It seemed like things were getting more interesting than I thought.
—Reconsidering it, it seems that I have dictated a too lenient punishment motivated by my personal feelings.
The duke is right.
Traitors must be given what they deserve.
Ivan, looking at Herdin with interest, gave the answer he wanted without problems.
—Although Rachel is close to me, by daring to attack my sister, I cannot allow it.
As if turning his hand, the Emperor's judgment fell on the heads of the rebels, who were shocked by the sudden change of atmosphere.
—Wesley Baldwin, Rachel Selden.
I order the permanent banishment of both.
⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅
Blair, after taking a shower, returned to her bedroom with Lina and Melly.
The two helped her change and took her to the dressing table.
Lina, while brushing his hair, observed his face and asked carefully:
—Madam, are you less tired today?
-Yeah.
I have slept well for several days and I think I am really well now.
Fortunately, the hypothermia was cured without leaving any major consequences.
Lina, who had been crying that everything was her fault, finally calmed down.
But his body must have been exhausted by the sudden change in temperature, since for several days he only slept in a state of sleep.
Blair, who was accidentally looking at the other side of the mirror, discovered the table that was visible behind Lina and Melly, and as if remembering something, she opened her mouth.
—Ah, yes, I eat the marshmallows you left very well.
But you don't need to do it anymore.
—Marshmallows?
-Yeah.
You left them on the table every morning.
A few days ago, Blair, who had woken up late, found a bowl of marshmallows on the table.
Then, he thought they were a snack that Lina or Melly had left him, and he ate them.
The fluffy marshmallows he ate when he woke up sweetened his mood.
As a gift.
But Lina and Melly, as if it were the first time they had heard of it, looked at each other and turned their heads strangely, and then, remembering the small empty bowl that had been on the table for the past few days, they made a small exclamation.
—Oh, that was the marshmallow dish?
—Haven't you left it?
—We don't enter the room until you call us, ma'am.
So we thought you brought them.
Blair's eyes widened.
If it hadn't been her, the owner of the room, and neither Lina or Melly, the only person who could leave marshmallows every day was one.
"Then have sweet dreams, ma'am."
Lina and Melly, who had finished getting her ready for bed, went out, and through the door the sound of the grandfather clock announcing ten could faintly be heard.
Blair looked at the table where the bowl of marshmallows sat every morning, and thought about the person who had put them there.
In her past life, while eating desserts alone, she had offered them to her several times.
But he never tried them.
Although she was embarrassed that he didn't reciprocate her desire to share something delicious with him, she couldn't force him because it was her taste.
That he, who was like that, brought marshmallows every night, meant that it was completely because of her.
Although I didn't know why precisely marshmallows.
While Blair recovered and slept, Herdin, busy finding the instigators of the kidnapping, returned late each night.
Along with the fireplace lit.
And when I woke up in the morning, he was already gone.
That's why I hadn't seen Herdin well for about a week.
Of course, he wouldn't be so insensitive as to vent his desires to a sick person, so his behavior would be to a certain extent out of pity for her...
But it couldn't be said that there was no desire in his waiting.
If that were the case, by always falling asleep early, she was leaving him wanting.
Fortunately, today his body had recovered a lot.
Blair went over to the drawer where she had left the book she had borrowed during the day, intending to read it while she waited for him.
But when he accidentally turned his gaze, he saw the scenery on the balcony.
On the other side of the balcony window, something white waved.
<…Snow?>
It couldn't snow this spring.
Upon closer inspection, they were cherry petals flying.
The last time she saw them, the day before the hunting competition, they were so swollen that they looked like they would burst at any moment, but while she was recovering, they had inadvertently bloomed.
Blair approached the glass balcony.
The cherry petals, as if dancing under the moonlight, flew with the spring breeze.
Like winter snow.
Blair looked at the landscape, absorbed.
-…How beautiful.
His eyes, which were showing a faint smile, then sank heavily.
When the cherry trees lose their blossoms and the whole world is covered in green.
Like that time in the past, would Herdin come to hate her?
Or, since this life had started with her offering to cooperate from the beginning to find the truth, wouldn't that happen?
But either way, the end was already decided.
Once he had Aziel, he would leave her side, as they agreed at the beginning.
Before he hated her.
While she was looking at that ephemeral landscape and ruminating on her plans for the near future, at that moment, she heard the door open behind her.
Hearing this, Blair turned around, and Herdin, who was entering the room, stopped when he saw her awake.
—She's awake today.
He approached the table and left what he brought.
It was a bowl of marshmallows.
—How are you feeling?
-Good.
But what is this?
—Marshmallows?
—No, I don't mean that...
Why did you bring this?
Herdin brought a small candle from the nearby lamp and the lighter by the fireplace.
—Have you ever eaten roasted marshmallows?
-…No.
Never.
Roasted marshmallows cool quickly.
That's why Blair, who was afraid of fire, always ate cold marshmallows or the ones that came in hot chocolate.
Even before the accident, there were a lot of desserts in the palace, so he hadn't had the need to eat roasted marshmallows.
—Sit down.
—Today we will roast marshmallows by candlelight.
Blair blinked at the unexpected conversation and looked at him.
—You said you wanted to overcome your phobia of fire.
Then he remembered that, before the hunting competition, he had told him that he wanted to overcome his phobia of fire.
—Mrs.
Lorelaine recommended that you start with the candle first.
Of course, overcoming a phobia is not easy.
But just avoiding it does not overcome it.
This must be done slowly, increasing the frequency of exposure to the object of trauma to become familiar with it.
…To be continued