After Herald left, Lily stared blankly at the closed door for a while before coming to her senses. Then she hurriedly followed after him.

However, Herald had already disappeared beyond the dark corridor. If she knew where the kitchen was, she would have gone there, but not knowing, she gave up and returned to the bedroom. It was also impolite to rummage through someone else’s mansion as a guest.

She had refused, not wanting to bother the servants who would be resting, but she never dreamed that Herald would step up to do it himself.

Lily turned her head with a small sigh. Then she saw her own reflection in the full-length mirror. Her hair was a mess as if she had been in a fight, pulling at each other’s hair, and her nightgown was thin enough to reveal her skin underneath. There was sleep in her eyes, and her feverish cheeks felt somewhat dirty.

Oh my god, she had talked to that man looking like this.

It was natural for her to look a mess after waking up from a severe illness that caused her to lose consciousness, but it was still embarrassing. The excessively thin nightgown made her blush.

Lily found something to do before Herald returned and moved diligently. First, she went into the bathroom and washed her face, then tidied her hair. Her sweaty body felt sticky, so she wanted to take a bath, but unfortunately, she didn’t know when Herald would return, so there was no time for that. And she couldn’t ask a maid to draw her a bath right now, so she had to settle for just washing her face.

She also tried to comb her tangled hair, but it was too knotted to brush. Lily had no choice but to tie her hair tightly and change into a new nightgown from the wardrobe.

“This should do.”

She thought it would be fine since she had done everything she could for now, but the moment she looked in the mirror again, she changed her mind. Lily frowned and rubbed her cheek, where the marks of the fever rash were vivid. It bothered her more because there was nothing she could do about it right away, and it was where Herald would see the most.

Maybe makeup would cover it up. Lily walked over to the dressing table as if possessed by something. As she opened the drawer and looked at the neatly arranged cosmetics, there was a short knock, and Herald entered, opening the door.

“Why are you standing when you’re not feeling well?”

“…This much is fine.”

Lily was startled but answered casually as if nothing was wrong and closed the dressing table drawer. Then she checked the tray Herald placed on the coffee table. The concave bowl contained an appetizing meat soup. Seeing that, Lily’s eyes went wide.

“Did you make this yourself?”

“Would you believe me if I said I made it?”

The returned question was a bit strange, but unfortunately, Lily didn’t notice that fact at all.

“You’re good at cooking too! That’s amazing!”

At the pure admiration that didn’t contain a hint of doubt, Herald let out a small laugh.

“I don’t know if I’m good at cooking, but I do know how to cook to some extent. We learn cooking during knight training.”

“I thought knights just needed to be good with swords, but they have to be good at cooking too?”

“You don’t need to be good at it. You just need to know enough not to starve. Knights learn to cook purely for survival.”

“Survival?”

Nodding his head, Herald took Lily’s hand and led her towards the sofa, continuing to speak.

“Yes. When we go out on expeditions like bandit suppression or wars, we often have to camp out, so we learn to cook to avoid starving then.”

Lily sat on the sofa as Herald led her, and she unconsciously looked up at him sitting next to her, only to be startled by her own reflection in his golden eyes and turned her head away.

“You should eat it before it gets cold.”

“Ah, yes. Thank y-”

Lily blinked her eyes wide when she couldn’t see the spoon and soup bowl that had been on the tray. When she realized that Herald was holding them, she tilted her head quizzically.

Facing the green eyes filled with puzzlement, a deep smile spread across Herald’s lips. He held out the spoon with the soup.

“Eat.”

Only then realizing the situation, Lily was startled and slightly leaned her upper body back.

“I-I’ll eat it myself.”

“Hurry and eat.”

“So give it to me. I’ll eat it on my own.”

Even though Lily repeatedly requested, Herald only smiled and never handed over the spoon to the end.

She couldn’t snatch it away by force because she might spill the soup, but she was too embarrassed to just accept it, so Lily hesitated.

“My arm is getting a bit sore from holding it.”

Herald frowned as if his arm really hurt and rubbed the arm holding the spoon with his other hand. Unable to resist any longer after seeing that, Lily had no choice but to open her mouth.

The soup that had cooled to a suitable temperature was so delicious that she couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, but there was no time to be impressed. Lily quickly grabbed Herald’s hand so he couldn’t take the spoon away.

“I can eat by myself, so give it to me now.”

