Now he’ll be a proper knight with a title. If she had taken her eyes off Richard earlier and properly looked at Arsen, she could have made those women waste their time.

Lydia, who was unconsciously letting regret slip, was startled.

Once because of the strange thought she herself had, and once more because of Arsen’s twitching lips.

“Um, is it okay for me to open my eyes now?”

Arsen moved just his lips without changing his position at all.

“Wh-when did you wake up?”

Caught red-handed peeking at him, Lydia blushed from her neck to her ears.

“I woke up in the middle, but you were staring so seriously that I missed the timing to open my eyes.”

“Sir Arsen, you’re really……”

Not wanting to show her reddened face, Lydia flipped the blanket over her head.

“You’re not a gentleman. Embarrassing a lady like this…… you should be ashamed.”

“I wasn’t trying to embarrass you.”

Arsen was genuinely wronged.

Wait, who was the one who didn’t wake a sleeping person and instead examined them from head to toe?

Arsen couldn’t open his eyes even if he wanted to under that gaze that scrutinized his every feature.

If their eyes met, it would be awkward for both of them.

So he planned to pretend to wake up casually when Lydia looked elsewhere.

But Lydia’s gaze, far from going elsewhere, went down his neck to his chest, then to his waist, and then even lower, forcing him to open his eyes.

He would have been caught awake by Lydia even if he hadn’t opened his eyes at that point.

Unaware of how much he had agonized, Lydia blamed Arsen for embarrassing her.

Feeling wronged, Arsen vowed to take revenge by making her finish the fever reducer today, even if she complained it was bitter.

* * *

“Wow, did you finish all the medicine? It must have been bitter, but well done.”

At Wellington’s admiration, Lydia pressed her lips together and glared at Arsen.

Arsen raised his eyebrow, finding it amusing.

Yes. Arsen’s revenge had succeeded. He had made Lydia drink the fever reducer to the last drop.

“Why is the medicine so bitter?”

“Because medicine that’s bitter to the mouth is good for the body.”

“……Can you stop with that quack-like talk? It’s making me nervous all of a sudden.”

It’s not that certain medicinal ingredients make it bitter; rather, it’s bitter because it’s good for the body.

It was an answer that didn’t convey any expertise at all.

“I don’t want to take that medicine anymore.”

“Since your fever hasn’t completely gone down, that won’t be possible, Priestess. And after you finish that fever reducer, I plan to give you medicine to restore your health, which is even more bitter.”

“Do you have some grudge against me?”

“Only gratitude.”

But that gratitude was just a bit bitter.

“The better you eat and rest, the shorter the period you’ll need to take medicine.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Ah, and there’s something I’d like to ask.”

Wellington, who was about to leave after finishing the examination, asked in a half-standing position.

He had told Arsen to ask yesterday, but Arsen only succeeded in making her take the medicine and didn’t ask about the type of poison.

“Do you know what poison you took before?”

“No, I don’t really know. I just went to a place that sells poison and bought the most expensive one.”

Since she intended to die after taking it anyway, she didn’t care what kind of poison it was.

What poison was it really? At the very least, she should have asked what kind of poison it was.

Lydia was belatedly curious now.

“Your body has deteriorated a lot because you didn’t treat the poisoning in time. For now, I’ll prepare medicine to restore your strength, so you must take it on time. And when you go up to the capital this time, try to find out what poison you took.”

Wellington added that he would probably need to treat the poisoning again and then left.

Lydia cursed Devon, still feeling the bitter taste rising in her throat.

If only he hadn’t neglected and had properly treated her when she returned from the imperial palace, she wouldn’t be in this state.

Lydia was tearing at the blanket in anger and was about to lie down again when Arsen raised her back up and sat her against the headboard of the bed.

“The nanny is cooking. Please eat, take your medicine, and then sleep.”

“I don’t have an appetite.”

“Still.”

Arsen was uncompromising when it came to taking medicine, so Lydia nodded weakly.

“By the way, what’s this about going up to the capital? Did a notification come from the imperial palace to attend a banquet?”

