Dorothea, who was exhausted both physically and mentally, fell asleep quietly as soon as she returned to her bed in the mansion.
Jane wiped the young lady's face and hands and examined them.
“Why did you go to that place alone?”
If you wanted to go for a walk, it was right to wake up someone who was asleep and go out with them.
When Jane actually found Dorothea, her lips were pale.
Wood looked at Dorothea who was sleeping with a confused face.
According to his guess, it could not have been a simple walk. Maybe it had something to do with Dorothea's 'strange' powers.
'Only twelve years old.'
The eyes of the child, who was so small that it could barely reach his waist, were deep as if she had lived for decades.
If anyone had heard it, they would have scoffed and said it was nonsense.
He remembered a child lying in bed who had difficulty even moving, vividly reciting events that occurred far away as if she had seen them right in front of her eyes.
'The father and mother-in-law didn't seem to know about this child.'
In their eyes, she is just an infinitely precious and lovable child.
Dorothea willingly fit into the role they wanted for the child.
Thanks to that, everyone had no idea how clever and nasty this child was.
Sometimes Wood even suspected that Dorothea was an alien race that had lived for hundreds or thousands of years.
If anything, he would have asked Ben, 'Did you see the moment Dorothea was born?'
'It just gives me a headache to think about it.'
Wood looked away and stood up. Jane, who was looking at Dorothea, asked Wood.
“Where are you going?”
“To do what Your Lady told me to do.”
“At this time of night?”
“If I don’t do it, I’ll be scolded.”
She will stare at him blankly and harass him by saying things like, ‘It’s like a useless leg in the world.’
Knowing from experience that those few sharp words would pierce his heart for days, he obediently got up.
Strangely enough, her words had a strange power that shook others.
Even after Wood left, the quarrel between uncle and father continued.
“No matter how much you call yourself a nobleman, you can’t take the child away.”
“You couldn’t feed or clothe your child properly. Look at that. You must have hated home so much that you had to run away alone!”
“I didn’t run away, I took a walk. I will take good care of Thea...”
When the sun finally came, everyone was so tired that they couldn't say a word.
***
No matter how strong and sturdy a person may be, a person is still a person.
Ben Everley and Aiden Highclere, the third son of Marquis Highclere, who had been fighting for a while after wandering outside in thin clothes all night, ended up lying down in their seats with googly eyes.
In fact, Aiden was in much better condition than Ben, but he was imitating the sick Ben because he wanted to receive the worried gaze of his beloved niece.
“Ugh.”
Wood, who came back soaking wet after searching the river all night, felt a headache when he saw Aiden pretending to be sick despite his body being fine.
'It's me who has to lie down sick.'
Just thinking about the trouble he had to go through to find the necklace made him cry.
When Wood returned, he found that the person who had given the order was fast asleep and Jane was the only one left to scold him.
“Please refrain from playing in the water in the middle of the night. How can you plan on having fun when she’s so sick?!”
That's not all. When he presented the necklace he had just found, the words she spoke were extremely unpleasant.
“I bury it under the tree in the yard of the mansion.”
He stayed up all night searching the riverbed to find this small object, but this time she decided to bury it in the ground.
Even training a mutt would be better than this.
Although he was in tears, Dorothea's eyes were stern.
When the lumpy-faced Wood finally went to bury the necklace, a satisfied smile appeared on Dorothea's face.
"Jane."
“Yes, what’s going on?”
"I'm hungry."
“You're hungry after going for a walk alone at night. We are making vegetable stew, so please wait a moment.”
Dorothea took her eyes off Jane, who was heading toward the kitchen and looked at her father and uncle who were lying down. After finishing his work, Wood lay down next to her and started moaning.
“You can’t get any closer. I’m catching a cold, Lady.”
Jane's voice came from the kitchen.
All three of them, who had suddenly been treated as people who infectious diseases, groaned at the same time.
Dorothea sat down next to the lying men and lowered the clothes from their heads.
As Jane had done, she soaked the cloth in a bowl of water.
Next, the dripping wet cloth was placed on the men's foreheads again. With a splashing sound, the wet water soaked their face.
“...”
Although it was clumsy, it seemed like she was imitating Jane.
However, there was no way it would work properly because there was no way she could squeeze the fabric with her bony, fragile hands.
“It’s Thea.”
Ben moaned his daughter's name.
Dorothea pressed the cloth on his forehead.
The water that flowed out every time she pressed the button made the place where it lay wet.
Ben, who already had a cold due to the cold wind, shivered as cold water was poured on his body.
However, he could not scold his daughter who tried to help him with her fern-like hands.
Wood next to him lay down with a sigh.
'I'd rather not do anything.'
Dorothea was doing her best to help Jane.
She looked down at her father's wet face and was lost in thought.
'Will such affectionate love for children eventually give way to growing greed?'
Did she think of her older brother, who told lies and acted like a loving family member with clouded eyes?
Dorothea's hand on his cheek stopped.
His tired face, which had traveled across the country for ten years for his child, was red with chills. Dorothea, who caught a glimpse of her healthy uncle pretending to be sick next to him, focused on nursing his father, who was in the most serious condition.
