As visiting hours came to an end, Lily grew anxious. It was because she had to leave her mother alone. She was even more worried since the caregiver in charge of her mother was Fredrick’s person.

What if they send Mom somewhere else without me knowing? As Lily was nervously biting her nails due to the rising anxiety, Herald grasped her hand.

“You’ll damage your nails.”

“……”

Only then noticing her tattered nails, Lily sheepishly pulled her hand back.

“Are you worried about Lady Benjamin?”

How does this man understand my heart so well? Lily nodded with a bitter smile.

“My husband always said it like a catchphrase. That if I don’t listen to him, he’ll send my mother somewhere else.”

“If that’s the case, you don’t need to worry. Fredrick Benjamin will never be able to discharge Grace Benjamin from this hospital.”

Not understanding what he meant, Lily blinked her eyes wide and stared at him. Herald winked mischievously.

“Do you know which family makes the largest donations to this nursing hospital?”

She didn’t know, but hearing his words, she thought she might know.

“The Maximilian ducal family.”

“Correct.”

Herald said she deserved a prize for the right answer and placed a candy in Lily’s hand.

“Do you always carry candy around?”

“Of course not. It’s left over from an earlier errand.”

What errand required carrying candy? Lily looked at the candy in her palm, puzzled.

“I’ll ask the hospital director to make sure Grace Benjamin is never discharged.”

Herald took the candy back, unwrapped it, and directly placed it in Lily’s mouth.

“So don’t worry.”

Having abruptly eaten the candy, Lily nodded while listening to his voice that was sweeter than the grape flavor spreading in her mouth.

As soon as Lily nodded, Herald left the hospital room saying he would go see the director. Left alone with her mother who was still sleeping soundly, Lily let out a small sigh.

“I received help again.”

This time, she had tried to resolve it on her own without his help, but she couldn’t. The fact that she failed weighed heavily on her conscience. But she did not regret it. Thanks to Herald’s help, not only could she protect her mother, but she also gained the strength to fight against Fredrick.

‘I can’t miss this opportunity.’

With this chance, she had to make sure Fredrick could never use her mother as leverage again. As Lily was contemplating how to do that, she heard a knock and turned her head.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

She thought Herald had returned, but it was Margaret. Seeing her face naturally made Lily think of Fredrick, and her heart sank. Lily was about to snap at her asking why she came, but remembered that she was her mother’s assigned caregiver and suppressed her anger.

“…What is it?”

Anger she couldn’t swallow was evident in her voice. Margaret must have read it too, as she flinched for a moment. But she smiled innocently as if she knew nothing and spoke.

“The doctor told me to come check on Grace Benjamin’s condition. But I see the lady is still asleep. Has she not woken up even once?”

Lily silently nodded. Margaret wrote something in her notebook, approached the bedside, and meticulously examined Grace Benjamin’s condition.

“Her pulse is normal and breathing is regular, so you don’t need to worry, Countess. If anything happens to the lady, I will contact you right away.”

“…Me?”

“Pardon?”

“You’ll contact my husband, Fredrick Benjamin, not me, right?”

When Lily explicitly mentioned Fredrick Benjamin, Margaret was visibly flustered. Her awkwardly raised lips quivered.

“Of course I’ll contact Count Benjamin as well. Since he’s also family…”

“No, you’ve been ordered by my husband. To watch over my mother.”

Lily laughed as if in disbelief.

“My husband admitted to it, but you keep denying it to the end.”

“…!”

Judging by her startled reaction, it seemed Margaret had heard nothing from Fredrick. No wonder she feigned ignorance. She probably remained loyal to Fredrick because she didn’t know anything.

Then she should let her know. For her own sake, not Margaret’s. It was also using the power Herald had given her.

“Mrs. Megan died.”

Lily deliberately did not say who killed Mrs. Megan and for what reason. It would stimulate the imagination more that way. As expected, Margaret’s face turned pale.

“Why did that woman…”

“You should ask my husband about that, not me.”

Even though Fredrick was not the culprit who killed Megan, it was true that he was involved, so Lily had no qualms about shifting the blame to him.

