Lily burrowed into the blankets as a chill ran through her body, as if she had been thrown out onto the streets naked in the middle of a snowy winter. However, her body didn’t get any warmer at all. On the contrary, she felt even colder to the point where her teeth were chattering, and her small frame shook like a leaf.

It hurts. It hurts so much…….

The thought that failed to become a sound lingered in her mouth before disappearing. Instead, the tears that flowed down soaked the pillowcase. The blanket was also drenched with her cold sweat.

“She needs to regain consciousness to take the medicine…….”

“……waking her up…….”

“It might have the opposite effect…….”

It seemed like people were talking beside her, but to Lily, it only sounded like buzzing, as if mosquitoes were hovering near her ears, so she couldn’t properly understand them. The splitting headache was also a factor. Not to mention the pain throughout her body.

In the midst of it all, Lily’s throat was so dry that she moved her severely chapped lips in the high fever.

Water. Give me water…….

But once again, her desperate wish couldn’t reach the people as she failed to voice it. Even if she tried to drink it herself, it was impossible as she didn’t have the strength to move a single finger. All she could do now was move her lips. Even that was getting increasingly difficult, but Lily kept silently crying out for water as her throat was extremely parched.

Did the heavens hear her efforts? Something cold and soft touched her dry lips, and soon, cool water flowed in. Lily drank the water hastily, like a traveler who had been walking aimlessly in the desert for days and finally found an oasis.

She was too hasty, so the water she couldn’t swallow in time flowed down her chin. However, Lily didn’t feel even a bit embarrassed or ashamed about spilling water like a child. Rather, she clung to the other person, regretting not being able to drink more.

The other person, who understood Lily’s heart, continued to pour water until she was satisfied. Thanks to drinking plenty of water, Lily regained some strength and slowly lifted her heavy eyelids that felt like they had stones placed on them.

Her vision was blurry as if covered in fog, making it difficult to properly distinguish objects, but strangely, she could clearly see the face of the person in front of her.

“……Father?”

Lily faltered as her voice, which had become extremely hoarse from suffering from severe thirst for a long time, sounded unpleasant even to herself, but soon opened her mouth again.

“I…… wanted to see you, Father. I really…… missed you.”

Because she didn’t know when Father would appear in her dreams again. Lily was convinced that this moment was a dream. Otherwise, there was no way her father, who had died 2 years ago, could be standing in front of her unharmed.

It had been a while since she last dreamed of her late father. In the beginning, he showed his face, but at some point, he stopped appearing altogether.

“If you didn’t appear because you thought I resented you for leaving us…… it’s a misunderstanding.”

Lily poured out her long-held true feelings in a voice that was still terribly cracked.

“I wasn’t resentful…… I was just throwing a tantrum. Like that time when you didn’t let me eat chocolate and candy at night, saying it would rot my teeth…… I was just throwing a tantrum, but what if you took it seriously.”

Lily incoherently blurted out that it was all a misunderstanding, so she hoped he would often appear in her dreams, and that she really missed him. However, her father didn’t say a single word, let alone move. He just stood there like a statue, only looking down at her.

“While you were gone, I lived diligently. Because I didn’t want to lose Mother too. Because I didn’t want to be alone, I really did my best…… How did it come to this?”

Lily recalled the moment when she lost her father and family in an instant, and was left alone with her mother, whose body and mind were not whole. She begged acquaintances, including Count Stacy, for help on her knees.

However, she was heartlessly rejected and eventually entered into a contract marriage. The man she thought was a gentleman turned out to be a piece of trash. Tears welled up in her large eyes as she remembered the things that had happened.

“Just what did I do wrong…… Sob!”

In the end, her emotions surged up, and hot, thick tears flowed down incessantly. Lily didn’t want to cry so ugly in front of her father, whom she was seeing after a long time, so she tried her best to hold back her tears, but to no avail. The tears completely escaped her control.

Left with no choice, she covered her wet face with both hands and waited for the tears to stop, when a large, firm hand grasped her trembling shoulders.

Lily lowered her hands slightly and looked at her father with eyes still brimming with tears. Perhaps because she had cried too much, she couldn’t even see her father’s face properly now.

“If it’s that hard, you can just lean on him.”

The low, rough voice sounded familiar yet unfamiliar. It definitely wasn’t her father’s voice, but Lily, who was struggling with a high fever and terrible memories, failed to realize it.

“If you just say a word asking for help, he’ll help you right away. No, if you just stay still without pushing him away, he’ll take the initiative to help you…… Why are you pushing him away?”

