Parfeil woke me up the next morning. I kept yawning, perhaps because I hadn’t gotten enough sleep.
“Parfeil, I would like some strong tea today,” I requested.
“Yes, milady.”
While waiting for the tea, I put on the powder blue dress that Parfeil had laid out for me. The white squirrels clung to my back as they cleverly fastened all of the dress’s buttons.
Parfeil returned with a tray in hand as I covered up a yawn. On the tray was a cup of steaming hot tea.
“I brought some herbal tea the head cook made,” Parfeil said.
“Seems like the perfect thing to wake me up.” The herbal tea that Parfeil brought me was more intense than her usual brew—the ideal thing to stave away my drowsiness.
I had decided with Lady Opera and Madeleine that we would take things easy today. We had been working ourselves to the bone the past few days to prepare the hot springs resort. Lady Opera had asked me whether Van and I had done anything you’d typically do on a honeymoon yet, and I hadn’t been able to answer her. So, today, we were on break.
I wanted to spend some time with Van, but he had gone out with Marquis de Noisette to visit the villages. He had already left by the time I woke up, so I couldn’t meet up with him.
And so, I spent breakfast with Lady Opera, Madeleine, and Parfeil.
“I was not aware that my brother would be going out on a trip today. I should have talked to him beforehand,” Lady Opera said.
“Since the trip was already on his schedule, there’s not really much we can do,” I replied.
“Millefie, I hope he comes back quickly,” Madeleine said to me.
“I hope so too.”
I wasn’t going to go so far as to ask him to take me along on his outings. I would have been satisfied with just sharing a cup of tea with him. As I expressed such sentiments, Lady Opera looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“Millefie, you are a saint,” she said. “If I were your husband, I would never let go of you for the entire day.”
I think being stuck to someone for an entire day presents a problem of its own, I thought. I’m glad I’m married to Van.
After breakfast, we all went our separate ways. Parfeil and I were about to discuss what we should do when we were interrupted by loud knocks on the door. Parfeil rushed to open it up.
It was one of Van’s knights.
“M-Milady, it’s horrible! The Lord Dragon Duke has been stabbed in the stomach with a knife!” the knight yelled.
“Wh-What?!” I doubted my ears for a moment, but there was no mistake in the knight’s report. I felt goose bumps pop up all over my skin, and cold fear settled into the pit of my stomach. “Where is the Lord Dragon Duke now?”
“The others are bringing him back to the mansion. He is currently unconscious,” the knight reported.
“Okay.”
The knight’s face was pale with shock, and I reassured him that things were going to be fine. I had no idea if things were going to be fine, but it was all I could say to comfort him. I didn’t want him to blame himself for not being able to protect Van.
It seemed that Van had been able to transform and heal his wound. While he’d managed to seal the wound shut, he had collapsed upon reverting to his human form. Though the wound wasn’t life-threatening, it was possible that some kind of poison had been applied to the blade. The knights were trying to determine what kind of substance it was. The culprit had apparently committed suicide on the spot.
“Parfeil, we have to get to Van,” I told her.
“Yes, milady!”
The two of us headed to Van’s room. A number of village doctors and spellcasters were crowded in front of the room. There wasn’t much that I could do, because I, as a mere attendant, had no right to stay close to the Dragon Duke.
Lady Opera and Madeleine also arrived at the scene shortly after me.
“Millefie, what is the situation with the Lord Dragon Duke?!” Lady Opera asked.
“I don’t know.”
“I see...”
I thought Lady Opera would rush straight to Van’s side at that, but she stayed put. If she had been her old self, she would have let her emotions get the better of her. Still, I could tell that she was very anxious.
I gave her a big hug to comfort her. “Aura, he’s going to be okay. He’ll be okay.”
“I-I know. I know...” After a while, Lady Opera seemed to have calmed down enough to talk. “Millefie, I am truly grateful to you.”
“I didn’t do anything special.”
“That is not true. I am grateful just for you being at my side. It is reassuring to know that I would not be alone if anything happened to the Dragon Duke.”
Madeleine also held Lady Opera’s trembling hand. The three of us huddled together, praying for Van’s recovery.
Three hours later, we were finally permitted to see Van. Unexpectedly, he was sleeping peacefully with a calm expression on his face. Lady Opera seemed relieved upon seeing him.
One of the knights noticed me and wordlessly bowed deep to me. Apparently, he wanted to report the details of what had transpired to us. We all went to a different room.
He had a grave expression on his face as he started to recall the strange events in the village. “Um... It’s a bit difficult to put into words, but we were greeted with an unprecedented level of enthusiasm in the village.”
According to him, over a hundred villagers had approached Van and surrounded him. The knights had tried their best to keep the villagers away from Van, but as a result, Van himself had been left poorly guarded.