Soon, the following carriage caught up with the one in front.

Ian, chilled by the sudden approach of the rear carriage, slowed down at the urgent voice calling the Grand Duke.

“Your Grace! Your Grace! Your Grace!”

Sensing the urgency in the coachman’s voice, Ian stopped the carriage completely.

“What’s going on?”

The coachman, too frantic to answer, jumped down and opened the carriage door.

Fortunately, Delia was still lying on the seat.

“What’s going on?”

Ian shouted from the front.

Just as the coachman was about to answer, a small, mumbling voice came from inside the carriage.

“I… have a name too…”

The coachman, relieved, asked,

“Miss, are you awake?”

“I have a name, a name…”

Though her words were slurred, the coachman understood and asked again.

“A name?”

While waiting for an answer, Ian got frustrated and got off the coachman’s seat.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t you answering? Your Grace, I’ll check it out.”

Heading towards the rear carriage, Ian found Delia inside.

“Miss…!”

Ian’s voice trembled with concern as he rushed over.

“What happened?”

The coachman, almost in tears, replied.

“I don’t know. She suddenly…”

At that moment, the carriage door opened, and the Grand Duke calmly stepped out.

“Explain. Properly.”

Though he was normally intimidating and strict, the Grand Duke’s presence was reassuring in this situation. The coachman, feeling relieved, stepped back and explained.

“I don’t know when it started, but she has a high fever, cold sweats, and…”

As the coachman continued, Ian and the Grand Duke’s expressions hardened simultaneously.

“It seemed like she was crying.”

“……”

When neither the Grand Duke nor Ian said anything, the coachman, thinking they didn’t believe him, reached into the carriage and gently turned Delia’s face.

“Look! The tear marks are right here…!”

“Hands off.”

Startled by the Grand Duke’s command, the coachman quickly withdrew his hand and stepped back. Ian subtly patted the coachman’s back. Kaiel, keeping his gaze fixed on Delia, bent over into the carriage and asked,

“Anything else?”

The coachman, who had been rubbing his back where he was hit, was about to speak but soon found it unnecessary.

“I have a name too…”

Delia’s sudden insistence about her name continued, and she even sounded like she was about to cry, making her seem even more pitiful.

While the two coachmen scratched their heads, Kaiel, who was supporting her with both arms, paused for a moment before moving again.

He lifted Delia out of the carriage and transferred her to the carriage he had come in.

“Your Grace…?”

The question of whether he really intended to travel with her lingered on Ian’s tongue but went unspoken. Swallowing his words, Ian climbed back into the coachman’s seat.

“We’re departing now.”

In her rare dream, she saw events from her previous life. Almost every dream she had recently was the same.

‘Sister!’

‘Teacher!’

The voices of children calling her echoed like a memory.

‘Teacher?’

The adults called her ‘teacher.’

No one called her by her name during her cold and harsh childhood in the orphanage.

Since coming to this novel’s world, Delia would have wanted to stay indefinitely if it weren’t for the penalties. In this world, even though she was somewhat greedy, Delia had good parents, a warm home, and people who called her name affectionately.

If only she could live in this world without penalties. Was there no way to do that? If it weren’t for the penalties…

Killing Kaiel, the villain of the original story, would end these penalties. After that, she would likely return to her original world as usual. But what if she didn’t want to go back?

Regardless, she had to kill him first.

Though it was a dream, her mind was cluttered with many thoughts, signaling it was time to wake up. Just as she thought she heard someone calling her name, she opened her eyes.

The sound of horses’ hooves and Ian driving the carriage came to her ears. The rain seemed to have stopped, and the dark, fresh air of the early dawn filled the space outside the window. As she lay there, spacing out, Delia remembered she was in a carriage and gathered her thoughts.

Assessing the situation, Delia soon realized she was resting her head on someone’s lap.

It was a warm and firm yet comforting embrace.

No way.

Delia closed her eyes again. She hurriedly summoned the system window to check her plausibility score.

[Current plausibility score is 58 points.]

Her plausibility score had risen by over 20 points.

Which means…

She chuckled softly to herself.

She hadn’t expected it to be this much. Just by resting her head on his lap, her plausibility score had increased by 20 points.

Judging by the high plausibility score, Kaiel must have been quite displeased while she slept on his lap.

Though it wasn’t the method she had hoped for, the result was a success. At least now, the chances of her plausibility score dropping to negative were reduced.

Now, she had to hope that helping Kaiel wouldn’t cause her plausibility score to drop more than 50 points.

Delia pretended to sleep a bit longer to raise her plausibility score even more.

The road to Tranade was rough and uneven. As a result, the carriage often jolted and shook. This time, the carriage shook more violently as if the wheel had hit a large stone.

Delia’s head was thrown towards the floor, and her upper body slid along with it. Just as she was about to give up pretending to sleep and get up, a large hand supported her head.

The hand firmly repositioned her so that her upper body wouldn’t roll onto the floor.

Delia was quite taken aback.

‘Did he just support my head?’

She tried to calm her blushing face, but the system notification sound soon made that unnecessary.

Ding.

[The villain ‘Kaiel’ feels displeased.]
[Plausibility score increases by 2 points.]

Delia imagined what might have happened.

Somehow, Kaiel had put her in the carriage. He probably laid her on the opposite seat at first.

‘Then, as the carriage shook and she kept falling, he likely moved her closer, and when she kept falling even while sitting, he finally let her rest on his lap.’

Grateful for Kaiel’s discomfort in supporting her all this time, Delia decided to get up.

She opened her eyes slightly and pretended to wake up, sitting up while fixing her tangled hair. She glanced sideways and met his sharp gaze directly.

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, Delia quickly looked away. Unsure of what to say, she remained silent, and Kaiel spoke first.

“Sleep more.”

Having already achieved her goal for the plausibility score, Delia didn’t want to irritate him further. She apologized politely. Though she hadn’t done anything wrong, it seemed necessary to apologize.

“I’m sorry for the trouble, Your Grace.”

Delia wanted to ask why she had woken up on his lap but decided against it.

‘I’ll ask Ian later.’

She moved to the opposite side of the carriage, sitting as far from him as possible to avoid making him uncomfortable. Now that she was settled, she could see his face clearly. He was still staring at her with that cold gaze.

‘I’m sorry! I don’t know why I’m in this carriage with you either, so please stop staring…’

Delia met his eyes for a few seconds before turning to look out the window. She hadn’t realized it was night, and now the sky was brightening.

The carriage remained quiet until they reached Tranade Castle. Delia followed Kaiel obediently into the castle, refraining from her usual noisy behavior.

Once Kaiel disappeared, Delia immediately approached coachman Ian. Ian’s eyebrows furrowed as soon as he saw her.

“Miss!”

“Ian, what happened?”

Confirming that the Grand Duke had entered the castle, Ian began to speak.

“Well…”

***

Delia lay on a soft bed, staring at the ceiling. Though her eyes were fixed on the ceiling, her mind was deep in thought.

“You need to rest more, Miss!”

Ian’s scolding voice was still vivid in her mind, as if he were reprimanding a disobedient daughter.

“You suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor of the carriage! Covered in cold sweat and tears…”

Tears? When Delia asked, Ian pounded his chest in frustration.

“If you’re upset, you should talk about it! If it weren’t for the Grand Duke, you would have cried the whole way here.”

When she asked how he stopped her crying, Ian rubbed his nose and avoided the question. Still, he didn’t stop nagging.

After reassuring Ian that she was sorry for worrying him, Delia sincerely thanked him.

She also thanked the coachman of the other carriage separately that morning. The coachman had said indignantly,