27. Aftermath

Opening my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

“Where am I……?”

Looking around at the unfamiliar scenery, my head suddenly began to ache as if it would split. It felt like I had drunk too much.

I rolled my body sideways into a croissant-like shape. One side of my head hurt terribly.

It didn’t seem like a cold. I wasn’t feeling cold or unwell elsewhere.

“Oh my, you’re awake?”

The woman’s voice heard through the canopy-like curtain covering everything around me in white was unfamiliar.

That voice, which sounded like a middle-aged woman’s, had very precise pronunciation and gave a kind impression. Though I tried to squeeze out nonexistent memories, I couldn’t tell who she was at all.

Was I dreaming?

Belatedly, the events that had occurred until I lost consciousness came rushing back into my mind.

Annie and Lara collapsed near my bedroom, and the very suspicious empty whiskey bottle.

The young master, injured and collapsed in an unexpected place, as if being chased by something.

And the fire that suddenly broke out last night.

Why did so many things happen yesterday?

“Excuse me.”

Along with that unfamiliar woman’s voice, the curtain was drawn back. As a result, the place where I was lying was opened without any preparation. Seeing the room’s interior revealed by this, I felt somewhat relieved.

The interior design was familiar.

Though I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where this was, from its distinctive unified style and atmosphere, it was certainly somewhere within the ducal residence.

The woman who suddenly showed her face to me pushed a thermometer into my mouth without asking for any consent and took my temperature.

“Well, you have a slight fever. The wound on your leg isn’t in too bad a condition.”

“My leg……?”

I remembered the fact that I had a wound on my leg. She seemed to be referring to the laceration I had sustained when I went to meet the young master at the outer castle.

But how did this person, whom I was meeting for the first time today, know about such a fact?

“I’m Murray Dorothea, here by His Grace the Duke’s order. I oversee the treatment of women within the castle.”

“Ah, the Duke’s?”

I remembered hearing from the young master on the day I injured my leg that I would soon receive treatment from a doctor called in the Duke’s name.

This person appeared to be that person.

But the laceration on my leg should be almost gone by now, so was there anything to treat?

“Aaaagh!”

At that moment, I felt an unimaginably tremendous pain in my leg.

“Wound disinfection complete.”

What is this seriously painful feeling?

By the way, why are you telling me such important information after the treatment is already done? You should have let me prepare mentally.

“Sob, doctor……”

I tried hard to express to the elegantly smiling doctor that it was extremely painful.

“It will be over soon.”

However, seeing what was dangling in her hands, the treatment didn’t seem likely to end easily. I already had a bad feeling.

“Now, this will sting a little.”

Now that she was openly warning it would sting, I was terrified out of my mind.

“Doctor, p-please spare me. Please.”

I quickly begged her, but she had already firmly fixed my ankle with her body, substituting for her busy hands.

“Of course I must spare you. So you don’t pass away. Now, please bear with it a little.”

This time, I couldn’t even scream. Not because it hurt less. My mind had half fled due to a different kind of unexpected pain.

❀❀❀

Doctor Murray, who left after making the terrifying promise to return, was gone. It was the most chilling warning ever.

Fortunately, the pain of treatment that had rushed in suddenly was short and intense, with no further aftermath.

Thanks to her tremendous treatment, I felt like my mind had been completely drained.

By the way, where is this place really?

Of course, since I didn’t know all the places in this vast ducal residence, it was natural that I didn’t know the location of this place I had never visited.

Raising my body, which I thought had been completely shattered by pain, I discovered a stifling bandage wrapped around my leg.

It was bound so tightly that I couldn’t even attempt to check what state the wound was in.

I shifted my gaze to the window outside.

The sky was so completely gray and dark that it wouldn’t be strange if rain poured down at any moment.

The outline of the building visible outside seemed familiar, but since all the castles in the ducal residence had similar shapes, I couldn’t confidently assert that this was a place I knew.

By the way, who moved me to such a place?

Last night, I was definitely in my quarters. With the young master.

And last night, he and I were in a very desperate situation.

The situation was clearly serious, as the heat and smoke from the fire could be felt even from the top floor of the building.

