Chapter 12.2

“I will call a doctor.” The Marquis’s face was hard, and Lia’s smile was awkward.

“It’s just indigestion. The banquet…”

“You don’t need to attend if you’re unwell. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you.”

Lia rubbed her rigid neck as she sat on the comfortable teal sofa, and the Marquis didn’t go to the banquet hall until he’d called a doctor, who came in to give her digestive medicine. She lifted the bottle and shook it before opening the cork. A bitter smell filled the air.

A maid left a bowl of bright candies before quietly leaving the room and closing the door. Lia felt like she had been treated like a child, so her mood was foul. While Claude had been the cause, she couldn’t blame him outright. She wanted to see Betty who would have given her sweet honey tea with peaches and then rubbed her stomach. Lia would fall asleep after that warm hand touched her. Unfortunately, this was the palace, and Betty was not here.

Lia closed her eyes while drinking the medicine and rolled two candies in her mouth. She undressed after savoring another one. She noticed red marks on her skin after taking off the leather underwear Betty had given her, and she felt better already just by doing that, but there would be a limit in hiding her curves, as her body was noticeably changing. A soft-looking shirt had been prepared on the bed for her, and it reached her thighs when she put it on. She wore only that as she walked over to the big window and sat on the cushioned bench with the candy dish.

Opening the window to get some fresh air, her emerald-green eyes stared into the darkness. Louvre, the worst slum of the Empire, was there somewhere in the distance. Lia had been born and bred there, and while she didn’t want to go back, she did miss the place where she’d lived with her mother. Four years had been a long time to be away and she wondered if her mother would recognize her now. Lia had been looking down with a serious look on her face while popping another candy into her mouth when she was startled by someone’s voice.

“I heard that Princess Rosina and Sir Kieran will be engaged next month.”

Lia heard a woman’s quiet voice, and a lady with long red hair was speaking to Claude with a smile.

“So I heard.” The girl’s arm was in Claude’s, and they were walking together with ease.

Marilyn Shelby? The face that had scolded her overlapped the woman’s face, and Lia couldn’t help but observe them.

“Shouldn’t we follow suit? Father wants us to hurry, as I am old enough to marry now.”

However, Claude was indifferent as he lifted her arm out of his. “Then, you should find someone who you can marry for your father’s sake.”

Marilyn’s expression froze at Claude’s cold gaze, and she hid her embarrassment with a smile. “You jest…”

“There are many good men in the Empire and many who favor you.”

“That is true, but you’re the best there is. I enjoyed our meeting. You will dance with me again, won’t you?”

Marilyn lifted her pink and white dress skirts in courtesy before heading to the hall in a huff. Lia’s heart beat faster at having seen the scene below, and she had been about to close the window when she felt the candy dish tilt as she tried in vain to prevent the sweets from falling out of the window and yelled, “Be careful!”

Claude raised his head at her voice and was hit in the face by the colorful candies. Things had become hell, and Lia opened her mouth wide while Claude’s eyes lit up like a predator’s. “You were there the whole time!” He stared at Lia with daggers in his eyes.

***

Surely he wouldn’t come up? There was no reason to, she tried to convince herself, as she closed the window and turned off the lights. Claude would not be able to find her, as there were 600 rooms with connecting bathrooms and 250 doors on a floor. She had to believe that.

Lia dived into the bed with only one small candle burning and waited for time to pass and she began to obsess about the incident in the stillness of her room. He had seen her so should she have apologized? She had essentially hit his face, and it was Claude after all. What would she do if he became more malicious due to this incident? She was so unsettled by her thoughts that she stood up and paced the room.

She had been the one at fault by looking at the two of them and listening in on their conversation and felt she must apologize. She combed her hair with a hand and had been about to put on the trousers she had placed on a chair when suddenly she heard a familiar voice.

“Was this hide and seek?”

“What?!” Lia sat down hard on the floor when she heard the voice coming from the entrance, and her face turned white. She had not heard the door open, and the only light in the room came from the candle she had placed over the fireplace mantle.