Suddenly, she became curious.
Would people in the future, ten years from now, feel the same way?
When they heard that Sion had sealed the evil god.
Would they be captivated by this feeling, recalling the hero who saved the world and their lives?
As the thought crossed her mind, Laila was overcome by another emotion other than relief.
It was envy.
Envy towards the people “saved” by the hero.
Envy towards the people who were not the hero’s enemies.
“…Me too.”
As she pondered over past emotions, Laila unconsciously murmured, her lips trembling.
“If only…”
If only I hadn’t been Hildegarde.
If that were the case, I would have been like everyone else towards you….
“……Laila?”
Laila froze in place. She stared at Sion with wide eyes.
Looking like he had just woken up, Sion called out her name, then frowned and sat up.
“Why.”
That would be a shortened form of “Why did you come to my bedroom?”.
Understanding immediately, Laila collected herself and scooted her chair closer to the bed before speaking.
“I just came to see if you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.”
“Really? It doesn’t hurt? It doesn’t feel uncomfortable? Did Elvin give you plenty of painkillers?”
Sion’s eyebrows arched slightly at the barrage of questions before he answered.
“Hmm.”
“Good… If you’re in pain, let me know anytime. I’ll ask Elvin for more medicine.”
Sion nodded his head briefly.
His usual indifferent demeanor remained unchanged, but as Laila quietly observed him, she suddenly smiled.
Of course, it wasn’t particularly rare for Laila to smile in front of Sion.
In fact, she often smiled, almost habitually, when she was with him.
Part of the reason was to appear pleasant to Sion, and also because forcing herself to smile somewhat alleviated her tension or fear.
But this time, Laila smiled because she was genuinely happy.
She smiled out of joy.
“Sion.”
“…….”
“Thanks for saving me.”
“Don’t be mistaken. I didn’t save you.”
For some reason, his response was sharper than usual, but Laila didn’t mind.
Instead, she smiled even brighter.
“I know. I’m just saying, you defeated the wolf so you could live, and I was with you at the time, so I sort of benefited from it too.”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you.”
Thank you for wanting to live.
Laila swallowed her sincerity.
She felt good. Her heart swelled with pride.
If she were to give a name to the bubbling emotion in her heart right now, it would probably be a sense of accomplishment.
The feeling of having accomplished it.
‘His symptoms of complicated grief seem to be improving.’
Sion, who didn’t eat anything in over two days because he didn’t want to live, fought the wolf to survive.
Thinking back, Laila felt happy. She felt content and satisfied.
All the suffering she had endured had not been in vain.
Thinking this way, she felt a sense of comfort.
You’re doing well. You can do it.
Look. Your situation is slowly changing, just like the amount of effort you’re putting in.
Just don’t give up. You will eventually fulfill your promise.
It was as if someone had whispered those words to her.
Laila couldn’t help but continue to smile.
And Sion, with a stern face, continued to gaze at her intensely.
In the depths of his black eyes, like the night sea, there was a subtle tremor, like waves.
Sion’s gaze remained glued to Laila and couldn’t seem to tear away for a long time.
ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
It was only after Laila had fully regained her senses that she realized she had eaten poisonous berries.
As soon as the berries’ toxicity wore off and she was able to move, she came to find Sion.
She checked to see if he had eaten.
At the time, Sion hadn’t eaten in over two days. The reason was simple. He just didn’t.
He didn’t feel like eating anything, and he didn’t have the urge to request a meal anywhere.
So, he starved. Of course, he didn’t plan to starve indefinitely.
Since suicide wasn’t an option, he decided he would eat something before starving to death.
However, fasting for two days was too short a time to be in any real danger.
But noticing that Sion had gone without food for two days, Laila, who seemed to pale at the thought, took him to the dining hall.
Sion didn’t bother to decline Laila’s offer to go to the dining hall and followed her, thinking,
She should take care of her own body.
The sudden thought that crossed his mind took him by surprise.
Whether Laila Hildegarde takes care of herself or not,
What does that have to do with him?
Sion descended the stairs with a stern face. However, he couldn’t help but steal glances at Laila’s thin neck and ankles as she walked ahead.
In hindsight, that thought was the signal.
It signaled the fact that his head and body wouldn’t move as he wished in the future.
Since that day, Laila has thoroughly taken care of Sion’s meals, to the point where it could be described as obsessive.
But that wasn’t all.
Before lunch every day, she suggested taking a walk around the garden or courtyard for at least thirty minutes.
Sion never forgot the first time he accepted Laila’s offer to go for a walk.
‘The weather is nice today. It’s perfect for a walk around the courtyard……. Want to come with me?’
The word ‘courtyard’ in Laila’s sentence caught Sion’s attention.
The other day, when Laila had been carried into the bedroom after collapsing, Marie explained to Elvin in the commotion of the bedroom.
Miss Laila collapsed in the courtyard.
And Elvin diagnosed that Laila must have eaten some poisonous berries.
Taken together, the conclusion was that Laila had eaten the berries in the courtyard and fainted.
So, if she were to go to the courtyard alone again…
‘Aren’t you coming out?’
When Sion came to his senses, he was holding onto the bedroom door.
Rationally, he knew it didn’t make sense. Laila hadn’t eaten for days when she ate the berries in the courtyard.
She’d lost her judgment and made a mistake she wouldn’t normally have made.
But not now. Laila had been freed from her meal restrictions and was properly taking care of her meals.
So even if they went to the courtyard, Laila wouldn’t be careless enough to pick and eat any fruit like before.
He knew. He understood. He definitely knew.
In the end, Sion accompanied Laila to the courtyard that day.
Laila encouraged him to go for walks on a daily basis, took him to the dining hall, and came to his bedroom at night to talk.
During these times, Laila noticeably struggled.
During walks, she was so tense that she almost stumbled at every step, and it seemed like she couldn’t digest her meals properly, leading to a reduction in her food intake.
At night, when they talked alone in the bedroom, she looked like someone facing a nightmare head-on with a determined face.
It bothered Sion.
The fact that Laila was struggling bothered him, as did the realization that he was the cause.
But above all, what bothered him the most was himself.
He didn’t refuse Laila’s walking suggestions, didn’t reject her invitations to the dining hall, and didn’t drive her out of the bedroom when she forced herself to stay.
Originally, Sion had intended to go along with whatever Laila did.
If he does everything she asks and doesn’t react like a doll, maybe she’ll give up trying to do things with him at some point.
With that in mind, if Laila eventually gave up saving him, wouldn’t Marquis Hildegarde kill him?
That’s what he was hoping for.
So giving in to Laila’s whims wasn’t really a problem. He wasn’t in a position to be bothered.
But something was off. The more time he spent with Laila, the more restless he became.
An unexplained, unidentifiable feeling of uneasiness that he couldn’t quite put his finger on grew until it became too much to ignore.
And then, after suggesting walks every day, Laila now urged an outing.
As usual, Sion didn’t refuse, and they arrived at the lake together.
The lake was beautiful. No, it might be beautiful.
Sion remembered what people used to say about natural sights being beautiful, like lakes.
That was it.
In fact, what bothered him more than the lake was Laila’s excitement at seeing it.
