How many people experience visiting their own grave? Still, since I had seen people mourning me, visiting my grave didn’t seem that strange.

But Ian stopped me with an awkward smile when I said I wanted to go see my grave.

“There’s no need to go there. Jane is alive like this now…”

Seeing his uncomfortable reaction, it seems the condition of the corpse must have been quite terrible. But I wasn’t even asking to see the body, is it that difficult to say where the grave is located?

Is it in a public cemetery where those without relatives are buried? Or did Ian recover the body and bury it somewhere else?

Either way, Ian seemed to not want any conversation related to this at all. Just then, the gravedigger came out of the house, interrupting our conversation.

“Here you are. I feel I haven’t properly hosted such important guests… Would you like to come inside for some tea?”

“No, thank you. The scenery out here is nice, so we were just looking around. Has she not woken up yet?”

At my words, the gravedigger nodded and said, looking around the cemetery:

“Once my child wakes up, I’ll pull out all those vicious flowers and burn them. So they can never take root here again…”

There was anger in his voice. It felt like anger directed at himself rather than the flowers.

“It would have been fine originally. Since your daughter was born and raised here, she would have had some immunity to the pollen itself. But it seems drinking it as tea had a big impact. Moreover, being exposed to the pollen continuously in a small room full of flowers while unable to wake up…”

At my words, his expression seemed to fill with more guilt. I hastily said words to soothe his mind.

“She just needs to wake up now. As long as she doesn’t drink it boiled in hot water again, she won’t fall into a deep sleep. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again just from viewing flowers outside or bringing a couple as decoration inside. They’re quite pretty flowers for ornamental use, aren’t they?”

“I don’t care if such a thing never happens again! Just seeing those damned flowers… It reminds me of these painful times when I thought my daughter might be buried somewhere before me, not by my side.”

Hearing those words, I could somewhat understand why Ian had been flustered when I asked about where my corpse was buried.

I hadn’t thought much of it, but every time I talked about my death, Ian must be in pain recalling those moments when he lost me. I felt sorry for possibly triggering his trauma with a thoughtlessly asked question.

I’ll have to be more careful from now on.

“If we neutralize the lingering effects in her body, she’ll wake up soon. So don’t worry too much and just wait a little longer.”

At my words, the gravedigger bit his lip and nodded. I couldn’t even imagine how he must be feeling, answering with that gesture.

5 minutes passed, then 10 minutes… A short time perhaps, but for me and the gravedigger, it felt like eons. While we watched the gravedigger’s daughter, Ian sat next to me with a largely disinterested expression.

“Cough!”

“!”

“!”

She opened her eyes, coughing up black liquid. Even though I knew she would wake up according to my diagnosis, I still stared at her with surprised eyes.

“Ah… What the… Cough.”

She sat up, grumbling in a very hoarse voice. Then she wiped the saliva around her mouth with her hand.

“What… Oh? Who are you…?”

As she was irritably rubbing her mouth, she asked with a changed expression when her eyes met Ian’s. Her voice, which had been full of annoyance, instantly became soft and gentle.

Although it was mixed with a rough metallic sound, probably because she hadn’t spoken for a long time and her mouth and throat were dry, the affection for Ian melted into her tone couldn’t be erased.

I fully understood her feelings. Ian’s attractive appearance was enough of a weapon to draw liking from anyone.

Imagining that with this face, even world peace might not be impossible, I elbowed Ian in the side.

Ian himself looked annoyed. Well, he must be used to this attitude. The one who had the biggest reaction was actually the gravedigger. He was crying streams of tears like a devout priest witnessing a divine miracle.

“Seina!”

Only when he called her name did she notice her father holding her hand tightly and crying.

“Dad? Why are you crying? Did our family go bankrupt?”

The gravedigger couldn’t even explain properly and just burst into sobs. Flustered, she started saying anything to comfort her father.

“Don’t worry, I’ll support you, Dad. I have money I’ve saved up secretly from my part-time job. It’s quite a lot since I thought of it as marriage funds! If the debt isn’t too serious, we can start over. So don’t cry. It doesn’t suit you to cry with your big build, Dad!”

Though she tried to comfort the gravedigger, she couldn’t easily stop his crying. Then she suddenly glared at us and said:

“Are you two debt collectors? Did you come to demand money from my dad? I’ll pay instead! I have a lot of money! So stop bothering my dad!”

It was bewildering to be suddenly treated as debt collectors when we had only tried to help her.

But it was natural for her to make strange misunderstandings, waking up to find her dad crying and strangers in her bedroom.

She, who until just before had been making a honey-dripping expression towards Ian, was now regarding us with full suspicion like intruders.

“And I know some nobles too! I may not look it, but I’m close with the Chamberlain viscounty! Lady Chamberlain adores me so much! So don’t try to backstab us or you’ll regret it. Only take legal interest rates. If you try to take more than that, I won’t stand still either.”

Seina also made threats by naming the nobles she knew.

We were all too flustered to react, and the gravedigger, who could have cleared up her misunderstanding, was in no state to explain as he was crying. She said to the gravedigger who was sobbing:

“By the way, Dad, you didn’t do something like gambling, right? I won’t pay gambling debts. Once you get a taste for gambling, you’ll really be ruined!”

I hurriedly explained to her before the misunderstanding grew bigger.

“It’s not like that. I’m Claire, a doctor… You hadn’t woken up for a long time, so your father was very worried. Fortunately, I knew the treatment method, so I was asked to examine you.”

In fact, it was more like I barged into the house and insisted on seeing the patient rather than being asked, but she probably wouldn’t nitpick such details. She asked with wide eyes:

“You say I hadn’t woken up for a long time? I mean, I do feel like I slept a lot, but… How long was I out that you had to call a doctor for treatment?”

“I heard from this gentleman that you hadn’t come to your senses for a week… Today is the 9th day.”

“9 days…!”

She seemed quite shocked.

After being dazed for a moment, she checked her condition. Looking at her hoarse throat and arms that wouldn’t move well, she nodded to herself as if somewhat convinced.

“Then when you say you treated me…”

Ian put his hands on both my shoulders and introduced me to her.

“This doctor from the Imperial City treated you personally. If it weren’t for Jane… I mean Claire, you might never have woken up. If you were more unlucky, you might have opened your eyes in a coffin.”

At Ian’s explanation, Seina’s complexion turned ashen. She looked at me as if seeking confirmation.

“Well, it’s a terrible explanation, but it’s not entirely wrong. The pollen from the flowers you brewed as tea had sleep-inducing components. Did you perhaps brew not just the petals but the whole flower?”

“Sleep-inducing, you say? Ah… Yes, I brewed the flowers whole after just removing the stems. Since the young lady often drank tea with flowers like that, I thought it was okay…”

“She probably used it as tea because of the nice fragrance, but when the pollen met hot water, the effect was amplified, causing a hypersensitive reaction.”

“Oh no!”

Judging by her expression, she seemed to be imagining herself opening her eyes in a coffin. She rubbed her arms as if getting goosebumps.

“If I were to explain how much effort and trouble went into treating you, even talking all night wouldn’t be enough. So you should feel grateful.”

I did stay up one night, but I hadn’t really made numerous efforts or gone through much trouble.

“No, you don’t have to…”

I felt embarrassed at Ian’s exaggerated explanation. On the other hand, Seina’s eyes sparkled brightly upon hearing that explanation.