Chapter 71

“Your Highness, this is Lockman. I’m coming in.”

Then, the attending physician, Lockman, entered the bedroom.

Lockman, as always, measured Julia's pulse first.

After checking her pulse, he did some other tests, but her condition was not much different from before, except for her fever.

Lockman prescribed medicine for fever and tea for energy recovery.

There was a sleep-inducing ingredient in the tea, so Julia fell asleep quickly.

“Her Grace seems to have intermittent fever because the chronic heart disease has not been fully cured.”

When Lockman spoke in a low voice, Fernan, who had been watching Julia as she slept, answered in an anxious voice.

“It has already been several months since she took the manufactured medicine.  But, why is it so difficult to recover?"

“It may be because her body is weak, or there may be other reasons… There are no other causes identified as of now.”

Fernan, who was deep in thoughts, nodded, and Lockman politely bowed before leaving the bedroom.

Fernan quietly looked at Julia’s face as if engraved into his eyes.

As he lowered his gaze further, he saw the soft back of her hand laid neatly on the blanket.

In his gaze, Julia always looked infinitely small and delicate.  She was so light that every time he held her, he wondered if she was okay.

Should he feed her more?  Or should he call a priest and perform a blessing ceremony?

Fernan sat quietly in his chair with a serious expression. He looked at the sleeping Julia for a long time.

It was only a few hours later that the sudden knocking sound was heard.

Lloyd's voice came from outside the door.

“Your Highness, are you inside?  I have something urgent to report.”

Fernan glanced at Julia, then slowly got up from his seat.

While he opened the door and went outside, Julia's eyes, which had been closed, were slowly opened.

She had just woken up to the sound of the voice from outside her door a while ago.

Her stomach was hot and throbbing.  While Julia exhaled a long breath, the voice faintly leaked from the outside.

“I don’t know if the location has been discovered. Marquis Elody, this time……  ”

Her mind was blank and she didn’t have energy to listen.  Of course, she had no intention of eavesdropping.

However, the words ‘Marquis Elody’ were clearly lodged in her ears.

Curiously, her ears turned to the outside of the door, but the only thing she could hear was a hum, and no more clear words could be heard.

She let out a heavy sigh with weary eyes.  Is her father making trouble for Fernan again?

Obviously, last time too, she had heard that the Marquis was monitoring Fernan by the Emperor's orders.

Even when she thought she had completely abandoned her family name, her father's name followed her like a shadow.

Even though she no longer had any intention of returning to that house, when she heard the name, she had no choice but to pay attention. 

Julia closed her eyes tightly as if avoiding reality.  Her head began to ring loudly.

***

It was the morning two days later when Julia woke up from her sickbed.

After spending two days in the bedroom, her body was very sore, but not so much that she couldn't move.

“Julia.”

When Julia just came out of the bedroom after changing, Fernan approached her as soon as she appeared.

“Isn’t it better to rest more?”

"I’m okay. The fever went down a lot.”

For the past two days, Fernan had been by her side, and every time she woke up in between, she remembered this man who was looking down at her with a steady posture.

After taking a deep breath, Julia looked out the window.

“Your Highness, do you have time today?”

Her body suddenly deteriorated, and she couldn't keep her promise to go to the sea with him.

So, she thought it would be nice to spend time together today.

It was a sunny day than usual. She felt like walking on the sand would open up the stuffiness.

However, Fernan responded belatedly with a somewhat troubled expression on his face.

"I have to leave for a while today because I have urgent political affairs."

"Oh…"

"Is there anything else you want to do?"

Julia, who had a sad face without realizing it, shook her head.

"No. It’s okay to do it next time.”

It was okay because today was not the only day. She still had half a week until the meeting with Cedric.

“Wait for me, I’ll be back soon.”

Fernan hastily answered. But even after saying that, he couldn't easily take his steps.

Julia looked up at him hesitantly and replied.

"Go ahead. Don't worry about me.”

Fernan, who seemed unwilling to leave her despite her goodbye, suddenly took one step closer to her.

He held Julia's hand, and then wrapped his other hand around her soft back and hugged her into his arms.

Her cool, pleasant body scent tickled the tip of her nose. Julia suddenly froze for a moment as she buried her face in his shirt.

It wasn't the first time she'd been hugged by him, but it felt a bit strange to hold him face to face like this.