“Not from the imperial palace, but a letter came to the young marquis. It said the imperial wedding is over, and a banquet will be held soon, so we should come up.”

“Did they send a letter all the way here just to say that?”

The timing of the banquet had already been roughly determined before Lydia and Arsen left for the borderlands.

So if it was just for that, it would be fair to assume there was some other scheme.

Like Devon wanting to spy on the borderlands.

“That’s not it.”

The letter had arrived yesterday, but since Lydia had been groaning in pain, he couldn’t bring himself to tell her the letter’s contents.

Would it be okay now?

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Arsen stretched out his hand and touched Lydia’s forehead.

His large, rough hand covered not only Lydia’s forehead but also the bridge of her nose.

“What are you doing, Sir?”

“I’m checking your fever. You’re definitely better than yesterday.”

“Is there some shocking news written in the letter?”

Lydia asked worriedly as she watched Arsen examining her health condition in the middle of discussing the letter.

“Rather than shocking, it’s news that would make you angry. I just checked because I’m worried you might collapse again with a fever after you just got better.”

“If it’s news that would make me angry, did my father betray me?”

Lydia clenched her fists and struck the bed.

“Has Giselle become my sister?”

“Ah, that’s not it. The empress still uses the Maxwell surname, they say.”

In that case, she could breathe easier for now. She thought she was being betrayed by her father whom she had tried so hard to save, but that wasn’t it, thankfully.

“Then what other news could make me angry?”

Did Devon cause trouble? Surely, he didn’t do something to Father?

He’s the type to prepare coffins in advance, so what worse filial impiety couldn’t he commit?

“They say the empress manufactured a cure for the White Ghost disease, spread it in the capital, and is pretending to be a saintess who drove away the White Ghost disease. She has completely stolen your achievement.”

The young marquis’s message was that the empress had planted lots of yellow mountain dandelions in the imperial palace garden and was walking around dressed like a saintess, which was very unsightly, so they should prepare thoroughly before coming.

Lydia laughed hollowly in disbelief.

So that’s how she used it? But this kind of news was acceptable.

Giselle might be hateful, but this wasn’t the worst situation Lydia had imagined.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. My fever hasn’t risen at all.”

Lydia took Arsen’s hand again and placed it flat on her forehead.

As she rubbed her forehead against his palm, apparently enjoying its coolness, she looked just like a baby rabbit, and Arsen momentarily lost himself.

But he soon regained his senses along with anger towards Giselle, who had stolen Lydia’s achievement and even taken the title of saintess.

Yesterday, when he heard the news, not only the knight order but also Nella and Maria, and even Byron, who rarely gets angry, were indignant.

“Hey, I’m fine, really.”

Lydia met the eyes of Arsen, who was still quite wrinkled with concern.

“The title of saintess might be good for her now, but it will soon become a stumbling block. Giselle will probably regret that choice. So don’t make such a scary face, Sir.”

The anger that had been boiling subsided at just one smiling glance from Lydia, even though it wasn’t his achievement that had been stolen.

Arsen was raising his lips while looking at her, when he realized he had forgotten to mention something more important.

“Ah, and there’s other news too. Marquis Evansi has removed you from the register of priestesses.”

“What?”

Lydia, who had been lying against the headboard, sprang up like a coiled spring.

But the shocking news wasn’t over yet.

“He says he acted before the emperor could make a move and wants the engagement ceremony to be held as soon as we return. He also says the preparations are complete.”

“Whaaat? With whom?!”

Arsen, maintaining a calm face, pointed to himself with his finger.

* * *

Her name had been removed from the priestess registry, and apparently, preparations for an engagement ceremony were underway without her consent. Lydia listlessly flipped through the thick catalog that had been delivered from the capital this morning.

It contained all sorts of accessories and dresses, as well as information about flowers that would be good to use for an engagement ceremony. However, her interest was elsewhere.

‘How in the world did this happen?’

She thought carefully. The emperor’s informants would have reported that she was falling for Sir Arsen and was following him around. That information must have reached Devon or the marquis.