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Chapter 69
“Uwaaaah, sister! I’m really sorry…”
“…Huhng, it’s because of us that you got hurt, right?”
Back at the mansion, Fleur was busy comforting Suwa and Ju, who were sobbing uncontrollably in front of the bed.
“It’s not your fault. This was an accident. It’s okay.”
“But if we hadn’t insisted on going… we wouldn’t have gotten hurt…”
“I think it’s lucky that it was me, not you, who got caught up. So don’t cry.”
“Huhng… still…”
Their guilt-fueled crying showed no sign of stopping, and Fleur didn’t know what to do, feeling helpless.
“Hey! Aren’t you going to be quiet? If you’re that noisy, it’s just going to make things worse!”
The leader of the village, Grandma Grace, barged into the room, shouting immediately.
Startled by her presence, the children quickly covered their mouths with their hands.
“Stop acting so chaotic and get out of here!”
“Yes, yes!”
The children, subdued instantly, hurried out of the room.
Grace’s charisma was so commanding that even Fleur’s shoulders tensed.
“You hurt your ankle?”
“…Yes.”
“Lift your skirt.”
Obediently, Fleur quickly lifted the hem.
“Hmm…”
Grace’s eyes quickly scanned the injury before opening the leather bag she had brought with her.
She took out a bandage and wrapped it with precise, efficient movements.
After just a few motions, the ankle was firmly compressed, and the throbbing pain noticeably lessened.
“The bone isn’t broken, and the muscle isn’t torn. Keep it like this for a few days and do a warm compress every day. If you don’t, it’ll ache every time it rains.”
“Yes…”
“For the next few days, don’t wander around—stay in bed.”
“…I can’t. I need to work on developing dishes in the dining room.”
“Then wander around as you please and live with a limp forever.”
Faced with this threat, Fleur meekly shook her head.
“I’ll stay put…”
Grace finally nodded, satisfied that her work was done, and prepared to leave.
“Wait a moment.”
“Why?”
“Is His Majesty… my husband, okay? He must have caught a lot of cold wind because of me.”
“…….”
“And carrying me to safety repeatedly must have used up a lot of his muscles. Surely he’ll get sore—doesn’t he have anything for that?”
Grace just stared at Fleur without responding.
Fleur, worried she had made a mistake, started to sweat nervously.
“His Majesty said to treat you first.”
“Wha—? How do you know he… Eek! You know it’s His Majesty?”
Fleur covered her mouth with both hands, panicking that her clumsy act might have revealed that this Shamal was the version of Leonardo she could fully enjoy, not the Emperor.
Unable to say a word, she only blinked at Grace, who let out a small laugh.
“Don’t worry. His Majesty doesn’t know what I know.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. I haven’t told anyone in the village. And I never will, not until I die.”
Hearing her swear, Fleur cautiously lowered her hands from her mouth.
“But how did you know it was His Majesty?”
“I once worked briefly in the palace.”
“I see…!”
“At that time, I mostly did gardening and rarely encountered His Majesty, but occasionally, I saw him from a distance. A small child, trapped in the small palace, just staring out the window.”
Grace’s expression turned bitter as she recalled that day.
“I wondered why that face stuck with me. When I returned to my hometown and met His Majesty again, I interpreted it as heaven’s will: pretend not to know and serve him sincerely.”
“……”
“Are you really going to marry His Majesty?”
She hesitated before shaking her head.
“Hmph, it seems His Majesty quite likes you.”
“……”
“I won’t tell you to pretend feelings you don’t have, but if you start weighing multiple men, I won’t stay quiet.”
“I—It’s not like that!”
“Not like that, huh. Four other people besides His Majesty asked you to have your treatment properly after entering this mansion.”
Even without speaking, Fleur realized she meant the other suitors and Shane.
“Behave properly.”
“……”
“The cruelest thing is to toy with someone using feelings they have for you.”
With that final remark, Grace left the room.
Alone, Fleur couldn’t stop thinking about Grace’s words, which lingered in her mind, intertwining with many thoughts.
“Come to think of it… why is the system so quiet?”
Since the alert that a sub-quest had been completed, no status window had appeared.
At the time, she had been too happy that Leonardo came to save her to notice, but even after completing it, there had been no reward.
Even with all the other suitors in the mansion, everything was quiet.
It was unsettling, as if the usual quests to orchestrate encounters and kisses had disappeared.
Moreover, the previous message stuck in her mind:
Congratulations.
Your wish will be granted.
“When I said I didn’t want to live as the heroine, it ignored me. But when I said I’d be a proper heroine, it caught that precisely, didn’t it?”
Knowing the system was definitely watching everything, she grumbled internally, predicting what it might do to bother her next.
“Aiden, how many times are you coming? I told you I’m fine.”
It was the twelfth time Aiden had visited Fleur’s bedroom.
“I can’t help worrying.”
“But we saw each other just thirty minutes ago.”
“Things could happen in the meantime.”
“Like what? Besides, Jane has been with me the whole time, so there’s no need to worry.”
“How can you say that…!”
At once, tears welled in his eyes.
“I almost lost you here…”
“…Aiden.”
“I thought for a moment that you, who’ve been with me all my life, would suddenly leave my side. I was so scared…”
Throughout his twelve visits, Aiden had been crying, and now he broke down again.
“Oh, you’ll get dehydrated like this. You’ll collapse.”
“Sniff… Fleur, don’t go anywhere. Don’t leave me alone…”
He begged like a child. She patted his back but couldn’t respond.
If she returned to the capital, she would have to break the engagement with Aiden again.
After calming him down for a while, she sent him out of the room.
She barely convinced him not to come again using bedtime as an excuse.
Colin sent a letter through a servant instead of visiting personally.
[I won’t disturb you while you rest. Focus on recovering, and if you need anything, tell me. I’ll fetch it, no matter the cost.]
Reading the neatly written words felt like hearing them directly in her ears.
Fleur smiled and carefully placed the letter on the bedside table.
Among everyone showing concern for her, there was one who hadn’t appeared at all—not in face nor even a strand of hair.
That was Dylan.
He had rushed to greet her as soon as she returned to the mansion, but after that, he had been nowhere to be seen.
Of course, it wasn’t necessary for him to tend to her illness, but it still stung that a loyal aide didn’t stay by her side at all.
“Did he go back to the mansion without me?”
Muttering to herself, she looked at Jane, who was helping her change clothes.
“Huh? Did you say something?”
“Oh, no. Nothing.”
“Understood.”
Unable to move, Jane acted as her legs.
“Thank you, Jane. Because of you, I can stay in bed comfortably without moving at all.”
“It’s my duty. If you need anything, call me anytime.”
Jane smiled, pointing at the bell on the wall.
Since it was also her bedtime, she bowed and headed out.
“Wait a moment.”
Fleur called after her.
“Yes. Do you need something?”
“Oh, not a thing—but I was curious how His Majesty’s treatment went.”
Grace must have treated Leonardo as well, but Fleur hadn’t heard how he was.
She couldn’t forget the state of his face, disheveled from braving the snowstorm, and kept worrying.
“They said His Majesty had mild frostbite on the backs of his hands and fingertips.”
“Gasp! Really?!”
“Yes. That’s why His Majesty also needs frostbite treatment and was told to avoid moving for now.”
Seeing him, who normally smiled showing his dimples, also suffering from frostbite deepened her guilt even further.
