Chapter 48
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[“Siella!”]
She heard someone desperately calling her voice. At that moment, Siella opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the familiar ceiling. Staring up at it in disbelief, Siella jerked upright as memories suddenly flooded into her head in no particular order.
“My Lady!”
Hellen, who had just entered the bedroom, noticed that Siella was awake and hurried to her bedside.
“Do you feel pain anywhere? Are you feeling uncomfortable….”
“Hellen, am I dreaming?”
“Dreaming…?”
Hellen slowly turned her head to the side and dabbed the corners of her eyes with her sleeves, then she held Siella’s hands and squeezed it.
“Miss, you’ve been unconscious for two full days and you only woke up now.”
“I… was unconscious for two days?”
“Yes, so don’t say things such as you’re dreaming. If so, I won’t let you sleep at all for a while.”
Hellen looked at Siella with a stern look on her face. Siella was dumbfounded, not knowing what exactly was happening.
‘Sleeping for two days….’
But it was only for a moment that she was surprised how she had slept for so long. More than that, she was bewildered as to how she ended up waking up on her bed.
“… What happened?” Siella asked, clearing her throat. “Why am I on my bed? What about Kyle….”
“What was the last thing you remembered, Miss?”
“That….”
Siella paused for a moment at Hellen’s question. Her last memory was of Kyle swinging his sword at her without a hint of hesitation. It was such a vivid memory that she didn’t even have to try to recall it. But the problem was….
‘Can I be honest with Hellen about this?’
She knew that Hellen would probably be very surprised and cried if she told her the truth.
Hellen sighed inwardly as she watched Siella hesitate to speak.
“That crazy second son of a b*tch was trying to harm you, but fortunately Sir Oad found you and stopped him.”
Siella blinked her eyes blankly at Hellen’s words.
‘… Sir Oad?’
Siella was stunned by the sudden honorifics. It had only been a few days since Hellen was commenting on his leg muscles.
“If it weren’t for Sir Oad, you would’ve been….”
Whether she knew it or not, Hellen began to practically praise Oad, as Siella just sat there bewildered. Siella was absolutely stunned.
She got a vague idea of what had happened from Hellen’s story, but she wasn’t sure if she was awake, or she was still sleeping. She listened to Hellen’s voice, which had moved on to praising his appearance, then a thought occurred to her and she hurriedly stretched her legs out of the bed.
“What about Nina?”
“Gosh, you shouldn’t be up and about, my Lady!” Nina sighed and pushed Siella back on the bed. “Nina’s fine, perfectly fine. We gave her the antidote and she woke up within minutes.”
Hellen said quickly in a loud voice, almost as if she was yelling.
“I will quickly go down and fetch Nina while you lie down here and rest.”
“Huh…? Alright, thanks.”
Siella nodded and laid down on the bed, wincing at Hellen’s enthusiasm.
“You’ve just woken up not too long ago. You need to rest.”
Hellen urged firmly, pulling the covers all the way to Siella’s neck.
“Alright? Just rest here.”
“Okay.”
Siella replied immediately, but Hellen didn’t seem reassured at all. She looked back at Siella several times as she walked to the door before leaving the room.
After Hellen left like a storm, Siella stayed still inside the room and quietly staring at the ceiling. She suddenly thought:
‘I should have asked what happened to Kyle.’
But still, I am very glad to hear that Nina’s perfectly fine. Siella felt like crying, but she suppressed her emotions.
‘I thought I would be unavoidably dragged away this time….’
How did the man who lives by the lake come and saved me at that moment? As Siella continued to ponder, she thought that the man must have crossed the fence this time and laughed weakly.
“Miss, are you sleeping?”
“No, come in.” Hearing the cautious knock, Siella pulled back the covers and pushed herself upright. “I’ve been awake because of a certain someone who said she won’t let me sleep for while….”
Smiling, Siella glanced at the slowly opening door as she spoke, noticing an unexpected figure standing there. Hellen looked at Siella, who stared in a daze with her mouth opened, before speaking.
“Sir Oad said that he wanted to personally check that you’ve woken up so he came to see you….”
“Ah… I see.”
Siella awkwardly smiled and nodded her head before turning her attention to that man standing quietly behind Hellen.
“I’ll be standing right outside the door, so you can call me if anything happens, my Lady.”
“I will.”
Hellen left the room without closing the door behind her. Siella stared at the hem of Hellen’s skirt peeking through the door, then looked up.
“Please come on in.”
“Then, please excuse me.”
After Siella nodded, he strode briskly into the room as if he had been waiting for her permission. He pulled up the chair close to the bed and sat down, looking at Siella. His blue eyes tinged with grey took in her pale face.
Siella quietly looked back at him before moving her gaze outside the window, reflecting the clear landscape. As she had thought last time, she was strangely not uncomfortable. Even though this was an enclosed room with all four sides blocked, unlike the wide-open filed like that time.
‘It wasn’t like I am a lot better again.’
Siella knew that she is still in a state of disrepair. She didn’t even think of escaping when Kyle wielded his sword at her and just stood there frozen. She could see herself shaking like a fool, and not being able to do anything else.
Siella knew that this was an unusual situation, now that he wasn’t making her any uncomfortable.
“I heard that you saved me.” Siella spoke in a calm voice and looked back at the man. “Thank you. I’m very grateful. I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for your help.”
He could only stare at her as Siella struggled to speak in a choked voice.
“If you want something in return, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Since all I had is money, I could give him how much he wanted. Siella smiled weakly, staring into to the man as he slowly speak.
“I don’t want anything in return, so there’s no need to repay me.”
He echoed her words from the last time. Then, in a low voice, he continued.
“Besides, I lost the man in the end… so you couldn’t say my help was perfect.”
Siella’s expression stiffened for a moment at the mention of Kyle escaping. But it was only for a moment. Siella quietly nodded her head, trying hard to pretend that nothing was wrong.
“Now that I’ve seen you woke up safely, I will get going now.”
Asking her to rest comfortably, he immediately got up without staying any longer.
“Ah, and the mercenaries that came with the man had all been subdued and locked up, so while you recover, you can take your time to think what to do about them.”
“Locked them up?”
But there’s no place in this house that could keep those big men.
He was just about to leave the room when Siella asked him in confusion, so he stopped and looked back. The corners of his mouth raised and with a slight nod of his head, he added, “I suppose the warehouse was usable.”
(T/N: Oof~)