Chapter 78: Bliss’s World

Rushing back to the marquis’s residence, Bliss immediately called for a doctor to treat Caelan. Though they hurried as fast as possible, taking a carriage instead of horseback meant it took time.

‘We should have gotten treatment there from the start.’

When Caelan was barely maintaining consciousness, Bliss embraced him while crying. When she realized the long rod protruding from his side was an arrow, her heart dropped to the floor.

With trembling hands, Bliss held Caelan and tried to enter a nearby waiting room. She planned to lay him down there and call for a doctor, but Caelan wouldn’t move.

[Let’s go home.]

[But you’re badly hurt right now.]

Blood was flowing like water from where the arrow had pierced him, yet that was all he said. In the end, they had to come to the marquis’s residence without convincing him otherwise.

Bliss held his hand as Caelan lay unconscious with a pale face, unable to open his eyes.

She hadn’t expected another ambush. It was a mistake to let her guard down while asking him to ease her guilt. Bliss couldn’t lift her head knowing that this had caused his current state.

“Hold on.”

Even when the doctor rushed in to check Caelan’s condition, Bliss stayed by his side without getting up.

***

[He’s passed the dangerous point, but he lost a lot of blood, so I’m not sure when he’ll wake up.]

As the doctor said, Caelan hadn’t opened his eyes even after two days. The blood loss was the biggest concern, even more than the wound itself. The doctor, who said they couldn’t have done anything if they’d been even a little later, focused on treatment but didn’t expect him to wake up immediately.

A silver fox hopped onto the bed where Caelan lay. The fox prowled around Caelan before sitting in front of Bliss.

“There’s a limit to what a human body can endure.”

“Caelan can endure it. He’ll definitely open his eyes.”

“I’m talking about you.”

Bliss’s eyes left Caelan for the first time.

“You haven’t eaten or slept for two days already. Do you think that will make him wake up?”

“I’m fine. It’s not…”

Suddenly her vision spun, and she felt too dazed to even blink.

“Seems you’re reaching your limit.”

“I’ll rest a little later.”

Bliss offered a compromise instead of getting up now. Then looking back at Caelan, she noticed sweat on his forehead and took out a handkerchief to wipe it.

“He collapsed protecting you, making it even more worrisome.”

“Hmm…”

Bliss took a moment to choose her words.

“Since you read my mind, you know I didn’t trust Caelan. Of course not. How could I trust someone who killed his wife in the original story?”

Even if she went back to that time, she would have no choice but to be wary of Caelan.

“A story where he kills his wife with a poisoned necklace and moves on to another woman. It was sad that I became that dying woman of all people. The story only begins with my death, after all.”

The hand stroking Caelan put down the handkerchief. Her fingers gently caressed his face. She softly traced along his thick eyebrows and under his eyes.

“But isn’t it strange? Caelan suddenly started treating me kindly, and I didn’t die even wearing the necklace. And now, as you can see, I’ve come to like Caelan.”

Who could have guessed this new story would be created when the original went off track?

That Bliss would come to love Caelan.

“So this world that felt so strange and hard to adjust to started becoming dear to me, but…”

A bitter smile played on Bliss’s lips.

“Right now my world hurts so much.”

Echo shuddered as if disliking her calling Caelan her world. To think she now treats someone she initially hated and was so wary of as an irreplaceable precious person…

“What will you do about me?”

Echo changed the subject.

When Bliss looked at him with uncomprehending eyes, Echo sat on the bed.

“He won’t be able to open his eyes like this, so he can’t participate in the knight tournament. That means the duke will win the bet, so you’ll have to hand me over.”

The fox’s red eyes studied Bliss’s expression. Looking at her now, it seemed she might hand him over due to her worry for Caelan.

“The bet’s outcome doesn’t matter anymore.”

Bliss shook her head.

“Even if we lose the bet, there’s no dagger to hand over.”

Echo’s eyes filled with surprise.

“How can we hand over something that doesn’t exist? The dagger disappeared without a trace because of the person they sent.”

Echo’s eyes curved at the subtle emotion laced in her voice. It was amusing to discover this other side of Bliss, whom he had thought was naive to the point of foolishness.

