Chpater 54
“Why is she so late?”
Standing in the garden, Lionel glanced down at his wristwatch.
The time Agnes was supposed to come out had long since passed.
If nothing else, she was a woman who was strictly punctual with promised times.
Did something happen?
A moment later, a servant approached the garden.
“Agnes sent word that she is unwell and that it would be difficult for her to go on the walk today.”
“She is unwell?”
Lionel’s brow furrowed slightly.
She had seemed perfectly fine until just a short while ago, so a sense of wonder brushed past him at the sudden news.
‘She kept covering herself with a shawl…… perhaps she had a touch of a cold.’
Agnes seemed to be the type who was exceptionally sensitive to the cold.
Every time she came to the office, her cheeks would be pale and cold just from passing through that short hallway.
“How foolish.”
Lionel muttered lowly and turned his steps.
If she was unwell, she should have said so.
He had to check on Agnes’s condition.
If she suddenly fell ill, it would be quite a distraction, so he intended to call Andrew if her condition was truly poor.
When he visited Agnes’s room, he found her wiping her wet hair with a towel.
“Duke?”
At Lionel’s intrusion without permission, as was his habit, Agnes’s body jolted.
A single drop of water that fell from her hair rolled down her delicate neck.
Lionel, following it with his eyes, slowly stepped into the room.
“I heard you are unwell.”
“Ah…… yes. I think I have a bit of a cold.”
Agnes hurriedly adjusted her posture and sat upright.
It was because she belatedly realized that the unilateral notification had been rude.
“I am sorry. You went through the trouble of making time, and I canceled the appointment at my own discretion. I will head to the office right now—”
“Forget it.”
Lionel caught Agnes’s damp hair between his thumb and index finger and rubbed it slowly.
“Where do you think you’re going in that state?”
Certainly, Agnes had become more skeletal than before.
Her wrists, which looked as though they would break if touched, had become thinner than before, and there was no color in her pale face.
He wondered why she was actually thinning despite him making sure she ate dinner with him every evening.
Lionel did not like that fact.
Releasing her hair, Lionel looked around the room.
“Why is the room so chilly?”
“Um…… I opened the window because I felt a bit stifled, so that must be why.”
Agnes avoided Lionel’s gaze.
It was a lie.
The low temperature of the room was because the servants did not put firewood in the fireplace on time.
But Lionel would not be curious about that anyway.
Agnes settled for brushing down the hair Lionel had touched instead.
Lionel examined the rug on the floor that was plushly crushed.
The edge of the rug had faint water stains as if it had been rubbed roughly to be washed. A faint sweetness characteristic of honey remained.
‘She must have spilled tea or something.’
How clumsy.
Lionel rechecked the window that was already closed and pulled the curtains tightly to ensure no draft entered.
Then, he approached Agnes sitting in the wheelchair and lifted her thin body without hesitation.
“D-Duke……!”
“Just rest today.”
Caught in his arms out of nowhere, Agnes’s eyes widened in surprise.
“It’s not to that extent. I still have the report on today’s trading company business left—”
“It’s not necessary. It’s not so important that missing it for one day would cause a disruption.”
Lionel laid Agnes on the bed just like that and pulled the blanket up to her chin.
Agnes, who was about to sit up, went back to lying in her place silently.
It was because the expression on Lionel’s face as he looked down at her was heavily crumpled.
Lionel seemed to be in a very foul mood.
Was it because she kept talking back?
If so, staying just like this would be the way to avoid crossing Lionel’s mood.
While staying like that, she felt that her head was indeed heavy and a slight fever was circulating.
It had been a roughly made-up excuse, but she actually did have a touch of a cold.
Well, it was plausible since the room had been cold lately.
“Then I will rest just a little today.”
Agnes rolled her eyes, shut her mouth tight, and pulled the blanket up a bit more.
However, Lionel, whom she thought would leave soon, brought a chair to the bedside.
“Are you…… not going?”
“Why. Do you want me to leave?”
With his elbow resting indifferently on the armrest, Lionel leaned the back of his head against the backrest.
From his slightly lifted face, the arrogance of a ruler emanated.
“I will leave on my own when the time comes, so don’t worry about it.”
Having said that, Lionel lifted his head slightly and propped up his chin.
In that position, Lionel watched Agnes quietly.
In contrast to her chattering until a moment ago, the speed at which Agnes’s eyelids rose and fell slowed down rapidly.
