As the heavy door clicks shut behind Lily, I let myself sink just a fraction deeper into the plush pillows. I take a slow, steady breath, feeling the strange, lingering warmth of the golden particles that had dissolved into my chest.
I actually did it, I think, a faint trace of a smile touching my lips. I negotiated with a cosmic entity and walked away with a signed contract.
Knowing that my modern identity is legally protected, that my mother won't be left to grieve a permanently comatose daughter, and that I have a built-in system to manage this insane twenty-four-hour schedule makes the weight of Elanore's reality feel a little lighter. For the first time since this madness began, a sense of genuine ease settles over me. I have leverage. I have a plan.
Knock. Knock.
The sharp sound cuts through my thoughts. I blink, slightly startled. "Yes, come in."
The heavy wooden door swings open, and to my utter surprise, Lily slips back into the room.
I stare at her, my eyebrows knitting together. "Lily? You just left a literal moment ago. How are you back already? I thought it would take you at least a few minutes to find them."
Lily offers a sheepish, slightly breathless smile as she hurries back to my bedside. "No, my lady! Actually, the moment I stepped out and headed downstairs, I crossed paths with one of the senior maids. I informed her immediately, and she went to notify the Duke and Young Master Orlando right away. I didn't want to leave you completely alone when you've just opened your eyes, so I came straight back. I thought you might need me."
A soft warmth touches my heart at her absolute devotion. "Thank you, Lily."
Moving carefully, Lily gently places her hands behind my back, assisting me as I push myself up into a sitting position. My muscles feel stiff and entirely drained of strength, a natural side effect of being completely bedridden. Once I'm settled against the headboard, Lily pulls up a chair, sitting close by.
"Lily," I say, adjusting my nightgown, my corporate instinct kicking in to gather immediate data. "Tell me exactly what happened during these eight days while I was asleep. Give me the details."
Lily instantly jumps at the chance, her eyes wide as she leans forward. "Oh, my lady, it was absolute chaos! The moment you wouldn't wake up, the Duke and Young Master Orlando were so incredibly frantic that they didn't just call the local estate doctor—the Duke pulled strings and ordered a royal physician from the capital to check on you!"
"A royal physician?" I echo, genuinely surprised. That isn't just basic medical care; that's a massive, highly visible statement of urgency.
"Yes!" Lily nods vigorously. "He came to the estate every single day. In fact, he was just here this morning to examine you before past breakfast time. They ran various tests, checked your pulse, your mana flow, everything—but they couldn't find a single medical reason for why you were sleeping like this. That's exactly why they were so desperately worried, my lady. No one knew if or when you would ever open your eyes."
I absorb the information silently, my analytical mind mapping out the timeline. If the physician left around breakfast, it means we are currently in the quiet lull of the late morning.
"So..." I murmur, testing the waters. "What are they doing right now?"
"Well," Lily calculates, tapping her chin. "The Duke is likely in his study room, analyzing documents and buried deep in his official work. Young Master Orlando should be out on the training grounds; he usually trains around this hour. Since the estate is so large, it will probably take a little time for the message to reach them and for them to finish up what they are doing. You can relax a bit, my lady."
I let out a soft sigh of relief, leaning my head back. "Good. That gives me a few minutes to mentally prepare myself for—"
BANG!
The heavy doors don't just open—they are violently barged into, slamming against the stone walls with a deafening crash that echoes through the entire bedroom.
I flinch violently, my heart leaping straight into my throat as my eyes snap toward the entrance in absolute shock. Who on earth would dare to lack the decorum to storm into the lady of the house's room like this?
Before I can even process the visual, a booming, frantic male voice shatters the silence, raw and breathless with panic.
"I heard she's awake! Is it true?!" the voice shouts, heavy footsteps thundering across the polished floorboards. "Where is she? How is she doing?!"
A tall, broad figure tears past the velvet privacy curtains, his chest heaving as if he had run a marathon across the entire estate.
