Word spread that Lilienne had fired her old nanny for incompetence.

“Lady Lilienne, do you perhaps remember me?”

“Yes, of course I do, Madam Hayworth,” Lilienne said, nodding. “Have you been well?”

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you to ask,” Madam Hayworth remarked. “You’re just like Lord Sedrick when he was young.”

It was the highest compliment Madam Hayworth could give, considering that she’d raised Sedrick as if he were her own. Lilienne found herself fidgeting, abashed and unused to compliments.

Madam Hayworth watched Lilienne affectionately for a second, then said, “My lady, do you know why I’ve come to see you today?”

“Umm... Is it to introduce me to my new attendant?”

Madam Hayworth smiled brightly at Lilienne’s efforts to speak in a measured way, despite how awkward the little girl appeared. “Exactly right, my lady. You are as bright as they say.”

Lilienne felt even more embarrassed by the compliment—the second one in a row. She lowered her eyes, and Madam Hayworth continued to speak, pretending like the girl was totally fine and didn’t have a beet-red face.

“As you’ve said, you need a new attendant. I will be in charge of your care from today.”

“What?!” Lilienne said, jaw-dropping. “But you’re the head maid of the castle!”

The head maid had many duties, such as directing every single maid in the palace and monitoring all general household issues. She wasn’t someone who could be at Lilienne’s beck and call. Lilienne decided to politely decline.

“I know how busy you are with all your duties. I don’t wish to burden you further. I couldn’t dare take up more of your time,” she said.

“Oh, how gracious you are, dear...” said the older woman, sitting down on the sofa so she could be at eye level with Lilienne. “My apologies for correcting you, my lady, but there is nothing you couldn’t dare. You are the only sister of the Marquis of Turine.”

Lilienne glanced up from her lap to look at her.

“And...” said Madam Hayworth, eyes twinkling, “I greatly adore kind-hearted, good children. I’d be honored to cast off some of my other duties so that I could spend more time with you.”

“But...”

“If you’re really worried, then perhaps it can be just until we can find a trusty attendant who can take my place.”

Due to her mother’s neglect, it felt completely foreign to Lilienne that an older woman would treat her with such affection.

It feels strange, but... It definitely wasn’t unpleasant. Lilienne finally nodded, and Madam Hayworth let out a laugh. It had actually been Lord Sedrick’s request for her to take care of his little sister from now on. I wondered why he was suddenly so insistent.

Madam Hayworth nodded, pleased with the situation. The girl was so lovable—she would have gladly taken over her care even without Sedrick’s personal plea.

“Excellent,” she said. “Then may I know what my lady prefers for an afternoon treat?”

“An afternoon treat...?”

“Yes. The physician will be coming shortly to examine you, so if you take your medicine, then I’ll give you your treat.”

“Ah...”

Lilienne laughed. “I don’t need a treat for that,” she said. “I’m not bothered by a doctor’s examination.”

“Oh?” Madam Hayworth was surprised, and a bit doubtful, but at Lilienne’s calm insistence, she brought in the Islar family physician.

“Good afternoon. Shaw Winston at your service,” he said, nodding.

He had light brown hair and wore spectacles that hung on the tip of his sharp nose. He spoke curtly and maintained a cold, professional demeanor. Being so serious—and a little intimidating—he seemed better suited to be a knight than a doctor.

“No need to be nervous. I’m simply checking your vitals and running some tests today,” he said.

“Yes, Doctor Winston, sir.”

He raised an eyebrow. “There’s no need to be so formal, my lady.”

Lilienne laughed at his brusque refusal and said, “You saved my life, Doctor. Why shouldn’t I treat you with the respect you deserve?”

“Huh,” the doctor said, looking at her with some suspicion. “You didn’t seem to think so before.”

“You know how sick I was. Coming so close to death made me realize how important it is to be polite to my physician,” Lilienne said, still smiling.

Behind them, Madam Hayworth let out a discreet cough.

“Mister Shaw.”

“Hmph... Well, you still can’t skip taking your medication, no matter how nice your words are.”

“I thought you were only examining me today.”

“I might feel that I need to prescribe you medicine after I examine you,” he said dismissively. “Never presume a diagnosis.”

Lilienne followed his orders obediently and without complaint, even at moments when she might have felt a little pained or uncomfortable. What’s going on here?

