Chapter 7.7 – Adverse Effect

The golden hour was passing. Elia was kneeling beside her mother, holding her hand, and in a small voice talking between mother and daughter, which might be their last conversation. 

“Mother… heup.”

“E… lia….”

Mrs. Hayes had a hard time speaking, almost exhausted.

“Mother, if you go like this, I’m alone now.”

Elia lost her father in an accident when she was young and continued to live alone with her mother. So if Mrs. Hayes died, she would now be left alone in the world.

“Ah… Y-you have to be strong… Even if I…”

“Mother!”

“…my daughter, married… I should have seen you h-have children.”

“Mother, stop talking. Hic….”

Nevertheless, the mother, who was about to end, would still have a lot to say to her daughter. I want to be with you, but I can’t be with you anymore, so she had to tell her until the end of the last time when the moment of death was approaching. How much she loves her and how much she cares for her.

“I love you… My daughter…”

“I, I love you, too. Hic.”

‘How does my mother remember my last appearance.’

What happened to my body and whether my family is living well after accepting my death. I want to say I love you too… If I knew it would be the last time. Tears flowed endlessly when I saw the two of them thinking about my family.

But it was then. I could hear the sound of a carriage and the cry of a horse outside.

“He must be here!”

After a while, Klaus opened the door and came in.

“Duke!”

I found a small box in his hand. Klaus looked at my crying face and wrapped his arms around my shoulders with a slight hardened expression. Soon he handed the box to Liam. As soon as Liam received the box, he opened it and his face brightened when he saw what was inside.

“T-that’s right! I’ll make it into medicine right now. Hold on a little longer!”

Liam went outside. I grasped Klaus’s hands with eagerness.

“Thank you, Duke. Thank you very much…!”

Elia fell away from her mother for a moment and bowed to Klaus.

“Thank you very much. How should I repay this favor…”

“It was my wife, not me.”

“No. It was the Duke who helped you, not me. Thank you!”

I shook my hand, denied it, and thanked Klaus with Elia.

“Thank you both very much. I will never forget this grace.”

“Elia, first of all, focus on your mother’s recovery. Liam is in a hurry to make the medicine, so I’m sure she’ll get well.”

“Thank you very much.”

Klaus looked at my face for a moment and wiped tears from my eyes.

“Did you cry?”

“No, no.”

I turned my head slightly because I was embarrassed with my crying face. Shortly afterwards Liam came in with a cup in his hand. When I got closer, I found red liquid in the cup.

“Please raise Madam up.”

At Liam’s words, Elia sat Mrs. Hayes up. And she received a cup of medicine from Liam and put it in her mouth.

“Mother, it’s a medicine to cure you.”

Perhaps because she was already very weak, Mrs. Hayes took the medicine with difficulty. Fortunately, she drank all the medicine in the cup without leaving a drop. After putting the cup down on the bedside table, Elia laid her back on the bed.

“Now sleep well and wake up and she’ll be fine. Laveria is a plant with life, people who take this medicine will regain their health. So you don’t have to worry anymore.”

We all sighed with relief at Liam’s words.

“That’s a relief, Elia. That’s great.”

“Thank you. Thank you very much…”

“Don’t cry. It’s a good day. If Madam is awake, let’s greet her with a big smile.”

“Yes, I will. Hic….”

Klaus and I comforted Elia and went out leaving her alone in the room.

“You must be very tired.”

Klaus made a forced march with more than ten hours in the carriage today. It was obvious that no matter how good a swordman he was, it would be tough.

“It’s all right.”

“I’m sorry, Duke, but I want to see Mrs. Hayes awake and go, is that all right?”

It was too late to go back now because it was very dark outside. I asked for his opinion because I thought I should let him go first, even if he had to rule the duke’s residence.

“I can’t leave you alone.”

To be honest, I wanted him to be around rather than alone, but fortunately, he replied that he would be with me.

“Then we rest here for a while, and then we go back after seeing your wife wake up.”

“I’ll do that.”

We took a rest in the guest room that the housekeeper showed us. I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t close my eyes easily. It seemed to be the same with Klaus, so we sat on the sofa and talked about this and that.

“I’m so glad. But how did you have Laveria?”

“Someone gave it to me when I was in another estate.”

“If it’s another estate… Peirate?”

Peirate was a fief belonging to the Duke of Ruiden family. In the north, it was a very cold place in winter and cool in summer, so if Laveria grew there, the weather conditions were just right.

“Come to think of it, it’s time to go and live in Peirate. When this is over, let’s go together this time.”

“Let’s go to a Peirate? You’re not in the capital all the time?”

It wasn’t in my plan to go to Peirate. I couldn’t hide my bewildered face and asked him back.

“The temperature is lower than here, so it’s a good place to spend the summer.”

“I don’t think this place is bad either…”

Klaus’s expression hardened as I continued to express my disapproval.

“I’m going, but you won’t go?”

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