Chapter 2 What Misunderstanding Brought

“Sir Arsen in Lydia’s room?”

“Yes, he carried Miss in his arms directly to her room and asked for a physician to be called. What should we do?”

“A physician too? Hmm.”

Devon tapped the armrest of his chair habitually.

Was there really something between Arsen and Lydia?

Devon had also heard that when Lydia collapsed after drinking poison at the imperial palace, she had looked desperately at Arsen.

Rumors circulated that Arsen had earned Lydia’s resentment, or that they had become intimate, but Devon didn’t particularly believe them.

As someone who had observed Arsen and Lydia from the closest distance, he could swear there had been nothing between them.

Lydia had been indifferent to any man other than Richard, and Arsen had no interest in women at all.

“Butler, how should I interpret this? Hmm? Sir Arsen breaking his appointment with me and going to Lydia’s room like that.”

“In this old man’s opinion, it seems Sir Arsen has feelings for our Miss.”

“Why do you think so?”

“The look in his eyes, you can tell from the look in his eyes.”

Arsen’s expression had been frozen stiff as he carried Lydia up the stairs.

But his eyes had shone brightly.

The butler was convinced that any man whose beloved woman had collapsed from neglect would wear such an expression.

“But there was nothing between Lydia and Sir Arsen to warrant this.”

“Young master, no one knows what happens between a man and a woman except the parties involved.”

Hearing that, it did seem to make sense.

“Hmm……”

Devon exhaled a long breath as he pondered. When Lydia had caused a commotion at the imperial palace, he had been furious with her.

What was some man worth that she would stain the family’s honor for him?

It was obvious what the Emperor would demand from the Evansi family using Lydia’s commotion as an excuse.

He would demand that Giselle, a branch member of the Evansi family, be formally adopted into the Evansi family.

Devon had planned to negotiate with the Emperor over this.

Lydia had ruined that. It would have been better if she had died right there.

After all, the Emperor was the one who gave Lydia the reason to act that way, and Devon could have led the negotiations advantageously from the position of a pitiful brother who lost his sister due to the Emperor’s betrayal.

So he had hoped for Lydia’s death, but her unnecessarily tenacious life had survived.

“Butler, every matter in the world has its pros and cons, doesn’t it?”

“Indeed, my lord.”

But who would have thought that the surviving Lydia would become bait to catch Arsen.

Arsen Edis and the Black Wolf Knights. There were countless nobles who wanted to get their hands on them.

The moment they acquired Arsen, the Empire’s finest knight and public servant, and the knight order he commanded that could even defeat demonic beasts, their family’s power would reach a different dimension.

Though he was currently a vassal of the Evansi house, if Arsen married a lady from another family and became part of that house, it would be as good as losing him.

Currently in the capital, most people were wondering how to secretly get their daughters into his bedroom.

Even the Emperor was considering finding a half-sister to try to bring Arsen into the imperial knights.

And now this Arsen likes Lydia? Such an opportunity couldn’t be missed.

“Go and call a physician, as quickly as possible.”

Ah, my sister. I have to acknowledge your eye for men, if nothing else.

First the future Emperor, and now you’ve brought in the Empire’s most eligible bachelor just like that.

Devon couldn’t hide his spreading smile as he stood up.

“Have tea sent up to Lydia’s room. Who am I to separate burning lovers?”

* * *

If she had been moved directly to the marquis’s residence without emergency treatment at the imperial palace, Lydia would have died.

As soon as Arsen entered Lydia’s ice-cold room, he realized that Devon had intended to kill her.

Until just a few minutes ago, that had been an internal matter of the Evansi family and had nothing to do with Arsen.

However, Lydia’s significant remark had changed the situation.

Very few people knew that Arsen was from the Bayern family.

If that fact became known, Arsen and all his people would be in danger.

Even the people from the borderlands of the marquisate might have to bear collective responsibility for harboring a traitor.

Whether they knew his identity or not was irrelevant.

So it was a secret that almost none of his comrades who had shared life and death with him knew, yet how did the lady know?

He needed to find out. If the secret had leaked, from where, and if there were others who knew this fact.

There was much to uncover.

And to do so, he needed to keep Lydia alive first.

Therefore, Arsen laid Lydia on the bed, lit the fireplace, and requested a physician to be called.

“It seems she was weakened by the poison. Don’t worry, Sir Arsen, she’ll come to her senses after a good sleep.”

He had anticipated how this might look in connection with the previous incident at the imperial palace, but it wasn’t pleasant to be so directly misunderstood.

