CH 26

“Ah, right. I forgot to sort it out.”

What caught my eye was a book I received as a reward from an old man at the library a while ago.

The blue cover of the antique design reminded me of the dizziness and pride from that day.

“Should I put it in the library?”

Since I didn’t have a hobby of reading, I didn’t have a bookshelf in my room, so I didn’t have a place to put it.

“Should I take this opportunity to enjoy reading as a hobby?”

As I was thinking about what to do with this book, I noticed something strange.

“The cover looks somewhat familiar?”

I inadvertently picked up the book and opened my eyes wide.

<The Beginning of Brilliant History>

The name of the book I had been searching for was written on the blue cover.

In very small letters, too!

“W-What is this?”

I slowly turned over the book with a trembling hand.

“T-The table of contents is the same.”

Just in case, I opened the book I had bought and started comparing it.

“The previous content is the same!”

I examined the back of the book, unable to calm my pounding heart.

I screamed when I found it had all the contents listed in the table of contents.

“Oh, my! What should I do?”

With a joyful heart, I grabbed the blue book and jumped up and down.

‘Come to think of it, he said at the time that he was the author of the book! Oh my God!’

Then the person I had helped in the library was the rumored scholar.

‘Yes. It’s not easy to find because it’s an old book. I’m sure!’

I couldn’t help but wonder how such a coincidence could happen.

“The saying that you will be blessed if you do good things is right.”

The book that the old man gave me was a complete edition, so it was much thicker than the one I bought, and it had handwritten notes written by him.

“What should I do?!”

I ran out of the room in my pajamas without drying my hair.

“M-Miss?”

Isabelle, who was standing outside, was surprised at my outfit and called out to me, but I couldn’t stop running.

“Miss! You’ll catch a cold!”

Leaving Isabel’s anxious shout behind, I arrived in front of Liliana’s room.

Her maid, Susan, couldn’t hide her surprise at my sudden arrival.

“Miss Daisy? What brings you here at this hour?”

“I came to see Sister. Is she still awake?”

I asked, gasping for breath, and Susan hid her bewilderment, answered me, and immediately knocked.

“Miss. Miss Daisy has visited.”

“What? Daisy? Tell her to come in. No, I….”

At Susan’s voice, I heard a startled voice from inside, and when Susan opened the door, Liliana, who had come to the door, was standing there.

“I was going to open it for you.”

Liliana led me to her room with a voice of regret.

‘This is Sister Liliana’s room.’

I had seen Viola’s room by chance before, but this was really the first time I had been to Liliana’s room.

‘It’s more colorful than I thought.’

If Viola’s room was neat, Liliana’s room was full of colorful things.

The works placed here and there looked so expensive that I felt like I was in an art museum.

‘I was so happy that I came running here. I should’ve packed the book.’

My gift looked shabby, so I pulled it tightly into my arms and hid it.

As I was looking carefully at Liliana’s room, she led me to a sofa set on one side.

“Oh, my God. You didn’t even dry your hair? What are you going to do if you catch a cold?”

Liliana brought a towel from somewhere, saying that I shouldn’t do that.

“Even if it’s summer now, you shouldn’t walk around like this at night.”

“I was in a hurry because I wanted to meet Sister quickly.”

When I smiled brightly, Liliana smiled along, saying she couldn’t stop me.

She put a towel on my head with a careful touch.

The hand that gently brushed down the hair and wiped away the water was gentle and full of affection.

“Why did Daisy come to my room at this time of night?”

At Lilliana’s joyful humming voice, I glanced down at the book in my arms.

At first, I was really happy, but I hesitated when I tried to hand over the book.

Liliana was popular with everyone, and she had a wide connection, so she might have gotten it if she made up her mind.

‘Should I have asked? No, I worked so hard to get it, so she’ll like it.’

Making up my mind to pass it on, I turned my head back and said to Liliana.

“Sister. There’s something I want to give you.”

“To me?”

Liliana stopped drying my hair and let out a shrill voice.

