Chapter 8 A Midday Nightmare
“Of course, since you are a lady, you may not know the details of the defense.”
When she hesitated, unable to answer easily, he smirked, as if he were joking, and explained.
“I’m at the Emperor’s behest, and I’m in charge of the Third District.”
His tone was businesslike, as if he were reporting for duty.
‘… Is that why I didn’t know about him, because he’s mostly active in District 3?’
No, of course not.
It couldn’t be that she was the only one who didn’t know, while every other noble in the capital knew.
Her head began to spin again.
“You manage… District 3?”
“Yes, because the factory districts 3 are what keep this capital rich.”
A strange smile crossed his face as he answered.
The corners of his lips, redder than wine, curved upward, but his eyes were as cold as ice.
Meeting those eyes, suddenly the tragedy of three days ago pierced her heart like an icy arrow.
Delphine’s gaze dropped to her plate.
Her fingertips grew cold as she gripped the knife formally.
“My Lady?”
Delphine shuddered at the sound of the man calling for her.
Her manners and training in not showing emotion easily had long since been overcome by fear.
“Your face is white. My Lady, are you all right?”
“Oh, it’s…”
Delphine quickly lowered the hand holding the knife under the table to hide the fingertips that were beginning to tremble.
“The steak, it’s digesting well…”
Once the words were out of her mouth, her stomach really started to churn.
The food she’d forced herself to chew so she could pretend to eat seemed to have taken hold.
She used to get nervous about anything that bothered her, like she had nervous gastritis…
“Oh no.”
He scrambled to his feet and came to her with quick steps.
“Oh.”
And then, too lightly, he scooped Delphine up in his arms and lifted her up.
Delphine stumbled back, her face white with embarrassment.
“Hey, it’s okay…”
“Hold still. I’m not going to drop you.”
He stalked straight to the quarters.
His stride was brisk, as if there were no woman in a dress in his arms.
Once there, he set her down on the bed, just as he had last night, but with more care.
Delphine immediately turned and wrapped her arms around her stomach.
Her stomach rumbled even more than it had earlier, perhaps from the tension of being in his firm embrace.
His large hand reached out to her navel.
“Where are you going…”
But as she shuddered and whimpered, his hand stopped in midair.
Delphine was rather surprised by his behavior.
“…You look like you’ve got a stomach ache down there.”
Looking up, he looked genuinely concerned.
He had just cut her father’s throat right in front of her eyes.
He had just cut her father’s throat right in front of her.
She was stunned.
But she was weaker than ever, physically and mentally.
“It’s all right, lady, you’ll be fine when you wake up after a good night’s rest.”
What is it about those gentle eyes and tone that suddenly brings tears to her eyes?
And she can’t help but think of the boy who was a slave himself and always worried about his master?
“…”
“Oh no. Your complexion is getting worse…”
She heard him mutter slowly as she crouched down, trying not to show her expression.
She felt his hand gently patting her back.
Then, strangely, she felt a real sense of relief, and the weight drained from her body.
“You’ll be better when you wake up.”
Yes.
All better.
‘Well, if only this whole situation could all go back to the way it was…’
As if it had been a midday nightmare.
At the sound of the man’s low voice, Delphine’s eyes fluttered remained closed.
For some reason, it was Ioan in that dream.
***
Ioan.
It was the day her former fiancé, Leonard, visited her at Pembroke Manor.
The day she received a purple iris from a man she’d never met before, with a proposal of marriage.
“Who is he?”
“What?”
Ioan said, not even looking at the dried figs she handed him.
He was much taller than his age, with broad shoulders, and had grown to the point where strangers would mistake him for a young man.
When Ioan turned to look at her, she quickly blushed and muttered timidly.
“It’s… the man I was walking with earlier.”
“Alas, Sir Leonard? Now. Come on, why don’t you eat this?”
She offered him a fig, then flopped down on a chair in the garden.
