IFAHWIPUTML Chapter 34

Verasielle opened her eyes to a morning later than usual.

Her body felt heavy like waterlogged cotton, and the chills suggested she was coming down with something.

Yesterday Chayston had mentioned a cold, and while Raphel was fine, she'd caught it perfectly.

"Veras..."

Already awake, washed with Tia's help, and having dutifully finished breakfast, Raphel rested his chin on the bed where Verasielle lay, on the verge of tears.

"Don't be sick..."

His small, plump hand that had gained weight stroked Verasielle's flushed cheek.

At that tender touch, Verasielle smiled warmly.

"Thank you. I'll be better soon."

"If you die... no, hic."

Raphel suddenly seemed overwhelmed with emotion and shed tears like dew drops.

Huh? It's not like I'm dying... It's just a simple body ache.

The way Raphel was crying so pitifully made her feel like someone with a terminal illness.

"That won't happen. I can't die and leave Raphel behind."

Verasielle comforted Raphel even as her head rang from the loud crying nearby.

"Hic, don't leave Raphel. Waaah!"

Had he remembered something from the past? Raphel seemed terribly afraid of being left alone.

His small, plump lips trembled pitifully.

Verasielle wanted to hug Raphel with an aching heart, but she couldn't do this or that, worried the cold might spread.

"Lady Verasielle, I brought some soup— Huh? Lord Raphaleon, why are you crying?"

Tia, who had entered carrying warm soup, ran over in one bound, startled.

"Tia. Sorry, but could you comfort Raphel? I can't hug him in case I pass on the cold."

"Yes. Lord Raphaleon. Lady Verasielle is fine. Come here."

Tia set down the tray she was carrying and picked up Raphel, who was clutching the blanket and crying.

"Waaah. Veras!"

Like someone being separated forever, Raphel struggled in Tia's arms, trying to reach Verasielle.

"Raphel, it's okay. It's really okay. Nothing's wrong."

"Uwaaah!"

Her heart hurts too much to watch any longer.

Verasielle bit her lip hard and gestured for Tia to take Raphel out.

It would be terrible if Raphel caught the cold because of her.

For Raphel, who had only recently recovered his health, even a simple cold could be fatal.

"Lord Raphaleon. Lady Verasielle is really fine. If you play with me for a bit and come back, she'll be all better."

As Tia tried to leave the room, Raphel struggled even more violently to escape her arms.

"No! Stay here! Verasielle!"

Tia looked at Verasielle with a troubled face.

She couldn't forcibly take away a resisting Raphaleon.

"He can't catch it. Take him out."

Verasielle shook her head firmly. Tia finally hurried out of the room carrying Raphel.

Raphel's voice ringing through the corridor weighed on her heart.

She sighed with guilt and forced the warm soup Tia had brought into her mouth.

If she ate well and rested thoroughly, her body would feel much better.

There wasn't much time left to spend with Raphel, so she had to recover quickly even if only to avoid wasting time like this.

Last time too, she'd been stuck in her room unable to move because of her ankle, and today she had to do the same.

"Sniff Veras..."

Raphel sniffled in Tia's arms.

"Lord Raphaleon. Shall we play tag?"

Tia struggled mightily to redirect Raphel's attention.

But it didn't work on Raphel.

Raphel puffed up his sticky rice cake cheeks and shook his head vigorously.

"No!"

"Then. Should we play hide and seek?"

"No! Uncle, Uncle!"

"You want to see His Grace? Shall we go see His Grace?"

Nod nod.

Tia stroked Raphel's back as he nodded while swallowing sobs, and moved her feet.

Chayston had been sitting blankly all day.

After meeting Verasielle yesterday, work wouldn't stay in his hands, food wouldn't go down his throat.

He'd stayed up all night with open eyes, staring beyond the window with unfocused eyes.

And whenever Verasielle's face came to mind, his heart would pound thunderously.

"Why..."

Why did it turn out like this? He had no idea.