Both I, already exhausted from considerable shock and fatigue, and the young master, ill with a serious disease, found it almost impossible to escape from that situation.

Rather than struggling and suffering for a slim chance of survival, I thought it would be better to give up quickly.

But what is this situation now?

Though it wasn’t completely the worst, something didn’t make sense.

First, I was receiving treatment here alone.

Why am I, neither an heir nor anything else in this ducal family, safely moved to such a secure space and receiving treatment?

Could it be that the young master has already passed away from the shock?

It was possible. He was a sufficiently frail person. My head filled with self-reproach.

‘After suggesting we die together, I ended up surviving alone.’

I felt complicated, as if left alone in the world.

I repeatedly became confused and blamed myself.

Time seemed to flow extremely slowly. It felt like an eternity would pass until someone entered this room again.

Though not much time had probably passed, it subjectively felt as if time had stopped. Amidst this, I couldn’t hide my overwhelming emotion upon meeting someone I knew.

Taking her hands, I couldn’t contain my joy.

“Lara……!”

With the determination to grab even her skirt hem if she showed any sign of leaving her post, I grasped her hands with all my strength.

Appearing in this confusing and unfamiliar space, she was salvation itself to me.

Though she made a bewildered expression, I didn’t care at all.

I needed someone to lean on. It was painful to spend time alone in an unfamiliar place I barely knew, blaming myself.

“Miss, did you receive treatment well?”

Lara knew I had received treatment from that scary doctor. In a way, it was natural. She was a maid of this ducal residence.

Seeing her, I couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes, Lara. What about Annie?”

“Annie received permission for a vacation she had applied for in advance, so she’s temporarily away. I will serve you for the next three days.”

She had applied for vacation in advance. That’s good.

This time, she could be with her sister without sneaking out or making excuses.

Above all, the key was for Annie’s sister to recover. No matter how long and ample her vacation was, it would be of no use if her sister didn’t get better.

I inwardly prayed for Marie’s recovery.

“By the way, why am I here alone?”

This was a question I had been curious about for a while. Secretly hoping for a hopeful answer that the young master was actually receiving treatment nearby, I looked at Lara’s face.

“Don’t you remember? Last night, I heard you came with Attendant Wellers.”

“Attendant Wellers?”

The Wellers I knew probably wasn’t an attendant.

And she was usually called Mrs. Wellers rather than by any title.

Discovering my puzzled expression, she corrected her words.

“Attendant Robin Wellers.”

“Robin…… Wellers?”

I remembered the face of someone I had briefly encountered yesterday.

He was the person Mrs. Wellers had recently introduced. I think I heard he was her nephew.

But since the two barely resembled each other in appearance, they weren’t easily associated with each other.

But it was strange.

“I was with him? With that person?”

“Yes.”

Lara answered very firmly. Without further explanation, she waited for my words with a polite smile, as if asking if I needed any more answers.

I really couldn’t remember being with that person at night.

I had no memory of encountering the nephew of Mrs. Wellers after the day had set.

Was my memory somehow wrong? I was a bit confused.

Thinking about it, the events of last night that I remembered were quite unrealistic.

The young master collapsed at a place more than 20 minutes away by carriage from the outer castle still didn’t make sense. But the memory of supporting him and bringing him to my room was so vivid.

“Then what about the young master?”

“Pardon? The young master?”

From Lara’s face, which seemed to genuinely question my inquiry, I began to harbor a very small hope.

Perhaps that reaction was proving the fact that he and I never met yesterday?

If so, he wouldn’t have been collapsed on the road with serious injuries all over his body, nor would he have experienced the terrible situation of being trapped in a burning building.

Right?

I desperately hoped so.

Above all, that seemed more likely in reality. So I decided to pretend I hadn’t just asked that question.

“It’s nothing.”

Last night, he and I didn’t meet.

If that wasn’t the case, I couldn’t explain the casual attitudes of the doctor and Lara toward me.

In fact, from the beginning, the young master had never left the outer castle. That was truly fortunate.

And actually, there was one more thing I had wanted to ask her for a while.

“Where is this place?”