I stiffen, my eyes widening as I stare at the panting figure standing just past the threshold. It is Orlando—and he looks like an absolute mess. He must have been right in the middle of a brutal training session because he is wearing a highly revealing, sleeveless training shirt that leaves his arms completely bare and gleaming with thick layers of sweat. His chest is heaving violently, his silver hair is plastered to his forehead, and to my utter bewilderment, he is still tightly clutching a heavy steel training sword in his right hand. He's panting so hard he looks like he completely forgot he was even carrying a weapon into a lady's bedchamber.
Orlando takes a single, heavy step forward, but then he abruptly freezes, maintaining a careful, tense distance near the doorway. His sharp eyes bore into mine, staring at me with a paralyzed, wide-eyed intensity.
Before Orlando can find his voice, another set of rapid, heavy footsteps echoes from the corridor outside.
Another figure violently breaches the doorway, skidding to a halt right next to him.
"Is it true?!" a deep, commanding voice roars, completely breathless and laced with an uncharacteristic edge of raw panic. "Where is Elanore? Did she really wake up?!"
My jaw drops. It is the Duke.
The ruler of the cold, unyielding household stands there, his noble clothes completely disheveled as if he had literally sprinted the entire distance from his study tower. He looks so utterly frantic that he is still clutching an expensive fountain pen tightly in his fingers, entirely forgetting to put it down before abandoning his desk. He stops right next to Orlando, his chest heaving under his unbuttoned collar. His sharp gaze sweeps the room until it lands squarely on me, sitting up against the pillows.
The Duke lets out a long, ragged exhale, his shoulders visibly dropping as he stares at the pen in his hand, then back at me. "Oh... so it is really true."
Looking at the two of them standing by the door—one soaking wet in a sleeveless shirt, holding a massive sword, and the other a terrifying high nobleman clutching a random office pen like a lifeline—my analytical corporate shield completely malfunctions. The sheer absurdity of the visual hits my modern brain all at once, and I can't control myself anymore.
"What on earth are you two doing here?" I burst out, a genuine, unforced laugh bubbling up from my throat. "I just told Lily it would take you some time to get here, and yet you both appear in a matter of seconds! But look at you—what state are you even in?! Did you two seriously run all the way across the estate just to get to my room? Look at your hair! It's absolutely hilarious!"
I lean back against the pillows, laughing out loud. The sheer ridiculousness of the cold, terrifying Duke of the realm and his elite prodigy son sprinting down the hallways like late corporate interns is too much to bear.
But as my laughter echoes through the grand bedroom, a heavy, dead silence suddenly falls over the room.
The giggles die down in my throat. I blink, looking around. The Duke is frozen. Orlando is staring at me, his mouth slightly open, his grip loosening on his sword. Even Lily is standing on the side, completely paralyzed. The entire room feels incredibly weird, the atmosphere shifting into something thick and unreadable.
I clear my throat nervously, my confident smirk faltering. "What? What's wrong? Did I say something wrong? I mean... just look at the state you're both in. That's all. Oh, god... did I make a massive etiquette mistake?"
For a long moment, nobody moves. They all just keep staring at me as if I've grown a second head.
Finally, the Duke breaks the spell. He clears his throat roughly, turning his face away slightly to hide a sudden flush of color on his neck, quickly tucking the pen into his pocket. "Ahem. No... it is nothing."
Lily, however, clasps her hands together, her eyes shining with sudden tears of pure joy. "Oh, my lady! It's just... you were laughing so beautifully! We couldn't take our eyes off you. Please don't worry, you didn't make any mistake at all!"
Orlando snaps out of his trance next, his face instantly flushing a bright crimson as he notices his bare arms and the sword in his hand. He quickly twists his face into his usual scowl to mask his embarrassment, crossing his arms over his bare chest and rolling his eyes dramatically.
"Hmph! You look completely weird, you know," Orlando scoffs, his voice loud as he tries to regain his composure. "You look absolutely ugly after sleeping like a corpse for eight days straight, and now you're sitting there laughing as if it was nothing! You look hideous. Just go wash your face and get yourself properly prepared. You don't look a single bit like a proper lady of our house right now!"