Chapter 165: Apology – 4

“Please move the room.”

This was what Gisela said to Vivian while she was having dinner.

Even without specifying the subject, Vivian could understand what Gisela meant.

And in that moment, she felt her appetite completely disappear.

Vivian froze for a while after hearing Gisela’s words.

Now, the only time she could visit Kailo was either when Gisela briefly left the room or at night.

No matter how much Kailo was inside, it was impossible to let the daughter of a remote noble family stay in the family head’s room.

It was only something she could allow for Kailo’s sister, Kayla, since she was family.

But that was only because of their family connection, not for any other reason.

Vivian had no intention of giving up the room—or her place by his side—to Gisela.

Gisela must have known that, which is probably why she made such a suggestion.

Vivian stared at the light meal in front of her for a long time without touching it.

Gisela spoke again.

“I don’t want to see my fiancé with a woman like you. Please move the room.”

Vivian hesitated for a while before whispering.

“…Kailo needs absolute rest. He is not in a condition to move rooms. Don’t you care about his health?”

“…”

Gisela was momentarily silenced and flinched, but she continued her argument.

“That doesn’t mean… you expect me to leave my fiancé in the care of someone like you?”

Fiance.

Fiance.

Enough, please.

Without realizing it, Vivian glared at Gisela with sharp eyes.

Why does this woman keep talking as if she’s closer to Kailo?

Even if she’s ignorant, she should know that Kailo and I have spent seven years together.

She should also understand that the depth of our relationship is something different…

…or maybe that’s exactly why she’s acting this way.

“I refuse your suggestion. Kailo’s health comes first. My room is the most comfortable of any. The bedding is of the highest quality.”

“…Then, Lady, you should sleep in another room. If not—”

“Gisela, my lady.”

At that moment, a voice interrupted their argument.

It was Kayla.

Vivian had to look away from her eyes once again.

Kayla said,

“That’s enough. I don’t want the room to be moved either.”

“But!”

“As the Lady said, the best room is the family head’s room. If anything goes wrong, it’s easy for the physician and maids to come.”

“But, but my fiancé…”

“He’s your fiance, not yet married, right?”

Gisela’s mouth shut tightly.

“You haven’t even married yet. You just made an engagement promise. You can argue about it after you’re actually married.”

“I think you’re getting ahead of yourself.”

Gisela flinched where she stood, sighed, and walked away.

“…I’ll go check on Kailo.”

And she left.

Vivian immediately realized that Kayla had sided with her.

It was an unexpected action.

After all, Kayla had been hostile towards her for the past few days.

Instead of explaining her actions, Kayla sat in front of Vivian.

She asked the maids to set the table and then began eating the food on the table.
Vivian watched Kayla’s actions in a daze.

It felt too awkward to run away, so she stayed in the same place, frozen.

“…Kailo couldn’t adapt well to the north.”

Kayla, with a look similar to Kailo, started placing meat on her plate and cutting it.

“The food from his hometown must have been salty and tough for him. But if he didn’t eat like that, it was too cold. But he didn’t understand and kept shivering.”

“Ah.”

Vivian gave a faint response.

“…Kailo.”

“Yes, my brother.”

Kayla ate in silence for a while.

Vivian couldn’t understand why she brought up such a topic.

After finishing her meal, Kayla spoke.

“The food from the south… it’s too greasy for me. It doesn’t quite suit me.”

“…If you need new dishes—”

“No, it’s just a feeling. I’m just thinking that Kailo must have felt something like this when he was in the north.”

“It’s too hot and humid for me.”

Kayla took a deep breath.

“I wanted him to come back to the north and live comfortably after all his suffering. My father thought the same. We both hoped he could live happily after all that hardship.”

Vivian bit her lip as she thought about Gisela.

She was definitely a gentle and feminine woman.

Kayla spoke again.

“…But maybe even that was a burden for him.”

“What?”

“Maybe his hometown… doesn’t suit him anymore.”

Her words trailed off.

Vivian quickly suppressed any expectations that had risen from Kayla’s words.

Wanting something could only make the pain worse.

Moreover, even if it was an engagement, it was still a promised bond.

Considering Kailo’s sense of responsibility, he wouldn’t easily break such a promise.

…Hoping that he would break the engagement was probably selfish.

Vivian closed her eyes tightly and looked at Kayla.

“Kayla, I have a favor to ask.”

“…A favor?”

“Whether Kailo overcomes this or not…””…?”

“…I want to go to the north. I want to meet Duke Alan.”

Kayla did not answer immediately.

“…Why?”

“I want to meet him and speak with him.”

“…I’ll think about it.”

At that moment, the head maid rushed in, running.

“Lady Vivian!”

She shouted.

“Kailo has opened his eyes!”

Vivian rushed to the family head’s room.

Inside, it was already filled with Kailo’s friends.

They seemed to have forgotten that they shouldn’t just barge in and were likely going in to see their colleague who had woken up.

Beside Kailo’s sickbed sat Gisela, holding Kailo’s hand tightly and gently placing her hand on his cheek.

The moment she saw this, jealousy flared up, but for the time being, Kailo was the priority.

“Kailo…”

However, when Vivian looked at Kailo’s face, her expression darkened again.

Kailo was with his eyes closed.

Sensing Vivian and Kayla’s disappointment, Gisela spoke up as if to explain herself.

“He… he fell back asleep.”

Vivian’s emotions surged up.

Did that mean that the moment Kailo opened his eyes, he looked at Gisela’s face and then fell back to sleep?

There was a pang of greed.

If only the face he had seen and fallen asleep to was hers.

After all, she worried about him more than anyone.

…Wouldn’t that make it seem like Gisela was the one most concerned for him?

