She didn’t want to trouble the mansion’s people with such an absurd situation from early morning.

Plus, this tree she was hanging from.

‘It’s too high……!’

Just the view visible through the branches and leaves made her dizzy.

Rather than hanging at this dizzying height waiting for someone to help, it seemed better to get even a little closer to the ground.

Delia was grateful that the tree she was sitting on was very old, with thick and sturdy trunk and branches.

She thought if she could climb down slowly stepping on the branches, she might reach a height where falling wouldn’t be too bad.

It was a great comfort to know that she wouldn’t die in this situation. There seemed to be more reasons for continuously losing fear and feeling reassured, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what they were.

Delia grabbed the sturdiest branch and after testing her footing several times, hooked her toes onto the most stable stem.

“Phew.”

She took a step after letting out a small breath.

Then one step, and another step. She began slowly climbing down the tall tree.

Because her movements were slow and careful like a sloth, it took quite a long time to take even one step.

“Miss……!”

When she had climbed down somewhat, Lisa’s trembling voice called to her from below.

“What in the world is this about now!”

It seemed someone had discovered her climbing the tree and immediately alerted others.

Lisa continued shouting something in a distant voice, but how could she have the presence of mind to listen.

Delia wanted to look down but couldn’t muster the courage. She could do nothing but climb down the tree as she had been doing.

How much further had she descended?

Delia reached out one foot searching for a branch to step on, but stumbled as she stepped into empty air. There were no more branches to step on.

“Ah! Miss! I can’t watch, I can’t watch!”

Lisa had started wailing now. Her voice sounded louder than before, perhaps because they had descended further.

That’s when it happened.

“Jump.”

A familiar and comforting voice called from below.

“Kaiel?”

Upon hearing his voice, Delia suddenly found courage she didn’t know she had and peered down. She involuntarily gasped.

“Oh.”

Though she thought she had come down quite far, she was still precariously perched high up on the tree trunk.

Delia called out with a trembling voice.

“From here?”

Then suddenly remembering the antidote tightly secured at her waist, she pulled it out with shaking hands.

“K-Kaiel! Please catch the antidote first!”

It would be even more devastating if the antidote she had spent days making broke when it hit the ground.

“……”

But there was no response from below.

“Kaiel?”

Shouting his name, Delia couldn’t see what was happening below, so she had no choice but to announce she was dropping it and let the antidote fall.

Based on the lack of any shattering sound, it seemed to have been delivered safely.

Though her voice was still trembling from tension, Delia shouted as loudly as she could.

“Did it break?”

“Jump.”

His voice had become much sterner than before, making her feel like she had to jump right now.

But even at a glance, it was still clearly too high for a person to jump from.

Delia shook her head vigorously, her face pale.

The voice called up from below again. Though other servants’ worried voices were quite loud too, she could hear nothing but his voice.

“Don’t be afraid. Trust me and jump.”

“I’m not afraid! I trust you completely, Kaiel! But……”

She had no strength left to say more.

Delia finally let go of the tree trunk she had been gripping so tightly her hands had lost circulation.

After being tense up high for so long, dizziness overtook her and her head spun.

The scenery around her became a chaotic blur.

The cold air cut against her skin, and her soft skirts whirled and wrapped around her legs in the wind.

Delia squeezed her eyes shut.

She thought they would both be seriously injured at this rate. In that moment, she couldn’t help but wish she had simply stayed perched at the top of the tree and waited; the thought consumed her entirely.

Suddenly she felt strong arms catch her. With those arms, her body that had been plummeting down lifted up lightly.

Then a warm embrace enveloped her completely.

The familiar scent of dawn that wafted over helped calm her tensed body.

Kaiel always caught her in his arms like this in dangerous situations.

In the library, on Fourpeak Mountain, and now too.

Delia slowly opened her tightly shut eyes.

The first thing she saw was his broad chest.

How could he have such a reassuring body?

As Delia relaxed completely and went limp, letting her limbs go slack, Kaiel called her name.

“Delia.”