It was like pouring oil rather than firewood onto the rumors. He hoped Devon wouldn’t overinterpret today’s events, but seeing how he was pretending to care for the sister he had tried to kill by neglect, it was clear he had seriously misunderstood.

“How could I leave before seeing Lydia wake up?”

How would I know when she’ll wake up? Judging by her pale complexion, she would likely sleep until tomorrow morning.

He could have said he would come back tomorrow, but he was worried she might wake up in between and say something delirious, so the words didn’t come easily.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. No one will think it strange if you stay at our house for a day or two.”

No one indeed.

If he stayed just one night at the marquis’s residence, by tomorrow rumors would spread throughout the capital that he and Lydia were actually in an intimate relationship.

Arsen barely managed to straighten his frowning eyebrows at Devon’s suggestive smile and shook his head.

“No, thank you. I will visit again tomorrow morning.”

He declined to let the rumors spread further.

“No need to decline. I’ll have a room prepared for you. Ah, is that even necessary? Should I have a bed moved in here?”

“Young marquis.”

“I’m joking, joking. Do I look like someone who would put a grown man in my grown sister’s room?”

The words “you look exactly like that kind of person and more” almost reached the tip of his tongue.

Arsen tried to leave Lydia’s room when Devon stood up, but Devon pushed him back in, saying it was fine.

He had no idea what was supposed to be fine. Arsen was not fine at all.

He unintentionally spent the night in Lydia’s room.

In the dark room, a single candle by the bed softly illuminated Lydia’s face.

To him, Lydia was just a woman blinded by the Emperor, nothing more, nothing less. It had been striking to see her following the Emperor around, fluttering that tangled pink hair.

Her hair fluttering, her dress with abundant lace, ribbons, and frills all fluttering.

After Lydia passed by, it always seemed like something would have fallen off.

To Arsen, Lydia was just a woman who wore a lot of fluttering things.

That was all, but now she had become such a concerning existence.

Even to the point of nursing her like this—no, no. This wasn’t nursing but surveillance.

He rationalized to himself.

“Mmm, cold……”

“Are you cold? I think there was more firewood.”

Arsen, who had jumped up to throw firewood into the fireplace at Lydia’s sleep-talking, was startled.

Surveillance? This was nursing itself.

Damn it.

* * *

What’s this? Am I still dying?

Seeing Arsen’s face as soon as she opened her eyes, Lydia was momentarily confused.

She wondered if her regression wasn’t real but a dream, and if she was still dying in a shabby inn after barely escaping the labor camp while suffering from the plague.

Arsen, who had been in her sight at the moment of her death, had been looking down at her in exactly this position.

But soon, the warm room, soft bedding, and Arsen’s face—five years younger than that day—confirmed that the regression was definitely not a dream.

“Are you conscious?”

After realizing the regression wasn’t a dream, questions flooded in.

Why was Sir Arsen in her room?

“Why are you……”

Lydia was startled by the cracked voice coming from her mouth and closed it.

“Don’t you remember what happened yesterday?”

Arsen’s face, which had been as rigid as a statue throughout, instantly contorted.

Lydia tried to recall her memories with her sluggish mind.

She remembered meeting Arsen on her way to the kitchen for water, but everything after that was as hazy as fog.

She couldn’t recall why Arsen was sitting by her bedside.

As Lydia hesitated to answer, Arsen realized she didn’t remember anything about yesterday.

“Yesterday, my lady, you said ‘Bayern’ to me.”

“Ah.”

So I did tell him.

“How much did I, ahem.”

Her split throat made it difficult to speak. When Lydia let out a dry cough, Arsen, still with deeply furrowed brows, raised her up to sit against the headboard and brought a water cup directly to her lips.

Before she could admire his precise rather than gentle movements, Lydia was distracted by the water flowing down her throat.

Had water always been this sweet?

“…You must have been very thirsty.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I stayed up all night to hear your answer, so I can wait for these few moments.”

His cool voice, far from the kindness his body was showing, urged her to quickly explain yesterday’s events.

“Why did you mention the Bayern family’s name to me? I’d prefer not to hear any implausible lies in advance.”

Was it just her feeling that those words sounded like a threat to not even try lying?

Lydia swallowed hard and opened her mouth.

“Actually, I died and came back to life. I found out that you are from the Bayern family in my past life.”

“I don’t appreciate such absurd excuses.”

“This isn’t an absurd excuse, Sir! I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”

* * *