“You’ve finally woken.”

Summoning his courage, he tried to carry on.

At that very moment, the door swung open without so much as a knock, revealing an uninvited guest.

“When did she wake up?”

“Just a moment ago.”

Joshua, who had been about to speak, fell silent and stepped aside.

Logan took the seat that Joshua had vacated and reached out to lift Bella’s chin. He gently turned her face from side to side, examining her carefully.

The burning heat that had once radiated from her skin had subsided, and the feverish flush that had covered her face had disappeared.

“The rash seems to have faded. Your fever’s broken as well.”

As he spoke, Logan slipped his gloves into the pocket of his jacket.

Only when he moved his face away did Bella finally release the breath she had been holding. The closeness had been suffocating. The intensity of his gaze took her back to that night, causing her to tense up involuntarily.

“Now that His Grace is here, I’ll take my leave.”

Joshua addressed Bella quietly.

“Wait, Joshua. Weren’t you about to say something?”

“It’s nothing. We’ll talk next time.”

Bella remembered that Joshua had been about to say something when the Duke appeared and interrupted him. Now, however, he only shook his head.

There was something restrained about his expression, something unspoken, that unsettled her. Yet she could not bring herself to stop him as he turned and left.

Even after the door closed, the uneasy feeling lingered.

But there was something even more uncomfortable still — something that remained in the room.

Left alone with the duke, Bella fidgeted silently with the edge of the blanket. An awkward tension settled between them. Over the past few days, she had grown accustomed to his company while attending to his needs.

This, however, was entirely different.

The owner of the bed stood beside it.

She lay in it.

It was an audacity she would never have dared to imagine.

Yet Logan showed no sign of discomfort. He calmly pulled a chair closer and sat down beside her.

“Does anything hurt?”

“No.”

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“No.”

“Is there anything you’d like to eat?”

Bella had answered every previous question without hesitation, but this time her voice wavered.

She wasn’t particularly hungry and couldn’t think of any particular dish she wanted. Yet one thing lingered stubbornly in her mind.

“Lemon… candy.”

She had never even tasted it before—so why had it surfaced now?

She murmured the words softly, almost to herself.

“Candy?”

Logan echoed her, catching the faint whisper.

Realizing it might have sounded like a request directed at him, Bella flinched.

“I—I don’t mean that I absolutely want it… It’s just… that’s the only thing that came to mind right now…”

She hurried to explain, but under his steady gaze, her voice grew quieter and quieter until she was barely whispering. She lowered her eyes, as though she had committed an unforgivable impertinence.

“Wait here. I’ll be back shortly.”

Logan studied her for a moment with an unreadable look, then left the bedchamber without another word.

Bella stared blankly at the door after he disappeared, then buried her face in the blanket.

‘Why didn’t I just say I didn’t want anything? Why did I have to say it out loud?’

Of all the people she could have confessed her craving for lemon sweets to, she had chosen the duke himself, rather than Joshua or the doctor. He was the last person she should have been so open with.

The memory of her foolish answer made her cheeks burn. She kicked at the blanket in mortification.

As she panted from the sudden movement, her gaze fell upon the neatly folded maid’s uniform laid out nearby.

Bella stared at it for a moment, then her face flushed even deeper.

She had been speaking to both Joshua and the Duke while wearing nothing but her nightclothes.

The embarrassment was unbearable.

‘Why do I always do the most ridiculous things in front of him?’

Grabbing the clothes in haste, Bella changed quickly, her hands trembling as she fastened the buttons.

Then—

Her movements stopped.

“Wait…”

If she had been unconscious for three days, who had changed her clothes?

And where had the duke slept while she was in his bed?

These questions, which she had been too dazed to consider until now, flooded her mind. Her heart began to pound.

‘The bed? Or… that long sofa over there?’

Neither option was acceptable.

No — both were unacceptable.

The thought of the duke sharing a bed with her made her feel as though she had committed a sacrilege just by imagining it. If he had slept on the sofa instead, it would have been no better. The guilt alone would leave her nowhere to hide.

‘He must have used another bedchamber.’

The idea of her taking over the duke’s room and forcing him to sleep elsewhere was unthinkable. However, Bella chose the explanation that troubled her the least.

Some truths were better left unknown.

“Pull yourself together.”

She gently slapped both cheeks as if trying to come to her senses. She was a maid. The duke was just a temporary guest at the estate. Everything he had done was simply basic courtesy towards his attendant — nothing special.

She was only unsettled because it had been so long since anyone had shown her such unguarded kindness.

Bella drew in a slow, steady breath, trying to calm her racing heart.

***

Shortly afterwards, a maid entered the room carrying a tray. She placed a plate of bread and soup on the table and glanced at Bella briefly.

Bella was so taken aback by the strange situation of being dressed in her maid’s uniform while being served by another maid that she could not immediately lift her spoon.

She looked up at the duke, gauging his reaction.

“Eat comfortably.”

Logan merely tipped his chin as he took his seat at the desk. He appeared oblivious to the awkward tension in the room.

“You’ll get the candy after you finish your meal.”

As though she were a child.

Bella pursed her lips.

‘It’s not as if I can waste the food.’

She reluctantly picked up a piece of bread, although he wasn’t looking at her. Eating beside him while he worked felt awkward, but with no proper seating area in the bedchamber, there was nowhere else for her to go.

She ate as quietly as possible. After a moment, she spoke carefully.

“I heard that you arranged for the physician to see me. They said my fever didn’t worsen because I received treatment early… Thank you for helping me.”

Joshua had told her everything.

When her fever reached dangerous levels, he prepared to go into town to look for medicine. However, the duke returned from his outing and immediately summoned a doctor. Thanks to the count’s prompt decision to call the household physician, her condition stabilized before it could deteriorate into pneumonia.

Without the Duke’s intervention, she might still be confined to bed, burning with fever and unable to recover.

Bella lowered her gaze to the half-finished bowl of soup in her hands. A deep sense of gratitude welled up within her. The duke’s kindness had truly saved her life.

But surely his consideration should have ended with summoning the doctor?

Why had he given up his bed?

The food had been set carefully before her.

This quiet, unhurried moment of eating in his private chamber —

— felt like far more than someone like her deserved.

“However… next time, you needn’t go this far for me. Giving up your bed for my sake was excessive.”

“Are you suggesting that what I did was wrong?”

Until now, he had listened in silence. At her words, Logan’s voice sharpened.

“That’s not what I meant…”

When she realized that he had misunderstood her, Bella quickly shook her head and hurried to correct him.

It was not her place to question the duke’s decisions. She had no such right. However, if this incident became the subject of servants’ gossip and began to damage his reputation, then it would no longer be a simple matter.

That was what truly troubled her.

She feared that the kindness he had shown her might instead stain his name.

If cruel rumors began to spread because of her, she knew she would never be able to free herself from the weight of that guilt.