That was not the only strange thing.
The hand that had been resting on his cheek slid down to his lips.
As the hot lips touched his fingertips, a sweet smell arose in his mind.
That was the part he found most incomprehensible.
No matter how much he had smelled the scent of blood, it should not feel sweet. Yet, as if entranced by something, he swept a few drops of blood from the floor with his fingers and brought them to his mouth.
‘There are more than a few things I need to resolve.’
At that moment, overwhelmed by fatigue, Ricardo gritted his teeth and muttered a curse. This body looked the same, but below the neck was completely different.
‘To think I have a fever just from getting caught in the rain for a few hours.’
After recovering his body, he needed to check if he could use his aura and contact Giselle and Del.
Letting out a short sigh, Ricardo soon fell into a deep slumber.
* * *
In his dim vision, someone flickered.
Ricardo tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids would not move as he wished.
“Your fever is quite high… Selly, could you bring the doctor?”
“Yes, my lady! Please wait a moment!”
From the gentle voice, Ricardo recognized the identity of the person. It was Izuli, the wife of the body he had possessed.
“My dear, are you feeling a little better?”
As if noticing he had awakened, he felt a light touch shaking his shoulder.
Having rolled around on the battlefield for a long time, Ricardo had developed several habits. One of them was to keep only trustworthy people by his side when his mind was foggy, like now.
Izuli was someone he only knew by name, so it would be right to get rid of her immediately, but…
“My dear?”
He couldn’t brush away the gentle touch checking his forehead.
‘Izuli.’
For some reason, he reflected on the familiar name.
‘Izuli, Izuli… Izuli Mentria.’
In that moment, Ricardo realized who she was and who the body he had possessed belonged to.
Kalyon Dryton. The foolish lord.
“It’s just a cold. Fortunately, my lady discovered it early and brought down the fever in time, so there shouldn’t be any major issues. A few days of medication should suffice.”
Izuli received the medicine from the doctor.
“Thank you, doctor.”
“Not at all. You must have gone through a lot, my lady. Please take some rest now.”
After seeing off the doctor, Izuli returned and, leaning against the headboard, instinctively stopped when she met the gaze of the eyes staring at her.
It was certainly a familiar face, yet it felt distinctly different from before.
“How are you feeling?”
As she approached cautiously and asked, Ricardo lightly clenched and unclenched his fist.
‘The aura… hasn’t returned.’
The aura resides in the soul, and even if the body changes, it doesn’t disappear. However, the aura was still faint, and there was nothing he could do with it.
In the end, he needed time to contact his subordinates.
And in the meantime, he had to understand the situation that ‘Kalyon’ was in to avoid revealing that he had possessed this body.
“…I’m not okay.”
“Pardon? Is there somewhere uncomfortable? Should I call the doctor?”
“It seems there’s a problem with my memory.”
Izuli, who had briefly thought he had developed a fever again, looked bewildered by his unexpected words.
“I can’t remember well.”
“That’s… how it’s always been, right?”
Her husband not only lacked common sense but also had a poor memory. It wasn’t strange that it had taken him a month to remember her name.
“So, I mean, I don’t really remember who I am. Things like that.”
In this situation, nothing was better than a memory issue to gather information without raising suspicion.
‘What happened during the week?’
Izuli felt a bit disappointed that his return had thwarted her plans to raise an heir. However, now that he had returned with lost memories, she found herself curious for the first time about what he had experienced during that week.
“Your name is Kalyon Dryton. You are the head of the Dryton family.”
“Then are you my wife?”
“That’s right. And…”
What else should she explain? How Evelon and Melaria usually treated him? Or perhaps the nickname of the foolish lord?
“Who were the two women I saw in the hall? One seemed to be my mother.”
“The other is Melaria, a nurse. She’s Leo’s nurse. Leo is the grandchild of the matriarch. Since your sister passed away early, she’s almost like a biological mother to him.”
“Neither of them seemed particularly happy about my return, considering they’re close relatives.”
