Lilian of Turin

“Huk!”

Ivan was startled by the low voice and stumbled to his b*tt.

“You surprised me! When were you awake? No, you didn’t sleep in the first place, did you?”

“Do I look ready to play such nonsensical jokes?”

Damian sat up with an irritated crumpled brow.

Ivan asked suspiciously.

“Did you really sleep?”

“State your business.”

“Ah, right.”

Ivan explained the situation of the soldiers who stole as briefly as possible. Damian listened silently, then rubbed his crumpled forehead for a moment.

“Expunge the soldiers from the military register and send them back to their hometowns. Don’t serve any more meals to the injured soldiers.”

“…yes, I understand.”

A conclusion where one side was unjust and the other side was not.

It was a conclusion that Ivan had thought about to some extent. He just didn’t want to take responsibility, so he deferred the decision to his superior.

Damian was lost in thought. Only his fingers moved to and fro, graspong and winding the knot.

‘…did he have a habit of playing with his hands?’

Then Damian asked.

“Is that all?”

“No. In fact, the Great Feudal Lord delivered a piece of news to the entire West. Regarding Lady Lilian.”

“…?”

Damian’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Lady Lilian Islar, Your Highness’ bride.”

“Ah.”

“I heard something happened and…”

“Stop.”

Damian waved his hand.

“I don’t think I need to listen. It’s fine, don’t talk.”

“Yes? This is a really important story.”

Damian furrowed his eyebrows slightly.

“What about grandfather?”

“He knows.”

“Then you don’t have to tell me.”

“Your Highness!”

The Grand Duke didn’t answer and got up from his seat. Ivan clicked his tongue.

‘Ah, right…’

Why did he need to tell someone like that that the bride-to-be was not in good health?

‘He can’t even remember her name.’

Even so, Ivan couldn’t let go of his regrets and said a word.

“Would you like to send a present?”

As soon as he said it, Ivan felt sorry for himself. He shouldn’t have pushed harder here because of the atmosphere, but he couldn’t stand this moment every time.

Damian ordered briefly.

“Get out.”

“Yes.”

He thought he’s going to be hit, but fortunately, it just ended like that. Ivan quickly left. Then he thought.

‘I guess it’s true that he slept for a bit.’

To others, it might not seem like much of a difference, but Ivan could tell the difference.

Right now, Damian was in a better mood than usual. Although he didn’t know why.

***

The situation in the north was disastrous, but the summer was beautiful regardless.

The season was brutally beautiful, and everyone wanted to go out to enjoy the sunshine, fresh greenery, and cool streams of water.

At that time, Lilian of Turin Castle…

“It seems a little hot.”

“It must be because of your mood, my lady. May I read you a book?”

“Can you roll up the blankets?”

Recently, the servants of Turin Castle had been faithful to Lilian’s orders unlike before.

Sadly, while her real mother was alive, Lilian was just a bad stepmother’s daughter.

The people of Turin, blinded by the dead Marchioness, secretly despised Lilian, her daughter.

Even though the stepmother didn’t value her daughter and almost neglected her.

With the stepmother dead, the reason they kept away from Lilian suddenly disappeared.

All that was left was a little girl who had lost her mother at the age of twelve.

The little girl was determined. She soon shook off the grief over the loss of her heartless mother and began to take good care of her one and only half brother.

Her efforts went so far as to revive Cedric, who had been dying without listening to anyone.

Everyone was in awe of it.

“I’m sure it’s not her fault.”

“The more I look at her, the more I think she’s really nice.”

However, Lilian was often sick.

Of course, it was known externally that it wasn’t a rare incurable disease, but that it had greatly deteriorated after suffering from a fever, but that alone made almost all the servants sad.

“Did she collapse again? What should we do?”

“I bet the Lord is not alone in worrying about it.”

“She must be suffering too…”

“Still, you don’t know how easy it is to take care of her. Even if you wake her up in the morning, she never gets angry and even if you give her bitter medicine, she just frowns and takes it all.”

