~CHAPTER 46~
“……!”
Aizen’s eyes shook for a split second.
He quickly regained his composure and politely refused Jenna’s request.
“I am sorry, but I plan to sleep in the office. Please rest comfortably in your room.”
“I can’t sleep alone. I feel scared and lonely……”
Jenna lowered her soft eyes and looked at him with a pleading gaze.
Aizen’s heart wavered helplessly at eyes that resembled a puppy left in the rain.
No. I can’t fall for this. Absolutely not.
“Can’t you stay with me?”
I can’t……
“You really can’t? Really?”
I…… can’t……
“Alright, I don’t want to burden you. I’ll try to sleep alone.”
Jenna lowered her head and turned away.
Her lonely back looked so sad that Aizen finally shut his eyes tight and pulled her back.
“……Fine.”
“Oh my gosh, really?!”
“I’ll bring my documents, so go ahead first.”
“Okay! Oh, I’ll help carry them too!”
Was it his imagination, or did it look like there was a tail swishing behind her as she walked away?
Even though he felt pathetic for falling for her again so easily and being swayed by her, Aizen still headed toward the room.
When he entered, Jenna was lying on the bed with the blanket pulled up to her neck, smiling happily.
“Thank you, dear.”
“It’s fine. You must be tired, so sleep now.”
“When will you sleep?”
“After I finish reading these papers.”
I see.
Thinking that she shouldn’t disturb him any further, Jenna closed her eyes.
She waited for sleep to consume her in the darkness, but it didn’t come easily.
Endless worries and fears circled in her mind and gnawed at her thoughts.
Eventually, she opened her eyes again and stared blankly at the ceiling.
“Hey, dear.”
“Weren’t you sleeping?”
“No. I’m anxious about whether I can finish making the cure safely in such a short time. Will I be able to do it well?”
“I don’t even know which herbs to use, and if I have to go through human trials, I’m scared how long it might take……”
“You will do well. You always have.”
He meant it.
Aizen put down his papers for a moment and looked at Jenna.
Even the things he told her not to do, the things he tried to stop her from accomplishing, she still pushed through and made them happen.
She had enough drive and talent.
“I am the one who is worried. It may be normal for an epidemic to spread fast, but this one is spreading unnaturally quickly, and yet we have no idea why.”
Aizen leaned his head back and spoke in a low voice.
They investigated the movements of the first infected person thoroughly, but could not figure out where or how the disease first began.
Nor how it spread at such an alarming rate.
To make matters worse, the White Wolf Knights who guarded him and protected the territory were getting sick one by one, their numbers shrinking.
He didn’t know how long his subordinates, including Ralph, could hold on.
“When I think that my incompetence is allowing more victims to rise even at this very moment—”
“That’s not true! Where are you incompetent? You’re not even sleeping and you’re trying so hard like this!”
Jenna kicked off the blanket and sat up, strongly objecting.
Aizen stared at her, surprised, then let out a small laugh.
“Then we are both worrying for nothing.”
“True. I should stop thinking and sleep.”
“A good decision.”
Jenna lay down again and adjusted her blanket.
Aizen glanced at her with a softer expression and picked up his papers again.
His heart felt lighter than before.
* * *
Through the slightly opened curtains, bright morning sunlight streamed in.
Aizen frowned at the light hitting his eyelids and slowly opened his eyes.
Ah…… When did I fall asleep?
He must have been very exhausted.
He didn’t even remember when he drifted off.
Still, he felt less tired after getting a bit of rest.
Just then, something brushed against his chin and shoulder.
“……?”
Aizen lowered his gaze, still half asleep, and froze completely.
What touched him were strands of Jenna’s hair, as she slept with her face buried in his arm.
Heat rushed to his ears as he realized he was lying in bed, close against Jenna.
Why is she here. No, why am I here.
Startled, he tried to quickly sit up, but Jenna turned in her sleep and grabbed his clothes.
With such a weak pull, he didn’t resist and ended up pulled straight into her arms.
Like a small curled-up puppy.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Aizen’s heartbeat sped up.
His mind went blank, his body froze, and he couldn’t move like prey facing a predator.
He couldn’t even think of what to do.
He stayed frozen, only hearing her soft breathing, when Jenna slowly woke up after shifting around.
“Mmm, dear……?”