At that awkward moment, since he brought it up first, Izuli decided to tell the truth.
“It’s as it appears. You are not the biological child of the matriarch, so it’s understandable that they wouldn’t welcome you sincerely.”
“In that case, it would be best not to let them know that my memory is unstable…”
As Ricardo was about to continue his sentence, he noticed her gaze directed at him and swallowed his words.
‘I’m the foolish lord right now.’
Remembering that, he awkwardly wrapped up the conversation.
“Not good, right? Should we let them know?”
Izuli shook her head with a reluctant expression.
“Um, it seems… it would be better not to tell them.”
“Oh, is that so?”
He pressed his fingers to his temples, pretending to have a headache.
“From what I can see, they don’t seem pleased to see me. Did you perhaps have any plans?”
He had to stay here until his aura fully returned, and being chased away would be troublesome. He needed to avoid suspicion and safely return to his original body.
After a moment of hesitation, Izuli quickly decided.
“Your nephew. So, the nurse was planning to make Leo a Marquis.”
Ricardo let out a hollow laugh at the unexpected plan.
Just then,
“Our son! Kalyon!”
With a booming voice, the door swung open as if it would break off its hinges.
Evelon and Melaria rushed in, pushing Izuli back. Stumbling slightly, Izuli adjusted her clothes and bowed her head slightly, as if accustomed to the situation.
Evelon, with her bright eyes, blinked rapidly and spoke with a quivering voice.
“Kalyon, are you okay? Do you know how surprised I was to hear you had a fever?”
Immediately, Evelon shot a sharp glance at Izuli.
“That wretch is the reason I was late to come to you because she didn’t inform me.”
“That’s right, Your Grace. The Marchioness didn’t tell us anything, trying to score points with my aunt and me. Shouldn’t you have informed us first about Your Grace being sick?”
Ricardo narrowed his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Mother. It wasn’t intentional. It just seemed that getting his fever down was the priority…”
“Enough! Always making excuses, what are you even doing? Was it that hard to take care of Kalyon?”
“Aunt, it seems the Marchioness found it quite difficult. Oh, or maybe she just didn’t want to hear what my aunt had to say?”
Melaria’s gaze fell upon Izuli’s beautiful face, which had no makeup at all.
Melaria, who resembled her aunt Evelon, had always liked her freckled face—until Count Eden brought “her” here. After that, Melaria came to hate all the beauty in the world. Of course, that applied to Izuli as well.
“What did you say?”
As she looked at Melaria, who always naturally slandered her, Izuli swallowed a sigh inwardly. She began counting the strands of carpet fibers on the floor, waiting for the torrent of words to come.
‘I wonder when this will end today.’
Last time, she had counted up to five thousand six hundred fourteen strands.
‘Five thousand six hundred fifteen, five thousand six hundred…’
“It’s noisy.”
Just as the nagging was about to begin in earnest, a cold voice interrupted. Both Evelon, who was rolling up her sleeves to speak, and Izuli lifted their heads to look at the source of the voice.
Ricardo, pressing his fingers to his temples as if he had a headache, glared at Evelon and Melaria with sharp eyes.
The face and expression were familiar, but there was a threat in his gaze that they had never encountered before. They had lived peaceful lives without ever facing danger. Thus, they could not endure the murderous intent radiating from Ricardo.
The two clung to each other, trembling in fear.
“K-Kalyon…?”
Evelon was utterly bewildered. Although she didn’t particularly like Kalyon, he was generally easy to handle. Moreover, since she didn’t like Izuli, he had never once been reprimanded or made uncomfortable in front of her.
So, seeing him suddenly reveal a ferocious demeanor that she had never seen before felt like a dream.
“I’ve been having a headache from the smell of perfume since earlier, just go outside.”
Evelon regained her composure at Kalyon, who usually didn’t use honorifics. However, it wasn’t simply because he hadn’t learned to use them like before… it just seemed like a natural condescension.