Eyelashes with upturned ends that occasionally trembled.
Cheeks turned red with fever.
Coral-colored lips exhaling sweet breath.
Even the narrow space between her brows that wrinkled once in a while as if she were uncomfortable.
Lionel quietly placed a finger on the space between the sleeping Agnes’s brows. Then, the distorted brow immediately flattened out.
For several days, his insides had been a mess, quite miserably so.
Ever since he became conscious of himself being concerned about Agnes.
And now. Lionel realized one fact.
Accepting inefficient acts as part of his daily routine was not because of the trouble that would come if Agnes collapsed.
He simply hated seeing this sight.
Agnes’s face, stubbornly enduring even when she was clearly sick.
He hated seeing that.
He didn’t know why.
He was just unpleasantly bothered.
Lionel withdrew his gaze.
In the end, he reached a conclusion.
Yes, that was right. He was concerned about Agnes.
Whether it was worry, unpleasantness, or a feeling too ambiguous to name.
It wasn’t Agnes Bardo,
But Agnes Valheim being sick that he hated.
Agnes, who woke up with an exceptionally refreshed feeling, looked at the rug where the stain remained.
Perhaps thanks to Lionel’s nursing—or something like it—the light cold symptoms had vanished completely.
Yesterday, she felt as if this room would only remain as a terrible memory.
However, due to the single fact that he had visited personally, that memory became faint surprisingly easily.
The stickiness of the honey tea that had tangled in her hair, and her self-esteem that had been cast to the floor.
It was all strangely fine, as if it had cooled down overnight.
It was similar to when she had accidentally fallen asleep in the office for the first time.
Even then, Lionel had stayed by her side all night. And last night was the same.
Beside the bed, within reach if she stretched out her hand, was the chair.
Upon it, the coat he had used for cover had halfway slipped down.
Lionel had sat there all night. Whenever she woke up in her sleep, tossing and turning, Lionel was watching over her.
It felt as if his scent was still floating in the air.
With that fact alone, her heart was warmed with a soft, bubbling heat.
Agnes pulled her knees close and buried her cheek upon them.
Between her cozy, fluttering breaths, a small voice leaked out.
“……What should I do.”
Contrary to her resolve, greed kept arising.
She wished Lionel would look at her too.
Even if it wasn’t the same heart as hers, even if it wasn’t a heart of such warm temperature.
If she could stay somewhere in his world, even just a little.
Such desires kept seeping in.
She had vowed to hide her precious things so they wouldn’t be discovered anymore,
But the remnants of her emotions constantly leaked from within her heart.
Just a little, just a very little.
If she only showed enough that no one would notice, then perhaps this time it wouldn’t be ruined.
“……That’s right. Lionel is starting to trust me little by little now.”
Strength entered Agnes’s fingertips.
Clenching her fists tight, she whispered as if telling herself.
Now he no longer doubted Agnes’s words.
Instead of the short answers he used to throw, lately he listened to her stories every night.
It was a very minor change, but to Agnes, it was like her entire hope.
If things continued like this, someday.
After resolving the issues with Rebelt and her family.
Wouldn’t the day come when Lionel would believe her explanation of the baseless rumors and her sincerity?
Because he said it himself.
That he would try to believe.
Agnes’s gaze wavered slowly.
The light leaking through the curtains flickered minutely.
Once all misunderstandings were resolved like that, perhaps……
Her lips trembled slightly.
The next sentence hovered inside her mouth and was then quietly swallowed.
However, the peaceful morning air did not last long.
Knock, knock.
A sharp knocking sound broke Agnes’s thoughts.
The visitor who opened the door after receiving permission was none other than Andrew.
Andrew asked for understanding, saying he was visiting in the morning because they couldn’t do the treatment the previous day.
“Since the matter is what it is, I have committed the rudeness of visiting from the morning.”
That characteristic polite smile, but with an unpleasant warmth that was slightly off.
Andrew’s polite way of speaking always strangely made a person go rigid.
Like a lie, the mood that had been floating while thinking of Lionel just a moment ago plummeted to the floor in an instant.
“Now that you have become somewhat accustomed to the leg rehabilitation treatment, I dropped by because there is something I need to confirm.”
“Something to confirm?”
Agnes asked calmly.
However, a strange premonition spread coldly somewhere in her chest.
“I heard you are participating in this Eve Festival. If so, are you also aware that a very large fireworks display is scheduled to take place at the Eve Festival?”
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