Chapter 48: Lies

Bliss stared intently at her reflection in the mirror as Jackie’s gentle touch brushed across her face.

‘The novel only covers a small part. It only contains the content up until the protagonists meet and fall in love.’

It was the same when she met Latte. Hadn’t she seen sides of her that weren’t shown in the original work?

‘The Duke wasn’t easy to deal with either.’

It hadn’t been easy even knowing his plans.

Now it was time to understand the unhidden side.

“Who could it be?”

The person who dropped the poison pouch.

“I’ll put your hair up now.”

Jackie stepped back. Bliss, who had been lost in thought and hadn’t realized her makeup was finished, looked at her reflection in the mirror. Though it wasn’t much different from usual – her lips weren’t colored more than normal, and no additional color had been added to her eyes. Apart from lacking a certain vibrancy, it wasn’t bad, so Bliss nodded.

“Already finished.”

“Your skin is particularly soft today, my lady.”

At Jackie’s compliment, Bliss touched her cheek. The praise felt awkward since she felt her skin had become rough from tossing and turning all night without proper sleep.

“Thank you.”

Bliss responded appropriately and watched Jackie’s reflection in the mirror while playing with her hair that had fallen forward.

“But…”

Jackie, who had been handling and smoothing the hair, flinched. Her wandering gaze unnaturally fixed on the mirror. Jackie forced a smile as she met Bliss’s eyes through the mirror. In truth, she couldn’t be sure if she was smiling properly herself.

“Why… are you asking?”

“Did you have a good visit with your family?”

Jackie’s lips trembled slightly before forming something resembling a smile again.

“Yes. Thanks to you, my lady, it was a wonderful time. My family was so happy to see me.”

“I see. By the way, Jackie, what’s your family situation?”

“I have a mother and a young sibling.”

“What about your father?”

Despite hesitating at Bliss’s continued questions, Jackie stumbled through her answers. They weren’t difficult questions.

“My father passed away when I was young. That’s why I had to take responsibility for my mother and sibling.”

“So that’s why you became a maid.”

Bliss took Jackie’s hand that was touching her hair. Surprised, Jackie’s grip loosened, causing the carefully gathered hair to fall, but it didn’t matter. When Bliss stood up and released Jackie’s hand, she blinked. Unable to stay still under Bliss’s steady gaze, she lowered her head deeply.

And she squeezed her eyes shut as if anticipating what Bliss might say.

“That’s admirable.”

Bliss stroked Jackie’s head. As if it was unexpected, Jackie not only opened her eyes but raised her head toward Bliss.

“It’s not easy to work to support your family at such a young age.”

Bliss smiled faintly as she looked at Jackie’s small head. She could feel through the slight movements of Jackie’s head that she was looking around nervously. Seeing her flustered reaction to the praise made Bliss’s smile grow wider.

“I easily got everything without doing anything just because I was born noble. Even though you’re young, you seem more mature than me.”

“My lady…”

At Jackie’s choked voice, Bliss patted her head a bit more firmly before lowering her hand.

“Don’t worry about putting up my hair. You can rest now.”

Bliss gently stroked Jackie’s arm before turning away. Though her reflection in the mirror showed she had barely changed out of her nightgown, it didn’t matter.

As Mint, who had been making the bed, opened the door, Bliss gave her a grateful look before leaving the room.

The smile on Bliss’s face gradually faded as she walked down the corridor.

‘Was it really Jackie who dropped it?’

She didn’t want to suspect Jackie, but it kept bothering her.

‘No. That can’t be it.’

She was always startled and nervous at just a word from her, so what different reason could there be today?

“Bliss.”

Her body turned at the sound of her name being called. Bliss greeted the person who had grabbed her arm, asking if he had slept well.

“You don’t get surprised anymore.”

“Because you’re the only one who calls my name so freely.”

“That’s a shame. It was entertaining to see you jump in surprise whenever you saw me.”

“Well, that…”

Feeling guilty, Bliss let her words trail off. She had many sins, and she had reacted that way largely because she feared Caelan might kill her or discover her true nature.

‘Is Jackie the same?’

But she had always been timid around her. Unable to determine the exact cause, Bliss shook her head to push the thoughts away for now. Caelan was the priority over Jackie at the moment.

“Aren’t you tired? You went out early this morning.”

“I should be asking you that.”

Caelan placed his hand on Bliss’s cheek. His large hand that covered half her face brushed under her eye.

“It’s dark here. And your skin has become rough.”

Bliss met Caelan’s eyes.

