While Sion remained frozen, Elvin and Marie continued their conversation.
“First, I’ll prescribe some herbs to neutralize the toxicity. The toxicity itself isn’t severe, so she should regain consciousness within a day or two.”
“Yes…”
“It’s unlikely, but if her consciousness doesn’t return, I’ll change the medication. And when Miss Laila wakes up, I’ll examine and counsel her. Sometimes there are psychological reasons for not being able to eat.”
“Okay, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Elvin exited the room. Shortly after, a servant knocked on Laila’s door.
The servant had brought the medicine prescribed by Elvin.
Marie quickly took the medicine from the servant and gave it to Laila.
Marie stared at Laila, who had yet to open her eyes, slowly pushing a bit of the medicine into her mouth.
“Why are you going through such difficulties, miss? You’re so young.”
“…….”
“Why haven’t you been eating for days…”
Muttering in a pitiful tone, Marie finished giving Laila all of her medication and then began to change Laila’s clothes, which were a mess of sweat and dirt.
Sion had been standing behind her all this time.
“Hey.”
After dressing Laila in clean clothes, Marie called out to Sion, holding out the clothes Laila had been wearing.
“I’m going to go wash this. Keep an eye on her.”
“…….”
“If anything happens, pull that rope hanging by the bed.”
Marie gave instructions before leaving.
Sion nodded silently.
Marie gave Sion a disdainful glance before leaving the room.
Thud.
The door closed. For the first time since entering this room, Sion was alone with Laila.
Sion’s gaze fell on Laila’s unconscious face.
Pale as a corpse.
After staring at her face for a while, Sion pursed his lips.
“Laila Hildegarde.”
He uttered her name and fell silent.
Not that an unconscious Laila could hear him anyway…….
To be honest, he had nothing to say.
Sion didn’t even know why he’d just called her.
He felt complicated.
Puzzled, even.
Sion’s brow furrowed once again.
He could hear Elvin’s voice in his head, diagnosing that Laila hadn’t eaten for at least three days.
He hadn’t said it, but it wasn’t hard for Sion to figure out that Laila had been starving for exactly five days.
It had been exactly five days since Laila had brought him a meal once per day at a specific time.
“Bullshit…….”
Sion muttered softly.
A limited amount of food for two people.
Laila chose to starve herself instead of letting him starve.
Really, it was a useless gesture.
In the first place, Sion was alive because he couldn’t die.
Without the authority to end his own life, he had no choice but to keep living.
Factors such as meal frequency or quantity were truly inconsequential for someone like Sion.
Whether it was three meals a day or one meal every three days, it didn’t make much difference to him.
Since he couldn’t starve to death anyway, Sion didn’t feel much difference between the two.
……That’s why Laila Hildegarde was being ridiculous.
Whether she gave all of her meals to Sion.
Or half of it.
Or whether she gave him none at all and went hungry for a week.
Sion’s feelings would have been the same.
If it had been the last case, he might have secretly rejoiced during his hunger, hoping that he might die this way.
Yeah, that’s how it would have been.
The more he thought about it, the more meaningless Laila’s sacrifice seemed.
Very much…
“Why though?”
Sion’s lips moved involuntarily.
But perhaps because there was no one to hear, Sion didn’t bother to control his mouth.
“Why would you do that?”
Was this unheard question truly a question, or just a muttered thought?
The incomprehensible words echoed in the quiet bedroom.
Sion didn’t take his eyes off Laila’s pale face.
It was incomprehensible.
Seriously.
Let’s simply say that hope was the reason Laila persisted in doing this nonsense and did not give up.
Let’s say she doesn’t stop because she still doesn’t realize that what she’s doing is futile.
But.
Where does the desire to engage in such ‘futile’ actions originally come from?
Sion has always been objectively aware of his relationship with Laila.
What he had done to her.
So, what kind of presence he was to her.
Without a thought of hesitating from the start, he raised the sword.
But Laila kept baffling him.
She feared him and was afraid of him, yet she tried to save him.
She tried to heal his wounds, and wondered at his level of recovery.
She trembled, yet she would approach him, even taking an arrow in his place.
Now… she even starved herself to the point of collapsing instead of Sion.
Evidently, some poisonous berries were the cause of her collapse, but she wouldn’t have eaten them if she hadn’t been starving for days on end.
Sion stared intently at Laila’s tightly closed eyes and dry lips.
“Why do you want to live that badly?”
Many people want to live.
Some are willing to do anything to survive.
But there would be very few who would go so far as to sacrifice themselves for a murderer who had killed them in the first place.
Sion wondered.
He had deliberately turned a blind eye before, thinking he would figure it out on his own, but eventually curiosity arose again.
Why…
Just why…
“……Sion?”
The voice came out of nowhere and startled him—really startled him.
It wasn’t until he took half a step back that he realized how surprised he was.
Sion’s brow furrowed, and he was not sure why he was surprised.
Laila slowly closed and opened her eyes. She muttered, looking at the speechless Sion with unfocused eyes.
“Why… am I… in this room….”
“…….”
“Is this… a dream….”
Through the barely audible muttering, Sion realized what misconception Laila was currently under.
It seemed that Laila believed she was not in her own bedroom but rather in Sion’s bedroom.
Why would she think that? Although Laila often visited Sion’s room, he had never been in hers before.
…Come to think of it, that’s right. Sion suddenly realized: He had entered Laila’s bedroom for the first time today.
It wasn’t a room that felt particularly foreign or new. The furniture and layout were almost identical to his own bedroom.
Perhaps that was why she’d been so easily mistaken.
While Sion remained silently still, Laila figured out the situation on her own.
“After eating the berry and passing out… Someone must have found me and moved me to my room…And now I’m dreaming of being in Sion’s room.”
It would have been a perfect conclusion if she hadn’t veered off at the end.
But Laila didn’t realize at all that there was a flaw in her reasoning.
For one thing, she had come to her senses, but only halfway.
That’s right. Laila was still not fully back to normal; to put it simply, she was in a dazed state.
Sion quickly realized this.
‘She’ll lose consciousness again soon.’
But at least she’s awake, so should he call a doctor?
Or maybe a maid or servant, though he’s not sure what they can do for help…….
Sion approached the rope hanging from the bed but hesitated.
The uneasiness he had been feeling suddenly became clear.
‘…It’s been quite some time since Laila Hildegarde collapsed.’
No one came into the room.
Someone must have seen Laila collapse and be carried into the bedroom, and most importantly, a doctor visited her room.
By now, even if the castle is spacious, news of something happening to Laila would have spread.
But there’s no one in the room.
Not the Marquis, not the Marchioness.
Not even the Marquis’s many children.
Sion looked at the rope within his arm’s reach.
Had they not visited ‘yet’?
If he were to pull it, he would alert the servants that Laila had briefly regained consciousness.
Would the room be filled with people, even if belatedly?
“…….”
…But what if it remains empty?
What if the bedroom scene doesn’t change at all, even though he informed them that Laila has regained consciousness?
What if it was just the doctor or Marie showing their faces one more time?
Sion felt strange. He couldn’t figure out what he was worried about.
