Chapter 29
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but you were really close to dying. According to Ailan, your brain was half-cooked or something?”
“Uh… I, I apologize.”
“You probably don’t want to be in pain, so there’s no need to apologize. Anyway, stay in that room you’re in now and rest until Ailan says it’s okay to get up.”
“I’m sorry, but who is ‘Ailan’?”
Realizing he had been talking about something only he knew, Laslo made a sheepish expression.
Idel found Laslo’s occasional expressions like that a bit amusing.
“Ailan Cobb. The quack doctor who treated you.”
When he referred to the doctor as a ‘quack’ in a serious tone, Idel couldn’t help but laugh out loud. She quickly covered her mouth but added more to ensure Laslo wouldn’t take offense.
“He seems too skilled to be called a quack, though.”
“…Well, that’s true.”
Laslo readily agreed. It didn’t seem like he was offended.
“Anyway, just focus on resting and recovering. I’ll make sure the maid stays with you during this time.”
Idel was about to thank him and leave but carefully added one more thing.
“Thank you deeply for your compassion and generosity, Count. Should I report separately to Mrs. Bohem about my recovery period?”
“No need to worry about the head maid. She’ll be wishing for your recovery more than anyone else.”
“Yes…?”
Laslo chuckled at Idel’s rhetorical question.
“I told her that if you damaged the ‘Emperor’s gift,’ you’d never be safe. It wasn’t just a threat.”
“The Emperor’s gift…?”
“Ah, was that an unpleasant term?”
Idel quickly shook her head.
Though she was a bit surprised by the sudden mention, she wasn’t offended or saddened.
“No, it’s not. Thanks to it, I’m still alive.”
“I wasn’t hoping for that, though.”
“…….”
Recalling how she had tried to jump out of the carriage on the way here, Idel was momentarily speechless.
At that time, she had thought this place would be hell, but looking back, it seemed like Laslo had actually saved her from hell.
But what gain did Laslo Crissus get from this? No matter how much she thought about it, it didn’t seem like there was any.
“Count, you… wouldn’t have hoped for a trophy like me, would you?”
“What?”
“It might have been better if you received art or jewelry from the duke’s family like others. His Majesty the Emperor was quite mischievous.”
Idel forced a smile, but she couldn’t help the bitterness in her mouth.
After spending a few months, she realized that Laslo had no interest in women or noble games.
How much of a troublesome trophy was she, a rebel’s wife, to him?
Yet Laslo snorted.
“What are you talking about? His Majesty the Emperor gave me the most precious trophy to uphold my dignity.”
It was a peculiar feeling.
Though his tone seemed to be blaming, Idel felt as if she was being comforted by him.
“Thank you for saying that. I’m not sure if it’s rude, but if you hadn’t accepted me back then, I would have….”
She paused.
Imagining a terrible future she would have faced, she couldn’t continue speaking, but Laslo said something strange, as if he was thinking of something.
“…Try not to think about death if you can.”
“Excuse me?”
“Good days will come if you live. Of course, it’s still tough now, but just endure a little longer.”
Idel was taken aback.
She came to thank him for saving her but couldn’t immediately understand why she was hearing such words.
However, she could tell that Laslo didn’t mean it in a bad way. So, she tried to respond with suitably encouraging words.
“Yes. If I keep living like this, someday… I hope to live a normal life….”
Why, she wondered.
The moment Idel uttered the word “ordinary,” tears suddenly streamed down her face.
It was something she hadn’t expected at all, and she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.
“Oh, I-I’m sorry!”
As she hurriedly turned to wipe her tears, she thought Laslo would be either bewildered or annoyed at her crying, especially since she had come to thank him for saving her with a lot of money.
However, his reaction was unexpected.
After a moment of hesitation, he approached her and handed her a handkerchief.
“Well… it must have been the hardest for you to be ordinary.”
That comment made the tears she had managed to wipe away start flowing again.