Shaw examined the girl thoroughly, continuing to be suspicious as she opened her mouth obediently when asked, and when she didn’t so much as flinch at the sight of his more scary-looking medical devices.

“Hmm... Your throat is still rather swollen, and you have a bit of a fever.”

“Oh my. Is it serious?” asked Madam Hayworth, frowning in concern.

“No, but she ought to take some preventative medicine for it.”

Both Madam Hayworth and the doctor turned to gaze warily at the girl.

Lilienne just tilted her head slightly and smiled. Even when Shaw mixed up the odious-smelling concoction and handed it to her, Lilienne took it without protest. She swallowed the whole thing in one gulp.

“Oh, wow! All of it at once?” gasped Madam Hayworth.

Lilienne’s pale face had been smiling as she took the medicine, but now her expression crumpled as she gave a small groan.

“Oh, you poor, brave thing!”

“Ugh... So bitter...” Perhaps it was because she was only twelve, but the medicine was definitely more bitter than she had expected.

“See, this is why I wanted to prepare you something tasty in advance...” Madam Hayworth muttered, coming over to rub the young girl’s back comfortingly.

She turned to a maid and ordered her to immediately bring a plateful of sweet candies.

“You should have warned her, Doctor,” she accused, looking balefully at the unrepentant man.

“I thought she’d be able to take it,” he said, shrugging.

The two of them bickered while Lilienne tried hard to stay composed and not gag, but inwardly, both the adults were relieved at the lack of a temper tantrum. Shaw watched the bustling form of Madam Hayworth and the little girl who was now busy coughing because of the bitter medicine.

A child’s a child after all.

“Well,” he said, “I’ll take my leave now.”

* * *

Though only a small moment of respite—something so trivial that it was easy to overlook—Sedrick was finally beginning to reap some of the benefits of the breaks he had been taking regularly, having tea with Lilienne every day for two weeks now. Sedrick was almost entirely free of the nightmares and constant anxiety that had haunted him for days on end.

His mind felt much more settled, and it seemed that his physical condition was nearly back to peak performance. Sedrick felt refreshed overall, but right now he was plagued by one question. He turned to his butler.

“Alan?”

“Yes, my liege?”

“In your opinion, about our Lilienne, is she...” He stopped, uncertain about how to ask this. Maybe he should just drop it. Alan, however, didn’t intend to let it go.

“What about Lady Lilienne, sir?” he said sharply.

Sedrick lifted his brows at the tone. “You’ve been acting really suspiciously around her lately.”

“I don’t know what you mean, sire,” Alan said with feigned nonchalance, but Sedrick knew him much too well to fall for that.

“Since when have you been so favorable toward my sister?”

“The past is in the past, my lord,” Alan said simply. “Besides, I never disliked your sister. I merely disliked her mother.”

“Is that really it?”

Sedrick knew that Alan was dancing around the issue. If a child was bad, then the parents were likely bad, and so the reverse could also be true—bad parents could mean a bad child.

Alan’s loyalty was to Sedrick, and such was his loyalty that he had strongly disliked his lord’s new stepmother, the Marchioness. In fact, it was more accurate to say that Alan had found her to be absolutely repugnant.

It hadn’t been that long ago that he’d considered Lilienne to be one and the same. Actually, it had only been a few weeks ago, but now...

“The Marchioness has passed away. So, there’s no reason for me to feel any enmity toward Lady Lilienne,” Alan explained.

“So you’ve been excessively attentive to her because you don’t have any more reason to hate her?”

“I haven’t been excessively attentive.”

“Yes you have. Exceedingly so.”

As the head butler, Alan’s job was to command the multitude of servants in the Turine palace, organizing and directing them.

So just like that, he changes his tune and shows up at my door like a lowly servant, doing the menial task of carrying a platter for my sister? There was no way—something else had changed. Sedrick glared at him.

“I have no control over how you choose to see things,” said Alan flatly. He was quite unafraid to speak his mind for a servant. “In my experience with her, I can find no reason to dislike the lady. And...”

“And?” Sedrick shot back. His nerves were on edge about all this. He trusted Alan as his friend and closest aide, but he also thought any man who wasn’t family could be a danger to Lilienne.

And for him to always be so near to my sister... Sedrick suddenly felt extremely overprotective, which Alan was quickly able to surmise, so he simply shrugged his shoulders and said casually, “Lady Lilienne did get rid of that woman, after all.”