Since Margaret disliked her, even if she was here, it would have been difficult for her to ask her to call her sister.
However, being able to ask and not being able to ask at all were slightly different.
‘First, I need to try some other method.’
Although she didn’t know what she could do.
She had to introduce someone to the Duke and make him fall in love, but that was a problem for later.
For now, finding someone who met the conditions was a difficult task.
“Shall I sit for a moment?”
“Yes.”
Noah, who had no idea about Carol’s complicated feelings, called out to the two of them.
“Carol! Your Grace!”
Noah ran around, rolling his eyes from a distance, as if his hands were not numb.
Carol tried to bring up the story about the flowers the Duke had sent, but closed her mouth.
‘I can’t apologize that my friend took them.’
That could put Louis in an awkward position.
“Actually…there’s something I want to tell you…”
Even if she ended up looking strange for not making excuses, she wanted to apologize first.
As Carol hemmed and hawed, the Duke asked with a wondering expression, “If you’re talking about the rumor, don’t worry.”
“Rumor?”
Suddenly, she wondered what rumor he was talking about.
“The, rumor about you and your friend being improper, within the Duke’s Mansion.”
“Ah…yes.”
She had forgotten. She wasn’t particularly interested in what others thought, and figured the rumor would die down soon anyway.
However, the Duke seemed more concerned about that part than Carol herself, as he said reassuringly, “I will definitely take responsibility and deal with that, so don’t worry.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Because of such a rumor, your relationship with your friend couldn’t become estranged, could it? Even though you’re really just friends.”
There was a faint trace of laughter in his voice.
It sounded like he was particularly emphasizing the word ‘friend,’ but Carol didn’t think much of it and played along with the Duke’s words.
“That’s true.”
“So don’t worry.”
“…But I wanted to talk about the flowers. You said you sent them before, right?”
“Ah ah. The flowers.”
The Duke said in a generous voice, “They were apparently delivered to the wrong address.”
“What?”
“So don’t worry too much about it.”
Clearly, both Louis and the errand boy said they were properly delivered to her house.
However, the Duke smiled pleasantly and told her not to worry about it.
So Carol, who was about to apologize, closed her mouth without saying anything.
Since the other party said it was okay, she felt it would seem strange to bring up the matter and apologize.
‘He really did send them without any ulterior motive.’
Carol stomped hard on the snow piled in front of her shoes.
“What are you two talking about so much?”
Noah, who had been rolling his eyes, shouted from afar, seemingly not wanting to be left out of the conversation.
“Nothing much.”
“You two aren’t just talking about going to the Garden House, are you?”
“No.”
Even though Carol said no, Noah seemed suspicious and started running back toward them.
“Ah!”
Noah came running forcefully but tripped over a rock and took a big fall.
“Wait a moment, I’ll go check on Noah’s condition.”
“Okay.”
Carol hurried over to where Noah’s face was buried in the snow.
“Noah! What if you fall running around on slippery ground like that!”
Carol supported Noah’s body and brushed the snow off his clothes.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Uh-uh.”
“How would you know without checking!”
Carol scolded the smiling Noah. When she lifted his clothes slightly, she saw blood.
“What do you mean you’re not hurt! You’re bleeding.”
“Shh. Don’t tell the Duke I’m hurt.”
Noah whispered a request into Carol’s ear, but there was no way.
“He’ll find out anyway once you get treated, so why hide it?”
“Carol, Carol, I’ll tell you a secret.”
Noah took Carol’s hand and led her away. Even from far away, as long as he spoke softly, the Duke wouldn’t hear, but Noah spoke in almost a whisper.
“What kind of secret that you have to be so secretive about…”
For a moment, she thought she would stop breathing. The bleeding arm slowly began to glow.
It didn’t shine brilliantly, but a soft light was definitely glowing over Noah’s wound.
The moment she saw that light, Carol thought she would stop breathing.
The bleeding arm slowly returned to its original state.
“I can’t heal major injuries, but I don’t need treatment for minor wounds like this.”
So that’s the secret!
He said it nonchalantly like it was no big deal, thus he was embarrassed to bring it up, but Carol couldn’t stay calm.
Noah didn’t seem to realize what power he had just used.
Noah was using the same power as the Chesworth family.
“Holy power…?”
Noah was a holy power user.
Carol’s face was filled with shock.
****
Along with realizing her feelings for the Duke and being rejected, the thought of having to act normally for a while made her head hurt.
But after seeing Noah’s holy power, all her attention turned to him.
In a way it was a relief, but instead, she had another concern added.
Carol finished her preparations to go to the Duke’s Mansion earlier than usual and sat down, holding her forehead.
‘It’s too big a secret for me to keep to myself.’
People with holy power were extremely rare.
Objectively speaking, compared to others with holy power, Noah’s power was not that remarkable.
However, as much as there was an official religion followed by the royalty, noble children were treated differently based on whether they had holy power or not.
Even among children of the same rank, those with holy power were regarded more highly.
Too surprised that day, she had just returned home, but soon she made time to be alone with Noah.
[Is it okay if I ask why you’re keeping it a secret?]
[…My holy power is only good for me, it doesn’t make money.]
[What does that mean?]
Noah sniffled in response to Carol’s question. It seemed he had heard many unkind words since his holy power was discovered.
[…Isn’t holy power supposed to heal others too? But in most cases, that’s not possible.]
Contrary to what one might normally think of holy power, only an exceptional few priests with outstanding holy power could actually heal others.
[…I see. If the Duke’s residence hadn’t come to get me, I would have been sold to a temple.]
Noah could not heal others, and even for self-healing, he would still suffer greatly from major injuries, only recovering faster.
If one’s holy power was not exceptional, they could become a priest, but temples would not go so far as to pay a large sum to recruit them.
That’s why he never even caught a cold coming from the annex to here, Carol realized. And now she understood why Noah regarded the Duke so highly.
Not only was he treated as an afterthought by his family, but he had joined the main household right before being sold off.
All the parts she had brushed off as trivial now made perfect sense.
And naturally, her thoughts proceeded to the next question.
Carol wasn’t interested in how high Noah’s level of holy power was.
[Right. I’ll keep it a secret until you’re ready to talk about it.]
The fact that he had holy power at all was what mattered.
What did this fact imply?
“…He may be able to break the curse.”
Never before had the saying “the closest being the hardest to see” felt so viscerally true.
Noah met all the conditions Carol remembered for breaking the curse.
He was human, had never seen the Duke as a human, and had holy power.
‘Love…’
It didn’t explicitly state it had to be erotic love.
Love had no defined form, so the criteria were vague, but she didn’t think she needed to think so grandly about it.
Noah loved the Duke.
Even without having seen him, they were bound as family. And his affection had steadily grown since meeting the Duke.
“…Phew.”
Carol sighed. Having turned into a human and waiting for the carriage, her shoulders were slumped.
Watching Carol from behind, Kevin and Dylan whispered to each other.
“Something’s wrong, isn’t there?”
“Should we ask her?”
As the two debated, there was a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it.”
As Carol rose from her seat, the two hurriedly stopped her.
“…Sister, is something the matter?”
“Nothing at all.”
Carol smiled weakly.
It was much easier than having to bring Elisha Chesworth from the capital.
Her current dilemma was a happy problem to have–nothing less than having gained hope of breaking the curse.
Real problems faced in the present are always more daunting than vague worries.
“…How do I get them to kiss?”
Her dilemma was how to get the Duke and Noah to kiss.
lmao