I woke up shivering from the coldness of my body.
My body was heavy, my head was throbbing, my throat was too dry, and it hurt.
I was running a fever.
It didn’t take me long to realize that.
“What… time…”
I got up, enduring the pain running through every part of my body, and checked the clock to see that it was evening.
It was just before noon before I fell asleep, so I must have slept a lot. I must have slept enough for a nap, but I felt sleepy, probably because of the fever.
“I have to prepare…”
I staggered to my feet and began to prepare for my journey.
If I don’t leave before dawn, my father will catch me.
If he caught me, he would take me back to the Ansanse Kingdom.
I definitely don’t want to go back to that country. That’s all that was going through my mind, which wasn’t working very well.
It took me more than thirty minutes to complete the preparations that normally take about ten minutes. As I left the room to go tell Ewe that I was leaving Arburn tomorrow, my vision became distorted.
“Oh… no…”
I couldn’t get any strength into my body.
I couldn’t stand, so I sat down, leaning against the wall.
“Elle?”
“Jed…”
Jed, who had come out of the next room at the right or wrong time, spotted me. He rushed over to me in a hurry and crouched down with a worried expression on his face.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine…”
“You look pale. You don’t look fine at all.”
Why don’t you just leave me alone?
Just before his outstretched hand touched my cheek, a loud voice sounded from behind Jed.
“Lady Elle!”
“Giselle…”
When Giselle found us sitting down, her expression was greatly distorted. She dumped her belongings and rushed over to face Jed as if she was protecting me.
“What are you trying to do to Lady Elle?”
Giselle glared strictly at Jed and scolded him in a condemning voice. Apparently, she thinks he has done something to me.
Jed didn’t do anything wrong. Rather, he is just a benefactor who saved me from my father and is still worried about me. He is a kind man.
I grabbed her ankle with a staggering motion and let out a weak voice, “Giselle, it’s not like that.”
“Lady Elle?”
“Jed was worried about me. He didn’t do anything to me.”
As I finished talking, my breathing became labored, and my body wobbled heavily. I fell down to lean against Giselle’s legs.
“Lady Elle!”
“Elle!”
Her and Jed’s impatient voices overlapped.
I felt like they were calling my name, but I couldn’t make it out, as if I was deaf.
“I will carry her.”
I thought I heard Jed’s voice, and then my body felt like it was floating.
Just when I thought I reached my limit, my vision went black.