CH 185

No wonder my sleep was uncomfortable today.

I felt like I wanted to give up on everything. Even the interpretation of the continuous dreams and scattered clues.

That scene . . . I just wanted to hide. I didn’t want to see any more, if there were truths hidden from me.

The cool sensation lingered in my swollen eyes, then disappeared.

Even my body, limping from exhaustion, was revitalized.

It seemed like Zen had casted a recovery spell on me.

I should have felt better with a body full of vitality, but I didn’t.

Rather, it felt as though I was forced to pretend I was okay since my body, which had wanted to rest, was all but compelled to be in a good shape.

I clearly knew he didn’t mean for me to feel that way, but I did.

Zen seemed to already know what I saw in my dream, even though I didn’t tell him

Laying down absent-mindedly, I suddenly spoke out loud.

“Actually, I did think that maybe it was because of Adel that I kept dreaming.”

“. . .”

“But it’s not. You found nothing, right?”

Zen slowly nodded his head.

If there was anything suspicious, it would be her teleportation and too-slow growth.

That teleportation is indeed scary.

However, it was too extreme to blame Adel for my nightmares.

I suddenly asked the person who handed me a cup of water.

“How do you always know?”

“. . .”

“You don’t actually watch over me somewhere, do you?”

Zen loosened his necktie at my doubtful question.

“If I did, I wouldn’t come in this attire.”

It looked like he was somewhere else again.

Was he called by the Crown Prince?

I closed my eyes after taking a sip of water.

I couldn’t shake off the aftereffects of the nightmare, so my heart felt gloomy and uncomfortable.

“Please return Adel to Jeremy.”

Rather than the kidnapped Adel, I was more concerned about Jeremy practically burning inside.

I grabbed the face of the person who was feigning ignorance.

Although he looked indifferent, his eyes weren’t empty and looked at me properly, so I felt relieved.

“Apologize and return it. After all, to Jeremy, Adel is . . .”

“. . .”

“He considers Adel as his other self.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say the word ‘child’.

Zen said nothing.

“You have to apologize and return her, okay?”

He gave no answer and pulled his face back.

Right then, a knight knocked on my door.

It seemed like he noticed my movement due to the noise.

“My Lady, is there a problem? May I go in and check for a moment?”

“No, there’s no problem!”

While I was answering quickly, Zen, who escaped from my hands, ended up vanishing again.

Looking at the empty place where he left, I became restless.

It weighed on my mind that he didn’t answer my request to return Adel.

“She must still be alive, right?”

The image of Adel, who had been uprooted from the shattered flowerpot, was still clear in my eyes.

At some point, the sunlight began to permeate through the window.

It was still early to wake up, but I was afraid to sleep again.

“Why did I dream of that time, of all things . . .”

My heart, which was beating quickly as if it was malfunctioning, barely calmed down.

Laying down with my eyes open wide, I waited until the maid came to wake me up.

I felt as though I was becoming a slacker.

* * *

“Young Master Orion left in the early morning to complete his work.”

“He’s busy nowadays.”

As the person who always recommended food to me with sparkling eyes disappeared, I felt his vacancy.

Indeed, his presence was enormous whether he was actually present or not.

When I was about to have my breakfast earlier, I saw that Jeremy was a bit late.

He was holding a sweet homemade pie in his hands.

His expression as he politely held the pie with both hands was very stiff.

“What’s with that?”

The fresh and sweet scent stimulated my nose.

The red cherry jam filling the pie looked incredibly tasty.

“That person gave me this as an apology for taking Adel away.”

“Really?”

He improved a lot.

So he knew to give something the other party would like when apologizing.

However, as I saw Jeremy looking down at the pie as if he was really scared, it seemed like he mistook Zen’s intentions.

He, who had a pale face, told me the whole story.

“I woke up this morning, and that person was floating next to my bed. Then, he suddenly gave me Adel along with this cherry pie and said, ‘Eat this. I have apologized.’”

“Zen . . .”

That was obviously not an apology.

Don’t just shove something at them.

“Next time I’ll tell him to apologize properly.”

“Then . . . do I have to meet that person again?”

He seemed to really hate the idea, judging by his frightened expression.

That was why people weren’t supposed to float over children’s beds while they were sleeping.

He was lacking in consideration.

“Is Adel okay?”

“For now, she didn’t look hurt. Ah, she also grew a bit. Another bud appeared in the middle.”

“She grew again?”

Did this mean she was really growing now?

Zen returning Adel meant that both he and Master Cale were unable to find out anything unusual.

And I had dreams with or without Adel.

Was it just a feeling, then?

Jeremy, who set down the pie box while letting out a sigh, made a mistake and ended up dropping it.

The red jam from the pie splattered over the floor.

With a pale face, he put the pie back into the box calmly.

“I think you can just ask the maid to clean it.”

“He told me to eat it.”

“So will you eat it?”

“Shouldn’t I do that?”

I got speechless as I looked at Jeremy, who now looked very uneasy.

He carefully corrected his words based on how he interpreted my expression.

“If this can be washed, then I want to eat this.”

“You don’t need to eat it. I will tell him.”

I felt even sorry as I looked at him being uneasy.