… First of all, I could tell that Ludger wasn’t just angry, he was incredibly angry.
Now that I think about it, Ludger seemed angry even before I lost consciousness the last time.
I tried not to be conscious of the finger touching my lips and carefully opened my mouth.
“Pardon me, I’m not sure about the details. However, I’m quite aware of the Young Duke’s anger. How can I take responsibility for this?”
“….”
Ludger sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time, rubbing his forehead. I had spoken as a compliant subordinate; what was the problem?
He swallowed a few times as if to calm himself down, and then slowly spoke.
“Alright. From now on, whenever the Captain mentions work, I’ll extend the number of days you’ll be locked in this room by one day.”
“…?!”
That was completely unacceptable. No, considering the situation of our knight order, even after two days, we would have been overloaded with work.
To force me to follow such a vicious condition…!
I wanted to ask if he had contacted my poor subordinates, and if things were okay there, but knowing that would fall under the ‘mention of work’, I only moved my lips but couldn’t utter a word.
The person in front of me was someone who ‘could do that’. Even if he really ignored everything and extended the confinement period indefinitely, who would protest?
‘It’s no use arguing with the villain….’
I finally lowered my eyes, feeling defeated.
“…Yes. I promise. I won’t talk about work until the Duke gives permission.”
“Good. Then just lie down and keep resting. I’ll prepare a meal. The healer will be here soon.”
“Yes….”
“A little warning just in case.”
“…?”
“Don’t get up and run around just because you’re feeling a bit better; lie down and stay put.”
I nodded vigorously. There could be an even worse situation than being forced to take an unexcused absence without permission.
Ludger gave me a sharp look as if he was giving me one final warning, then left the room.
Plop.
As soon as the door closed, the tension drained from my body. I must have been holding my breath without even realizing it.
‘Ugh… What a shitty situation.’
It was true that the blue sword energy was accompanied by some degree of internal injury. If you combined the gastric juice and blood I vomited while practising the technique, they would easily fill several vases.
However, even so, it made no sense that I would be unconscious for two straight days due to my internal injuries.
To begin with, I’ve never passed out from using the sword energy before. This incident was a bit of a blow to my pride as a swordswoman.
‘What on earth could be the problem?’
Then suddenly, I recalled the female lead, Elisa, who had rushed to heal me with a healing spell at the end.
As soon as she started treating me, I felt terrible pain racking over my whole body and I lost consciousness.
‘I wonder if something went wrong while she was using her healing magic?’
I felt a little sorry as I thought about that. My memory of the original work wasn’t perfect.
It might just be that I couldn’t remember, but perhaps it was actually part of her character to be able to use healing magic.
If that was the case, she probably just used the healing magic because she was worried about me when she saw I was hurt.
Of course, she had shown her intentions more openly than I expected… but to already reach a conclusion thinking that ‘the original female lead was actually the villainess?!’ would be unfair to her. Unless there was more evidence to support that.
As a knight, it’s forbidden to suspect others based on unfounded assumptions.
‘Without any doubt, I’ll need to remain cautious in the future but…..’
Whether the female lead is a bad person or not, her status as the protagonist of the original story makes her a walking natural disaster. That fact hasn’t changed.
Anyway, I’ll ask the healer for more details about my condition when they arrive.
Thinking about Elisa, there was one more thing that kept bugging me.
‘Did this attack of the demonic creature happen in the original?’
For a brief moment, I considered the possibility that the original villain, Ludger, had orchestrated the attack of the demonic creature, but I quickly dismissed the hypothesis.
If that was the case, Ludger himself wouldn’t have been willing to reveal that he was a mage and help me.
Then the demonic creature seemed to be an external factor, and if that affects the original….
‘Perhaps Ludger saved the female lead…?’
If I hadn’t appeared in the gathering with Ludger as his companion, the two would have talked separately.
At that moment, when the monsters appeared, perhaps Ludger saved Elisa from danger, then wouldn’t it create some kind of significant event?
For example, Ludger might reveal his secret of being a mage only in front of Elisa… or he couldn’t disclose his secret so got injured instead trying to save the female lead…. It’s a typical romantic development in fantasy novels.
