HEAD 19

~Chapter 19~

As soon as Sebastian ran out, the maid Giana hurried after him.

“Seb? Where are you going?”

“Why, ma’am?”

“You don’t look very happy.”

Sebastian started to dislike Giana. After watching for several days, he saw she was the closest to Lily.

He gave a short laugh.

“She’s doing it on purpose.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“I mean Lady Lily. How could she hide that she was a shaman all this time? She just didn’t want to be given any work.”

“Didn’t you hear it was all a misunderstanding? She’s helped us!”

“She only pretended to help. She was really just playing around with the master! And now, the reason she suddenly stepped up is obvious. She just wants us to owe her our lives!”

Sebastian thought he knew everything, and he was quite confident about it.

Ever since Lily fell over from a little push, he was sure she was a bad person. And only Sebastian saw through her true nature.

Giana scolded him sharply.

“Sebastian!”

“You’re all so stupid!”

Sebastian didn’t back down either.

“Why is everyone so narrow-minded? Admit it, everyone acts like they dislike pure-blood Imperials, but you’re all secretly jealous! Then when a great noble treats you well, you just lose your heads!”

“Get out of my sight right now. Go so far that my fist can’t reach you!”

“Oh, how kind of you! Even if you didn’t say that, I was already planning to leave!”

Sebastian ran off down the hallway.

But even after all that, everyone else was too busy worrying about and praising Lily.

Lily was quietly sleeping.

It was Blake’s room. He had moved her there himself.

It was the best room in Winter Castle.

Paintings of the former dukes hung on the wall, their brushstrokes rough. The fireplace, made of red brick, was huge.

Inside, it was very warm… but Lily was still cold.

For Blake, who was always so warm, her body temperature didn’t even feel human.

She pushed herself too hard. How foolish…

Blake pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down.

Honestly, he thought he was the real fool.

There must have been a way to prevent this.

He could have doubled the patrols to stop the monsters from increasing.

“Damn it.”

He could have hired another great shaman too.

But shamans always acted so important, and whenever they came to the duchy, their faces never brightened. Still, if he had just offered a ridiculous amount of money, maybe it would have worked.

“Lily Hedwick.”

Blake quietly called her name and placed a hot towel on her forehead.

He couldn’t even smell her usual peach scent anymore.

Sometimes he was so scared, he found it hard to breathe just caring for Lily. His chest felt tight.

He felt like his war trauma was coming back, even without hearing any gunfire.

What do I even want with her?

There was no answer.

All he could do was drive people away and care for Lily himself.

“If the lady found out about this, she would definitely tease me, right?”

Maybe Lily would even wake up right now.

He looked at her dry lips, but they didn’t move at all.

His low voice echoed with emptiness.

“…She’d probably say something like, ‘Mother, I’ve been an adult for ages. I hate being overprotected.’ She liked teasing me in a roundabout way.”

There were times when Blake would laugh at her jokes—he just hid it behind a sharper bite.

Who knows how long he sat there, when a heavy knock sounded at the door.

A man’s voice came from outside.

“Captain, everyone is ready.”

Since they called him captain, it was the knights.

It was time to clear out the rest of the monsters so the wounded could go down the mountain.

Blake told a servant to guard Lily well before he left.

“Please behave while I’m gone, miss. And don’t do anything weird.”

Of course, people took good care of Lily.

They brought hot water to try to raise her body temperature.

“Heave-ho.”

A maid carried a huge bucket.

“Are you going to Lady Lily?”

Sebastian blocked her way, his face bright, pretending not to hate Lily at all.

“I’ll take it to Lady Lily!”

Sebastian quickly grabbed the bucket before the maid could say anything.

“You’re busy taking care of the other patients, right?”

“Would you? Thank you, dear. It feels like just yesterday you were a little boy—when did you get so big?”

People in Winter Castle were like one big family.

They raised kids together, so they saw Sebastian as a son.

But Sebastian didn’t like being treated like a kid.

Hmph, only a few months left until he was an adult.

He’d been grown up for a long time. If he wanted to work at Blake’s side, he had to be an adult.

He grumbled about one of the adults who raised him as he turned away.

Of course, he didn’t offer to care for Lily out of kindness.

He had never even been in Blake’s room before. That’s how private the lord’s rooms were.

But that’s where Lily was…

Sebastian thought, I wish she would just die right now.

“I’m coming in, Lady Lily.”

He made a loud noise as he entered.

There was no reply. Lily was fast asleep.

Sebastian looked around.

If low body temperature is the problem… what if I put out the fire and open the window?

Then the freezing cold from outside would pour right in.

Sebastian dumped the bucket of hot water on the fireplace, putting out the flames.

He opened the window, pulled his cap down, and quickly slipped out.

After that, Lily was alone for hours.

Sebastian lingered by the door and turned everyone away, saying, “I just checked on her.”

No one suspected him. Surely that boy wouldn’t go too far, they thought.

Sebastian thought,

I wish that high-born woman would just freeze to death like that.

And in fact, his plan was working pretty well. If someone’s body temperature stays below 28 degrees Celsius, they die. Especially someone as fragile as Lily.

But then…

The thick front doors of Winter Castle opened as the hunting party returned.

They were much earlier than expected.

Because of Blake. The blood splattered all over him proved how fierce the fight had been.

Even the knights with him looked pale from the battle.

Blake’s black hair had long since frozen to a dark red.

He brushed his hair back and spoke in a flat voice.

“It’s mostly done. If you’re able, help move the wounded down the mountain. The knights will guard everyone.”

“Thank you for your hard work! We’ll take care of ourselves, don’t worry. Everyone, let’s go, don’t forget your weapons!”

As the servants packed up, the aide came to Blake.

“Shall I get things ready for your bath?”

“I’m going to my room first.”

The first thing Blake wanted to do was see Lily.

He even forgot how heavy his fur cloak and sword were.

He wanted to brag to her—he’d worked as hard as she did.

He wanted to tell her how many monster hearts his sword had pierced, how many heads his axe had split.

Once when she was asleep, and again when she woke up, he’d tell her.

“Miss.”

He tried to hide his smile as he walked into his room.

But cold air brushed against his lips.

It shouldn’t be this cold.

His face hardened in an instant. The muscles and veins stood out on his dark skin.

“What is this… Lily Hedwick?”

Is this a joke?

Blake wanted to believe that.

Yes, it must be.

She must have woken up and decided to play a prank. She was always a mischievous woman.

Why didn’t she just tease me with her words? He would have gladly let her do it as much as she wanted today.

“This isn’t funny at all.”

Blake clenched his jaw.

But with every step closer to Lily, his blood ran cold.

When he finally heard Lily’s faint, dying breaths, he realized it was no joke.

Lily really was dying.

Before he knew it, Blake had picked her up and was running down the hall.

Her small body shook limply under his fur cloak.

Where’s the warmest place in the castle?

He couldn’t think straight. He forced himself to keep thinking.

He knew he’d go insane if he lost control.

At last, he found a fireplace.

He sat by it, trying everything he could to warm Lily up.

The red flames flickered over her pale cheeks.

But she didn’t look alive.

Her breath was fading, her muscles stiff, her heartbeat uneven.

The remaining servants finally found Blake.

“My lord, what’s happened?!”

“Find them. Now.”

“Find who…?”

“Find whoever did this to her. Bring them to me. I want that bastard on their knees in front of me. I mean it.”

He didn’t shout.

But the sight of him, just back from battle and still covered in blood, sent chills through everyone.

Everyone rushed to do as he said.