TMDL 10

Chapter : 10

“What is that?”

“She said Mother seemed to have had a strange dream recently, and in that dream, the young lady of Duke Binok—”

Bang!

At that moment, the door to the drawing room flew open.

“Raiden!”

Savanna, who had gone out earlier, called out to him with a deathly pale face.

“…Mother.”

Raiden’s expression hardened as he took in her condition.

Frea blinked in surprise and looked at the two of them.

What on earth is going on?

“A-Astella—where is she? Raiden, did you marry that young lady?”

Savanna rushed in and grabbed Raiden with both hands as she asked.

It looked extremely strange to Frea, but Raiden, as if used to it, calmly held her shoulders and said,

“Mother, I didn’t marry her. Please calm down.”

“Yes, yes… thank goodness. You haven’t married her yet. That’s such a relief.”

Savanna, breathing heavily with a look of relief, turned her gaze to Frea.

“Oh, Frea! You’re alive—you’re alive!”

“…What?”

“Thank goodness. Truly thank goodness. That you’re alive…”

“L-Lady Savanna?”

She suddenly seized Frea’s hand and began to cry. Startled by the situation, Frea looked at a loss.

‘What is happening?’

Something about Savanna was off. She had left just fine earlier, but now she looked mentally confused.

Frea glanced at Raiden with troubled eyes. When their gazes met, he approached with a stiff expression.

“Mother, please let go of Frea.”

“Raiden… Astella won’t do. It has to be you and Frea.”

As Raiden tried to pull Savanna away from Frea, she clung to him instead and said,

“You must never marry Astella. Raiden, I can’t let you die again!”

“Mother…”

“With Frea—only if it’s Frea will you live. So Astella is absolutely not allowed. Absolutely not—huhk!”

“Mother!”

“Lady Savanna!”

In the middle of speaking, she suddenly gasped for breath and collapsed backward.

Raiden hurriedly caught Savanna as she fell, and Frea rushed over in shock. Seeing Savanna’s face drained of color, Raiden looked troubled.

‘What was that just now?’

Savanna’s strange words, shouted with a dazed look in her eyes—so unlike her usual self—kept bothering Frea.

‘She said Raiden mustn’t marry Astella? That only with me would he live? That sounds like…’

As if marrying Astella would mean Raiden’s death.

And also…

‘Why did she say it was a relief that I’m alive?’

I’m not dead, so why would she say that?

Her head felt like it was spinning again with confusion. As Frea frowned and looked at Savanna with a strange expression, Raiden spoke.

“…Mother had a terrible nightmare some time ago, and since then she’s been like this from time to time.”

“I-Is she going to be all right?”

“For now, we should take her to her room.”

“Yes, please do. It would be better to lay her down on her bed.”

When Frea nodded, Raiden stood up, carrying Savanna in his arms. She followed him out of the drawing room at a quick pace.

“My goodness, my lady!”

A maid they passed on the way rushed over when she saw Savanna in Raiden’s arms.

“Go and bring some warm water and towels at once.”

“Y-Yes!”

The maid hurried off, and Raiden resumed walking.

Savanna’s room was on the third floor. Since Raiden’s hands were full, Frea opened the door for him. He nodded in thanks and went in, laying Savanna down on the bed.

“Whew…”

Only then did he let out a deep sigh, easing his tension a little.

After looking at the sleeping Savanna, Frea cautiously asked,

“What kind of nightmare did she have for her to be like this?”

“I don’t know exactly what the dream was. It must have been quite horrific… she doesn’t seem able to shake it off. It’s already been three weeks like this.”

“Three weeks?”

What kind of dream could leave such long-lasting effects?

This didn’t seem like an ordinary nightmare. Could someone normally show symptoms like this just from a bad dream?

“Has she been examined by a doctor? There’s nothing wrong elsewhere, is there?”

“Yes. There’s nothing physically wrong with her. The doctor said it’s probably because the contents of the dream were that shocking…”

“Shocking?”

When Frea echoed him, Raiden hesitated before speaking.

“Well… Mother seems to have dreamed of losing not only me, but you as well, right before her eyes.”

“…What?”

“And she said it was because of the young lady of Duke Binok.”

“Because of Astella?”

So in her dream, Astella caused both of them to die?

Is that why she opposed his marriage to her?

‘Even so, it’s just a dream.’

Frea couldn’t quite understand Savanna.

Of course, seeing your son die before your eyes would be shocking—but it was only a dream. And how was her own death even related to Savanna?

Even if Savanna cared for her, they weren’t family. Strictly speaking, they had no real relationship.

‘Being killed by Astella is kind of irritating.’

Shouldn’t it be the other way around? If anything, after being treated like a pushover for too long, maybe she’d kill Astella—not be killed by her.

Even if it was just a dream, she couldn’t accept it.

As Frea frowned, Raiden continued,

“It sounds strange, but from how vividly Mother describes it, it seems that in her dream, the young lady of Duke Binok brutally killed both me and you.”

“It’s… hard to imagine.”

“I understand. I felt the same at first. But when Mother shows these symptoms every day, I can’t just ignore it.”

“That’s true. You must be worried.”

Frea murmured.

If there were no physical symptoms, it would be a mental issue, and there wouldn’t be much that could be done. As her son, he couldn’t help but worry and feel troubled.

“…That’s also part of why I made that proposal to you, Frea. I thought it was the best way to put Mother at ease.”

“Ah…”

“And even for me, even if it’s just a dream, I was worried that something might happen to you…”

“…I see.”

If he’d been witnessing things like that for three weeks straight, it was only natural he’d think that way.

Frea couldn’t say she completely understood Raiden, but she could at least grasp how he must feel.

“…”
“…”
Silence fell between them for a moment. Looking at Savanna sleeping deeply, Raiden slowly spoke again.

“As you saw earlier, for the past three weeks, Mother has been saying that if I marry, it has to be you, Frea—and that it must never be the young lady of Duke Binok.”

“…I’m sorry, but saying it’s because of a dream isn’t a sufficient reason.”

Why her, and not Astella?

In the original story, Savanna didn’t like Astella, but she never tried to force Raiden to divorce her.

Nor did she try to match him with Frea, whom she treated like a daughter.

So why is it different now? Why has it changed from the original story?

“She must have come to think highly of you. She said there’s no one like you, and that she wants a daughter-in-law like a daughter.”

“I already heard that surface reason from Lady Savanna earlier. I mean the real reason. Why I’m acceptable, but Astella absolutely isn’t.”

“That… she said she couldn’t tell me. Only that the young lady of Duke Binok would bring great trouble to our family.”

“Great… trouble?”

What kind of trouble could Astella possibly bring to the House of Bethelheim?

In the original story, she married into the ducal family and lived there without major incident. There were conflicts with Savanna in the middle, but they were resolved well, and after that everything went smoothly.

In fact, except for Savanna, everyone in the House of Bethelheim liked Astella.

In the end, even Savanna fully accepted her.

There was no crisis for the family at all—so what “great trouble” was she supposed to bring? And how could Savanna be so certain?

‘I need more information.’

Straightening up, Frea faced Raiden and asked,

“Did she say what kind of trouble it would be?”

“No. I can only assume it would be something that causes considerable damage to the family.”

A troubled look crossed Raiden’s face.