The Substitute Bride Is Adored by the Clumsy Margrave

Mary felt her vision distorting even more, and keeping her eyes open was difficult, so she slowly closed them to rest them for a bit before returning to her room.

‘Oh, this is really not good…’

“Mary! What’s wrong? Are you alright?!”

‘Sid… sama…?’

She heard the sound of footsteps echoing, and whoever it was kneeled down next to Mary.

‘They said he was coming here today….’

She raised her face from her knees and looked at him. Her eyes were watery and her vision was blurry, but surely it was Sid. 

He instantly placed his hand on her burning forehead and murmured, “You’re warm.” His hand felt so nice and cool. Without a single sign of hesitation, Sid quickly put his hands under Mary’s head and knees and picked her up in a so-called princess carry. “You have a terrible fever, I’m taking you to your room, tell me where I should go.”

“Upstairs… second floor… at the end.”

“Okay.”

Sid might have been small for a man, but there was no hesitation in his steps as he lifted her up and strode off. She looked up at his face from below in a daze.

‘Clarisse… Sid is nothing like Cedric…. Sid is—’

With that last thought, her consciousness suddenly slipped away, and she fell asleep.

That day, she had a dream.

She dreamt of her mother, whom she had not seen since she was twelve. She was sitting at her bedside, nursing Mary. Her hands were stroking Mary’s dark hair. It was a very slow motion and filled with great tenderness.

“Mother…”

She murmured, and the hand stopped for a moment, but then—as if nothing had happened—it began to move again. She missed her so much and longed to see her, and part of her knew that this was a cruel dream, and tears spilled from her closed eyelids.

Sid watched painfully as Mary murmured “Mother” and shed some tears, but he gently wiped away the spilled tears with his fingers. He had picked her up to carry her to her room, and she had gone limp in his arms before they arrived—probably due to her high fever. When a butler passed them in the hallway, Sid had asked him to arrange for a doctor and to inform Clarisse that Mary would need to take the rest of the day off.

The attentive butler, whom Jean valued greatly, immediately showed Sid to Mary’s room and not only arranged for a doctor but also sent the necessary water and fruit to her room. Sid didn’t need to rush home today since he had already discussed his business with Jean, so after placing Mary in bed, he decided to stay behind to take care of her.

Then, he looked around her room and was surprised to find a letter envelope on the writing desk. He already knew she could read, as she had bought a book when they were in town together, but this meant that she could apparently write as well. He was tempted to look at whom the letter was addressed to but held back, thinking that it would indeed be impolite to do so without her consent.

From the way she mumbled “Mother,” Sid concluded that Mary must have been the daughter of a high-rank noble and not just any family.

Placing a damp towel on Mary’s forehead as she slept soundly, Sid gazed at her fair face, which looked surprisingly younger when her eyes were closed.

‘I wonder if you’ll ever open your heart to me, or if you’ll run away some place I can’t find you if you knew how I felt.’