“……”

Though she only failed to respond for a moment, she could feel his body tense through the hands supporting her.

“Delia……!”

“I’m fine. It’s just that your embrace is more comfortable than a bed, so I couldn’t help but relax.”

Only after hearing her response did he gently set her down on the ground.

As soon as he did, the servants who had been anxiously pacing rushed over.

“Miss! Oh my, are you alright?”

“How did you end up in the tree……!”

“Miss…… Miss, you scared us! Sob……”

The servants looked ready to grab her and check her over. Seeing this, Kaiel blocked their way and gestured with his head for them to leave.

The servants bowed respectfully to the Grand Duke and dispersed to their respective duties at just his nod.

Meanwhile, Kaiel’s eyes remained fixed on Delia.

Once the servants had left and they were alone, he approached and knelt on one knee to examine her condition.

His brows drew together tightly.

“I don’t like what I see.”

The white dress Kaiel had newly bought for Delia was torn in various places. Her hands were scraped and scratched from gripping the rough tree surface—they were still pale and bloodless from how tightly she had held on.

Examining her hands with his eyes, Kaiel quietly spoke.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“……I see.”

He plucked a few leaves that were tangled in her hair and stood up from his crouched position.

“Stand up.”

“My legs are weak, so please wait a moment.”

“……”

After a moment he spoke in a somewhat angry voice.

“Do you have a hobby of climbing trees?”

It was a good question. Seizing the opportunity, Delia quickly countered.

“The antidote bottle fell out the window and got caught in the tree, so I tried to get it and ended up…… falling out the window too. Haha! But thanks to that the antidote is safe, right?”

Upon hearing this, veins bulged red on Kaiel’s smooth forehead.

Right after came the system’s welcome yet annoying notification sound.

Ding.

[Villain ‘Kaiel’ feels anger.]

[Plausibility score increases by 40 points.]

The haphazard plan had succeeded.

Until dawn she had given up on raising the plausibility score more, but who knew it would increase this way.

Though she had to go through quite an ordeal, it seemed she had successfully pushed his anger button.

Come to think of it, despite catching her from quite a height, he looked completely fine.

He didn’t even make any gesture of dusting off his hands or rubbing his arms.

“Kaiel, aren’t your arms hurt? It must have been heavy catching someone falling from so high.”

She already knew he was perfectly fine since the system would have notified if he was injured.

Still, wasn’t it too overpowered to easily catch an adult woman falling from such a height!

“Not high.”

At his words, when Delia looked back at the tree she had been hanging from, the part where the branches ended and only the trunk remained was only about two stories high.

She was sure it had looked like three stories, but it must have seemed more extreme due to her fear.

And that meant she had climbed down nearly two stories by herself.

Was this the discovery of a new talent?

Lost in admiration for a moment, Delia soon felt Kaiel’s steady gaze and turned away.

“Why do you look angry? The antidote bottle is fine, and I’m fine too. There’s no reason to be angry, right?”

Even she thought it was a comment deserving of a smack, so Delia inwardly stuck out her tongue.

“……You got hurt, Delia”

“Well, as long as I didn’t die.”

After delivering that final blow, she lost the confidence to face him.

Ding

[Villain ‘Kaiel’s’ anger has increased.]

[Plausibility score increases by 5 points.]

If not for the notification announcing the plausibility score increase, she might have died of guilt. Though that probably wouldn’t happen.

Acting bold and shameless now, she had caused quite an incident first thing in the morning trying to get the antidote, and was now being completely brazen about it — it was truly an unprecedented level of troublemaking.

He spoke firmly.

“Stand up.”

Delia quietly tried to stand, but finding her legs still wouldn’t support her, she gave up and flopped down on the ground.

“I want to stay like this for a moment. You go ahead. I’ll get ready and come out soon.”

However, instead of going ahead, Kaiel called over a servant who had been standing far away.

“Help her up.”

After the servant helped Delia up, Kaiel told them to take her to her room for treatment, then gave her a glance before leaving.