As I ascended to the upper floor, I noticed that the wind that had been blowing since yesterday had ceased. The murky clouds were gradually clearing and the hazy sky was becoming clearer.

“We should call the doctor before the wind starts blowing again.”

At the Duchess’ words, the maids prepared to head out.

“My Lady, let me apply some medicine on your leg.”

“I’m fine, Lize.”

“Mother, it would be troublesome if the wound reopens.”

Following the Duchess’ refusal, Yurik who was beside her tried to persuade her. Taking advantage of that opportunity, I sat next to the Duchess with the medical kit.

Upon closer inspection, the wound was deeper than I thought and there was more bleeding. I first disinfected the wound, then generously applied ointment. Perhaps my touch stung, as the Duchess flinched several times.

“How is your sister doing?”

“She’s not getting better.”

While I was treating her, Roger examined Yune.

“She still has yellow mucus and nasal congestion.”

“Even after her fever went down, her nose was often blocked and she coughed frequently. She especially complained a lot about her nose being uncomfortable.”

“Has she had sputum before?”

“I think she was bothered by sputum at some point.”

Yurik explained Yune’s symptoms while wiping the sweat off her face.

“It’s not definite, but could it be sinusitis then?”

“…Come to think of it, the doctor had made that diagnosis before.”

The Duchess, having finished treating her wound, responded to Roger’s words. Roger approached the window to look outside, then rolled up his sleeves.

“I heard from my mother that elm tree bark is good for sinusitis. There happens to be one right there, so I’ll go get some bark.”

“What? Roger…!”

After ascertaining the location of the elm tree, Roger left the room without looking back. The Duchess stared at the spot where Roger had been, then shifted her gaze to me. She seemed to be wondering why Roger was so knowledgeable about folk remedies and such.

“…Hmm. I guess Roger had sinusitis before too.”

I made a rough guess, but I wasn’t certain. Even if sinusitis was understandable, considering how he had set the coachman’s leg bone, was Roger usually interested in medicine? But then again, there were only violin scores in his room.

Before long, Roger returned after scraping off some elm tree bark. He put the bark into a cup and poured warm water over it.

Instantly, the color of the water turned yellow. As Roger handed the water to Yurik, he raised Yune’s waist and had her drink the tea sip by sip.

It must have tasted unpleasant, as Yune looked distressed.

“Still, swallow it.”

“Ugh.”

“Come on.”

After finishing the tea, Yune lay back down on the bed. Though she had emptied the cup, Yune’s condition remained the same as before. As time passed, however, it changed.

Perhaps her stuffy nose had improved, as Yune was breathing more comfortably than earlier.

The nasal congestion was alleviated and her fever also went down. Yune’s face, having been relieved of some pain, became peaceful. Now, we could wait for the doctor with a bit more ease.

“Roger. How on earth did you do it?”

The Duchess’ face brightened.

“My mother was a doctor. On weekends, I would accompany her to volunteer at the orphanage. I could recognize sinusitis because I saw it often, and I learned how to set bones since it was my mother’s specialty.”

Roger explained with a slight smile. I recalled the face of Mrs. Bakus, who had always been kind to me. I only knew her as Isabel’s close friend, but I had no idea she was a doctor!

“Why haven’t you told me until now?”

When I asked, Roger tilted his head.

“What? I thought you already knew.”

“How would I know if you never told me?”

“Why, you ask? It’s because my mother and Mrs. Marsen attended the same university.”

“…Your mother did?”

His even more shocking words stunned my thoughts.

It was the first time I heard that Isabel had attended university. In the first place, it was rare for women to attend university in this world. Only if they overflowed with talent or excelled in a certain field could women advance to university.

“I heard Mrs. Marsen dropped out of university halfway through.”

“…Why?”

“Probably because of marriage? If my mother’s family wasn’t a renowned medical family, she would have given up university and chosen marriage too, right?”

Why had I never known until now?

Even if she had dropped out midway, the fact that she had enrolled in university was true. However, Isabel had never talked about university, let alone her major.

No, even if she had told me, would I have believed her? The title ‘Madam’ suited Isabel, but the title ‘university student’ did not.

She conversed with nobles on equal footing and looked down on those with lower titles than her. She was not someone who pursued learning under the status of a student below professors.

At least, to me.

‘But… she attended university?’

Isabel was the eldest daughter of the Pollong Viscount family.

Although I hadn’t visited the Pollong residence many times, I knew their company was in the woodworking business. Originally, it was small in scale, but with the help of the Marsen family, it had rapidly developed and grown large before I knew it.

Thinking about it, the Pollong family needed the power of the Marsen family to grow. So a marriage between the two families was a good move.

I could understand the background of her giving up university and getting married.

But then why had she ignored my desire to go to school all this time and snatched away the books I was reading? If she was a scholar herself, she should have understood me pursuing knowledge…

“Thank you, Roger.”

While my mind was cluttered with thoughts, I heard the Duchess’ voice.

“I only did what was natural.”

“Still, thank you. You too, right? Yurik.”

The Duchess’ gaze turned to Yurik. Then, after a moment’s hesitation, Yurik carefully moved his lips.

“…Very much so. Thank you, Roger.”

Yurik, whom I thought would never say it till the end, expressed his gratitude to Roger. Even I, who was surprised by that voice, looked at Yurik. If even I was this surprised, how much more would Roger be?

“Hey, say that one more time.”

“I won’t say it twice.”

Yurik swiftly avoided Roger’s gaze.

* * *

“Since I brought the medicine, she should feel a bit better if she takes it.”

