It was Laila’s face.
Laila washed her hair in the bathroom but didn’t wash her face. Her face was already clean.
As if someone had wiped it clean…
And the identity of that ‘someone’ became known a few hours later.
It was Marie.
“This is good tea for energy recovery, Miss. Drink it all without leaving any.”
Later in the afternoon, Marie reappeared in the bedroom and shared various stories with Laila.
How surprised she had been to see Laila’s condition in the morning!
How hastily she wiped Laila’s face, leaving no time to change her clothes, and so on.
‘Lucky me.’
Laila genuinely thought so.
Thanks to Marie not having the time to change her clothes, Laila could maintain her ghostly appearance, leading to catching Marquis Hildegarde’s attention and obtaining the wish ticket.
Of course, since it was an impulsive wish ticket, it wouldn’t grant a grandiose wish.
Still, it was something!
Laila, for the first time in a while, sipped the tea Marie brought, feeling a rare sense of comfort.
“Cough!”
Immediately, she felt uncomfortable. Her tongue.
“Marie, what kind of tea is this……?”
“It’s good for energy recovery. I told you, didn’t I?”
“No… What is this made of?”
“I don’t know, the chef made it.”
“Can you fire him……?”
“What are you talking about? Anyway, since the chef said it’s really good, please finish it quickly.”
Of course, firing him was a joke. But the taste of the tea was truly dreadful. This was no joke. How could such a taste exist in the world?
As Laila clutched her teacup and made a miserable face, Marie spoke up.
“Why did you skip dinner last night? If you casually skip meals, incidents like today will happen.”
“Last night…”
She didn’t get a nosebleed because she skipped dinner, but because she fainted while having a nosebleed and couldn’t have dinner.
“What?”
“No, nothing.”
Laila thought about correcting the incorrect sequence of events but stopped.
It’s in the past, anyway.
She found it strange, though. Laila looked down at the ‘revitalizing’ tea and thought.
‘Am I really out of energy?’
To the point of passing out?
‘I shouldn’t have any illnesses…’
Laila, whose goal was to live up to ninety, led a life focusing greatly on health.
Before her first life regression, every year, she would visit a doctor who resided in the Marquisate for a health checkup.
After more than ten visits, the doctor grumbled that she was fine and should stop coming, but Laila ignored him.
The year the man came back for revenge, she had another checkup, and the results were the same.
‘Regressing shouldn’t cause illnesses that weren’t there before.’
In fact, Laila had never shown any signs of illness, not even when she was hiding in another kingdom, not even when she became a countess.
‘I guess my mind is tired, and maybe my body is tired too.’
Laila concluded simply.
It was simple, but it made sense.
Mental health and physical health are inherently closely related.
After all, there is such a thing as a stress-related illness, right?
‘I should pay attention to stress relief too.’
Living up to ninety in good health is indeed challenging.
Laila sighed inwardly and took a few more sips from the teacup.
Marie, observing her closely, spoke up.
“I’ll bring you tea every day at this time for a while.”
“Pfft! What tea? You don’t mean this, right?”
“They say this tea works best.”
“…….”
“Would you prefer having it right after waking up or before going to bed?”
“…No, just bring it whenever it’s convenient for me.”
Laila suddenly felt the warmth transmitted from the teacup held in both hands.
Despite the terrible taste of the tea, it was still warm, not cold. She had brought it from the kitchen so quickly.
Quite impressive.
“Marie.”
“Yes?”
“I’m going to drink two cups of something else, so change the tea for me.”
“No.”
“….Okay.”
Laila swallowed her unspoken determination.
Surely, next year she’ll have to pretend she didn’t notice Marie stealing something from her room and run away.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
A week had passed.
During that week, unlike before the regression, Laila never visited the underground prison where the child was confined.
There were two reasons she didn’t go. First, there was no need to go.
‘He didn’t get beaten this time, so he wasn’t injured enough to be in critical condition.’
Second, it was purely out of fear.
‘I don’t want to meet him, especially in that scary underground prison….’
The eerie underground prison, the child who despises her.
Laila simply didn’t want to handle those two things combined.
‘Let’s just settle this once and for all in the forest!’
And so the fateful day arrived for the second time.
After threatening Vilhel again to get the bracelet, Laila made her way to the carriage warehouse and boarded the carriage for luggage.
Once again, as she tried to sit in the innermost seat, a servant roughly pushed the child into the carriage.
“Hurry up, get in!”
‘Not again.’
Displeased with the servant’s attitude, Laila absentmindedly glanced toward the carriage door and was taken aback.
‘Huh?’
Her eyes met the child’s.
At first, she thought it was an illusion, but it wasn’t.
The child was undoubtedly looking directly at Laila.
‘What is this? What should I do? Should I hide now?’
But where should she hide, and would hiding even make a difference?
Laila froze when she faced the unexpected situation.
In the meantime, the servant, who noticed the child’s gaze, struck the back of the child’s head with the palm of his hand.
“How dare you look at someone like that?”
As the child’s head shook, Laila opened her eyes wide and stood up abruptly.
Her mouth opened of its own accord.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
“Miss Laila?”
“Right now….”
Literally dumbfounded, Laila couldn’t continue her words.
Did he just hit someone in the head?
And for what reason?
‘If this continues, it’s like he’s being hit because of me.’
She remembered the slapping incident before the regression. It wasn’t on the same level, but this situation itself was truly irritating.
Laila shot a resentful look at the servant.
“Apologize.”
“What?”
“Apologize to the kid you just hit.”
“But miss, this guy is…”
“Would you apologize if I went to my father right now and told him you were ignoring me?”
The servant hesitated.
Look not at who you should apologize to, but at who is ordering you to apologize.
It was a statement that seemed to imply that.
After momentarily closing his mouth, the servant reluctantly opened it again, showing a hesitant expression toward the child.
“Um, hey, I’m sorry. Actually, I wasn’t trying to hit your head, but I was trying to… um, pat you like this…”
While saying that, the servant reached out his hand towards the child’s head, but his hand didn’t reach its destination.
Right before that, the child slapped the servant’s hand away.
“You might as well hit me.”
“Phew!”
Instantly, all eyes in the carriage focused on a maidservant who was sitting there.
The maidservant, noticing the attention, quickly pretended to cough and muttered to herself.
“Cough! Cough! Lately, the weather has been gloomy; why do I keep coughing…”
Her voice was loud enough for all to hear, but everyone at this moment knew.
The ‘phew’ sound that rang out a moment ago was by no means a cough.
“……!”
The servant, with a flushed face, forcefully closed the rear door of the carriage.
The maids murmured among themselves.
Observing the situation, Laila returned to her seat when the carriage was about to depart.
“…….”
Curious about how the child was reacting, she discreetly glanced over. The child had closed his eyes by now.
As the child leaned against the carriage wall, his body swayed with the movement of the carriage.
Laila fidgeted with her hands in her lap.
‘Did… he glare at me?’
To be honest, she didn’t remember well.
Given the unexpectedly awkward situation, she had been quite flustered. There hadn’t been a suitable opportunity to observe the child’s gaze properly.
‘It feels like you did glare at me, and it feels like you didn’t…’
Throughout the carriage ride, Laila made a belated effort to recall how the child’s gaze had been.
In doing so, she managed to avoid motion sickness.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
“Stop dawdling and get off!”
As the carriage came to a halt in an open field, the servant, with an unmistakable air of frustration, instructed the child to get off.