“Has it become very rough?”

“Considering how you usually are, it’s not good. Is it because you couldn’t sleep last night? You should eat well and rest first.”

“If you can notice it, it must be really bad.”

“I could see you looked a bit tired, and touching confirmed it.”

“I see.”

Bliss leaned her face completely into Caelan’s hand. In contrast to his very gentle touching, she pressed her weight into it, making Caelan look at her questioningly.

“Let me stay like this for a moment.”

“Are you really having a hard time?”

Caelan pulled Bliss into an embrace, allowing her to lean against him. Bliss didn’t reject that steadiness and relaxed her body. As she let out a long breath while meaninglessly staring at the wall, she found the answer to the question that had been bothering her.

She recalled her conversation with Jackie. She had been confused because Jackie was originally fearful of her. That had clouded Bliss’s judgment.

‘She lied.’

Despite having no need to lie to her.

***

Perhaps because of how she had leaned on Caelan, Bliss’s attention was elsewhere rather than on the food.

‘After saying I would watch if he was okay today, to think I ended up leaning on him…’

She kept wanting to sigh at how pathetic she found herself.

“If the food isn’t to your taste, I can have them bring something else.”

Bliss looked up at the sudden words. Caelan, who had been watching for who knows how long, was about to call a servant.

“It’s delicious.”

Speaking faster than Caelan, Bliss picked up her utensils and moved them to her plate. As she touched the small-cut steak, she looked up at the gaze she felt on her face.

The owner of that gaze was Caelan.

“Why aren’t you eating?”

Caelan’s food showed no signs of being touched.

“I don’t want to eat.”

“…”

It was such an audacious statement, considering he was trying to change her food when she wasn’t eating.

Bliss put down her utensils with a clunk.

“I don’t have an appetite either.”

“Then let’s change the food.”

“It would be the same no matter what comes out.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Annoyed by Caelan’s unyielding words, Bliss looked down at her food.

“This is something I would never do normally.”

While Caelan hadn’t yet understood what she meant, Bliss stood up from her seat. He showed interest as she headed toward him.

“You’re the one who needs to eat and regain strength, not me.”

Sitting in the closest seat to Caelan, Bliss grabbed his utensils. Then after hovering over the plate, she scooped up some apple mousse and brought it to his lips.

“I hadn’t expected this.”

Caelan looked at the food touching his lower lip before meeting Bliss’s eyes.

“Eat and regain your strength.”

She didn’t say she was returning his earlier attempt to force her to eat.

“Even when I was young, I ate by myself. I’ve never had someone feed me like this…”

As Caelan opened his mouth to speak, the apple mousse went in. His expression wasn’t pleased as he closed his mouth to eat.

“…It’s sweet.”

From Bliss’s perspective, she had chosen something softer than meat, but sweet desserts didn’t seem to suit his taste.

“Would you like something else?”

“If you’ll feed it to me.”

His words surprised both Bliss and the servant.

‘This wasn’t the reaction I was aiming for.’

She had only fed him to get back at him, but now Caelan was pointing at other dishes with his eyes.

If she told him to eat by himself now… would he listen?

“How about this?”

Bliss picked up an entire plate. It was meant to suggest he eat by himself, but he didn’t move.

“Here.”

So when Bliss experimentally brought it to his mouth, he ate that too.

‘I dug my own trap.’

She couldn’t blame anyone else for this. Bliss swallowed a sigh as she picked up different food.

He wouldn’t eat with his own hands but would open his mouth to receive whatever she fed him. He didn’t even refuse things he didn’t like.

The most peaceful atmosphere of any meal they’d shared flowed between them as the servants who had been quietly standing by to serve watched carefully before withdrawing. Bliss, unaware they were now alone, contemplated what food to feed Caelan next.

“My lord.”

Caelan, who had only been receiving food until now, turned his gaze to the butler who had entered the dining room.

“What is it?”

Only then realizing the butler had entered, Bliss turned around as well.

“A guest who says she has an appointment with my lady has arrived.”

“Who is it?”

“It’s Lady Latte Hice.”

Bliss frowned at the unexpected name.

‘Appointment? What appointment?’

She had only met Latte once, and merely passed by her at the imperial palace.

‘Ah, she did say she would invite me.’

But they hadn’t made an appointment to meet today.

“And Viscount Jimilta has come with her.”

“Leonard too?”

While Bliss tilted her head wondering why the two had appeared together, Caelan’s eyes turned cold, though he quickly masked his expression.