Herald scrutinized Lily’s face, then answered.

“You still look like a patient to my eyes though.”

“…”

Remembering the vivid fever rash marks that flushed her cheeks red, Lily covered her cheeks with both hands and lowered her head slightly.

“I-I’m not sick enough for that.”

“That means you’re still sick.”

Herald laughed and scooped up the soup with the freed spoon.

“When you’re completely well, I’ll hand over the spoon then.”

“But…”

“You said you were sorry to me, right?”

Lily just rolled her eyes to look at Herald at the sudden question.

“If you’re sorry, just eat. I won’t ask for anything else if you finish this.”

“…”

Unable to refuse to the end when he said that much, Lily reluctantly nodded. Then the eyes that held the splendid sun turned into a crescent shape in a pleasant way.

“Good girl.”

“…”

Who would have thought she’d be praised for this? Lily felt a strange feeling like she had become a child and curled her fingers. Even stranger was that being treated like a child didn’t feel bad at all.

Lily thought he would stop halfway through, but Herald insisted on spoon-feeding her the soup to the end. Seeing the satisfied smile spreading across his face as he put down the spoon, Lily thought she did well to do as he wanted and opened the medicine bottle.

“Ugh.”

As soon as she opened the lid, the terrible smell that wafted over made Lily frown and cover her nose. It was the worst smell she had ever smelled.

“Do I really have to take this?”

When Lily asked with distaste, Herald smiled and held out a box of chocolates.

“It will be a bit easier if you eat the chocolate first.”

“…”

He’s telling me to eat it anyway. Lily swallowed a sigh inwardly and ate the chocolate. Before the sweet taste that filled her mouth disappeared, she pinched her nose and swallowed the medicine.

“Ugh.”

Thanks to the chocolate, it became much easier to eat, but that was it. It couldn’t completely offset the terrible smell and taste, so Lily dry heaved. Putting another chocolate in her mouth, Herald said.

“The medicine must be extremely bitter.”

“Extremely. It’s the worst I’ve ever had.”

“I don’t think it was that bad.”

At the tone that sounded like he knew the taste, Lily asked in puzzlement.

“Have you had this medicine before?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

He said he had this medicine before, so does that mean Herald had also been severely ill with a fever at some point? It was a bit surprising because he didn’t seem like he had ever been sickly just by looking at him.

But as if he had no intention of answering, Herald shrugged his shoulders and cleaned up what they had eaten.

“I’ll do it.”

When Lily rolled up her sleeves and tried to step up, Herald shook his head.

“I’ll do it.”

“The person who made the food isn’t supposed to clean up. So I’ll do it.”

Not wanting to leave even this chore to him, Lily spoke firmly with a bit of explanation. Then Herald looked at her with a strange gaze.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Do you really think I made this soup?”

So he didn’t? Lily looked at him in confusion, and Herald let out a small laugh.

“I’m not the one who made this soup.”

Not… you?

“The chef made the soup ahead of time, and I just warmed it up and brought it over.”

“…”

Lily stared blankly at Herald. She had assumed he made it, but he didn’t. That was perplexing, but what made her even more flustered was his blatant lie.

“You’re good at lying.”

“Lying?”

Herald tilted his head and asked as if hearing the story for the first time.

“Have I ever lied to you?”

“Just now…!”

Come to think of it, Herald had never said he made the soup himself. Even when Lily asked him that, he only asked back if she would believe him if he said so, but he never actually answered yes.

She had just judged on her own based on his nuance. Belatedly recalling that fact, Lily closed her mouth. She admitted that she had misunderstood on her own, but it was still unfair. If he had told her from the beginning that it wasn’t him and that the chef made it, she wouldn’t have had this misunderstanding.

But it was silly to ask why he didn’t say so from the start, so Lily kept her mouth shut. At her expression that was obviously full of dissatisfaction, Herald said with a faint smile.

“Next time, I’ll bring soup that I made myself.”

Lily narrowed her eyes and looked at him, taking his words to mean that she was dissatisfied because she couldn’t eat the soup he made.

“…!”

But that was only for a moment. When Herald’s hand touched her cheek, her eyes widened again. Herald stroked her cheek, which was full of fever rash marks, and muttered.

“It shouldn’t leave a scar…”

He looked extremely regretful as if it were his own face. Lily, even more embarrassed by her unsightly face, covered her cheeks and hung her head low.