Episode 12.
As much as Deborah would like to give in to whatever the young woman has to say, she knows she’s in over her head.
A quickie marriage has made April the rightful heir to the Earldom of Falcon after just one night.
Her position is more secure than Deborah’s, and the manor’s servants are obliged to prioritize April’s word over anyone else’s.
“I let my guard down when she said she was gentle, and I let a lion cub in.
I regretted it in hindsight, but the water had already been spilled.
April’s gaze fell on me, and after swallowing hard, Deborah dropped the bombshell.
“I’m not getting out of here!”
“You’re ……?”
April’s incredulous expression caused Deborah to pause for a moment, but then she forced herself to continue.
“I’m not leaving this manor until I’m paid, and if that happens, I’m taking the seal of the House of Quorn with me!”
Deborah raised her voice, the whites of her eyes flashing as if she were about to snap.
“What would you know, a new bride? I’ll take care of the estate until you’ve settled into the house!”
Her nostrils flared, and her breathing became ragged.
April looked at Deborah pitifully.
“What the hell did you hear about not having an estate to manage?”
Deborah nodded slowly, her grim expression still visible.
“Well, whatever.”
“……what?”
“It’s the same whether you’re here or not, I can’t pay you, so do whatever you want.”
Deborah flashed a moment of embarrassment at April’s lukewarm response, which to me was like a slap in the face.
“We can sell the townhouse if we have to, what’s the point of making fun of it, it’s just more upkeep.”
Then Deborah’s eyes widened.
“You! Don’t you dare touch that!”
But April only pretended to hear her and turned away.
“I’m going to go.”
I don’t know what I’d do if I collapsed in front of her.
April’s eyes swam as if she might pass out at any moment, but she had no intention of letting Deborah grab her pod.
“You! I said don’t touch that! Don’t touch it! That’s my house!”
Now, that’s loud.
April shook her head in frustration and barely managed to close the door behind her, leaving Deborah’s voice behind.
The hallway was empty.
Beyond the doorway, where she leaned back, she could faintly hear Deborah throwing things around the room in frustration.
“Character.”
April muttered softly, letting out a heavy sigh.
“Phew……. This is going to be a long one.”
The thought of running into Deborah in the future was already giving her a headache.
April rubbed her forehead again. It was even hotter than before.
“Let’s just…… get to our room.”
She muttered weakly, letting out a breath full of heat.
Not here, not when she collapsed.
She bit the delicate flesh in her mouth, biting down harder and harder, barely able to keep her heavy steps.
But her legs were shaky, and a cold sweat broke out on April’s forehead.
“First, I need to get some snow……. Then I’ll…… call the butler to come and get me…….”
But she hadn’t taken more than a few steps when April’s body staggered precariously as if she were about to fall over.
She managed to take a few steps, but the distance wasn’t significant.
Her body was achingly heavy.
“Oh, shit.”
The strength drained from her body, and April hurriedly grabbed the wall next to her.
She could feel it instinctively.
“I’m supposed to…… to my room…….”
But April couldn’t finish her sentence. Her eyelids fluttered shut.
And just like that, April’s body lost its center and collapsed. At that moment, a figure burst into the quiet hallway. It was reike.
“Oh no.”
He hurriedly stretched out his arms.
A strong arm snaked around April’s voluptuous waist in one swift motion.
It saved her from a disastrous nose-to-nose collision with the floor.
After righting herself, showing no sign of pain, reike stood still and looked into April’s face.
Her violet eyes pierced into April’s, searching for understanding.
She was still frowning, even as she was losing her mind.
“Even when she’s frowning, she’s a pretty girl.”
Muttering something incoherent, reike smirked and picked April up in his arms.
He carried her as if he knew the layout of the mansion inside and out and strode boldly into her room.
After carefully laying her down on the bed, he looked down at her, his brow furrowed.
Trouble was written all over his face.
“I think you’re running a fever.”
His lips twisted into a sneer, and he snapped his fingers.
Poof!
