I had just woken up after laying down for three days after coming out of the strange space. I didn’t do much either, but the servants treated me more devotedly than before.
‘Though a great deal did happen inside.’
When I came back to reality, I felt like I was exhausted by what happened there.
While looking out the window blankly, Duke Seymour came to see me. He must have heard that I had regained consciousness.
“Father.”
I scratched my nose, seeing that he was visibly relieved as soon as he saw me.
“Don’t get up and rest more, Deborah. I threatened… I mean, I talked to the academy president, so don’t worry about your grades and just stay at home for a few more days.”
‘… Even the president?’
My father, who confidently revealed his abuse of power and spoke in a more affectionate tone than usual, reached out his hand very carefully to my forehead.
“Fortunately, you don’t have a fever.”
“I don’t have energy, but I don’t have any pain in particular. Don’t worr…”
“What? You don’t have energy? Hey, get me some healthy food right now!”
I was shocked to see the Duke suddenly urging the servants to bring healthy food.
“I’m really fine.”
“You had a hard time inside that space, and you don’t even have mana. You don’t have to be brave because of me.”
“But I’m really alright.”
“Your pretty face became sunken.”
The Duke stroked my hair with a sad face. His eyes were filled with concern and affection, so I felt a little awkward for some reason.
“Tell me if you need anything. I’ll bring you everything you want.”
“I… I want to drink tea for now.”
Was it because it was right after the incident? I got up and had tea with my father, thinking that he seemed to be especially caring.
“What happened to Philap?”
“Is there any need to dirty your ears with that scumbag?”
“Well, I’m curious.”
I wondered how he was dealing with the aftermath of having messed with two of the distinguished families.
“As a result, he was exiled to a rural area with no name on the outskirts. We agreed that he would surrender himself and die… I mean, that we would take care of it if he were to show up in front of you again.”
He was exiled. I was surprised because he was the only son of the founding family, and he fell into the abyss as much as Deborah did in the novel.
“I see.”
“By the way, what tea is this? It has a good scent.”
As a hazy smile came to Duke’s lips, I also smiled without thinking.
“It’s delicious, isn’t it? It’s a black tea that is only produced in small quantities in the highlands. Sir Isidor gav…”
Suddenly, my father’s eyebrows wriggled fiercely.
“Deborah.”
Suddenly he put the tea down and called me seriously.
“Yes?”
“I know that I’m being overly concerned, since you’re only interested in devoting yourself to your studies, but… Sir Isidor does not seem to be very helpful. There’s no reason to get close to him. Ahem! Right?”
Why would my father be so displeased with Isidor?
“Actually, I’ve been helped by Sir Isidor many times before, as well as this time. To the point where I wonder if he’s being too good for me. There are plenty of reasons to be close to him.”
“…”
“I plan to continue to get along well with him.”
It wasn’t a big deal, but soon, as he was sitting with a shocked face as if he had been struck by lightning, Duke Seymour’s thin lips trembled slightly, and he gave a contrived smile.
“I guess I said something useless. Get some rest. Feel free to tell me if there is anything you need. Alright?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
He, who was sitting with a preoccupied face, slowly raised himself up. While mumbling something grimly.
“That yellow fox, I think I should secretly…”
“The door isn’t that way.”
“I know that!”
The Duke took a wrong turn, then turned quickly and took a quick step.
‘What’s wrong with him all of a sudden?’
“Sister!”
While I was feeling puzzled, Enrique rushed inside the room. It seemed he was just waiting for our father to leave.
“Sister, you didn’t wake up for 71 hours, so I was worried a lot.”
Enrique’s eyes were swollen.
“Oh my, were you worried? As you can see, I’m completely healthy.”
As I stretched out my arms, the child immediately came into my embrace and hugged me tightly. He used to hesitate and hold back, but now he seems to be more used to expressing his feelings than before. When I stroked Enrique’s hair, who was hanging from me like a baby koala, the child sniffed in my arms. Then, his shoulders suddenly moved up and down and he wept loudly.
“Enrique. Why are you crying and making your sister sad?”
“I couldn’t play with you a lot, we couldn’t talk much, I couldn’t even say thank you, but you suddenly disappeared, and I was regretful and sad…”
“We have even more time left in the future. Right? So, stop crying.”
Enrique, who cried sadly but nodded his head firmly, was sticking to my side all morning.
