The sky the next morning was perfectly clear, as if it were a lie that it had rained all night.

It was truly fortunate. After all, rainy roads are dangerous.

Of course, there were still puddles on the road, but if one didn’t hurry, there would hardly be any major accidents.

But above all, the most fortunate thing was Sergei’s condition.

“He woke up long ago, finished breakfast and even took a walk. He seemed to be in better condition than usual?”

Ah yes, among the servants, it seems Sergei’s left eye had miraculously recovered.

I was worried about how to make excuses to those talkative people, but rather because of that, I didn’t need to step in.

However, one other problem arose…

“Look, my lady! Even luck is on Sage Sergei’s side. Perhaps you, who have been wronged by the world, will no longer face such things if you’re with the Sage!”

“Loretta, that’s enough of that talk.”

I firmly cut off her words.

Was it because of my stricter tone than usual? Loretta flinched, looking at my expression, and immediately apologized.

I let out a steady breath. This made it even more certain. What I needed to do as a top priority now.

After finishing my grooming and meal, I finally left the room to get in the carriage.

Then I met eyes with someone coming out of the front room.

“Cough!”

The problem was that this person didn’t look to be in good condition.

“Lord Joseph?”

“Ah… Good morning, my lady.”

What kind of situation was this?

Lord Joseph’s complexion, which always sparkled like a fairy, looked particularly bad.

His originally pale face was so white it looked as if he had applied white powder.

The long eyelashes cast over his half-open eyes were very beautiful but looked weak, and beads of sweat were forming on his forehead.

I hurriedly approached Lord Joseph and supported him. He looked quite precarious, barely holding onto the doorknob.

And the moment I touched his body, I could understand why. His whole body was like a fire.

“My goodness, you have a high fever, Lord Joseph!”

I let his staggering body lean on me. After urgently calling for the doctor, I first moved Lord Joseph back to his room.

Even if the departure was delayed a bit, I couldn’t force Lord Joseph into the carriage in this condition.

“Lieselotte, what’s the commotion… Lord Joseph?”

Sergei, who was coming out fully dressed, also came over in surprise and helped support him.

Soon after, the doctor who rushed over quickly gave a diagnosis.

“A severe cold, it seems.”

Looking at Lord Joseph with an incredulous face, laughter burst out even though it wasn’t the situation for it.

I was. I had been worried it might be something like a side effect of chronomancy, something I couldn’t do anything about. I can’t express how relieved I am that it’s not.

“He put his coat on me last night and got soaked in the rain himself, that’s why.”

“Hahaha… cough. It’s not that bad of a condition. Cough, cough.”

“You look plenty unwell, so stop talking and take your medicine.”

It was quite pitiful that even when laughing, there was a weak breath mixed in. Still, it was fortunate that the cold medicine came with drowsiness.

After all, we had to be in the carriage all the way until we reached the next city.

After putting the drowsy Lord Joseph in the carriage, I assigned him a doctor and a nurse. Only then could I finish preparations to leave the city.

Ah, before that!

“Sergei, can I see you for a moment?”

I stopped Sergei, who was about to get into the carriage, and approached him.

After the day I received another proposal, Sergei and I started speaking casually to each other like before.

Certainly, because we used to have a friendly relationship, I found this much more comfortable.

I flung open the carriage door. I was thinking of talking inside Sergei’s carriage, as the conversation might be a bit long.

But…

“…It might be a bit messy.”

“Um…”

I had to immediately correct my thought.

The scene inside the carriage, which had become no different from a scholar’s workshop, was truly unfamiliar.

There was absolutely no room for me to enter. What do you mean ‘a bit messy’.

“This, it would be better to go to my carriage.”

“I, I was doing some research…”

Sergei followed me with an embarrassed face.

Only after he boarded my carriage could we finally leave the city. We were half a day later than planned, but it couldn’t be helped.

“So, Lieselotte. You said you had something to tell me?”

Clop clop, rattle rattle, splash splash. The carriage left the city at a slow pace.

It was because we had to drive carefully on the wet roads.

At this rate, we might have to camp in the wilderness tonight instead of the city we had planned.

“More importantly, how’s your eye?”

I first examined Sergei’s face.

Sergei gently folded the fresh green filling both his eyes and smiled kindly.

The hideously vivid burn scar on his left eye was no longer visible.

However, for some reason, the glasses covering his eyes remained the same.

“Lord Joseph said your eyesight should have recovered too.”

“Ah, so you were curious about the glasses.”

Saying that, Sergei took off the glasses covering his eyes and handed them to me.

Only after receiving them without thinking did I realize that the glasses had no lenses. Then why was he wearing them?

“When I wear glasses, my image definitely looks different.”

Ah.

Only then could I understand the reason. His appearance without glasses was certainly… enough to make my body stiffen involuntarily.

Come to think of it, Sergei is now twenty-nine years old.

Considering that Carlos Nikolai was thirty when I married him, it was natural to feel this way.

Seeing my reaction, a bitter smile formed on Sergei’s face.

“To be honest, I preferred when I had scars on my face and lost my left eye.”

“Sergei?”

The remnants of someone instantly disappeared from his face as he put on his glasses again. Like an actor changing roles by putting on a mask.

“I felt that I couldn’t approach you and my nieces and nephews with my brother’s face.”

“…”

I closed my mouth. Because it was an undeniable statement.

Sergei is not Carlos. It’s not that I don’t know that.

Only their faces are similar, and only their bloodline is the same. I know it in my head and in my heart.

But that doesn’t mean I can control the terrible memories of fear that come up every time I see his face.

If a very long time passes, maybe it would be possible…

But not now.

“I won’t take off my glasses.”

Sergei’s words continued.

“From now on, continuously, until you say it’s okay. Until the children you love and I love say it’s okay now.”

“…”

“I’ll keep wearing them…”

Ah, Sergei’s eyes were gradually getting wet. While my mouth opened in surprise, he gently gathered my hands.

“Please reconsider what you were about to say to me.”

“Sergei.”

“Please, Lieselotte.”

The sudden hot temperature that gripped my hand made it difficult to shake off the caught hands.

Sergei carefully pressed his forehead against them.

“It’s okay even if you don’t love me right now. I’ll just love you more, enough for your share too.”

Almost as if praying.

“I wish you would give me a chance to have such a one-sided love.”

As if I were his god.

“Then someday, as time passes…”

He mumbled softly.

Whether it takes 10 years or 20 years, it doesn’t matter.

“Finally love me.”

The last words were barely audible. But it was clear that drops of moisture from his eyes were falling onto my skirt with a plop.

‘You knew.’

That I was going to refuse.

That’s why he’s clinging so desperately, pleading like to a god.

His emotions were too great. Asking to be allowed to have even a one-sided love. Saying it doesn’t matter if I don’t love him.

This was my misjudgment. The feelings Sergei harbored were clearly much deeper than I had anticipated.

How much must he love me to be able to make such a confession, throwing away his pride?

‘And when, where, and from whom else could I ever receive such an earnest courtship?’

My chest felt heavy and my heart stung.

But you know what, Sergei?

I’m despicably calculating the losses I would incur if I rejected you, even in this situation.

I imagine a scenario where Sergei, fallen into the wounds of unrequited love, suddenly changes his attitude and attacks me.

Or I imagine a situation where he deliberately mistranslates some of the records of the magical era, putting me in a difficult position.

And only after judging that there’s no great loss to me in all these aspects…

“I’m sorry, Sergei.”

Can I speak coldly to you.