"You're crazy!" Rebecca was both worried and angry. "I told you to leave it to Mom! What if something had happened with you acting so recklessly?!"

Knowing how dangerous her actions had been, Luna shrank her head and didn't dare say much, afraid of making Rebecca even angrier.

She hurriedly changed the subject: "Then... what's the situation now? Did you rescue Lily? Where are you taking her?"

Looking toward Sophia who was holding Celitia, Luna's expression was both expectant and nervous.

"Taking her back to the palace."

Sophia answered, showing a smile to the three nervous maids. "You should come along too. Lily needs you to take care of her."

After such an incident, if the three maids remained at the Herbert household, they would probably only become thorns in Lady Herbert's side and would face retaliation sooner or later.

Sophia understood that she had to take them away.

Hearing Sophia's words, Gidi suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing she had bet correctly.

Luna and Rebecca hadn't thought that far ahead.

They couldn't bear to leave Celitia behind. Even if Sophia hadn't said anything, they would have begged to go along.

"Let's go." Marianne had no objections.

Watching helplessly as the group headed toward the door, Lady Herbert was going crazy with anxiety.

"Quick, stop them!" Lady Herbert shouted at the servants around her.

The servants all heard their mistress's command, but no one dared to actually go and block them.

Just now, news had spread throughout that the Queen and Princess had personally arrived. Who would dare step forward to block them and prevent them from leaving?

"Aloque!!"

Only now did Charles receive the news and hurry over.

Who could have imagined that while he was just taking a short nap, such a huge mess could occur?

"Are you insane! That's Her Majesty the Queen and Her Highness Princess!!"

Charles grabbed Aloque's arm and forcibly pulled Lady Herbert to a stop as she was about to charge forward in a frenzy.

"So what? Can Her Majesty the Queen and Princess disregard the fact that Celitia injured someone and forcibly protect her?!"

Charles's head throbbed with anger. He felt like he must have been possessed to marry such a wife.

At the time, he had only coveted Aloque's family background. Who could have imagined that such a great noble family could raise such a foolish daughter?

"Get a grip!!"

Charles raised his hand and slapped Aloque across the face, turning her head to the side.

A clear handprint appeared on Aloque's face. She covered her cheek, looking at Charles in disbelief, completely stunned.

"You... you... you—"

Charles didn't care what Aloque was trying to say. He hurriedly left her and rushed toward the door, barely catching up with Marianne who was about to leave.

"Your Majesty Marianne..."

Charles forced out a smile that looked worse than crying.

"I never imagined it would become such an ugly mess. It's my fault and I deserve punishment. Please don't be angry, Your Majesty..."

Marianne smiled very faintly, but the words from her mouth made Charles feel as if he'd fallen into an ice cellar:

"Come see me at the palace tomorrow, Charles."

Watching the backs of the departing group, Charles's face alternated between green and white, looking extremely ugly.

○

After listening to Sophia's rough account of what had happened, Celitia fell into a long silence.

She really couldn't have imagined that so many things could happen after she lost consciousness.

Her brain was still somewhat muddled as Celitia tried hard to sort out the situation.

"So I'm now in the palace, and Luna, Rebecca, and Gidi all came along too?"

"Yes," Sophia nodded. "Rebecca and Gidi are preparing medicine. They should come see you once they know you're awake."

"Then..."

Celitia's gaze fell on her own hand.

Marianne was still tightly holding her hand and hadn't let go even now.

"It was Her Majesty the Queen who saved me...?"

Celitia never would have imagined that the person who treated her was actually Her Majesty Queen Marianne.

So in her dream, that mother-like feeling was brought to her by Marianne?

So gentle, so very gentle.

It made her unable to stop yearning for it.

Recalling the scene from her dream, Celitia became increasingly dazed.

"How does your body feel?"

Marianne gently stroked the back of her hand, her eyes revealing a trace of empathetic heartache. "Are you still in pain?"

"Much better," Celitia was lost in thought for a long time before answering. "I don't feel uncomfortable anywhere now."

The pain like shattered meridians and the cold like falling into an ice cellar had all completely disappeared.

The current Celitia, aside from still being somewhat weak, had basically returned to normal.

"Your Majesty the Queen! Are you there?"

A lady-in-waiting knocked on the door from outside, calling through the crack: "Viscount Charles Herbert and his wife are here to visit. Will you receive them?"

Hearing this name, Celitia's body instinctively tensed, and the hand resting in Marianne's palm immediately became rigid.

Sensing her unease, Marianne extended her other hand and very gently touched Celitia's head.

Her five fingers lifted the girl's light gray hair as Marianne smoothed her disheveled curls from sleep, saying warmly: "Don't worry."

After speaking, Marianne finally let go of her hand, stood up, patted her wrinkled skirt, and walked toward the door with elegant composure.

"Come, let's go see Charles."

Staring dazedly at Marianne's departing figure, Celitia murmured: "I haven't... had the chance to thank Her Majesty the Queen yet."

"It's fine. You can thank her later. After meeting with Viscount Charles, Mom will come back again."

Sophia shrugged.

"Last night, Mom stayed by your side the whole time. She watched over you all night and didn't leave until this morning. Come to think of it, I've never seen her so nervous even when I was sick."

There was a hint of sourness in Sophia's words.

But when she remembered that Celitia's mother had died when she was young and her stepmother had never treated her kindly, that faint jealousy immediately disappeared.

"...Mm."

Celitia lowered her head, her eyelids drooping slightly, her gaze somewhat complex.

Why would Her Majesty Queen Marianne treat her this way?

Celitia didn't feel she had anything special about her that would be worth Marianne's concern.

"By the way, Lily," Sophia asked, "what's really going on with your body? Why did you suddenly cough up blood?"

Sophia had heard from Luna about what happened at the time and was still troubled by it.

"I got into a conflict with Olar. The situation was urgent at the time, so I took action..."

Celitia knew that what happened then absolutely couldn't be concealed, so she had been considering how to gloss over the parts concerning herself.

"When I dealt with Olar, I used some technique. Although I subdued him, Olar's strength also injured me."

After much deliberation, Celitia explained ambiguously, deliberately not mentioning the details of what happened.

"So you coughed up blood because Olar injured you?" Sophia was filled with righteous indignation. "No wonder Mom said you were injured!"

"Mm."

Seeing that Sophia completely believed her explanation, Celitia's long eyelashes trembled slightly as she lowered her head somewhat guiltily.

"Lily."

Sophia reached out and gently cupped Celitia's cheeks, her slightly rough fingertips slowly caressing the girl's lips.

Remembering what she had seen then—that pale face covered with dried blood—Sophia's hands couldn't stop trembling.

"Why do you always do such dangerous things?"

Her fingers were warm, caressing her cool lips. Where her fingertips passed, they ignited a burning temperature.

In this instant, Celitia clearly heard her own heartbeat.

Beat after beat.

Her eyes widened slightly, her body suddenly leaning back as she frantically dodged Sophia's hand.