Chapter 26 – You Don’t Have To (1)

Two additional days passed since my fever broke before I was finally able to leave the bedroom.

As much as I had wanted to stretch my legs and breathe fresh air, I had no choice but to remain cooped up in my chambers because I had to lay still until the frostbite scars on my hand were adequately healed.

Apparently, on the day I fell ill, I had slept like a log.

I’m still surprised by the fact that I didn’t wake up the next day but the following day. I was seriously asleep for two whole days.

When I asked the house staff whether the Archduke had really taken care of me or not, everyone surprisingly refused to answer me. I figured that Kyle had ordered them to keep their mouths shut. But luckily, Jean and Marina told me all I needed to know.

“I’ve never seen my master so angry because someone else was sick!”

“I’m glad that master was the one who personally took care of you, Your Highness.”

After hearing their words, I was definitely certain that Kyle was the one who had nursed me and tended to my injuries while I was ill.

But why did he vehemently deny caring for me? In addition, he still refused to acknowledge that he was the one who took off my clothes…

Hmm… Well, whatever the reason, let’s not think too hard about this.

I had more important things on my plate to worry about, anyway. In four days, Kyle would be departing for his meeting with the Northern lords, giving me the opportunity to finally go up the fifth floor.

Honestly, there was not much I needed to do in the meantime by way of preparation, but I told myself I had to be mentally ready to leave everyone behind if my plans worked.

If I succeed in going back to my original world, then it would mean a sudden departure from this one.

So, if I wanted to say my farewells properly, I needed to do so now. As I thought about who I should begin to say my goodbyes to, the first place I headed to was Kyle’s office.

I knocked on the door.

“Come in, Riddel.”

Kyle’s voice called out softly from the other side, giving me permission to enter his office.

How did he know that it was me? As far as I remember, I don’t have an appointment scheduled with him.

As I carefully opened the door and entered the room, I found Kyle diligently working on the neverending pile of documents on his desk.

“How did you know that it was me?” I asked.

He answered me without looking up from his writing, “Is there another person who comes to see me at this hour other than you?”

Well, that was true. Unless they were insane and had a death wish, no one would have interrupted Kyle when he was so focused on his work.

Besides, even if he wasn’t working, not many people would voluntarily come to his office and be in his presence without a very pressing reason.

Unless that person was Jean, I guess? However, Jean was busy at the moment. In fact, I heard he wasn’t even in the mansion right now, since he had to tend to some business elsewhere on behalf of Kyle.

I guess his deduction is right. I’m the only one in the mansion who can come here right now.

As I paused to take a closer look at him, I noticed that he was concentrating intently on his work. I didn’t want to bother him while he was so busy, so I figured I would just visit him another time.

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” I said as I bowed to take my leave. “I’ll be back later.”

“I never said you were a disturbance,” Kyle interjected.

His words placed me in an awkward position because I had honestly thought he would turn me away. To my surprise, he was now allowing me to stay.

Since I was the one who sought him out in the first place, I had to come up with a reason for why I was here.

I couldn’t necessarily say that I didn’t have any particular motivation for visiting him, and I definitely couldn’t just tell him that I had come to make myself ready for our farewell.

“I’d like to borrow some books,” I finally said.

Since I had expressed my interest in his bookcase before, I thought it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for me to say that I had come here to browse his shelves.

Kyle took his eyes off the papers he was reading and glanced at one of the bookshelves in particular.

“The book about curses is right over there,” he smugly pointed one out to me.

As he said, I was going to tell him I wanted to read a book about curses, but he already predicted my answer. I went to the aforementioned shelf and picked out a title that caught my interest before settling myself into the seat where I normally sat.

I was only going to see you for just a moment.