Perhaps taking those words to mean Fredrick was the culprit, all color completely drained from Margaret’s face. Her lips, having lost their original color, trembled.

“If you want to live, you’d better watch your behavior. Otherwise, you’ll end up like Mrs. Megan.”

“……”

Even as Lily kept pressing, Margaret only trembled without ever opening her mouth. She thought Margaret would beg for her life, saying she was just following orders, but the woman was more tenacious than expected. That must be why Fredrick chose her.

Ding, ding. The faint sound of a bell could be heard from far away. It signaled that visiting hours were over.

That’s when Herald, who had gone to meet with the nursing home’s director, returned. Seeing Margaret trembling with a pale face as if she hadn’t been able to get a sip of soup, Herald asked in puzzlement.

“Did something happen?”

“It’s nothing.”

Lily calmly replied as if truly nothing had happened and picked up her bag. After checking on her mother who was still sleeping soundly despite the noisy commotion, she went out. Herald closely followed her and asked.

“Should I take care of that woman too?”

Taking care of people. The sentence itself was chilling when taken out of context, but adding Herald’s voice made it reassuring. Lily shook her head with a faint smile.

“It’s alright. If we get rid of Mrs. Margaret, he’ll definitely assign someone else, so it’s probably best to just leave her be.”

Because if they knew who Fredrick’s pawn was, they could continue to be on guard. And considering how well Megan had treated her mother so far, it seemed Margaret would only monitor and not try anything strange. It might feel a bit icky to leave her, but it should be fine.

“More importantly, did the director agree to the request?”

“Yes. He readily agreed.”

“That’s good.”

With this, the biggest concern was resolved. Lily briefly stopped, thinking she should express her gratitude, and politely clasped her hands together. But Herald, immediately understanding what she was trying to do, said:

“I helped because I wanted to, so there’s no need for words of gratitude.”

“But…”

“It’s really alright.”

Herald spoke firmly and took one of Lily’s politely clasped hands. As he gently stroked the back of her hand with his thumb and smiled warmly, a smile naturally spread on Lily’s lips as well.

The smile on her lips faded when they arrived at the carriage waiting area behind the hospital building.

“It’s not here…?”

No matter how much she looked around, the Benjamin family’s carriage she had arrived in was nowhere to be seen. Did Fredrick send it back again? With the precedent, the hypothesis quickly solidified into conviction. How petty could he be? Lily sighed deeply and rubbed her furrowed brow.

The disappearance of the family carriage was disconcerting, but not difficult. There were plenty of ways to return. She could borrow a carriage from the hospital, or shamelessly ask Herald for help.

A man as cunning as Fredrick couldn’t have been unaware of that fact. Yet he had sent back the family carriage as a kind of warning. A warning to make her regret choosing Herald over him.

Lily was sure Fredrick would be waiting for her with eyes blazing blue, just like the day she had a big fight with Samantha.

And as always, he would threaten her with her mother’s residence. Lily was afraid of how Fredrick would react once he learned that threat no longer worked.

The most likely scenario was that he would use the child as leverage like that time…

“……”

Remembering that terrible night when Fredrick had tried to forcibly kiss her, Lily bit hard on the soft flesh inside her mouth. The bad memory, once recalled, was hard to erase no matter how much she tried to forget. Rather, it amplified and turned into delusion. Imagining herself being abused by him, Lily’s body shook like an aspen tree.

‘It’s okay.’

Lily hugged her arms and tried to hypnotize herself.

‘It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s… not okay.’

How could it be okay to suffer such a thing? As the self-hypnosis became meaningless, a thin coat was draped over her shoulders. As the familiar scent enveloped her body, her anxious heart found calm as if by magic. Lily raised her slightly damp eyes to look at the coat’s owner.

“You said you wanted to thank me earlier.”

Not understanding why he was bringing up a finished topic, Lily silently kept looking at him.

“I’d like to receive compensation instead of gratitude.”

“…Compensation?”

“Yes. As compensation, I want your time.”

Herald, who had pulled up the coat that had limply slipped down due to being too large for her small frame, grasped her shoulders with his big hands.

“From now until tomorrow morning, just give me your time.”

He did not say that he would gladly accept more if she wanted to give it.