“Kaern?”

I woke up abruptly from sleep and called him in a slightly hoarse voice.

“Awake?”

In response, Kaern’s voice was as clear as usual.

Still groggy, I tried to quickly grasp the situation.

So, I fell asleep sitting while taking care of Kaern, and he seemed to have been awake for some time.

Then, the touch that I thought was a dream…

I slowly followed it with my eyes, starting from his shoulder to his arm.

Surprisingly, his hand was resting on my hair.

Looking up at him with my eyes wide open, a faint smile appeared on Kaern’s lips.

Am I still dreaming?

No.

This couldn’t be a dream.

Yet, something dreamlike was unfolding before my eyes.

“Kaern…”

I murmured his name once again, as if talking to myself.

It was such a quiet sound that it might not be heard if one didn’t concentrate, but in the silence of the room, it sounded surprisingly loud.

“Herena.”

His voice was the same.

A low, melodious voice filled the room.

Afterward, we stared at each other in silence for quite some time.

“…Ah, Kaern, are you okay?”

As my mind cleared, I quickly began asking about his condition as if waking up from a dream.

“Are you okay now?”

“I’m fine.”

“Really? Let me see your wound.”
I carefully held his arm and examined the area where the dagger had cut.

The wound was gradually healing, indicating that the medicine had some effect.

Next, to check if he still had a fever, I touched his forehead.

There was no longer any warmth felt on his forehead either.

“You’ve improved a lot. I’m relieved.”

Only then did a sense of relief flood in, and I felt like crying again.

“I’m really relieved…”

With tears welling up in my eyes, Kaern reached out to me.

“Don’t cry, Herena.”

As he said that, he gently wiped my tears away with his hand.

“It was so scary. I was afraid that when I opened my eyes, I wouldn’t be able to see Kaern again…”

“I, Herena, will never leave you alone, not in the past, and not in the future.”

“But I was still scared…”

“Herena.”

I still held Kaern’s hand that lingered on my eyes and buried my face.

“Don’t cry.”

“This is tears of joy. It’s not because I’m sad, but because I’m so happy…”

“Still, don’t cry. I don’t know what to do if you cry.”

Despite Kaern looking at me with a worried expression, my tears didn’t easily subside.

Truly, I didn’t want to experience the dreadful and painful time from yesterday again.

This time, the realization of how frightening and terrifying it was to think that I could have lost him struck me fiercely.
‘From now on, it’s not you; I will protect you.’

Thinking like that, a much more determined will surged within me.

Even after Kaern woke up, I didn’t leave and stayed by his side constantly.

Due to his robust health, Kaern recovered very quickly.

A few days later, Kaern, Adelia, Calix, and I gathered in the study.

Since Adelia already knew a lot, there was no longer anything to hide.

“There were such dangerous incidents?”

We tried to explain in as much detail as possible what had happened so far to Adelia.

“But why didn’t you tell me? Why did you hide these facts from me?”

Adelia squinted her eyes and, with a voice full of anger, asked as she got up from her seat.

In getting to know Adelia until now, it was the first time I had seen her get so angry.

So, not knowing what to do, I looked at Kaern, and he nodded toward me, opening his mouth.

“Adelia, calm down.”

“Oppa, do I look calm to you? How could I… when you went through such things!”

“Adelia.”

Not only Kaern but also Calix, who was next to her, tried to calm Adelia.

However, whether it was not easily calming down due to excitement, Adelia suddenly started shedding tears.

“Who is it? I won’t let it go. How could they do this to Oppa…”

“Adelia.”
At that moment, a calm voice, different from Adelia’s, echoed in the study.

“Calm down.”

“Oppa…”

“I just wanted you to live well without unnecessary worries. I thought it was my duty as your only brother.”

“But it’s not an unnecessary worry.”

Adelia expressed her frustration and sobbed.

“I know very well what emotions you’re feeling right now. Still, you have to calm down. You’re not alone right now.”

Adelia momentarily paused at Kaern’s words.

While embracing her belly, she sighed deeply and resumed her seat.

“Adelia.”

Calix wrapped his arms around Adelia’s shoulders, comforting her.

We waited in silence until Adelia regained composure.

After a while, when Adelia had calmed down, she fixed her expression and finally spoke.

“I understand. I’ll try to understand why Oppa and Herena did that. So, what are we going to do now? Don’t tell me to stay quiet. I will never do that.”

In Adelia’s eyes, a strong determination not to let anyone who endangered Kaern go unpunished was evident.

I exchanged glances with Kaern and nodded before speaking.

“So far, everything we’ve uncovered is related to a poison called ‘Asthel’ in all these incidents.”

“Asthel? Is it referring to the yellow flower that blooms in the desert, as mentioned in the letter?”
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s such a rare flower that it’s been difficult to obtain until now.”

“So, you went there because of the mention of acquiring Asthel.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Oh, I’ve stored the carcasses of the boars released into the forest during the hunting competition behind the mansion.”

“Really? Let’s go see them right now.”

As soon as Adelia tried to get up after finishing her sentence, I quickly stopped her.

“Adelia, no. You’re pregnant right now. The smell is overpowering and it’ll be hard for you to endure.”

Not only because of the smell, but I didn’t want to show animal carcasses to pregnant Adelia.

“No, I can endure it.”

Even though Adelia insisted, I looked at Calix with a perplexed expression.

“Adelia, I’ll go instead.”

“No, I want to go too.”

“Adelia, we need to think about our child.”

“But…”

“I’ll go and report back. So, wait here.”

“…Okay.”

When mentioning the child, Adelia’s seemingly unyielding determination seemed to waver.

“Let’s go.”

Kaern took Calix and left the study.

During their absence, Adelia couldn’t hold back and poured out her curious questions to me.

“But, how did you not tell Oppa about such an incident, Herena?”

“Huh? Oh, I happened to overhear the conversations of the officers.”

I explained the situation in detail to Adelia at that time.
“We used the secret passage we often used, right?”

“Yeah. The lantern was still there, so fortunately, we could move easily.”

“But how did you not mention being poisoned by Astel back then?”

“Initially, when I saw the horse’s carcass, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual, except that the tongue had turned black due to poison. However, there was a strange floral scent near the horse’s ears and nose.”

“A floral scent?”

“Yeah. Amidst the stench of the decaying carcass, a faint floral fragrance was emanating.”

“So?”

“Well, I was contemplating what it could be now.”

I paused for a moment to quickly organize my thoughts.

It was a crucial part that should not be misrepresented, so I needed to recall accurately how I explained it to Kaern.

“You know I was originally planning to study abroad, right?”

“Yeah, I thought Herena would naturally go.”

“And do you also know about Marquis Blake Warren? He’s the overall responsible person for the study abroad business.”

“How did you know that?”

“I happened to meet him when I went to submit documents to the academy. He told me that if I wanted advice on studying abroad, I could contact him.”

“Marquis Warren told you that?”

Adelia asked, tilting her head with a curious expression.

“Yeah.”

I answered nonchalantly.

“Really? Hmmm.”

On the other hand, Adelia narrowed her eyes, looking at me suspiciously.