Lily, who immediately realized that the person her father was talking about was Herald, smiled bitterly and replied.

“That’s because…… I can’t block someone else’s future just to live.”

Even if it were a stranger or someone she wasn’t close to, she wouldn’t be able to do it readily, but he was someone she loved. Lily didn’t want to push the person she loved off a cliff with her own hands.

“So I have to let him go. Because marrying the princess is better for him than being tied to a woman like me…….”

Perhaps because she had cried too much and lost all her energy, or because she was about to wake up from the dream, her consciousness gradually faded. Her father’s figure became even more faint, and only his silhouette was barely visible.

“But…… I don’t want to let him go.”

Was that why? Lily unknowingly revealed her true feelings that she had hidden deep in her heart.

“I like that person. I love him so much…… I keep getting greedy.”

As her consciousness faded, her pronunciation became slurred and her speaking speed slowed down, but her emotions were pressed into each and every word.

“I want to tell him not to go to another woman…… That I’ll divorce Fredrick Benjamin soon, and…… The desire to do so keeps rising…… It’s driving me crazy. It’s more painful and difficult than being next to Fredrick…….”

“…….”

“But I still want to be by his side. I want to tell him that I’ll divorce Fredrick and come back, so please wait a little longer. Please don’t go to another woman…….”

Unable to finish what she wanted to say as the string of consciousness she had barely been holding onto completely snapped, Lily lost consciousness just like that.

“…….”

Emily paced restlessly in front of Lily’s bedroom. She wanted to go inside, but she couldn’t because Herald was there.

Herald had arrived about an hour ago. As if he had rushed over as soon as he heard the news, he was in his indoor attire without even wearing an outer coat.

“How is her condition?”

Herald didn’t even look at Emily and Harry, who were bowing, and immediately asked the doctor. He glared at the doctor with sharp eyes, as if it were the doctor’s fault that Lily’s condition was bad, and the frightened doctor only trembled without being able to say anything.

“They say it’s a stress-induced cold.”

Dillon answered on behalf of the doctor. Even after taking medicine, the fever wasn’t going down easily, so it seemed to be the flu. They had to observe a little longer, and if the fever still didn’t go down, they would have to give her medicine again. After hearing the report, Herald spoke decisively.

“Everyone, leave.”

The people who left the bedroom as if they were being chased away scattered to do their own things, but Emily continued to guard the front of the bedroom. Her job was to attend to Lily, after all.

She was waiting to go in immediately when Herald called or when he came out, but there was no news even after an hour passed.

Is it really because nothing is happening that he’s not calling? Then why isn’t the baron coming out? Should I knock first and go in to check?

While questions kept piling up one after another, the bedroom door swung open.

“…….”

Emily froze on the spot as she faced the expression that had turned coldly stiff, as if a lion had come to seize the dead.

“Since when has her condition been bad?”

“Pardon? Ah, she hasn’t been well since this morning.”

Emily reported diligently, even while trembling.

“I thought it was because of that day, but I never imagined it would be a cold. I apologize for not taking proper care of the madam, Baron.”

As Emily bowed and apologized, Herald waved his hand.

“It’s fine. It’s not your fault, so there’s no need to apologize.”

It’s not like Emily deliberately made Lily sick. And given Lily’s personality, she would have hidden her illness because she didn’t want to show it, so it was natural for the child not to know.

“More importantly, she sweated so much that her clothes and blanket are all wet.”

“Ah, I’ll prepare them right away!”

After Emily hurriedly disappeared, Herald looked at the bedroom where Lily was.

A cold due to stress.

He thought it made sense since a series of unpleasant events had occurred, and that it was all the fault of the Second Prince and Fredrick Benjamin that she was sick, but…….

“I was the culprit.”

The real culprit who made her suffer and fall ill was himself. Flabbergasted by that fact, Herald kept letting out hollow laughs and rubbing his face. The image of her crying miserably in front of him kept coming to mind, making his heart ache.

But what should I do, Lily? I still have no intention of letting you go.

Just this morning, he thought that he should start wrapping things up, that he should gradually distance himself since the relationship would end once he returned to Cardin anyway, but after hearing her tearful sincerity, his mind changed.

She likes me so much that she agonizes and hurts over it, so how can I let her go?

“Someone else will bring the blanket, so I’ll change the madam’s clothes first.”

A chilling smile hung on Herald’s lips as he looked at Emily, who had returned with clothes.

“Alright. Please take good care of her.”

Herald’s expression as he left Lily in Emily’s care and departed was light and refreshing, unlike when he arrived here.