“You! Aren’t you close with her? She never told you that she’s running away?”

Amanda, whose face had turned red because Alexia was pointing her out sharply, quickly shook her head in earnest.

“I really don’t know, My Lady! She never told me anything! She didn’t even say any goodbyes to me.”

Amanda shouted as if she felt being treated unfairly. In reality, Vivian had only spoken to her about leaving, she never said when she would leave. For that reason, Amanda didn’t actually tell a lie at all.

As the answer wasn’t what she had hoped for, Alexia’s face tensed up even more.

All of the things that had been caught by Alexia were instantly destroyed. Only after making another scene of iniquity did she finally recollect her breath and stop wrecking things up.

“Huff…… I have no other choice then. Tell them that I can’t go and visit starting from today.”

“But, what should we tell them?”

If they were to inform them that she wouldn’t want to go, the Count would certainly ask for the reason. As the servants could only exchange glances amidst this dire situation, all of a sudden, Alexia began shouting once again.

“You can just say that I’m currently sick! How can you don’t even have that much common sense?!”

They wondered if there had been any actual patients who were as healthy as her, but they quickly nodded before leaving the room. The task that made them go to inform the Count was just to make up an excuse, but it was actually no different than meeting with the Savior for them.

Alexia’s fake illness had quickly reached the Grand Duchy.

The butler was the one who had first received the message. Right when he heard it, the butler immediately furrowed his brows. Since he had seen how withered the Young Lady’s appearance was a few days ago, he didn’t feel entirely at ease.

Who knows, maybe she doesn’t want to come at all. The butler clicked his tongue in his mind as he carefully parted open the door.

There was a surge of heat permeating inside of the dark room that was as dim as ever.

“Your Highness.”

Perhaps he was sleeping since no voice could be heard from the bed at all.

“A message has been received informing that the Young Countess is currently sick and she couldn’t come by for a visit.”

Right at that moment, the Grand Duke’s body that was still lying at rest immediately flinched.

“…is she feeling very sick?”

“I’m not aware of the details regarding that. There was only a word that had been written.”

The butler looked carefully over his master who didn’t give him any response. Usually, he would have ordered him to leave right away, but there were no words uttered from him for quite some time.

“Shall I look into it?”

Only then did Knox realize that he had left him waiting. After biting down his lips slightly, he shook his head.

“No need. She’ll come over when she’s no longer sick. If she is a person with desire, she will naturally do so.”

“Understood, Sir.”

The butler then left quietly after Knox’s words. As the massive door had been closed shut, silence began permeating the room once again.

“…she’s sick?”

This wasn’t the first time she had gotten sick. However, the fact that she had always come over even when she was ill gradually made the Grand Duke nervous.

“Is she trying to build up her own pride?”

He thought that she was just rebelling against his harsh actions from before. As his anger rose for no apparent reason, the Grand Duke tossed to the other side of the door and kept on lying down.

He was sure that she would have definitely come tomorrow. Then, she would continue to come over the next day as well, and when his body had finally gotten better—even until their marriage ceremony—he was so sure that she would always be coming over.

Knox thought how insignificant it was while cursing out his ailing body. However, the situation wasn’t moving along as he had expected it to be.

“Master. Today, the Young Countess……”

“Your Highness, the Young Countess’ illness is still as serious as ever……”

For the span of a few days, it was only the messenger who came to the Grand Duchy in order to deliver her rejection in visiting. He wondered if this was due to the fact that he didn’t give her any calls, so he then proceeded to call her. However, the same answer arrived right on the next day.

Why?

Isn’t she only interested in my honor? If it is so, she should be showing that she hasn’t wavered from that yet.

Her actions that had been taken to not come over and visit were completely different from her true face, which Knox had thought before.

On top of that, she was unwell. Knox had pretended not to worry, but deep inside, he was feeling absolutely restless. He wondered how sick she had been for someone who hadn’t been treated kindly back in the County until she couldn’t even come over.