As soon as Swan could barely utter a sound, he collapsed onto Mayana’s back, and she, lifting him, abruptly stood up.
Swan looked down with a surprised expression. Ariante, clenching her fists, almost ran, following the briskly walking Mayana. Although her gaze remained fixed on Swan, it wasn’t an angry expression.
“Oh, Ariante. You see…”
Swan, about to say something, suddenly closed his mouth with a fearful expression.
[“I am the only one in this mansion who recognizes your true worth…”]Jocelyn’s whisper felt like a noose tightening around his neck. Her figure, which had stretched out like a long shadow, also extended. Was her face gray or black at that moment?
Swan’s head, shaken while being carried on Mayana’s back, snapped. At the same time, Ariante shouted in distress.
“Mayana! What’s happening! Swan won’t open his eyes!”
The Duke’s physician immediately diagnosed Swan’s condition, but he merely shook his head without saying much.
Mayana, Bridget, Ariante, Cediloy, and even Ventina and Ivy were by Swan’s unconscious bedside. They looked anxious, shifting their gazes with worried expressions while the doctor gently touched Swan’s pale face, flipped his eyes open, and examined his mouth.
The doctor said, “Milord, the young master has merely fainted.”
Cediloy frowned. “What are you saying now? If a healthy child suddenly faints, there must be some reason, don’t you think?”
“I agree. However, I simply cannot find any reason. The young master is not in poor nutritional condition, and there is no fever. No signs of other diseases either. I am concerned that fatigue might have accumulated, or perhaps exposure to bad air.”
Everyone’s faces, except for Mayana, grew serious at his words. Only Mayana showed no reaction to the phrase ‘bad air.’ As far as she knew, when people encountered an unknown illness here, sometimes they would attribute the cause to ‘bad air’ or eating something forbidden… It wasn’t due to quackery or the doctors’ incompetence.
It was merely the best prescription and treatment available.
“For now, let him rest quietly. When he wakes up, make him drink warm tea with lemon and honey. Adding a little milk would be even better.”
“Doesn’t he need medicine?”
At Cediloy’s question, the doctor shook his head.
“Milord, as I mentioned, the young master is not suffering from an illness. So, rather than hastily prescribing medicine, it would be better to let him rest.”
“…Understood.”
After the doctor left, Cediloy, leaving only Mayana behind, ushered everyone else out. He told Bridget to prepare tea for Swan when he woke up.
“Did Swan really just collapse out of the blue?”
Mayana nodded.
“But he was fine until I carried him. I only learned about it when my lady spoke while carrying the young master into the mansion.”
At that moment, as if waiting, Ariante intervened.
“Swan suddenly closed his eyes, Father. And then he collapsed like this, ‘puhk,’ and fell.”
Ariante closed her eyes, tilting her head to the side three times. Cediloy, with a worried smile, pulled Ariante into his arms and looked down at Swan.
Ariante, gazing at Swan lying on the bed, spoke again.
“And he was lying in the garden.”
“Lying in the garden?”
Cediloy looked at Mayana. Mayana met Ariante’s gaze briefly and let out a short sigh.
“Lady, you’re right. At first, I thought he might have tripped, but it didn’t seem like that. Even when you called his name, he couldn’t respond quickly…”
“Did something startle him? Maybe a deer popped out of the forest or something?”
“Well, it’s possible, but… would he be so startled by seeing a deer?”
Mayana glanced at Swan, her forehead wrinkled. The boy seemed peacefully asleep, but the thought that he might be tormented by nightmares made her uneasy.
Cediloy let out a deep sigh. Then, he kissed Ariante’s forehead and spoke.
“Ariante, go to the kitchen and see what Bridget is brewing. Have a cup yourself as well.”
“Yes, Father.”
As she left the room, Ariante cleverly closed the door. It seemed like she understood that Cediloy deliberately sent her out.
Cediloy, resting his forehead for a moment, raised his upper body.
‘It’s just fatigue,’ the doctor’s words were hard to believe, but what choice did he have if he didn’t believe them? Two contradictory conclusions were squeezing him. However, Cediloy’s expression remained composed.
“I’m scared to think this might be the result of my wrong choices.”
When he said that after a moment of silence, Mayana unknowingly hugged Cediloy’s shoulders briefly. However, the sunlight was too bright, and with Swan still there, she quickly pulled away.
“Milord will be fine.”
“When I said I would take Swan to the Duke’s mansion, everyone opposed it. Not only Her Majesty but also… Harmon too… Harmon is the second prince. We’re of similar age, so we’ve been friends since we were young. Although he rarely comments on other people’s affairs, this time he opposed it, saying we should reconsider. Cloph too.”
At the end of his words, Cediloy, with a blurry expression, chuckled.
An Indifferent Woman is the One Men Desire the Most
One-line summary: The female lead is actually cold-hearted and extremely rational. She has stage-by-stage relationships and won’t two-time, but there will always be someone who secretly likes her.
This novel has the following triggers, so if you’re sensitive to these, please don’t read:
1. The female lead has had many relationships, but she treated each one seriously and broke up properly.
It’s just that the men unilaterally pestered her incessantly. For the female lead, when she doesn’t like someone anymore, she simply doesn’t like them.
(This applies to her relationships with Male Lead 1, 2, 3, and 4 as well, but she’s loyal in each 1-on-1 relationship!)
2. In this novel, Male Lead 2 and the female lead kiss in a car, and Male Lead 1 sees it and beats up Male Lead 2.
The female lead calls the police and sends both Male Lead 1 and 2 to the police station! Male Lead 1 begs the female lead not to break up with him.
3. Male Lead 1 has a gentle appearance but an obsessive personality.
Male Lead 2 has a delicate and soft appearance, slightly green tea-like (two-faced).
Male Lead 3 is a youthful college student and a smart person who has secretly liked the female lead for a long time.
Male Lead 4 is the female lead’s father’s special assistant, a business elite with deep, hidden thoughts.
4. At the beginning of this novel, the female lead has already broken up with Male Lead 1 (Chapter 4) and gotten back together with Male Lead 2 (ex-boyfriend).
5. Enter with caution if you have triggers!!!