“...”
Of course, the condition seemed to be getting worse due to the poor nursing care, but Aiden, who was lying next to him, glanced at Ben with an envious look on his face that could never be seen in the world.
And then he took a deep breath as if he was going to run out of breath.
“Let’s not spit...”
Wood protested helplessly against Aiden's spittle that flew every time he cleared his throat.
Despite Aiden's efforts, Dorothea seemed to have no intention of caring for anyone but Ben.
“Miss, please eat.”
“...”
She just lifted the spoon to eat the stew, but her hands were shaking.
Dorothea readily admitted that going out alone yesterday had ultimately put a strain on her body.
'If I had known this would happen, I should have woken Wood up and gone, or just ignored him.'
She went out of useless curiosity, but the discomfort only increased.
Aiden, who had been observing Dorothea who was looking down at the stew, suddenly stood up. It seemed he had decided to stop faking it.
“I-I will help you.”
The spoon held in the large, rough hand looked cute, unlike when it was held in Dorothea's hand.
Aiden's eyes were filled with emotion as he watched her calmly eating the stew.
With heavy breathing, he raised his voice again.
“Where on earth is this child so sick! If you were going to make her suffer like this, you should have told my family!”
“...The general wrote to me and said that it was his last consideration to send a palace healer for my wife. He told me not to ask for mercy anymore.”
"Father?"
Aiden frowned.
“Damn it, no matter how disappointed he was with Ellen, he was so heartless.”
Dorothea glanced at Aiden, looking at the spoon that had stopped in the air.
“It’s almost pitiful for a child who can’t eat properly and grow up, but he doesn’t even think about looking into it.”
His eyes became more determined.
“I will take the child with me.”
Everyone fell silent as he put down his spoon.
Dorothea slapped Aiden's hand as if she hadn't heard anything.
"Give it."
She was starving to death, but there was no way she could hear anything else.
Aiden's eyes filled with moisture as he looked at Dorothea, who was asking for food.
He insisted in a hoarse voice.
“Look at this. It doesn’t matter how long you haven’t had enough to eat, you can still enjoy the stew this much.”
“She really likes a stew.”
Wood looked at the scene in front of him with a bewildered face.
Ignoring the maid's words, the uncle shed tears and insisted that the child should stay with him.
Dorothea is just concentrating on her meal as if she can't even see her uncle.
'Neither of them seem to be listening to the other.'
It was clear that they were of the same bloodline.
“As expected, this child must come with me. Call a top therapist...”
Ben confessed to Aiden's insistence that he would take the child with him even if he died soon.
“Dorothea is suffering from mana disease.”
The moment Ben opened his mouth, Aiden and Wood both froze at the same time.
Ben's pale complexion became worse than before. His painfully distorted face was full of self-reproach and helplessness.
“Woah, are you sure?”
“...”
Ben didn't respond to his stuttering words. However, the darkened face seemed to have already given the answer.
“The court wizard told me directly. The diagnosis of the wizards of the Magic Tower was the same.”
There is no way this man in front of him could summon a court wizard.
The Highclere family, upon hearing about the child's illness, decided not to bring Dorothea home.
Aiden's eyes fell on his niece, who was a couple of years smaller than her peers.
Pale skin, thin body, squinty eyes.
His heart broke as he thought about his niece who must have suffered for a long time.
“Uh, how... How could you...”
As tears like chicken droppings fell from his eyes, Dorothea shook her head.
“Tears are falling into the stew.”
She told him to stop now, but when Aiden heard those words, he shook his shoulders and started crying.
Dorothea glanced at Jane as the tears rolled down her chin and into her stew.
However, Jane also seemed busy wiping away tears.
Dorothea is hungry, but it feels like she shouldn't ask for stew because she's hungry here.
“I will somehow get a great healer, no, the Pope of the Holy Kingdom to treat you.”
It is common knowledge that divine power does not work on mana bottles, but this was the biggest promise Aiden could make.
“No matter how great the Pope of the Holy Kingdom is, he cannot heal this body.”
Dorothea already knew her physical condition better than anyone else.
The fact that she was able to enter this body was proof that the physical vessel was unstable.
The reason she was able to maintain her nearly depleted life was because she came in and absorbed a little of her soul power.
“But I want to live, so I’m going to try.”
Whatever the lifespan of the body, it does not mean that there is no ability to change it.
What she needs is a reason to live here as ‘Dorothea’.
This was the reason to stay here and live with them.
“Just live. There are so many people living in shameless ways.”
The boy said so.
If you are not living because you have a clear reason to live, but if you are living to live.
“Thea, my baby.”
Wouldn't it be possible to gradually repay the affection in those deep, dark, sad eyes?
Even if she decided to live, she couldn't regain her health right away.
First, take her time and focus on repairing the cracks in her physical vessel.
Dorothea demanded, pushing away her tear-soaked stew.
“Bring me back a new one, Jane.”
Jane placed the warm, freshly reheated stew in front of Dorothea.
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