He'd never experienced emotions like this before, so he was utterly confused.

Could he really have fallen for Verasielle...

"Haah."

Someone had been watching Chayston from the side as he sighed deeply enough to sink the ground.

Rohan stood quietly beside Chayston.

He'd been waiting for a signature on the collected tax confirmation, but Chayston had been just holding his pen for two hours now.

While waiting silently, his master had done all sorts of things.

Clutching his head, sighing, smiling as if enlightened, then becoming abruptly gloomy.

The sight of him displaying various emotions as if performing a one-man play was quite novel.

Usually it was just frowning, cold expressions, or an expressionless face, but seeing him now, his master was also a person with various expressions.

Rohan felt he knew who had made his master this human.

Since one person came to the ducal residence, the master's attitude had noticeably changed.

"Master. You've been looking at the same document for several hours."

Finally unable to bear it, Rohan spoke. Two hours seemed like long enough to wait.

"...When did you arrive?"

Toward his master who had even forgotten he'd come, Rohan raised his finger and precisely pointed at the signature line.

"Your signature, please."

Only then did Chayston realize he was holding a pen.

He cleared his throat in embarrassment and immediately passed the document to Rohan after signing.

"Thank you."

Rohan could finally receive the document after two hours.

At the thought that he could now escape this tiresome office, he bowed in greeting and quickly headed for the door.

"Rohan."

"Yes, Master."

But at his master's voice calling from behind, he had to come back.

"Why did you come to like Melony?"

Melony had been a servant of the ducal residence in the past and was currently Rohan's wife.

Chayston became curious.

Why had these two people with no particular connection suddenly come to love each other?

"What? That's..."

Rohan was flustered by the completely unexpected question and raised his head that he'd bowed.

Chayston's eyes shone resolutely as if he absolutely had to hear an answer.

"Well..."

Rohan didn't know what to say or how.

He'd known the master was paying attention to Lady Verasielle, but that it was romantic feelings...

"There must have been a reason."

At that question, Rohan's head, which had been blank, tilted.

Did people need a reason to love someone? Love at first sight was possible in three seconds.

He thought about it quite thoroughly, but only one answer came to Rohan's mind.

"I just realized at some point that I liked her."

"Just? At some point?"

Chayston pressed persistently for more detail.

Rohan nodded briefly and answered.

"Yes. Suddenly at some point."

That answer brought Chayston even more confusion.

Then did that mean he too had just suddenly at some point come to like Verasielle...

"Doesn't that make no sense..."

Chayston muttered again, lost in thought alone.

Until recently, he'd thought she was shameless like the others, blinded by profit, using a child...

He'd accused her of being a fraud... how could he possibly...

Had he fallen for her the moment he realized it was a misunderstanding?

Could his heart have changed this easily, like flipping a palm?

"I don't think there's anything in the world that makes no sense."

Rohan added a word to Chayston, who seemed to be worrying and hesitating more deeply than expected.

"What...?"

"No matter how the beginning was, people, emotions, and relationships change."

At Rohan's clear answer, Chayston's mind went blank as if struck.

Like he said, things with Verasielle had been wrong from their first meeting.

Because his gaze had been marred by preconceptions from the start.

But as he gradually got to know her, he realized. That her smile toward Raphel held no falsehood.

She always treated the child carefully and warmly, and even when hearing rumors about him, she declared them false with upright eyes.

Could all those moments be an act, a pretense?

Even if she was deceiving him aiming for the reward money, he couldn't think all her actions so far were lies.

Perhaps in his heart, he was already hoping she had never lied to him.

Hoping it was all his misunderstanding and mistake.

Even if using the antidote revealed Raphel wasn't his nephew and Verasielle had fabricated lies, he might be unable to do anything about it.

Because his heart had changed from the beginning.

Thoughts turned one hundred eighty degrees. And emotions too.

In the end, Chayston had no choice but to acknowledge it.

His changed emotions.

That he had come to like Verasielle.