“Isn’t it dangerous?”

“We opposed it at first and watched, but the dragons don’t seem to bother children. They’re friendly with Noah.”

Lillian smiled, thinking she had one more thing to tell Clementina. Clementina’s face had grown gaunt day by day—enough to wonder why she hadn’t noticed before.

It was the moment Lillian was leaving the dragon nest to meet Hessen. Someone grabbed and pulled Lillian’s hand. It was Noah.

Noah looked up at Lillian and began rummaging in his pocket. Then he pulled out two neatly folded papers and handed them to Lillian.

When Lillian unfolded the papers, one was a vocabulary test with all twenty questions circled, and the other was a drawing.

“Why are you giving this to me, Noah?”

Lillian bent down to match Noah’s eye level. Noah raised his hand and pointed to a person in the drawing.

The drawing showed five people sitting at a table eating, and the person Noah pointed to had lemon-gold hair flowing down to the waist.

It was Clementina.

“You want me to give this to the Duchess?”

When Lillian asked, Noah nodded. The mid-level knight standing behind them flinched.

Lillian stroked Noah’s soft brown hair with a deliberately calm face.

“Noah, I’m sorry but I don’t know where the Duchess is. But I’ll definitely give it to her when I see her later, okay?”

Lillian spoke with a bright smile, but Noah tilted his head with an expression that said he didn’t understand. Then he slowly shook his head.

“Haha. It’s not a lie, Noah. I don’t know where the Duchess is.”

When Lillian spoke slowly with force on her face without a smile, Noah picked up a folded towel. It was the towel he’d used to wipe Mago’s scales earlier.

Noah unfolded the towel and held up a single strand of hair to show Lillian.

It was lemon-gold hair.

Lillian bit her lip so the mid-level knight behind wouldn’t notice, then raised her index finger to her lips so only Noah could see. She saw a shadow approaching Lillian and Noah.

Lillian hurriedly stood up, hid the hair behind her back, and turned toward the mid-level knight. But the mid-level knight was one step faster.

“I won’t tell. Dame Lillian Hunts!”

“Uh, huh?”

The mid-level knight’s eyes were serious.

“Even if it’s disloyalty, it can’t be helped. I will never tell His Majesty that you know where the Duchess is until the day I die. But please tell me just one thing. Is she well? Is she hurt or sick anywhere? Is she safe?”

Goodwill spread in Lillian’s beautiful red eyes. They were kind and warm words.

“Do you have some personal connection with her?”

“Not that! I just talked with her once, and she remembered my sister was sick and prescribed medicine for her several times.”

“If you’ve received kindness from the Duchess, bury what happened here in your heart. She doesn’t want it known.”

Lillian answered refreshingly and turned her head to ruffle Noah’s brown hair.

“I’ll deliver your perfect score on the vocabulary test and this drawing to the Duchess. But you can’t tell anyone. Not your sister, not your grandfather. Understand?”

Noah smiled brightly with his mouth open and nodded.

Lillian left the two behind and hurried into Aeskis Castle. Dion wasn’t the only one who missed Clementina.

They said Clementina’s mother had died so lonely after a long illness that no one knew where. She couldn’t let Clementina be like that. She had to search the entire world right now to find a doctor who knew about Clementina’s illness.

“So where did Lillian go?”

“We don’t know yet. But it’s certain she went to the Duchess.”

“How can you be sure?”

“……They say she took Hessen.”

A chill settled on Dion’s face. Now the fierce obsession was visible in his eyes. It definitely hadn’t been this bad, but the news that she’d taken Hessen ignited his anxious heart.

Dion was now at the top of the highest tower in Aeskis Castle, stealing glances at Mago flying away. Dion narrowed his eyes and watched which direction Mago disappeared.

“She’s sick, right? Is that why she won’t appear? What if she’s already at death’s door?”

“It probably isn’t that bad. If so, she would have taken Hessen earlier. There’s a high probability the illness just manifested. But Your Majesty, this is too hard for me. Deceiving Lillian is the hardest thing for me.”

Dion weakly shook his index finger left and right.

“I told you not to call me Your Majesty.”

“Then what should I call you? I should call Your Majesty Your Majesty.”

Berche pouted and voiced his complaints. Always clear about hierarchy, honest and upright Berche complained like this when the moment came to deceive Lillian.

“Just call me by name. Like when we were young.”

“How can I do that?”

“I’m on leave. There’s no Your Majesty in front of you right now. Will you listen if I make it an order?”

“If it’s an order, I’ll listen, Dion.”

“What are you so unhappy about?”

“First, if the Duchess doesn’t want to be found, I think we shouldn’t look for her. This is the typical attitude of a man pathetically clinging after a breakup. The Duchess will definitely be disgusted.”

“What?”

“Second, don’t think the Duchess’s heart is the same as yours. What if she’s disgusted when you actually meet?”

