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chapter 64
“Yes. George Dudley.”
Lorinus clearly spoke the name of the suspect who had poisoned him to Eden.
Normally, Lorinus would have already erased George’s name from his mind. After all, it wasn’t even certain that George was the culprit, and to him, the name of someone who had lost to him in battle despite suffering paralysis was unimportant.
But there was one reason why Lorinus had engraved the name in his memory: because George was the one who had poisoned the drink given to him by Naeri.
The drink she had offered had tasted good, without the slightest hint of anything wrong. Yet Naeri had been so troubled by the idea that poison had been slipped into what she had made. Half-conscious, Lorinus had even heard her blaming herself, saying she wished she had never given him that drink.
‘How dare that bastard…’
That was why Lorinus wanted to catch the culprit. He wanted to tell Naeri that it was that man’s doing, that she and her drink bore no fault.
“Yes. You’ll recognize him. He’ll be right at the front as Sir Ada’s right-hand man, so you’ll spot him at a glance. For reference, he’s a man with platinum-blond hair and green eyes.”
Knowing Lorinus, Eden thought he might have already forgotten George’s face from the finals, so he added details. He didn’t bother mentioning that George was rather handsome and popular with women; his superior wouldn’t have understood the significance of that anyway.
From the start, Lorinus had never seemed moved by beauty. Countless women had sent him flirtatious glances and love letters, yet the one he had married was the utterly ordinary Naeri de Pomots.
“Is the Countess of Winchester well?”
Since he’d remembered her, Eden carefully inquired after Naeri’s well-being.
At that question, Lorinus simply stared back at him.
“W-why are you looking at me like that?”
Eden stammered under the weight of his superior’s unsettling gaze.
“Since when have you called the Countess of Winchester so politely?”
From the beginning, Eden had never liked Naeri. At their first meeting, he’d found her suspicious. When their engagement was announced, he belittled her as unworthy of Lorinus. After the marriage, he claimed she damaged the dignity of the ancient Winchester family.
“And why, exactly, are you curious about her well-being?”
What began as suspicion in Lorinus’s voice quickly sharpened into certainty, his gaze turning razor-sharp—the same look he usually reserved for duels. Eden was taken aback.
‘Is asking about my superior’s wife really something to get this sensitive over?’
Completely forgetting his own past words and actions, Eden blamed Lorinus’s poor social skills in his head.
“W-well, you see… I was moved, watching the Countess take care of you. Honestly, I used to think she was a shallow woman who clung to you for your title and wealth, but after seeing her—”
Eden sneaked a glance at Lorinus. The man said nothing, but his eyes grew sharper, gleaming like a well-honed blade.
“—this time, watching her nurse you, I realized. Ah! This is love.”
In an instant, Lorinus’s gaze softened. He even looked flustered, his pupils trembling slightly.
At the very least, he had stopped glaring. For that alone, Eden was thankful.
“She refused the help of maids and nursed you herself, staying up through the night at your side. She even caught your vomit with her bare hands—if that’s not love, then what is?”
“…She caught my vomit with her bare hands?”
“That’s right. Didn’t you hear?”
Lorinus shook his head, and Eden frowned in puzzlement. If it had been him, he would’ve bragged about it already, telling everyone how devotedly he had been cared for.
“Then… did she at least tell you that she was the one who made you vomit? She squeezed the juice of hydrangea and fed it to you, to force the poison out of your system.”
Again, Lorinus shook his head.
“The physician praised her, saying it was exactly the right thing to do. If she hadn’t acted, you might still be lingering between life and death. The Countess saved your life.”
Eden embellished the story just a little. A hero who didn’t tell his own tale deserved at least that much extra credit.
“…I see.”
After hearing it all, Lorinus nodded, deep in thought. Without meaning to, a faint smile threatened to tug at his lips.
Truthfully, he was glad. Deeply moved that Naeri had gone to such lengths for him.
“How could she have known to make you vomit after poisoning, or that hydrangea juice would cause it? She’s surprisingly clever and thoughtful.”
Lorinus nodded at Eden’s assessment.
“She’s always been clever and thoughtful. And not only that—she’s kind and gentle too.”
He even added more. Most husbands, when their wives were praised in front of them, would at least feign modesty and deflect. Lorinus did not.
“You just didn’t know her until now.”
Instead, he lightly rebuked Eden, who had been disparaging Naeri like a disapproving mother-in-law all this time.
“How could I have known? Who would’ve thought such qualities were hidden behind that plain face?”
“I did.”
“…Since when?”
At Eden’s question, Lorinus thought for a moment. When had he first realized there was something about Naeri?
Was it when he found himself wanting to gaze into her warm brown eyes? When he wished that upright, unwavering gaze would be directed at him?
Was it when he wondered how she could show such selfless kindness and bare emotions with no ulterior motive?
When had he first thought that maybe—just maybe—he could love this woman?
“From the very beginning.”
That was the answer he finally gave.
“I recognized it at first sight. There was something special about her.”
The bedchamber smelled sweet. It had been that way for some time now. Thinking back, Lorinus realized it had been ever since Naeri came to the house.
In the mornings, the breeze through the open window carried the scent of flowers from the garden. In the evenings, the aroma of steeped tea filled the room.
The chamber, once drab and colorless like a room belonging to an old man rather than a man in his twenties, had gained color.
On the shelf sat the brightly colored drawings of Daniel—the child whose genius Lorinus had yet to discover. Next to them rested the doll Daniel had given Naeri as a gift.
Beside the bed, the vase always held fresh flowers. Sometimes yellow, sometimes red. Each carried a subtly different fragrance, but all were pleasant.
Suddenly, Lorinus realized that Naeri herself carried a lovely fragrance too. From her flowing brown hair as she walked, to her steady breathing as she slept, whenever she was near—like now—he always caught her sweet scent.
“I was so shocked when I woke up this morning. You still haven’t fully recovered, so why had you to go out like that?”
Lorinus thought her nagging sounded just like a lark’s chirping. In truth, he had no idea what a lark looked like or how it sounded. He only vaguely felt that Naeri’s chatter was adorably bright, and the comparison came to him.
“You need to rest more, my lord. Even if you have some resistance to the poison, the doctor said you’d need at least a month to recuperate. You still have numbness in your hands and feet, and you limp a little when you walk—did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
‘She’s worried about me?’
Lorinus’s lips nearly curved into a smile. But remembering that Naeri was in the middle of scolding him, he firmly held back the corners of his mouth.
