Eventually, she had to resort to desperate measures and drastically reduce the amount of food she ate.
After eating just enough to fill a small bowl and putting down her spoon, thankfully, she felt less bloated.
Then, after struggling through two meals—lunch and dinner—the worst part of the day awaited her before bedtime.
Having deep conversations in Sion’s room.
Actually, it wasn’t really a “deep” conversation.
Regardless of what the standard for “deep” conversation was, the conversations between Laila and Sion fell far short of the level of a typical conversation.
First of all, Laila did most of the talking, and Sion gave brief responses.
Even those brief responses didn’t always come back.
If she were to count precisely, there were more instances where she heard no response at all and was ignored.
Laila didn’t mind that much. To be honest, she had become too accustomed to being ignored.
However, she couldn’t get used to the act of having a conversation with Sion in an enclosed space.
It was agonizing every day, no matter how many times she went through it.
It was new fear, new tension, new trembling, new discomfort, and a new desire to escape.
Truly! It was the most nightmare-like time of the day!
In fact, because of this, Laila secretly hoped that Sion would chase her away at first.
However, Sion didn’t tell her to leave first.
In the past, when she went to his room and tried to talk, there were times when she would receive a look that said, “If you’re done, just leave,” but recently, there hadn’t been a single instance of that.
Laila also found it odd.
Whether it was a good thing or not, she couldn’t yet assess.
On the other hand, it could also be interpreted as a sign of the progression of the symptoms of his grief to the point where she had no desire to dislike anyone.
Since it was a difficult problem to solve, Laila had mostly withheld judgment at this point.
Anyway,
To sum it up, Laila had a tough time over the past two weeks. It’s been hard—really hard—and it’s still hard.
Although she had prepared herself somewhat after hearing Vilhel’s “method,” it somehow felt even harder than she had anticipated.
“Ugh…”
Laila groaned in front of the mirror and checked the time.
11:30 AM.
It was approaching.
It’s time to go for a walk with Sion, whether to the courtyard or the garden.
Laila staggered to her feet. She had muttered earlier, “I should rest a bit,” but she had no intention of actually resting.
Regardless of her level of distress, Laila was still in the beginning stages of her grief therapy.
She couldn’t afford to be weak already, even before moving on to advanced therapy.
“Yeah, whatever I do, it’s better than dying.”
As a form of shock therapy, she envisioned Sion’s sword slashing her neck in ten years. It had a very good effect. Walking with the ten-year-old Sion suddenly seemed quite insignificant.
‘I should at least drink some cold water before going.’
Preferably with ice cubes. Laila headed straight to the kitchen.
But near the kitchen, she encountered someone; her face wrinkled.
“Ha, look who it is.”
Since they unexpectedly ran into each other, it would be better to just pass by quietly.
“Aren’t you Laila Hildegarde?”
The person ignored Laila’s silent hope to pass by peacefully.
A red-haired boy immediately blocked Laila’s path and arrogantly crossed his arms.
Laila stared at him, then reluctantly opened her mouth.
“Hello, Thomas Hildegarde.”
“It’s Thomis!”
The boy’s face turned as red as his hair as he burst out.
Quietly, Laila thought to herself. ‘I know.’ She intentionally said it wrong.
To piss him off.
For as long as she could remember, the boy before her detested being mistaken for the name ‘Thomas’ more than anything.
‘Why did you block someone who simply wants to pass by?’
This wasn’t the first time the boy, Thomis Hildegarde, had blocked Laila.
The incident occurred just a few days ago in the hallway.
Thomis suddenly appeared there, too, and blocked Laila’s path.
The reason was simply to pick a fight.
It would probably be the same this time. So, Laila decided not to just stand there quietly and instead scratch his temper a bit.
In reality, under normal circumstances, she would have just stayed quiet.
Whether they were annoying her or not,
Whether they started a quarrel or not.
To avoid conflict, Laila would have chosen to stay quiet.
But now, Laila wasn’t her usual self.
She was tired.
And not just a little! She was really tired.
It’s hard for a tired person to act rationally and maturely. Laila learned that lesson this time.
‘…no, not this time.’
Come to think of it, even during their last encounter…
Laila couldn’t quite act maturely towards Thomis.
She had preemptively seized the words the other intended to say and smoothly laid them out first, resulting in Thomis storming off alone in frustration.
Of course, there were excuses. Laila hadn’t eaten properly for days at that time.
Her mood was edgy from a lack of nourishment. So she couldn’t handle Thomis’s provocation gracefully.
Hmm. Thinking about it this way, Thomis seemed to have had bad luck.
Unlucky Thomis got worked up and pointed fingers at Laila.
“I knew you’d gotten stupid, but I didn’t expect you to become this stupid!”
“Yeah.”
“You can’t even remember someone’s name properly; is your brain okay?”
“That’s right.”
“You look like you need medical attention, so why don’t you go see Elvin right away?”
“I will.”
Without changing her expression, Laila calmly responded to Thomis’s words.
Laila wasn’t unaware that this type of response would only further infuriate Thomis.
But she did it anyway.
Angry? Take it or leave it.
He’s the one who started it in the first place, so why shouldn’t she respond?
As mentioned earlier, Laila was tired.
“You, you’re family disgrace…!”
Thomis’s curse quickly revealed his true colors.
Laila was about to advise Thomis to read more books because it might be beneficial for him, but she stopped herself.
She had a feeling he might just go berserk like a raging bull. Laila didn’t have a license to deal with that kind of situation yet.
‘Let’s just go to Sion.’
Putting off drinking cold water in the kitchen for later, Laila changed her destination to Sion’s bedroom and walked away.
As Laila turned away, Thomis immediately raised his voice.
“Where are you going? Oh, never mind. You’re probably going to that mute slave.”
Laila, who was about to walk away, hesitated.
Mute?
Before Laila could even think, Thomis’s words continued, terrifying her internally.
“Rumor has it, you’ve been taking that mute slave everywhere lately without shame.”
“…….”
“And where are you off to now? The dining hall? The garden? The courtyard? Or maybe to a more secretive place today?”
Laila blinked as she let Thomis’s rant enter one ear and out the other.
She needed a moment to process the new information.
So, according to Thomis, it was rumored that Sion was mute…
‘Why would Sion be mute?’
Laila recalled her memories. Sion spoke well.
His pronunciation was clear, and his speaking speed was neither too fast nor too slow, just right.
And somehow, whenever he spoke, his words always seemed to stick in her ears.
But really, why?
Why did Sion’s words always seem to be so clear? Was it because of his exceptional pronunciation and vocalization? It didn’t seem like the only reason…
“Why are you silent? Are you really going to a secret place?”
Thomis continued to hurl words at Laila as she became lost in her thoughts.
Feeling confident that he had shut Laila up, Thomis was feeling rather pleased with himself.
“No matter how secretive the place is, it must be boring to play with a mute. Does he know how to scream? I’ll teach him if you ask…….”
“It’s not boring.”
