Dominating the Love of the Villains

“I’m so sorry, miss.”

Not long after Benjamin left, Lorey, who came in with Jules, bowed her head and came to Sophia’s side.

“What were you doing?”

“I fell asleep while choosing a book to give to the lady in the study. To make matters worse, the study door was broken and locked arbitrarily, so no one could come to wake me up.”

Loray bowed once again, telling a well-crafted lie.

“I’m sorry for not knowing about your condition before anyone else.”

The sincere face, voice and trust in Lorey made her believe that lie.

If Sophia had not gone to the library the very next day in her last life, if the servant in charge of the library had not made the mistake of saying that the door had never been broken, she would probably have been deceived even now.

Lorey didn’t say she was sick. Sophia knew that she didn’t want to cause anyone to worry, so she decided to let it go.

“Don’t work harder than your body can handle.”

She meant not to work and ignored her physical condition to the point where she would suddenly collapse, but what she said to Lorey was to not work to the point where she could not sleep properly.

Sure enough, Loray smiled faintly and stroked Sophia’s hair to loosen her tangles.

“Miss, please don’t fall asleep all night long and sleep well. They said the reason you collapsed this time was because of accumulated fatigue.”

The reason she collapsed was because she was tired?

Sophia couldn’t believe what Lorey said. Because she clearly remembered how she felt when she fell. Her heart was pounding hard, her fingers were numb, it was difficult to move, and it was hard for her to breathe, so she closed her eyes. It didn’t make sense to her that it was because she was tired. But what made even more sense was that she collapsed because she was sick.

In all her life, she had never experienced anything like this. However, she did not suffer from a chronic illness.

‘Strange.’

Did she collapse because she was really tired or overexerted?

“Loray, who was the doctor who checked on me when I fell?”

“Ah, this is Serita. She prescribed Loform, and I will hurry and prepare it now.”

“Okay. Jules, go and help.”

As Loray was leaving, she sent Jules out with her, so she could think about it alone. The two left the room and Sophia gathered together what she could of her memories of Serita.

She was clearly the woman who was Robert Tiga’s personal physician. She was brilliant and had excellent medical skills, and she came to this castle as a doctor to repay Bled for her favor.

She was from Bled.

‘I don’t use my abilities to deceive people.’

‘The lady is addicted to Solita.’

When Joshua and Benjamin poisoned Sophia, they hoped they would not be involved in her death. So they forced Serita to say that Sophia had died from an illness, and Serita did not give up her resolve.

That’s how she died. She died right away.

There was no way that someone who would not lie about a person’s illness even close to her death would have lied. It’s possible that Lorey was lying. A lie with the purpose of benefiting oneself.

“…I need to meet Serita.”

This matter needed to be made clear face to face with Serita. Because this life was not going according to the time she knew it to be.

Sophia picked up the wreath lying on her nightstand to soothe her distraught mind.

The corolla that came into the small hands boasted pretty flowers. She touched the beautiful flower bud, which had not withered at all, by lightly flicking it with her index finger. To do so, Sophia held the flower crown and applied force several times. The flowers crumbled and were crushed so easily.

“…Rune didn’t give it to me.”

Rune had good dexterity. The wreath he made was so beautiful that it was hard to believe it was made by a child.

But this wasn’t it. The flowers used were also different. Where had the wreath that Rune gave her gone and was someone else taking on that role?

They said someone changed the corolla. What was the reason?

“Is the original corolla broken?”

Since it fell, it was highly likely that the corolla fell and was damaged by the impact. There was no way that Benjamin or Joshua could have directly seen her fall.

It looked like Jules had done it. Sophia was afraid that he would be sad that the wreath was ruined. Or maybe there was another reason.

After putting down the flower crown, Sophia felt for her heart. She closed her eyes, thinking back to when she collapsed. She felt nothing, as if the pain had all been a dream. Did she collapse because she was really tired?

‘Probably not.’

She remembered again the cool purple eyes that couldn’t have seemed so far away.

…Edmund’s eyes were normal if they were like green buds.

So it was someone else.

* * *

Loray kindly brought her not only medicine, but also a meal to appease her hunger. Sophia welcomed it very much since she had skipped all her meals because she lost consciousness in the morning and woke up in the evening.

Sophia liked to tear the bread into small pieces, let them soak in the soup, and then eat a lot of the soggy bread with the soup, so the first thing she always did was tear the bread.

“I will do it, so you can quickly unwrap your gift.”

But this time it was Loray who did the work. Perhaps because it wasn’t her birthday yet, she managed to get into the mood for her birthday. Well, she knew what kind of gift it was.

Sophia carefully untied the ribbon for Loray, who seemed more excited than herself.

When she opened the largest box, a teddy bear that was too big to hold in one embrace was revealed.

“It’s a pretty teddy bear, right?”

“Huh.”

This doll was a birthday present from Loray.

Sophia squeezed the soft teddy bear’s hand. Its touch wasn’t bad, so she pressed and touched it a few more times.

Did she see herself as young or appropriate? She wondered if this was appropriate for a 12 year old. She didn’t really know because her concept of age had long since disappeared, but she knew that Lorey saw her as if she were her child.

Sophia looked at Loray for a split second to see her reaction, then realized what she wanted and was thinking.

“Thank you.”

She expressed a little gratitude and hugged the doll as tightly as she could. At that, a smile bloomed on Loray’s face.

Was this really that good? She glanced at herself in the mirror near her, but it wasn’t enough to make her laugh. It seemed a little childish.

If Loray liked it that much, she had to like it.

Sophia looked at the next thing while holding the teddy bear tightly. She nodded roughly when Loray criticized her, saying that it was prepared by the Lord of Seong. Now, when she unwrapped all the gifts, she would say that they are very precious tea leaves.

“Oh, it’s dried tea leaves. These are very precious tea leaves.”

“Wow, this is really amazing. I’m really curious what it tastes like.”

She said that the gift she prepared was given by Seong, and just like Loray, Sophia also gave a passionate performance and was impressed. Even when she opened her mouth and said, “Wow,” her expression remained calm, but Loray didn’t question it. Sophia grew up as a child whose expression rarely changed from the beginning, so there was nothing strange about her.

Loray knew that Sophia was doing as well as she could. With a happy smile on her face, she brought the soup, with the bread slightly soggy, closer to her in front of her.

“I’ll worry about it tomorrow.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Shall we finish unwrapping the presents and have a meal? Everything is ready.”

“Thank you.”

Holding the spoon properly in her hand, Sophia began her meal.

* * *

The scent of flowers could not be erased from the living room. A scent so sweet that it captivates people, along with the blue rose, was a symbol of Edmond, the lord of Forweep.

Seong, who was sitting comfortably on the red velvet sofa, pulled back the hood of his robe that was completely covering his features. Long black hair, the complete opposite of the pure white robe, was flowing down. He ran his hand through his slightly tangled hair and went to sleep, looking at the person in front of him with his gentle green eyes and smiling.

“It’s been a while, Bled.”

He smiled cutely, as he was more familiar with the saying that even flowers can’t hit a person than anyone else.

“The expression on your face is really scary. Since we’re friends, it’s okay if you come without a message.”

“…”

“You can come to Powip whenever you have time.”

A personality that was softer than silk and a laugh that makes you feel like an idiot. All of those were his own close friends. Bled, who had been staring at Edmund for a long time, nodded roughly and then turned his head. Because he didn’t feel it was worth saying hello to.

 

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Translator Note:

Next week I will take a little rest, see you the next after that!