Idel had always wished for just a normal degree of happiness in her life: a normal family, a normal life, and ordinary love and friendship.
What she thought was humble, “ordinary,” turned out to be an immense desire.
Ordinary was the most precious and the hardest to attain.
Money, status, her father’s ambitions, and the socialite’s attention were excessive, and the affection and stability within those were much more lacking.
But she didn’t expect Laslo to understand that.
“I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I’m crying… Maybe something’s off because of the fever.”
“You don’t have to thank me anymore. Go back and cry some more.”
“Yes…?”
Cry some more?
Idel was bewildered, thinking she must have misheard.
“It’s an order.”
But Laslo didn’t correct himself; he even emphasized it as a command.
He turned Idel around by grabbing her shoulders and pushed her towards the door.
“After you’ve cried it all out, call that young maid and ask her to bring a hearty dinner. Eat well and don’t think about anything, just sleep. That’s my order.”
“But….”
“Don’t argue. Just go.”
The door to the office slammed shut behind Idel as she was pushed out into the hallway.
“What on earth….”
What just happened?
Standing alone in the hallway, Idel was stunned.
But the word ‘order’ whispered in her ear warmed her heart like a comforting soup. For some reason, it felt like a new kind of courage was rising within her.
‘Yes, it’s an order.’
Idel wiped her still-wet cheeks with the handkerchief Laslo had given her and walked back to her guest room. She threw herself onto the bed and cried heartily.
It was the first time since her marriage to Duke Rankaster that she had cried so much.
But it was strange.
As she cried for a long time, she felt something that had been knotted inside her slowly dissolve. Eventually, she even wondered, “Why was I crying?”
Then she felt hungry.
‘I’m so hungry.’
She felt like eating a lot, just as Laslo had said. Idel called for Daisy, the maid who stayed next door to the guest room.
“Miss! What happened? Why are you crying?”
Seeing Idel’s tear-streaked face, Daisy was shocked to the point of turning pale. But instead of explaining, Idel made a desperate request.
“Daisy, I’m so hungry. I’m sorry, but could you bring as much food as possible?”
“Hungry? You must be getting better! Please wait a moment!”
Daisy was delighted to see Idel showing appetite and ran to the kitchen.
A short while later, she brought a tray of food that was more than Idel would normally be able to eat.
“I brought everything I could. Potato soup, rye bread, butter, three slices of ham, boiled eggs, roasted chicken, and an apple. Also, this is a mix of shallots and carrots stir-fried, which tastes great if you put it between the bread. And these are cookies I bought earlier today.”
The food piled on the plate looked delicious. It might have seemed that way because Daisy’s desire to feed her was added to it.
Idel thanked her and started eating the food eagerly. She had never been so hungry.
As the simple flavors of the food spread in her mouth, it brought on another kind of hunger.
“Wow… I’ve never seen you eat so much before.”
“This is the first time I’ve eaten this much.”
Idel smiled shyly and finished off the food with determination.
“Ah… I don’t think I can eat another drop of water.”
After clearing her plate without leaving a single crumb, a strange sense of satisfaction washed over her.
Then she couldn’t remember why she had been crying earlier.
What remained in her mind were only Laslo’s words.
“Good days will come if you live.”
It was a common consolation, but with his voice added, it felt somehow special.
‘Strangely, it feels like it might really happen because he said it.’
Laslo Crissus was the one who had pulled her out of the Duke Rankaster’s house and other greedy individuals.
Suddenly, a certain day at the Duke’s house came to mind.
It was a dinner a week after suffering a severe cold.
“Ah? You’re already fully recovered? It seemed like a severe cold, but I guess it wasn’t much.”
“It was nice to have pleasant meal times for a while. Tsk.”
The atmosphere seemed to regret that she had fully recovered. As usual, the dinner that day was uncomfortable to the point where she couldn’t taste the food at all. It felt like swallowing sand, and she barely managed to swallow just enough to avoid being rude.