In a puff of white smoke, a small ice pack appeared on a violet cloth the same color as his eyes.
reike placed it gently on April’s forehead.
It was a very careful touch as if he didn’t want it to break at the slightest movement.
Only after he had secured the ice pack in the center of her forehead, in case it fell off, did he push her upright again.
Reike froze as he reached to brush his hands off out of habit.
“You okay……?”
He stared at my hand blankly, then slowly curled it into a fist.
“Why?”
It was the first time I had ever touched another human being and not felt dirty.
He didn’t wipe or dust his hands, though I shook my head at the strangeness.
reike shifted his gaze back to April.
She looked more relaxed, as if the cold air had taken some of the edge off her fever.
reike muttered under his breath.
“It’s fate, I suppose, that when you’re warm and cozy, you’re inseparable from ice.”
April’s expression flashed back to her earlier, when she had begged him to put ice in her coffee.
I half-heartedly made her a coffee with ice and served it to her, and at that moment, her blue eyes sparkled like the reflections on a rain-slicked lake.
It must have been so impressive that the moment stuck in my mind.
reike, who had laughed out loud in a squeaky voice, suddenly stiffened.
“Laughing……?”
As soon as she realized what she was doing, the corners of her lips stopped curling upwards, stuck in an awkward position.
“I……?”
As if in disbelief, he raised his right hand to cover the corner of my mouth.
I realize that there are only two people in this room, April, who has lost her mind, and myself.
Still, I’m terrified that someone might see me like this.
“……Nonsense.”
He lets out a long sigh and shakes his head slightly, his silky silver hair swaying in front of his eyes.
With another long, deep sigh, reike tugged at the string at the head of the bed.
He’d better call a maid, so April wouldn’t be uncomfortable later.
Only then did reike turn away from April, satisfied that she had finished her task.
His long legs carried him quickly to the door, and he paused as he opened it.
He had heard footsteps coming this way from outside the door.
Reike released his grip on the doorknob.
“You almost got me wrong.”
He glanced back toward the bed where April lay.
There was no good in this situation, for her or him.
His brow furrowed, and reike clicked his tongue briefly.
He clicked his tongue briefly and moved away from the door.
“I hate hassles, but I can’t afford to make mistakes.”
He muttered something short and then walked languidly to the window.
With a rough hand, he untied the neatly tied curtain strings and spread the curtains wide.
Then, like an actor exiting from behind a curtain, Reike disappeared behind the curtain.
And then!
Wham!
A gust of wind suddenly blew through the room with no windows open.
The curtains billowed and flapped like a sail against the wind.
After a while, as the wind gradually died down, the frenzied movement of the curtains began to subside.
The bulging fabric finally straightened out.
But there was no more Reike.
He had vanished, as if he had never been here in the first place.
Just then, there was a soft, gentle knock on the door.
“Ma’am?”
A knock.
“Ma’am, it’s Nora. You wanted to see me?”
After a couple more knocks and no answer, the maid cautiously opened April’s door.
“Excuse me, ma’am.”
There was a note of caution in her voice as if she didn’t want to offend.
Scanning the room, Mrs. Nora’s eyes widened in surprise when she saw April lying on the bed.
“Ma’am? Oh, ma’am!”
Quickly rushing to the bed, Mrs. Nora grabbed April’s shoulders and began to gently shake her to make sure she was conscious.
The shaking brought April to her feet.
“No fuss…… stop shaking…… stop…….”
“Are you okay, do you want me to call a doctor?”
April was about to say yes, but her dry lips curled into a smile and she swallowed hard.
Instead, she scraped together the strength she didn’t have and asked.
“Does this family have a resident…… doctor……?”
“Oh, no. We used to have one, but……. but he quit when his wages weren’t paid, so now the position is vacant, and we have to call in a traveling doctor.”
And so it is.
April sighed heavily, then frowned.
“Then don’t call him. Spend the money…….”
I couldn’t even go to the doctor in my last life because I had to save money, and now this one’s a bitch.
“It’s unfair.