Her slightly husky morning voice made Aizen’s gaze dart away in panic.
Her soft, plump lips came into view.
Aizen instinctively held his breath and practically rolled out of the bed.
The loud noise woke Jenna instantly, and her eyes widened.
“Oh no, dear! Are you okay? I have some sleep habits. Did I kick you?”
“N-no.”
“Let me see, did you hurt your head?”
Jenna hurried off the bed and reached toward him, unaware that her nightwear was loosely hanging.
Aizen tried to keep his gaze fixed upward and blurted out that he was fine, perfectly fine, without even breathing, then fled the room.
“Dear!”
He ignored her desperate call from behind.
Stumbling into his office, he suddenly looked at the mirror on the wall.
More noticeable than his usually neat hair, now completely messy, was the deep red flush up to his neck.
And that ridiculous, flustered expression.
Idiot.
Aizen shut his eyes tight and hit his forehead against the wall to pull himself together.
But the heat on his face lingered for a long time.
* * *
Inside Kalard Ducal Castle.
It had already been four days since everyone was put in quarantine.
The slow passing of time felt frustrating and horrifying.
Everyone inside the castle was infected with the Black Breath Plague, simply waiting for death.
In such a heavy atmosphere, Wilhelm found himself sinking into darker thoughts.
Maybe this was how Kalard would disappear from history.
“Cough, cough!”
He covered his mouth with his sleeve and coughed out blackened breath.
“My lord, a letter has arrived from the Kreuz Viscounty.”
Greta handed him an envelope.
The sender’s name was written in round, bubbly handwriting.
Jenna Kreuz.
Wilhelm opened the letter, hoping it might contain information about the cure.
「Mother, Father
It’s Jenna! I wrote this because I was wondering how you both were doing.
You aren’t feeling sick anywhere besides the illness, right?!
Aizen and I are living well in the mansion, just the two of us.
We divide the housework in half, but every time I try to do something, Aizen takes it away from me.
He says I’m unreliable.
Sure, I may have accidentally broken the table while cleaning, and I may have torn three of his shirts while doing laundry,
but still!
Isn’t that too much~?」
“Pft.”
Wilhelm couldn’t help laughing.
He could hear Jenna’s voice through the writing, even picture her face.
Though it wasn’t the information he hoped for, the silly story entertained him in a place where boredom and despair filled every moment.
「Anyway, we’re doing fine so please don’t worry!
No matter how hard things get, we’re still better off than you two and everyone else there.
Compared to you, my emotional struggles are nothing.
No matter what hardships or trials come, I’ll overcome everything and come for you!」
Wilhelm frowned slightly.
Even though she wrote cheerfully, a faint trace of hardship seeped through.
After finishing the letter, he tried recalling Jenna from before he lost his memories.
But he didn’t remember much.
He barely knew anything about her back then, and didn’t even care.
The only things he remembered were from after they became a fake family.
He sighed, feeling oddly unsettled, and stared blankly out the window for hours.
Renee, who had woken up, saw her husband and asked gently:
“Wilhelm, what are you doing? Are you troubled by something?”
They had lived together for decades.
She could read him even half-asleep.
Rather than lie, Wilhelm sat by her and asked:
“Renee, do you know how different that spy is now compared to before?
Since I never knew how she was, I don’t know how much she changed.”
That was why he couldn’t help resenting Jenna.
If he at least knew how different she truly was, he might judge her differently.
Renee rested her head on his shoulder and answered softly.
“She’s very different. Honestly, even losing memories wouldn’t normally change someone that much.”
Almost like she became someone entirely new.
Which was true, since another soul existed inside her body, but Renee couldn’t know that.
“Maybe her current personality is her original one, and there must have been some reason why she changed enough to try poisoning.”
“Is that so……”
Wilhelm nodded slowly, still looking troubled.
Renee smiled faintly and held his hand.
“That’s why I think it’s fine to see the current Jenna as someone separate.”
“……”
“Leave the resentment and hatred with who she was before she lost her memories.
As for the person she is now, it’s okay to feel something different.”
Whatever that feeling may be.
Her last quiet whisper made Wilhelm chuckle.
He could never win against his wife who always read him so accurately.
Wilhelm handed her the letter and then grabbed a pen and paper.
He wrote a short but sincere reply.
「Stay strong」