Before long, she felt his hand brushing her hair away, a gentle touch she couldn't even imagine before.

Julia blinked, then impulsively raised her hands and hugged him back.

Even though she spread her arms, she could not fully embrace him.

As she hugged him as she clenched his shirt lightly, she felt his large body stiffen.

Long ago, there was a time when she really longed for this hug.

There were days when she wanted him to look at her just once and be kind to her.

Julia slowly closed her eyes.  But the days of longing for him were long gone.

She had no intention of walking down the path of oppressing him and her at the same time again.

Julia didn't want to be swayed by her father anymore.

She didn't want to lose her freedom to be tied to the ranks of Grand Duchess or someone's wife.

And this man, too, didn't want to be oppressed anymore because of her and her family.

Julia quietly enjoyed the mysterious feeling of this moment. Maybe this moment will never come back.

***

“Are you sure the Grand Duke is here?”

The sensitive voice of the Marquis Elody echoed through the inn room. The Marquis was secretly hiding on the outskirts of Seyref estate.

The reason was, by far, to observe and monitor Fernan's movements.

“Certainly, sir. Isn’t it suspicious that the checkpoints were suddenly strengthened?”

The knight answered in a calm voice. It was as he said.  Due to the sudden intensification of checkpoints, the Marquis was locked up in the inn without being able to pass through the territory.

“I'm sure he’s hiding a woman there."

At the next words of the knight, the Marquis narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

The fact that he has a woman was doubtful. Rumors had already become established in the capital and had spread.

For more than a year, the Grand Duke returned all the courtship letters that came to him. In addition, he even refused national marriage this time.

Yes, there could be a woman.  Otherwise, there was no way he could give up the national marriage offer.

If this national marriage was accomplished, it would be a good opportunity to easily break the emperor's eternal pressure, so there was no way he would turn it down.

“He was mean to Julia. He’s such a gloomy person…”

The Marquis suddenly gritted his teeth with a face full of anger.

The days when the power of the Grand Duke, who was no different than the center of the empire, as his son-in-law was equal, was now a thing of the past.

The Marquis still had the light of that time in his eyes.

The various businesses and investments that he started with the fame of the Grand Duke on his back were successful, and the number of people who wanted to catch his eyes increased endlessly.

Not to mention the emperor's confidence. The marquis family was literally royalty. He was like a bookmaker who shared and planned all the affairs of the empire.

The Marquis clenched his fists with an angry face.

"If Julia had endured and listened well, things would not have come to this point.”

When the missing daughter came to mind, the direction of his anger changed at once.

“I asked her to give birth to his successor, but how dare she disobey and disappear.”

bang!  Then, with his clenched fist, the Marquis slammed the table hard.

The glass of water on the table plummeted to the floor.

“If that damn girl had given birth to a child and then disappeared, I wouldn’t have suffered so much!”

Yes, if there was a successor with Elody’s bloodline, he would have been able to show off his prestige to his heart's content even if he didn't have his daughter.

It was for that reason that he had been harvesting and raising that lowly thing until this day, but after the girl disappeared, everything went wrong.

The knight standing next to him nodded calmly, as if familiar with the Marquis's moods.

“Sir, first calm down and think of a way to pass the checkpoint.”

“Whew… yes. There is something else that is important right now.”

The anger that boiled up easily subsided again. The Marquis was up and down with his mood several thousand times a day these days.

The marquis abruptly got up from his seat and circled around the same spot.

“First of all, we need to find someone. We have to somehow get him into the mansion where the Grand Duke is staying, and check what he is doing.”

“Yes, there may be a hidden woman.”

"Yes…  If it’s sure there's a girl, she'll be his weakness for now."

The Marquis tapped my chin with a very serious face.

"You go out and get a few useful men, and about three men who can act as drivers or porters."

"Yes, sir."

The knight gave a brief answer and went straight to the door.  The Marquis sat down in front of the table and pulled out a cigar from his inner pocket.

At that moment, someone slammed the door open before the knight could grab the doorknob.

“Grand…..ah!”

At the same time, the knight fell on the floor with broken words. Astonished, the Marquis dropped his cigar and turned his head.

Behind the knight, who was cut down by a single strike with a sword, stood a man with a stern expression.  It was Fernan, who was the center of the conversation a while ago.