be called a lady. Sophia Benny.

As soon as Joshua heard the voice, he ran out, and Benjamin belatedly called out to Joshua and chased after him. Like a parrot, the voice that kept repeating the word ‘Miss’ was getting closer and Joshua ran out. What he encountered was the image of Sophia lying unconscious. Beside Sophia, who had fallen pitifully, a servant was holding her in his arms, clumsily trying to move her, with her tears hanging down.

“Josh, go get Serita. To Sophia’s room.”

“Okay.”

Unlike the servant who was confused and didn’t know what to do, Benjamin calmly assessed the situation and walked closer to Sophia after sending Joshua away.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Suddenly… She fell while looking out the window…”

“This place stands out. Let’s go to our room first.”

It was time for Serita to arrive. Benjamin didn’t want Sophia’s presence to be revealed by her unnecessary fuss, so Benjamin covered her with his outer robe and then picked her up. Although he flinched at her light weight, he pretended nothing was wrong and took the lead toward Sophia’s room.

Joshua hurriedly picked up her wreath and followed Benjamin, examining Sophia’s face. She seemed to be sleeping soundly, which was reassuring, but that didn’t make the situation any better.

“Where is Lorey now?”

Benjamin went into the room, laid Sophia on the bed, and looked for Lorey. Because Lorey was the only one who knew Sophia’s condition best and could give her stability by being by Sophia’s side. But Joshua, who had gone to look for Loray on Benjamin’s orders, returned with bad news.

“Well, Mrs. Merkle says she’s not feeling well. She suddenly fell down due to dizziness and then got up again…”

“…”

“Still… Shall I bring him?”

“No. Okay.”

Benjamin was not merciful enough to forcefully drag a sick person along. As he looked down at Sophia, who was lying on her bed, breathing steadily, he asked the question he had originally intended to ask Loray.

“How was she in the morning?”

“She was fine. Her temperature was normal and she didn’t look sick…”

“Where did you go?”

“Not long after she brought the girl from the garden into the castle, she collapsed.”

Any garden that Sophia could go to was managed by Deflin. Since she was a good person, she was not the kind of person who would have done something bad to Sophia, so… Benjamin’s eyes turned to the wreath that Joshua was holding. A wreath with all the flowers and leaves withered and that looks like it needs to be thrown away.

“What is that?”

“She has been using it since she was in the garden… She was fine until she collapsed.”

“Are you saying she withered like this after she fell?”

“Yes…”

That was weird. Did it make sense that once green flowers wither quickly?

As if he had accepted the wreath with a frown, the door opened and Joshua and the doctor came in. It was Serita Billon, a member of the provincial council. She rushed over and pushed her disheveled glasses up her flushed face.

A feeling of embarrassment melted into her green eyes.

“I heard Master Benjamin is sick…”

“Of course it’s a lie. There’s no way I can talk about Sophia when I have guests.”

Joshua said as if it was completely obvious and led Serita to Sophia. Because he didn’t want Sophia’s presence to get through the mouths of the servants and into the ears of her guests, she lied that Joshua was sick and brought in a doctor.

Serita sighed and pulled her yellow hair into a roughly ponytail before inspecting Sophia’s condition.

“Hmm…?”

Serita, who had been studying Sophia for a while, let out a sign in a puzzled voice.

Benjamin questioned her as he became anxious.

“What’s the matter?”

“She…”

“She?”

“She… she is fine.”

Everyone around her tilted their heads at Serita’s words. It was something they couldn’t understand. Especially Joshua, who watched Sophia fall by her side.

“That can’t be possible…! She suddenly collapsed!”

“His breathing is stable and he has no fever. No trauma… He’s just asleep right now.”

Serita replied, without Joshua fully understanding what she said. It’s so fine. So much so that he wondered if she had actually collapsed.

Serita, citing her fatigue as the reason, asked Joshua one thing.

“Didn’t the miss sleep well at night? Did she have trouble sleeping at night and had nightmares?”

That question was quite simple yet important. It was because of a special order that Bled gave to Serita. If anything happened related to the ‘dream’, report it to the castle owner.

Even though there was that order, there was also anxiety that little Sophia might also have nightmares and end up like Joshua or Benjamin.

She said that she needed to pass out and sleep, but wouldn’t it be a big problem if she drank alcohol or tried drugs?

“She is getting 9 hours of sleep every day. She falls into a deep sleep and wakes up late, and there are no cases where she didn’t sleep.”

“What about her dreams?”

“She didn’t seem to be having a nightmare. She wakes up refreshed every time.”

Serita responded with a little relief.

“Please take a look at the young lady’s condition for the time being and report it to me. I will increase the amount of roform, so please make sure you take it consistently.”

Roform was a multivitamin. That was the only thing that could be prescribed. After exchanging a few more words with Joshua, Serita looked at Sophia, who was sleeping soundly.

What was she dreaming about now? It would be nice if it was a good dream.

He thought she shouldn’t make any more noise since she was sound asleep, so he kept his distance from Sophia, and Benjamin showed her her dry corolla. Was she saying to throw it away? Once he accepted it, he opened his mouth.

“They say the flower, which was fine, withered as soon as Sophia fell.”

“Are the flowers withering?”

Serita concentrated, trying to somehow make sense of this, as she passed the wreath around. She pursed her lips as she glared at her corolla with a frown in concentration.

“Sorry. It’s something I can’t figure out. No matter how talented I am, I can’t do something magical like this…”

Serita, who was ignoring Joshua’s look as if she was embarrassed to say that she was competent, found one word in her words.

Magic. Magic would explain this.

However, she was not a wizard and she had never studied it, so she was illiterate when it came to magic. Although she could think of only one person she could consult on this matter, she felt anxious.

“There is someone nearby who can inspect this corolla.”

“Who do you think it is?”

As Serita hesitated again, Benjamin, curious as to who she was thinking of, asked.

“He is famous for being a magician and a lawmaker. Peyton Selmeria.”

“Oh, I’ve heard that name.”

Joshua pretended to know the familiar name. He had outstanding skills and was a healing wizard who aroused the greed of many. He was also a wizard who had previously served as a council member, so he was the only one who might know the reason why the wreath suddenly withered or why Sophia fell.

“Isn’t he a good person? I heard there was no problem with his skills.”

“Yes. There is no problem with skill. But that person is so… People are nice… He’s lacking something…”

Benjamin and Joshua couldn’t understand what was being said.

The image of Payton known to the public was that of an intelligent person worthy of the epithet of genius. But she knew Serita, who had been through him. She went to the same academy and felt his multidimensional side firsthand.

“Honestly, I don’t know if it will help.”

“It doesn’t matter who it is. We need to find out the cause before something like this happens again.”

Benjamin urged Serita because he did not want the work to end without any results and for Sophia to collapse again for an unknown reason like this one. She said so much, but Serita could not easily come up with an answer. A feeling of reluctance arose as he wondered if this was an opponent worth putting so much effort into, but before that could completely take over Benjamin, Serita nodded his head.

“Yes. I will contact him.”

“Okay. And don’t tell anyone about this. I’ll just tell Sophia that she passed out because she was tired.”

Sophia is still young. How scared would that young thing be if he suddenly collapsed and the reason was not yet clear. It was a decision he made because he didn’t want to make her anxious or overwhelmed by the complexity.

Corolla. flower. Flower Wizard. The timing when Sophia collapsed.

He wondered where there was a puzzle that fits together so well.

 

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Translator Note: