~Chapter 20~
The butler, clearly very upset, brought Raphaella back to Leah.
Raphaella couldn’t even meet her mom’s eyes and kept her head down.
“The Lady Duchess was furious when she saw the young lady on the 4th floor.”
“What?”
Leah turned to look at her daughter in shock.
‘I clearly told Raphaella never to go up to the 4th floor—why did she go?’
“The Duchess scolded the young lady quite harshly.”
“…”
“I know she’s still young, but even a child should be able to follow this much…”
“…Please tell the Duchess I’m very sorry.
I’ll talk to her properly.”
Leah felt so guilty that she couldn’t even lift her head in front of the butler.
Once back in the room with Raphaella, she asked right away,“Raphaella, why did you go to the 4th floor?”
“…”
Her sharp tone made Raphaella flinch a little but she didn’t say anything.
“You’re not going to tell me?”
Leah softened her voice a bit as she looked at her quiet daughter.
“…”
Suddenly, tears started falling silently down Raphaella’s face.
Even though it was clearly her daughter’s fault, Leah couldn’t help but feel soft at the sight.
She looked so pitiful, crying quietly without even a sound.
“Rafi, if you don’t tell me, I won’t know what happened.”
“…I can’t.
I promised.”
“A promise? With who?”
Raphaella only mentioned a “promise” and kept refusing to explain why she had gone to the 4th floor, leaving Leah feeling so frustrated.
The more she asked, the more tears welled up in her daughter’s eyes.
‘If she keeps crying like this, she might wear herself out…’
Raphaella had been crying for almost an hour now since they returned.
In the end, Leah gave up.
“Okay, Rafi.
I won’t ask anything else today.”
“…Really?”
“Yes, really.
But I hope one day, you’ll tell me everything.”
Raphaella hesitated, then gave a small nod.
“And I don’t know what kind of promise it is, but you must not go to the 4th floor again, okay?”
“…Mmhmm.”
Leah said it more firmly this time, and Raphaella replied in a tearful voice.
Hearing her answer, Leah rang the bell to call a maid.
“Please tell the Duke that Raphaella won’t be able to join him for dinner tonight.”
Dinner with her husband was important, but Raphaella looked way too tired to handle it tonight.
‘We can all have dinner together another time.’
Tonight, it was best to just eat something light and put Raphaella to bed early.
‘I’ll ask her again about it in a few days…’
After a light meal the maid brought, Leah took Raphaella to the bath.
When she started undressing her daughter, something caught her eye—
There were fresh scrapes on Raphaella’s knees.
“Rafi, did you get hurt?”
“Huh?”
Raphaella looked down at her own knees.
“When did this happen?
How—?!”
“…Hiccup… hiccup…”
Instead of answering, Raphaella started hiccuping.
“Hiccup… I tripped while running… hiccup…”
She avoided Leah’s gaze as she answered, which made Leah even more frustrated.
‘First she sneaks up to the 4th floor, and now she won’t even tell me properly how she got hurt.’
‘She’s never acted like this before.
What’s going on with her today?’
“You should’ve told me.
What if it leaves a scar?”
“I didn’t feel it… so I didn’t know…”
It wasn’t the kind of scratch you wouldn’t notice if it didn’t hurt.
Leah frowned at the obvious lie.
“Rafi, if you don’t speak up, how will I know if you’re hurt or in pain?”
“…I know.”
“Then I get sad, don’t I?”
“…You do.”
“Right?”
Leah gently pulled her daughter into a hug.
Raphaella’s small hand slowly reached out and touched her mom’s back.
“I’m sorry, Mommy.”
Her voice sounded a little sad.
Leah carefully washed her daughter, avoiding the scrapes.
Then she laid her down in bed—Raphaella fell asleep almost instantly, completely exhausted from all the crying.
Leah applied ointment to her daughter’s knees.
She felt really upset about how poorly the first meeting with her grandmother had gone.
‘This was probably the first time she ever properly met her grandmother…’
The Lady Duchess had only seen Raphaella from a distance and never tried to meet her.
‘I still don’t know why.’
Leah sighed softly as she looked at her sleeping child.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
She opened it and was surprised to see Johann.
“What’s going on?”
“I heard from the butler that Raphaella went to the 4th floor and got scolded by my mother.”