The doctor who came to the villa not only diagnosed the coachman’s leg, but also Yune’s illness. As Roger had said, it was sinusitis.

“Thank you for coming all the way here.”

“I’d like to keep monitoring her condition, but I heard there’s talk of another storm coming. Still, she should be alright with the medicine. Madam.”

“Right. It would be best for you to return before the wind starts blowing.”

Before leaving, the doctor instructed to drink water frequently and wash the nose often. He also advised that if there was still no improvement, chronic sinusitis was suspected, so she should visit the hospital.

“It’s already lunchtime.”

After everything was settled, we had a simple lunch.

Then, with nothing much to do, I sat blankly by the window. Normally, I should have been heading to Hosha Village around this time, but there was no carriage to ride. Also, we didn’t know when the storm would hit again.

The Duchess said we should depart tomorrow morning if the weather was completely fine, as she was worried.

Now, my lie about going to camp was practically exposed.

“…Hey, Lize.”

“What?”

Roger, who was behind me, called out to me.

“Want to go see it now?”

“See what?”

“The ocean.”

At those words, I immediately straightened my back.

“Go ahead.”

Just then, the Duchess, who was downstairs, said before going up to the room.

“The weather is nice right now. I’ll be here, so go see the ocean and come back. Yurik, you’re going too, right?”

Yurik, who was hanging wet towels on the railing, quickly grabbed his outer garments instead of answering.

If not now, we wouldn’t be able to see the ocean. Both Roger and I took out our outer garments and gloves from our bags and prepared to face the cold. Still feeling uneasy, Yurik wrapped a scarf around my neck.

And as we were about to leave…

“Here.”

“Here.”

Yurik and Roger extended their hands to me.

“It’s fine, I can go alone.”

Before they could fight, I went out of the villa first and ran onto the sandy beach.

The sand, wet and damp from the rain, was terribly cold. The chill was so intense that it penetrated through my shoes and reached the top of my feet. Still, my legs didn’t stop as I stepped on the sandy beach and moved forward.

“Lize, it’s dangerous, so it’s better not to get too close. And absolutely do not go into the water, it’s cold.”

Yurik, who had run up to my side, said worriedly.

“Even if you say that, she’ll probably want to put her feet in the ocean, right?”

I had never said I wanted to go into the ocean… Was it that obvious on my face? Yurik and Roger grabbed me. Regretfully postponing my plan, I took a step back and looked at the ocean.

“Wow, it’s beautiful.”

I thought the waves would be rough due to the storm, but not at all.

As if the impurities had been washed away at once, the color of the ocean was transparent and clear. It was so clear that I could see the pebbles at the bottom. The sound of waves crashing was pleasant to hear and peaceful.

I bent my knees to take a closer look at the color of the ocean. I even took off my gloves and put my hand in the water. The numbness reaching my bones made my mind snap awake.

“By the way, what are you going to do? Mother will surely be disappointed in me.”

Roger shattered my tranquility.

“It can’t be helped.”

At Yurik’s dry answer, Roger frowned.

“Can’t be helped? Both you and I will get scolded terribly. Are you okay with not being able to see Lize from now on?”

“…Not being able to see her?”

Yurik’s complexion darkened.

“How about we lie again this time?”

Roger’s face stiffened at my suggestion.

“Again? Lize, are you in your right mind?”

A lie told multiple times, is there a law saying you can’t do it again?

“Roger. They say the first time is hard, but the second time is easy. So you can do it.”

“What kind of lie are you going to tell?”

“Let’s say we got lost on the way to camp. So while we were wandering around, we happened to meet Duchess Penton who was going to the ocean.”

“And then?”

“The camp meeting time had already passed, and we had come quite far from the village, so we had no choice but to accompany the Duchess. After that, we couldn’t return because of the storm, so we’ll just be honest about that part.”

As I finished explaining, Yurik, who had been concentrating, tilted his head.

“Will they believe us?”

“It’s up to chance.”

The probability was fifty-fifty. It was much better than stupidly staying put and getting caught in a lie. The problem was…

“I can do it once, but not twice. Lying.”

It was Roger.

“Roger, you have to do it.”

“Lize is right. This time, you’ll have to make a little sacrifice.”

“And Mother believes your words more than mine. Roger.”

“If you alone sacrifice, everyone can be happy.”

As Yurik and I took turns pleading, Roger’s eyes moved anxiously.

“B-But as I just said, I can’t lie…”

“Let’s practice. We can start practicing now. Come on, try telling a lie now.”

“You want me to try it?”

Roger blushed in bewilderment, seemingly searching for a lie he could tell. Several seconds passed, but Roger’s mouth remained tightly shut.

“You really aren’t good at lying, huh?”

Unable to bear the frustration, I spoke. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? It’s quite ambiguous.

“Okay. Then try saying ‘I hate my mother’.”

I was naturally teaching him to be unfilial. The difficulty level seemed high from the start, as Roger’s expression contorted.

“Lize, I don’t think I can say that either.”

Yurik also acknowledged the challenging difficulty. Right, this was too hard.

“…Hmm, then how about the opposite?”

“If it’s weird, I can’t do it.”

“It’s not weird. Try saying ‘I like Lize’ in a nonchalant way.”

It’s a bit cringeworthy, but I couldn’t think of any other lies at the moment. I thought this might be a bit difficult too, but Roger’s expression suddenly became calm and he parted his lips with a casual look.

“I like Lize.”

“……”

“……”

“…What?”

I asked again without realizing it.

Roger’s tone was so natural that it felt like I had really received a confession.