“You’re really going wild! Very well done.”

“It’s better to change the habit of telling me not to be formal when I’m formal, then immediately changing your words when I say something unpleasant, Your Majesty.”

“Fine. Earlier was better. If you call me Your Majesty outside, I’ll kill you.”

“I’d rather die. I’m worried about the Duchess’s health too, but I’m more worried she’ll hate you more after meeting Your Majesty needlessly.”

“……Will she really?”

Once Mago’s retreating figure disappeared, Dion lowered his head and muttered. Berche’s words stung his heart.

Berche’s last words were both the words occupying Dion’s mind and a fact he absolutely didn’t want to believe.

Had Clementina really come to hate him? Enough to never want to see him again.

Dion couldn’t know what he had to give up to turn her heart around.

“But what was in the south?”

“I don’t know either. I can’t figure out the reason.”

Hessen held the wrist of the sleeping Clementina and shook his head.

“Why don’t you know? What doesn’t Hessen know? Where exactly is Tina sick?”

Lillian grabbed Hessen’s forearm and pressed him. Hessen grimaced as if the forearm Lillian grabbed hurt, pulled his hand away, and rubbed his forearm.

“Has she only been sleeping?”

“Not that. She was awake this morning.”

Custus, standing at the foot of the bed where Clementina lay, answered first. Lillian had hurried to bring Hessen, but Hessen had missed when Clementina was awake. Clementina had only been sleeping since Hessen arrived.

“Did she eat?”

“Only fruit. She can’t eat meat, barely eating only fruit. Every time she’s awake, she grimaces somewhere hurting.”

“Did she say where it hurt?”

“She can’t say exactly. Some days she says her head hurts, other days her stomach.”

“Doesn’t she exercise or do anything else? Her stamina seems too low. She has no muscle at all.”

“Sometimes she rides Kitan to the back mountain. She hasn’t been able to do the training with Lillian lately either. Not deliberately—she seems unable because it’s hard.”

“Kitan is here?”

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no. He flies off suddenly and comes back when we forget, or sometimes stays for several days.”

Custus tilted his head while sweeping back his jet-black hair. Hessen’s eyes didn’t leave Custus’s appearance.

“Uh, mm.”

Then Clementina’s groan was heard. The three people hurriedly turned their heads.

Clementina weakly raised her wrist, thin enough to show bone, and rubbed her eyes. It was nothing much, but she looked extremely strained, like lifting something heavy.

“Are you more conscious? Can’t even lift your hand?”

“Huh? No, it’s not that. Huh? Hessen?”

When Clementina sat up, Lillian quickly supported her. But Clementina smiled and refused that touch.

“Haha, what are you doing, Lillian? I’m fine without you supporting me like that. Getting up isn’t that hard.”

“Do you know how you look right now?”

“Treating me like a complete invalid. I’ve lost some weight and sleep more. I’m fine.”

Clementina vigorously threw off the blanket and stepped on the floor. Certainly, as she said, getting up wasn’t that difficult. Still, her noticeably gaunt body was enough for people to worry.

“How did Hessen get here? Lillian, don’t tell me you brought him from Drasia?”

“Then what? I met several quack doctors and none of them knew the illness. But Hessen doesn’t know either. Hessen seems like a quack doctor too.”

“I can’t refute that.”

Hessen placed his hand on his waist and shook his head. The deep wrinkles between his brows seemed to show how much he was pondering now.

Clementina completely left the bed and headed to the kitchen. Then the three people followed behind her.

Clementina put a kettle on the stove and boiled water as if it were her own home. Hessen sat in a dining chair, observed Clementina’s appearance, thought for a while, then spoke.

“You know the reason why you’re sick, don’t you?”

Clementina hesitated while putting tea leaves in the kettle. Then she naturally put in the tea leaves again. Custus glanced at her, then took out bread baked that morning from the cupboard.

“I don’t know exactly either.”

“Then what do you vaguely know?”

Lillian didn’t even sit down and followed Clementina around. When Clementina almost tripped over Lillian’s feet, she caught her, set her upright, and made her sit.

“Lillian. Have you ever thought about what would happen if you separated from Mago?”

“Separate from Mago? Me? Why?”

At Clementina’s question, Lillian rolled her eyes and spoke as if it were something that could never happen. Very like Lillian. Hessen leaned toward Clementina with an interested expression. Custus placed small, soft bread in front of Hessen and sat opposite.

“I mean hypothetically. Like if you got sick or died.”

“Don’t kill me off carelessly. And I’ve never thought about that. Why are you asking that?”

“After Sir Dimint Seches died, Lili disappeared. Have you ever thought about why he disappeared?”

“Ah……”

Lillian scratched her head. Regrettably, she had never once thought of Lili after Dimint died. She hadn’t even thought of Dimint until now.