“He’s my fiancé.”
At her casual comment, his body stiffened for a moment as he carefully tucked the fig into his pocket.
“You’re engaged…?”
“Yep. Oh, an engagement is when you promise to marry each other at a later date.”
“I know that arrangement!… I’m sorry. Lady.”
He cringed for a moment, then quickly bit his lip and apologized.
“It’s okay.”
“So, then, Lady , are you marrying that nobleman… and when?”
“Well. Perhaps when I turn twenty?”
“And you will leave this mansion?”
“I suppose so.”
She said, scattering the dirt in the garden with her unnecessarily shod foot.
She had always assumed that arranged marriages were the norm, but it was strange to see someone react so unfamiliarly.
“…”
“My father doesn’t seem to be eating hawks these days.”
She said, nudging him when he suddenly fell silent.
Ioan was not only tall, but also strong.
Even though he hadn’t yet reached adulthood, it was hard to find anyone in the manor who was stronger than him.
Not long ago, he was chastised for severely injuring one of the servant who had been bullying him.
Perhaps it was because of that incident. Her father stopped whipping him.
She thought so, with a bitter feeling.
As usual, Ioan didn’t like her bringing up the subject.
At some point, he even refused to take the medication she brought him.
It was probably after that night.
It was probably after that night, under the full moon, when we looked at each other with a plate of clear water in the middle.
“Twenty years old… Two more years.”
He stammered.
Ioan was always like that when he tried to hide his true feelings from her.
“Yeah. Well, yeah.”
“… doesn’t seem very happy living in a mansion like this.”
“What?”
She looked up in surprise.
He was looking at her straight in the face, serious, not averting his gaze, which was rare.
“Do you think you’ll be… happy if you marry that nobleman?”
Happiness? Happiness?
It was a word she had never given much thought to, much like arranged marriage.
She pursed her lips for a moment, then mimicked a stern expression.
“…Ioan Pride. I love you as one of my servant, but that’s a cheeky question.”
This time, she was the first to look away from him.
She looked away, trying to ignore the intensity in his hazel eyes as they stared back at her.
***
And again.
Delphine lay dazed, staring at the curtains fluttering in the wind.
The brilliant morning sun was shining through the thin curtains.
As if she’d taken a sleeping pill, she’d passed out again, just like yesterday.
‘Speaking of which…’
Delphine stroked her stomach with a dazed look on her face.
Her stomach, which had been rumbling like a boat until last night, had improved considerably.
She usually couldn’t swallow soup for days after a stomach bug like this.
Now there wasn’t even a soreness.
“You’re awake.”
Just then, she heard a voice from beyond the bed.
“Are you all right, My Lady?”
The man asked her again, looking at her speechlessly.
No, he didn’t ask. His tone was strangely assuring.
Last night, Ioan had appeared in her dream.
Not this man in front of her, but the slave boy.
“Are you happy in this mansion… lady?”
“Lady? Is there something still bothering you…?”
“Do you know about the legend of the full moon night?”
Delphine asked bluntly.
It was a question asked completely on impulse.
Her eyes, still drunk with sleep and the afterglow of her dreams, stared into the beautiful man’s face.
The man stared at the figure for a moment, then slowly parted his lips.
“You mean the… werewolf legend?”
At that moment, disappointment flashed across Delphine’s emerald eyes.
The man looked at her, his expression unchanged, and then spoke again.
“You ate too little last night. I’ve told maid to hurry up with your breakfast preparations. Get ready and come downstairs.”
The man was already fully dressed in his uniform.
Delphine, realizing that she, unlike him, was dressed in a thin chemise, hastily covered herself with the blanket.
“…”
The man’s elegant, stoic face cracked slightly at the sight of her.
But only for a moment.
“… come downstairs.”
The door closed rather hastily.
The room fell silent.
Sitting alone on the bed, Delphine suddenly realized.
“…You don’t usually ask, what’s the legend?”