The more they learned about the situation, the more they were grateful to Lilian and the more special she was. And they were just as sad…

“Why didn’t I know that the lady was like that?”

“I planted red beans I thought would grow well, but…”

They were also sorry.

Feeling apologetic, people started scrambling to express their feelings to Lilian.

…a bit too much.

“To be honest, she resembled the previous lord. You can see it when she’s with Lord Cedric.

How are they half-siblings? Anyone can see that they’re from the same person.”

“Ah, the lady is of Turin blood no matter what anyone says.”

“Do you think it ends with the face? Even the way she speak and the way she acts are related to blood. Look how calm and poised she is…”

“Blood don’t lie, amen.”

It wasn’t long before people started to like Lilian because there was no particular reason for their dislike, and because of the guilt that they hated her for no particular reason.

Of course, everyone still had a bad conscience, so they couldn’t openly talk about Lilian as ‘my lady, my lady’.

It’s best for everyone to just keep an eye on her, and when Lilian asked for anything small, they’d rush over and work excessively with enthusiasm. Until now.

Unfortunately, Rita was an exception here.

“I told you I wanted you to remove the blanket, didn’t you hear?”

“If you want to sleep, I will draw the curtains down.”

It’s been a month since they met for the first time, and the name of this girl whom she couldn’t communicate with was Rita Hayworth.

As anyone could guess from her auburn hair, name, and shameless insensitive expression, she was Allen’s younger sister.

“Okay, Rita.”

Lilian let out a sigh of relief.

“Why don’t you pity me, who is confined here for the sin of being sick?”

“Not to that extent.”

Besides, Rita had a weapon that was a little more powerful than Allen’s, and that was that stubbornness.

Her brother, Allen, knowing the whole situation, was deliberately expressionless and arrogant, so he was often criticized by Cedric for being insidious.

But Rita was just an inflexible and sincere principalist.

Lilian’s words, subtle threats, and pity were of no use at all.

“I don’t have the skills to win because we can’t communicate.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“Well…it’s a bit off-putting, but did that just sound like a compliment?”

“My brother, Lord Hayworth, said that if they admit defeat, I can take it as a compliment.

He gave good advise.”

Rita’s status was obviously Lilian’s maid and she was only eighteen years old.

However, as they talked, it felt like having a question and answer session with the world’s most savvy soldier, not a lady-in-waiting.

“You really don’t act like a maid.”

“You said that you like me like this.”

“I had to.”

“So now I’m constantly trying to please you.”

Those words shocked Lilian in many ways.

“Why, do you like me?”

“No.”

Without looking apologetic, Rita shook her head.

“If I’m kicked out of being your lady-in-waiting, I’ll have to go back to being an errand boy for Sir Allen Hayworth. I just hate that.”

Lilian laughed a little.

That’s the fun thing about Rita Hayworth.

Rita said a compliment.

“My lady is an easier superior compared to Sir Hayworth.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you’re lying because of your personality. But that doesn’t sound like a compliment.”

Better than Allen Hayworth.

The servants of Turin Castle either gnashed their teeth or trembled if it was related to Allen.

To say she was better than Allen was never a compliment.

She didn’t think to pursue it. Rather, she fell asleep.

‘I’m sleepy… Is it because I’m just lying on a warm place, or is it because my vitality is running low?’

When Lilian first heard about her illness, she wasn’t too surprised.

Of course, this wasn’t the case in the ‘story’ she saw.

Until the end of her life by suicide, Lilian had no connection to anything like a rare and incurable disease.

‘Maybe not right away, but will I die soon?’

It might sound strange, but Lilian didn’t feel unfair about it.

Because there’s a reason.

‘Fever.’

Due to an illness of unknown origin, Lilian obtained her memories that would change her fate.

Could it be that the price of avoiding the worst ending was that she had to pay with all her magical power?

If so, the calculation seemed right.