When I shrank my shoulders in surprise, she hurriedly patted me on the shoulder and soothed me.

“What should I do? I’m so excited to hear that I get a gift.”

“Uh… It’s not as great as you’d expect.”

Liliana’s expectations grew bigger, and it became a burden, but I closed my eyes and turned around to hold out the book to her.

“Here!”

“A book?”

Liliana made a puzzled expression, then put down the towel and accepted the book.

“<The Beginning of Brilliant History>? Wait a minute, Daisy. This is…”

Liliana read the title of the book and immediately opened it and began to scan through it.

“Oh, my God.”

A short exclamation escaped her mouth.

“Daisy. Where did you get this?”

“It’s a bit of a long story.”

After hesitating a little, I opened up about what had happened in the library.

It was a word uttered in preparation for a bitter remark, and as expected, Liliana’s expression was stiff when the explanation was over.

‘I might get scolded for secretly following her.’

As I closed my eyes and was about to be scolded, she grabbed my shoulder and asked in a worried voice.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier!? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Huh? Yes. As I said, a passing holy knight helped me, so no one was hurt. Neither was I.”

Liliana breathed a sigh of relief at my words.

Then, she spoke to me with a serious look.

“Daisy, make a promise to Sister. I understand your desire to help others, but if it puts you in danger, never do it.”

“But if I hadn’t stepped up…”

“Even if it wasn’t for you, that holy knight would have helped. You were lucky that time, but there’s no guarantee that you won’t get hurt next time.”

Liliana urged me again and again with a nervous voice, unlike before.

“Come on. Promise to Sister.”

I nodded softly at her anxious expression.

“Okay. From now on, you must never get involved in anything dangerous. We value you more than we do others. If you get hurt while helping someone, it will hurt me.”

It wasn’t until she heard my affirmation that Liliana threw out her urgency and smiled calmly.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen Sister get flustered like that.’

This was the first time since she suddenly came into my bedroom in the middle of the night.

‘I must have worried her too much. I have to be careful.’

I was actually weaker than the others, so I definitely needed to be careful as she said.

Liliana smiled as she read the book.

“The first gift from Daisy.”

“Do you like it?”

“Of course I like it.”

Liliana’s happy expression was flooded with pride.

“I thought you would need it for the test, so I really wanted to get it for you.”

“I couldn’t find it, so I was looking at other books while studying, but thanks to Daisy, I can study more perfectly.”

Liliana hugged the book tightly and smiled joyfully.

“More than anything else, I am so happy that Daisy got this for me, so much that I feel like crying. I can feel that you really believe in me and support me.”

Her voice trembled slightly.

I quickly got up from my seat as she looked like she was going to burst into tears.

“Never forget that I’m always cheering for you! You won’t lose the bet with Grandmother!”

“As expected, you were listening outside at that time.”

Aghast at Liliana’s words, I covered my mouth and gave a small laugh.

“It’s not just me alone, with your help combined, I’m sure it’ll work out.”

We smiled bashfully as we faced each other.

It was a night full of unknown hopes that things would turn out the way I wanted.

✲ ✲ ✲

“It’s already been a month as of today, but I haven’t heard from you.”

Toward the end of dinner, Grandmother finally brought up the bet.

Tension hovered over the table at the topic that came up for the first time since the bet started.

“In case you didn’t know, I waited until evening.”

Grandmother shook her head and said to Lilliana.

“Your proof is done now. So, quietly get engaged to the First Prince.”

“Grandmother, why are you so impatient?”

Liliana answered Grandmother’s words in a quiet voice.

“I was going to tell you. The news.”

At Liliana’s gesture, Susan, who had been waiting behind her, brought out something and set it down in front of Grandmother.

“I have officially become a scholar belonging to the Odphelia Imperial family.”

“Scholar?”

Grandmother frowned at the sudden word and began to read the letter in front of her.

“Fine. It says that you passed the exam as the top scorer. However, there are many other great scholars in the Imperial family besides you.”

Liliana smiled at Grandmother’s words.

“Grandmother is right. That can’t be the end, can it?”