When I opened my eyes again, two days had already passed. Rachel cried profusely, saying she’d been terrified I wouldn’t regain consciousness. 

When news spread that I’d woken up, Mother rushed over in a hurry.

“Oh, my baby. Do you recognize Mommy? How’s your body? Does anything hurt?”

Fortunately, Mother worried about my health rather than asking about my relationship with Thadeus. She just breathed sighs of relief several times, saying she was grateful I was at least this well.

“I feel refreshed, like I slept deeply. Really.”

“If you feel worse at all, don’t hesitate to call me. I’ve stationed a personal physician at the estate too.”

“Okay. I’m sorry for making you worry.”

Mother said it was fine, hugged me tight, and left the room.

What did Thadeus say to make them not ask anything?

Good things are good things, so I suppressed my curiosity, afraid of raising suspicion about whatever he’d smoothly explained.

A moment later, Rachel brought special spinach soup. As the food entered my mouth, I felt strength surge through me.

“Rachel, did anything happen while I was asleep?”

“Nothing in particular…. Oh, Young Master Thadeus came to see you and left.”

“Thadeus did?”

“Yes, he checked if you’d woken up before leaving. Besides that, he also left a letter and gift boxes.”

“Gift boxes?”

I devoured two bowls of special spinach soup and ate tomato potato stew. I wanted to eat lots of meat too, but I held back, worried I’d get sick since my stomach had been empty for two days.

I finished with sweet fruit tart to cleanse my palate. It was such a perfect meal that a smile leaked out. Once my stomach was full, I felt so energetic no one would think I’d been sick.

“Rachel, can you bring me those gift boxes and letter Thadeus brought?”

“I’ll get them right away, Miss.”

Rachel brought seven gift boxes with much grunting. What on earth did he send so much of? 

First, I opened the thick envelope on top of the gift boxes, and inside was a document transferring ownership of a glove shop in Progreen Shopping District to me.

“Why would he give me this…?”

When I turned the page, a letter that had been enclosed fell out. When I unfolded it, I saw Thadeus’s neat handwriting.

“This should cover the cost of the torn gloves, right?

-Thadeus Chervandia-”

This was the most bewildering gift I’d ever received in my life. As I tried to recall how this situation came about, what he’d said at Pervil Lake suddenly flashed through my mind.

“If you’re upset about that, I’ll buy you the entire glove shop. That works, doesn’t it?”

I’d dismissed it as empty talk, but he’d been serious. Thadeus was the only crazy person who would gift an entire shop instead of just buying new gloves. As I widened my eyes and gaped, Rachel poked her head out.

“What’s wrong? Does the letter say something strange? Or did Young Master Thadeus propose to you?”

A barrage of curious questions followed. I pressed my throbbing head with my hands and let out a deep sigh.

“I think that would be less surprising. I became the owner of a glove shop overnight. Do you think that makes sense?”

Rachel tilted her head, asking what kind of absurd talk that was.

I continued opening the second and third boxes. What came out were magic items that looked expensive at a glance. 

When I roughly read the instructions, they were a magic tool that let you breathe freely underwater and a bracelet that kept your body temperature warm even in bone-chilling cold.

Why would he give me things like this? Then I discovered the emblem drawn on the magic items and was startled.

“This is… the Digrora Magic Shop emblem, isn’t it?”

Digrora Magic Shop only sold the highest premium line products in the magic item world. I’d heard that to purchase one magic item with this emblem, you’d need to sell at least several estates.

It wasn’t just expensive—each item was so special that the imperial knight order fighting magical beasts on battlefields used them, and they were sent as gifts to delegations from other countries.

My hands trembled at the overwhelming gift. Weight suddenly piled onto the feather-light magic item, like several estates had been placed on it. 

I put it back in the gift box, afraid I might accidentally scratch it.

“What was he thinking, sending something like this!”

I checked the letter inside this one too, and it said these were just gathering dust in storage anyway, so I shouldn’t feel any burden.

As if that’s so easy! This crazy Thadeus…!

Besides this, there were still four more gift boxes to check. What if even more outrageous items popped out? Fear came first, but then this thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Is he pitying me again, like back then?”

I didn’t know what part evoked his sympathy like before, but the cheap pity Thadeus showed was gentle enough to mistake for love. 

Memories of past days when I’d been drunk on that gentleness and made foolish mistakes came to mind, making me utterly unpleasant.

“Rachel, send all of this back to the Chervandia Duke’s Estate.”

Rachel asked with a surprised face.

“Send the gifts back to Young Master Thadeus? Why all of a sudden?”

“Just because. I don’t like any of them.”

I said nothing to Rachel, who wondered why I didn’t like these wonderful gifts. Then she tried to persuade me, saying Thadeus must really like me to send such precious gifts.

“You’re really sending them back? Really, really?”

“Yes, right now.”

Rachel expressed concern that the young master might be hurt, but soon said she’d follow my wishes and left with the gift boxes.

It was an afternoon when I was leisurely savoring tea with two spoonfuls of honey. The gift boxes I’d definitely sent back returned just the same. With one new envelope added that hadn’t been there before. I quickly opened it.

“When returning gifts, I think it’s proper etiquette to meet in person and talk face to face.

-Thadeus Chervandia-”

I wanted to just send the gifts back and be done with it. But I knew well enough without saying how nasty Thadeus’s temperament was.

I was trying to put off meeting Thadeus as long as possible.

Thinking about meeting him made me feel uncomfortable somehow. But keeping those items was even more uncomfortable.

“What should I do? What would be best?”

While suffering from the fever, the past I’d tried to cover up came back to me. 