Wouldn’t Vivian appear as the disloyal one who immediately left his side?

Was it possible that Gisela was lying?

Had Kailo really opened his eyes?

It seemed like Wallace immediately noticed her ugly doubts and said.

“I also saw it. He opened his eyes for a moment.”

Vivian was at a loss for words, and strength left her.

What if he never opened his eyes again, and the last thing he saw was Gisela’s face?

Her sharp personality had been suppressed and hidden, but that personality could not be entirely erased.

Beneath her calm expression, a thick greed began to bubble up.

But even now, she suppressed that greed.

She had no right to it after what she had done to Kailo’s body.

“…Could you all please leave?”

Her ugly nature finally surfaced in the form of a quiet and forced request.

The soldiers quickly left the room.

The maids lit the fireplace, prepared new clothes and towels, and changed the water in the wooden bathtub, getting ready to leave.

Gisela and Kayla made no move.

Vivian waited.

Soon, Kayla was the first to leave.

Gisela hesitated, then reluctantly let go of Kailo’s hand.

She glanced at Vivian for a moment before leaving the room.

Before long, she was alone with Kailo.

“Good job, Kailo.”

Vivian finally complimented him.

No matter who he had seen when he opened his eyes or whether he had closed them again without being able to even rise, it didn’t matter after thinking about it.

“You’re still fighting.”

Vivian gently wiped Kailo’s forehead.

Sweat was pouring from his body as if he was still fighting.

Vivian once again soaked a towel in water and wiped his body, like a maid.

She didn’t know how many times she had repeated this laborious task over the course of the day.

“Just a little more. Hang in there.”

Vivian said.

“Please pull through.”

***

More than ten days passed.

Kayla watched Kailo’s condition every day.

It was mainly Vivian and Gisela who took care of his body.

Gisela frequently visited Kailo’s room to tend to him.

And when Gisela left the room to take a rest, Vivian would seize that opportunity to look after Kailo.

Though the reasons were unclear, it became an uncomfortable sight.

She didn’t want to feel this way, but Vivian somehow seemed pitiful.

She couldn’t claim her right to be by his side.

The way she clung to Kailo, she seemed like a starving child trying to claim the leftover food.

Gisela, who had cared for him, had left something behind, and Vivian picked it up.

At the same time, Kayla had also come to a certain realization over time.

Gisela was a good person; that was certain.

But she was too much of an angel.

She didn’t know a thing about the harsh world.

She was a woman who had never even touched water with her hands, a flower in a greenhouse.

The description fit her perfectly.

The sight of Gisela hastily wiping Kailo’s body with a wet towel felt awkward.

She didn’t seem to take proper care of him.

When feeding him, Kailo’s mouth and neck got dirty with food, and sometimes he even started coughing.

It wasn’t something to criticize, but when compared to Vivian, there was no way to avoid thinking differently.

Vivian still spoke gently to Kailo, and every touch was full of affection.

Every gesture of hers carried a love that Gisela could never approach.

Everything she did was solely for Kailo’s wellbeing.

One day, Kayla went to find Kailo and met Gisela standing outside the room, looking lost.

Gisela stammered an excuse.

“Well, that is… Kailo… Kailo… got dirty…”

Kayla immediately understood what Gisela meant.

She quickly entered the room and stopped the maid who was about to remove Kailo’s lower garments.

“Leave.”

“What? We…”

“Leave.”

The maids were startled and left the hospital room.

Gisela, who followed her, stammered as if she had done something wrong.

“D-Did I do something wrong…?”

“…Sigh.”

It wasn’t her fault.

Kayla wasn’t planning to blame her.

The hardest part of nursing was this.

She herself had never entrusted such things to the maids in the North, had she?

…But this wasn’t the North.

“…Lady Gisella. I’m sure you know that blood has been shed between our Alan family and the Rondor family.”

“…Yes.”

“Then, exposing my brother’s flaws to the maids of the Rondor family… isn’t that a bit much for him?”

She was a natural-born lady.

Kayla thought so.

A woman like her couldn’t be asked to do such a thing.

Even though they were engaged, they had not built a deep affection yet.

Kayla understood, but… it kept coming to her mind.

The one who had gotten up early in the morning to take care of everything, even in the smallest details.

-…Have you eaten too little? Today, let’s eat more, Kailo. You’ll harm your body otherwise.

And yet, that person who never complained and only thought of ways to heal his body.

If only Vivian weren’t around, everything would have been fine.

Gisela was truly a good woman.

…But Vivian was there.

Kailo had also devoted his life for her.

Perhaps Kayla instinctively knew it.

The future of this relationship.

So, perhaps she was speaking harshly, so that Gisela wouldn’t be too disappointed when that future came to pass.

“…I-I’m sorry. But… But…”

Kayla stopped blaming Gisela any further.

“I understand. Still, if something like this happens again… I hope you tell me. I will handle it.”

Gisela nodded her head.

Soon after, Kayla sent Gisela out and tidied up Kailo’s body.

“…Brother really makes so many people worry.”

Despite Kayla’s grumbling voice, there was a lot of concern in it.

“…Stop making things difficult and wake up already… Huh?”

At that moment, Kailo’s eyelids fluttered and opened.

Kayla froze, forgetting to breathe.

She hurriedly kneeled in front of him.

“B-Brother… Do you recognize me?”

Kailo didn’t respond.

Then, immediately, he closed his eyes again.

“Brother…? Brother!!”

She tried to shake his body awake, but he didn’t open his eyes again.

Kayla quickly ordered for the physicians to be brought and to examine Kailo’s body.

The castle became noisy once again, and Vivian prayed desperately by his side.

But once again, he fell into a deep slumber.

From that day on, Kailo’s condition began to worsen rapidly.