“Sister, are you feeling well?”
“Yeah.”
Enrique reached out his small hand to my forehead to check if I had a fever, and even nursed me. He clumsily scooped up the porridge with his small hand and blew on it to cool it down.
‘Why is there no video recording function here? You useless wizards.’
Besides, Enrique remembered when I gave him the strawberries on the cake last time and imitated me.
“Sister, say ah-”
“Oh, are you going to feed me the porridge? What should I do? You’re the CITW.”
In the end, I couldn’t resist the cuteness and muttered to myself.
“What’s CITW?”
“It means you’re the Cutest In The World. But you don’t like to hear that you’re cute. You’re going to sulk, aren’t you?”
Enrique, who was sticking out his lips like a chick, swung his arm while holding the porridge that contained all sorts of precious ingredients and moved his lips.
“I hated it a lot, but I hate it less because it’s you. And I think you’re the best and prettiest in the world.”
The child said shyly, his white, chubby cheeks turning red. As if making a great confession, Enrique’s small earlobes were getting red.
“And Sister and I are going to live together for a long, long time. Hehe.”
“… Euk!”
“What’s wrong?”
My heart hurt because of Enrique, and I couldn’t breathe well. I fell on the bed holding my chest.
“Sister, rest more.”
Thinking that I needed more rest after looking at my pathetic appearance, Enrique pulled the blanket and tucked me in with both hands before leaving the room.
‘But did everyone plan this?’
Now I was confused. Because Belreck came to see me in the living room shortly after Enrique left. The Seymour men, who were second to none in terms of being fussy and, sadly, difficult to see, came to me on three separate occasions on the same day.
And on top of that, there was not much of an interval between them, like a relay race.
“Why are you here?”
When I asked Belreck, he fiddled with his silver-framed glasses, distracted, and responded even more abruptly.
“I’m visiting a sick person.”
“Suddenly, like this?”
“I picked something up on my way here.”
Suddenly, he tossed a black box as if he was throwing it away. It seemed to be a gift, but I didn’t know why he was giving it like that. He was a really peculiar guy who was just asking for a beating no matter what he did.
I opened the box that had tumbled down with a vague feeling.
“You picked up such a precious bracelet on your way here? I guess you’re lucky.”
Inside the box, there was a bracelet with a high-grade mana stone, presumably an artifact.
“There are a lot of things like that rolling around in my lab. Is that a complaint?”
“…”
“Why are you so sick when I’m busy to death? It’s annoying.”
He soon got up from his seat, grumbling, and I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Belreck’s angry back.
‘Why are you like this? Who asked you to come?’
While I was swallowing a ridiculous feeling, a piece of paper fell from the box to the floor. I had a strange feeling as I picked it up.
It was an artifact instruction manual.
“Belreck wrote this himself.”
Remembering his unique handwriting because of the slave contract, I looked at the bracelet on my wrist, thinking it was surprising. It reacted only to Seymour’s blood, and it contained magic missiles, so it seemed useful to use as an offensive artifact.
‘I never say no to good things.’
I gained something precious and was satisfied, so I walked into my room with a smile on my lips. At first, I clearly liked the pleasant infrastructure here, but for some reason, I thought Seymour would keep improving in a different sense.
***
‘What is this mysterious atmosphere?’
Rosad’s expression became serious when he heard that his father, his youngest brother, and even Belreck, had gone to visit Deborah.
‘Honestly, I still can’t get used to it.’
He wondered what happened while he was in the eastern region. There was a sense of family love in the house that wasn’t there before, his ruffian sister had suddenly become a genius, and even Belreck, who was stubborn, had become more flexible.
‘I never thought that Belreck would give Deborah an artifact with guided missiles.’
This was simply difficult to interpret as it was. Because he knew that the bracelet was an artifact that was made by the most famous craftsman in the capital and took a lot of effort to make.
‘As expected, Belreck must be after Deborah’s patent rights.’
If Deborah sees him in a good light and yields her patent rights, Belreck can effectively keep him in check even if he is a combat wizard. Thinking it was a good move, Rosad went to the jewelry store.
He was always one step ahead of Belreck when it came to worldly wisdom. Deborah liked gorgeous jewelry more than artifacts with boring designs.
That night.
Deborah was bewildered when she was presented by Rosad with a ruby brooch with rose decorations, the latest fashion in the capital.
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