The truth was, I’d tried to avoid having bad feelings toward Thadeus because I didn’t want to think about the painful wound of my first love. 

Plus, as those memories resurfaced, I realized why I reacted to Schwein the way I did.

I learned that showing my honest feelings leads to getting hurt.

That’s why insincere behaviors kept popping out when I stood before Schwein. Of course, I only realized today that it was related to Thadeus.

Not only that, but I finally remembered why that wooden sword I saw at Thadeus’s villa felt familiar. It was that gift I’d custom-ordered for him myself.

But why was Thadeus keeping it? I definitely threw it away with my own hands.

It was a gift I didn’t want to remember, and since I’d disposed of it myself, I didn’t think it was the same item. Thinking about how I’d teased Thadeus, asking if he’d received it from a girl who had a crush on him, made my head spin.

“What nonsense did I say?”

But what mattered now wasn’t why the wooden sword was there. The urgent matter was how to deal with those burdensome gift boxes taking up a corner of my room.

After much deliberation with my head in my hands, I concluded that keeping those items made me more uncomfortable than facing Thadeus. To return them, I had to meet him, and fortunately, my condition was good enough that no one would know I’d been groaning sick until yesterday.

“Rachel, can you bring me a pen and letter paper?”

“Yes, here you go.”

I wrote in the letter that I’d come meet him in person. I emphasized several times that today would be even better. What came back shortly wasn’t just a reply. A carriage bearing the Chervandia family seal came too.

“Then take the carriage I sent. I’ll be waiting there first.

-Thadeus Chervandia-”

The letter didn’t say where “there” was. Distrust of Thadeus made unwarranted anxiety rise.

What method was he planning to use to torment me this time? 

I was just going to talk briefly, but no matter how wicked Thadeus was, would he really do something mean to someone who’d just recovered?

The distrust seated deep in my heart and a fingernail’s worth of trust bickered in my head, each insisting they were right. But since I’d decided to meet him, I couldn’t back out now.

“Rachel, help me prepare to go out.”

“What? After two days… you just regained consciousness, and you want to go out?”

“Yes! I’m completely fine now. I feel like I could fly.”

Rachel pressed my forehead to compare it with her own temperature. Still not reassured, she checked my complexion this way and that, and examined me with hawk eyes to see if anything was worse than before. Yet her worried voice didn’t leave.

“If Madam finds out, she’ll surely worry….”

“It’s fine. I’ll persuade her well.”

“But….”

“If you keep that up, I won’t talk to Rachel anymore.”

It was my secret weapon. Threatening not to talk to Rachel. As expected, it worked well. Rachel looked like the world had collapsed, asking how I could say such a thing with a tearful voice.

“Miss, that’s too much. Even as a joke, please don’t say things like that.”

“Then you’ll help me prepare to go out?”

“How could I win against you, Miss? Instead, from now on, take me with you wherever you go. I can’t rest easy thinking about being apart from you.”

“Okay, I understand.”

“Promise!”

After receiving confirmation several times, Rachel finally helped me prepare to go out. Through her hands, I transformed from a shabby beast-like appearance into a neat person in an instant. 

This seemed good enough, but Rachel kept holding me back, wanting to make me even prettier.

“Miss, how about this pearl necklace? Today, with your hair up, it would be good for emphasizing your slender neck.”

“Do we need to go that far? I’m just going to talk briefly with Thadeus anyway.”

“That’s exactly why we need to pay more attention! Of course, Miss, you’re beautiful just as you are, like a pure forget-me-not.”

Thadeus wouldn’t appreciate Rachel’s efforts. I almost laughed at Rachel’s expression, eyes sparkling and huffing. But if I gave in on one thing, she’d try something else.

“A necklace would feel stuffy right now. My body just got better, so I want to go out lightly.”

“Really? If you insist, I suppose there’s no choice….”

Rachel put down the pearl necklace with a sullen face. She didn’t say anything more, but even as I left the room, her gaze full of regret never left the pearl necklace.

Getting out of the house was truly not easy. After persuading Mother, who said to step over her body if I was determined to go out with a sick body, I barely separated Father, who said he’d rather go out together.

By the time I struggled to board the carriage, more time had passed than preparing to go out.

“Why is it so hard today?”

At those words, Rachel beside me jumped with an urgent expression.

“Miss, are you feeling unwell again? Should we return to the estate? The physician, we need to call the physician…!”

“It’s not that. I just meant preparing to go out was hard, so please, calm down, Rachel!”

For a while, I’d have to be careful about saying things were hard in front of Rachel. I turned my gaze to the window and secretly sighed, afraid of causing another misunderstanding.

* * *

The carriage that had been running for a while finally stopped by the roadside. The coachman called out in a rough voice.

“We’ve arrived at the destination, Miss Clea.”

Rachel opened the door, and I got out of the carriage after her. The place we arrived at was a huge opera house.

Memories of coming here occasionally with my parents when I was young flashed by. At some point, my interest in opera had cooled and I hadn’t visited, so it felt refreshing.

“How many years has it been?”

The opera house building was still splendid despite the long time that had passed. If anything, it seemed to sparkle more than in the old days. 

As I looked around, a man with a neat appearance approached me. He bowed his head in greeting.

“Good day, Miss Clea. I’ll guide you to where Young Master Thadeus is.”

I followed the attendant with Rachel. The servant carrying the gift boxes Thadeus had sent came along too.

The place he guided us to wasn’t the entrance to the opera house I knew. How should I put it? 

There wasn’t a single guest who’d come to see the opera, only people guarding the area, giving it a somewhat secluded feeling. Rachel also seemed puzzled, looking around and tilting her head.