As soon as I thought about it, I got goosebumps.
‘Did I intervene and…. ruin the plot?’
But there was nothing I could do. Even if I had known about the incident in advance, I couldn’t just leave the people who were obviously going to get hurt there while I was working as a bystander in the original storyline. I’m a knight, and my duty is to save people.
‘What should I do….’
Although it wasn’t my fault at all, I felt a subtle sense of guilt. I couldn’t imagine how the original story would unfold from now on in the future.
And seeing Ludger’s angry face just now made me even more worried. If I had pushed the temper of the villain even further, it would be a big problem.
‘This won’t do.’
First, I had to appease Ludger.
‘But why is Ludger so angry….’
I rubbed my face before sighing dejectedly.
What should I do to ease his mind? I needed to know what upset him in the first place so I could apologize or do something to prevent him from becoming more angry at me. At the same time, I also wanted to return to my job as soon as possible.
As I was agonizing about that, there was a knock at the door.
“Pardon the intrusion, Lady Weyburn. The meal has arrived, may I come in?”
“Yes, please come in.”
The butler I had greeted earlier that day came inside, pushing a trolley. I thought usually a butler doesn’t do such chores? I felt embarrassed for no reason.
“You haven’t eaten in a while, so if anything feels uncomfortable, please let me know right away. You shouldn’t force yourself to eat.”
“Understood. Thank you for your consideration.”
He helped me lean back on the back of the bed, setting up the lap table with great care.
He politely stepped aside, after lining up a light soup and easily digestible mashed foods.
“Um… I’ll call the butler when I’m done.”
“No. The Young Master has instructed me to make sure you don’t miss anything. Please eat comfortably.”
‘Even if I try to eat comfortably, I feel like I’ll end up feeling nauseous….’
I picked up the spoon and took a sip of the soup. As it was a meal from a Duke’s household, the taste was impeccable. It was just that it was hard to endure the awkward silence.
Then, the butler, who had been observing me with warm eyes, started a conversation.
Just like when we met the other day, he was a very friendly old man.
It wasn’t just business-like kindness out of politeness, but a strange sincerity could be felt.
“I’m glad to see you recovering so quickly. They said you could have been ill for over two weeks if things had gone wrong. The healer was quite surprised when they heard about you using the blue sword energy.”
“Ah… Well, actually, I feel pretty fine. Up until now, I’ve never fainted while training with the blue sword energy. The circumstances were a bit special this time….”
“However, the young lady still has collapsed, hasn’t you?”
“….”
It was true that I had collapsed pathetically, so I had no excuse, I just shoved more soup into my mouth.
“The Young Master… was very worried. He looked so relieved seeing the Captain waking up.”
“Is that so…?”
“Yes. He looked worried while taking care of you all night yesterday. so it’s a relief to see you up earlier than expected.”
“….”
I froze at the unexpected words.
Wait.
Wait, wait, wait.
Now that I think about it, Ludger was right there next to me when I woke up earlier, as if it were perfectly normal. I didn’t really think much of it at the time because I was still groggy from sleep…
After hearing the butler’s words, everything seemed to fit together.
“No…. Why was the Young Duke… personally taking care of me….”
“Because the Captain is our Young Master’s benefactor.”
“Yes…? Oh, because I defeated that demonic creature?”
That demonic creature would have been much easier for your Young Master to handle than for me…..
“Yes. That must be why the Young Master was so worried.”
“….”
I awkwardly looked away. The truth was, I hadn’t saved his life…., but from Ludger’s perspective, he was able to hide his hidden trump card (being a mage) that he didn’t want to reveal to others, so in that sense, I could be considered his benefactor.
But… why would the Young Duke be angry at his benefactor?
“However, earlier… it seemed the Young Duke seemed angry at me for some reason.”
I voiced that question but then realized my mistake. It felt like I was gossiping about the Young Duke with the butler who devotedly serves him.
However, the middle-aged butler answered with a wistful smile.
“There is a reason for that… I hope you understand, Sir.”
“….?”
