He looked at the handkerchief she was clutching desperately with a feeling of dread.

He wondered why she was holding it so tightly.

Leo grabbed Atia’s white wrist.

“!”

That moment.

The bloodstained handkerchief dropped onto the bed.

Atia tried to quickly hide it, but it was already too late.

Blood was smeared around her lips.

Leo looked at Atia, his face as stone, without blinking.

“Cough!”

As Atia lifted the handkerchief that had fallen onto the bed, she coughed again.

Leo, at a loss for words, stared blankly at Atia and spoke in a trembling voice.

“Why… Why didn’t you say anything when you’re in this condition?”

“My Lady!”

Finally, Kesha, who had been frozen like a statue, rushed over.

Kesha gasped, her eyes wide open.

“My Lady! What on earth is happening here?”

Atia wiped the bloodstains around her lips with her sleeve and said,

“I’m fine. I’m just a bit tired. Cough…”

Both Kesha and Leo looked at Atia with surprised faces.

Atia had anticipated that people would look at her this way if they found out she was coughing up blood.

Therefore, she struggled to answer, unable to stop the tiny coughs.

“I’ll be fine after some rest.”

“Don’t lie!”

Leo shouted with a tearful voice.

Atia flicked her eyes to reassure them.

“Really.”

Leo always had an angry face.

He still had an angry face now.

But it felt different from before.

He was clearly angry, but it didn’t feel like he was.

‘Why did I get caught at a time like this…’

Atia wondered how to explain.

Leo, who had been clenching his lips and frowning, finally lost control of his rising emotions.

“Why are you hiding it? Do you find our family so unreliable?”

“Ah, no, that…”

“Do you find us that unreliable?”

Leo’s angry face turned tearful.

“I… saw it all.”

“Huh?”

“Today isn’t the first time.”

Atia’s eyes widened.

“You… knew?”

Moisture filled Leo’s gray eyes.

“There’s nothing I don’t know. I understand you don’t trust our family.”

“No, that’s… Cough.”

Atia, even amidst all this, continued to suppress her cough by thumping her chest with her fist.

“My, My Lady!”

Kesha let tears drop to the floor, her face tearful.

Not knowing what to say, she hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“I didn’t say anything because I thought everyone would worry. Don’t think it’s because I find you unreliable.”

Leo glared at Atia with resentful eyes.

“Do you know what coughing up blood means?”

“…….”

“It means you’re going to die. Didn’t you know that?”

Tears finally flowed from Leo’s eyes.

Atia could hide it no longer.

The fact that she was terminal.

Since she had been caught, lying about not dying seemed even less favorable.

It would be even more shocking later if she really died.
Why she was scolded for not taking care of herself didn’t matter, but she didn’t want to give them too much of a shock.

“Yes.”

Atia chuckled.

“I won’t live much longer.”

“My lady! Hnnng…”

Kesha sank down to the ground, sobbing.

“But there’s something I have to do before that.”

Atia looked at the sitting Kesha and Leo, whose eyes seemed reddened in anger.

And she wore a meaningful smile.

“I was born into the Harad family, but the Harad family abandoned me. The people who took me in are from Wellington. So, I will do my best as a member of the Wellington family.”

Atia thought of the scene where Leo died on the battlefield.

The ultimate fate Leo met on the battlefield, following Haidegger, a fate that couldn’t be avoided.

Leo had always been impulsive, but everyone has their foolish times.

She didn’t want to let him lose his life due to a small mistake.

“You, young master, are still weak and young, so don’t even think about going to the battlefield. Promise not to say you want to go on an expedition with Father.”

Leo wondered how she knew what he was thinking.

Atia looked into his still young gray eyes and rolled her eyes.

“You can’t even win against me. What makes you think you can go to the battlefield?”

“…How did you know?”

Leo had been planning to ask Haidegger to take him to the battlefield.

But since Atia appeared, he realized that he was weaker than he had thought.

And he felt he needed more training to go to the battlefield.

Could it be? Could it be?

Did Atia pick a fight with him on purpose from the beginning to prevent him from going to a dangerous battlefield?

‘Could it be.’

Leo looked at Atia, his eyes trembling red.

“How did you know what I was going to ask my father…?”

“I don’t know? It just looked like you would say something like that.”

Atia lifted the corners of her mouth.

Fortunately, the coughing had stopped.

Otherwise, the cough would have continued for a few minutes.

Atia went down to the floor to lift Kesha, who was sitting.

“Kesha.”

“…”

“How about finding a man you like now that you’ve also made a fine body?”

“My lady…”

“But don’t slack off on exercising.”

“My lady, hnng!”

Kesha, grabbing Atia’s arm trying to lift her, instead buried herself in her embrace.

Really, was she not talking as if she was going to die?

Kesha didn’t want to admit it.

The lady in front of her was going to leave her soon.

“My lady, you’re not really dying, right? It’s a curable disease, isn’t it?”

Kesha pressed Atia for an answer.

But Atia couldn’t respond.

Because Casus was standing at the door.