“Oh, yes… I told her not to go, but she’s still just a child…”
“Even if she’s young, as the daughter of the Blumhardt family, she shouldn’t break the rules.”
What he said was true, but it still felt cold.
She had thought he was becoming a little softer—maybe she was wrong.
“I heard she cried a lot.”
“Yes… It was her fault, but still, she got scolded.”
“…Is she asleep now?”
“Yes, she was really tired, so I put her to bed early.”
Johann had said what he came to say and didn’t speak again.
In the awkward silence, Leah finally remembered something.
“Oh, and thank you for the clothes yesterday.
I’ll wear them well.”
“I bought them for Raphaella’s sake.
No need to thank me.”
Looking a bit uncomfortable, he cleared his throat and left.
Somehow, today felt even longer and more exhausting than the festival yesterday.
—
“Did you hear what happened?”
Polra, who had come to clean Raphaella’s room in the morning, whispered to Leah.
“Hear what?”
“That healer from the Kingdom of Crunia, the one who came a week ago.”
“Yes, what about him?”
“Well, he said he couldn’t treat Lady Penelope and started rambling about curses!”
Polra clenched the rag in her hand, clearly upset.
“What?”
“That healer must’ve lost his mind! How dare he say something like that!”
Apparently, he brought up “curses” just because he couldn’t cure her—and wanted to protect his reputation.
But the moment those words came out of his mouth, the Duchess exploded.
He was immediately dragged off by the knights and beaten before being kicked out of the manor.
If he hadn’t been protected by the Crown Prince of Crunia, he might’ve been executed on the spot for insulting a noble family of the Empire.
Because he had royal backing, the family couldn’t make it a political issue, so they let it go.
Still, he was badly beaten and would struggle to get back to his kingdom in one piece.
Because of this incident, the Duchess was now extremely on edge, and everyone was trying to stay out of her way.
If no one could cure Penelope, she would just grow more and more anxious.
‘I wonder… would she let me examine Lady Penelope?’
—
After lunch, Leah asked Helen to watch Raphaella for a short while.
She needed to get more ingredients for her magic remedies.
‘Helen said she only had a bit of free time, so I’ll make it quick.’
Before, she thought it was fine to leave Raphaella in the room for a bit, but after what happened a week ago, she knew she couldn’t do that anymore.
On her way back from the eastern annex, where she got the supplies, Leah spotted the Lady Duchess coming out of the garden.
‘She’s hard to catch.
Maybe now’s a good time to ask.’
“Lady Duchess.”
Leah made up her mind and approached her with a bow.
The Duchess looked even thinner and more intense than before.
She gave a slight nod.
“I have something I’d like to say.”
“Does it have to be now?”
The Duchess was about to walk past her but paused.
“…Yes.”
“Then speak.”
“I heard you were very upset when Raphaella went to the 4th floor the other day.”
“…”
“I’m deeply sorry.
It was my fault for not teaching her properly.”
Leah bowed her head, apologizing for what happened a week ago.
“It’s fine.
It’s already in the past.”
The Duchess waved it off with a tired look.
“And?”
“Do you have more to say?”
“I once treated a child with symptoms very similar to Lady Penelope’s.”
Leah wasn’t sure if this was the right time to bring it up, but she was afraid any further delay could cost Penelope her chance.
“…And why should I believe you?”
“What?”
The Duchess, already full of despair over her daughter’s illness, didn’t take Leah’s words well.
On top of that, she was still furious over the recent incident with the fake healer.
“Didn’t you say you lived in the mountains?”
The Duchess placed a hand on her head, clearly agitated.
“Yes.”
“How much could you possibly know, living out there?
Even the Empire’s best magicians can’t cure her, and you think you can?”
Her voice was sharp and filled with anger.
Leah couldn’t tell if that anger was directed at her, or if the Duchess was just using her as an outlet.
“When I heard the symptoms, I really thought they matched closely.
And…”
“So the servants talk too much, huh?
I didn’t realize my daughter’s condition was public knowledge, even to outsiders like you!”
The Duchess cut her off, her tone sharp and bitter.
“…”
“And now you, the mother of Raphaella, think you can just walk in here and treat our family like we’re nothing?”
Her voice, thick with rage, crashed down on Leah like a storm.