“Do you think Duke Blast is the one who hurt your husband?”

Asking this wondering if that’s why she was angry, Bliss shook her head.

“I don’t know. Whether he set a double trap or someone else got involved.”

However, it was undeniable that Duke Blast hadn’t used fair methods in the bet.

“The duke doing such things means he highly regards Caelan’s skills.”

“I understand his greed and hate of losing, but he’s gone too far.”

Caelan had told him he could come out wearing the duke’s emblem as much as he wanted. It was a condition set not only because he was confident in his skills but also to ensure the duke wouldn’t feel disadvantaged. He had been as considerate as possible, not knowing what moves might be made if the duke felt disadvantaged, but it had gone wrong spectacularly.

Bliss held Caelan’s hand.

“I wonder what expression he’ll make when he learns there’s no dagger in that winner’s position he obtained through such means.”

“What about the other things if the bet is like that?”

Echo looked at Bliss and Caelan’s joined hands.

“Don’t you want to win the knight tournament? Everyone was saying Caelan would be the champion.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

A similar conversation had come up before at the gathering. Back then, Bliss had even mentioned he already had a winning record. But it was fine even without such a record. It really didn’t matter.

“I prefer having meals together with a smiling Caelan more than one who won the knight tournament.”

Though it hadn’t been that long since their last meal together, it felt vaguely distant.

“Speaking of which, I need to request withdrawal. For that…”

Bliss, who was about to call someone, stopped speaking as if sensing something.

***

“What happens if Marquis Adrian doesn’t show up today?”

At Princess Jasmin’s question, Karhen tapped his lower lip with his fan.

When he first appeared with a fan, it seemed strange why he carried one, but now it would feel empty without holding anything.

“He’ll naturally forfeit. The bet will go to Duke Blast, and the dagger will have to be handed over.”

“I wonder how it feels to win using such cowardly methods?”

Princess Jasmin muttered while resting her chin on her hand. Knowing what had happened to Marquis Adrian, she also knew about Duke Blast’s ambush.

“Someone who only cares about results would be happy, while someone who can look back at the process wouldn’t have done such things in the first place.”

In other words, Duke Blast was concluded to be someone who only cared about results.

“I don’t understand how the fight got so big over something like that.”

Not everyone who possesses the dagger can receive its teachings anyway.

“If he learns what Bliss is making…”

Princess Jasmin paused briefly before continuing.

“He might want to take that too, using the bet as an excuse.”

Having conversed well until now, Karhen tilted his head as the conversation turned to Bliss. What is she making?

“You’ll know soon.”

Princess Jasmin only gave a meaningful smile without further explanation.

“It would have been nice to give it in front of everyone, but this opportunity has been wasted. Since he’ll miss out on winning if he forfeits…”

As Princess Jasmin’s voice trailed off, Karhen couldn’t hide his puzzled expression as he watched her. Then he turned his head toward where she was looking.

What could she be seeing to react like that?

As Karhen thought this, his gaze fixed on a man who had just stepped onto the stage.

“Caelan?”

Is his friend who was said to have collapsed from an arrow wound now standing on stage?

“It was close, but not too late.”

Princess Jasmin’s smile deepened. She turned her gaze to Bliss, sitting in the audience behind Marquis Adrian who had come up on stage.

“Will everything go according to plan then?”

At her muttering to herself, Karhen let out a frustrated sigh.

“Instead of keeping it to yourself, couldn’t you tell me too? We’re close enough for that now, aren’t we?”

When Karhen leaned in close to whisper, Princess Jasmin flinched.

Though he deliberately maintained some distance instead of pressing close, when he came near…

“People are watching.”

At Princess Jasmin’s look telling him to back off quickly, Karhen shrugged and withdrew.

“That’s why you should tell me too.”

Seeing his attitude suggesting he might get friendly and close again, Princess Jasmin sighed.

“The lady has been preparing something since the knight tournament began. It’s a gift for Marquis Adrian.”

What had Bliss said back then? Was it something about repaying the dagger?

—

T/N: Karhen and Princess Jasmin are kind of cute together (✿◡‿◡)