Chapter 47

Episode 47

When Lydia looked like she was about to pull her hand away with a ticklish expression, Ilian entwined their fingers and held on tightly, as if preventing it on purpose, then quickly came up with a question like he had drawn her attention just for this.

“Didn’t you already bring everything from the store?”

“That’s true, but something suddenly came to mind.”

Lydia, who had been deep in thought the entire time in the carriage, unlocked the door and entered the shop as soon as they arrived, glanced around once, and after confirming that nothing seemed out of place, did something that once again defied Ilian’s expectations.

“I know this might seem strange, but I threw it somewhere around here. Just a moment…”

Whatever it was she needed, it hardly seemed like a reason for Lydia to crawl under the counter and grope around in the dark.

And what on earth could it be that she had to go so far as to hide it in such a deep place?

But with her face completely hidden under the counter and only the dark blue ribbon high on her head fluttering about, it looked both comical and a little absurd, so Ilian decided to wait and find out the reason for her actions.

“Aha. Here it is.”

Then Lydia suddenly lifted her head and, as she always did when handling something “magical,” placed a small, dusty pouch on the counter without any further explanation.

When Lydia untied the string at the opening with a satisfied look, shiny little stones spilled out of the pouch with a clattering sound.

“Fred—that is, the butler—was talking about Leon. He said if you’re at the main estate, you might be able to invite him. So I thought, just in case he really comes, I should have something to give him as a gift.”

It was puzzling when Lydia had ever talked with the butler in such detail about his nephew.

Then again, it would’ve been stranger if the butler hadn’t talked at length, hoping he might get a chance to see the young son of the lady he had served for so long.

Frederick had taken the place of a father figure, so to him, Katrina’s son probably felt like a grandson.

‘Well, if we’re heading to the main estate, it’s only natural.’

Katrina used to bring Leon along to visit Ilian from time to time.

But since the capital was far, they couldn’t visit often, so it made sense that the butler would have high hopes.

All the more so when one recalled that the Esteban main estate was where the Esteban family officially resided.

The mansion in the capital was only a temporary residence—it wasn’t meant to be “home.”

Lydia held one of the pebbles in her palm and, as if urging him to look at it, spoke with a light trace of joy in her tone.

“This… it glows when it touches a person’s body heat. Pretty, right? It’s not very useful, but it’s a fun little thing.”

“You can’t give something related to magic as a gift, can you?”

Even at Ilian’s pointed remark, Lydia replied while carefully putting the pebbles back into the pouch one by one, as if she had already anticipated the concern.

“This isn’t something related to magic. Supposedly, these are common stones in some places… The merchant who gave them to me said something about it, but I forgot. I probably wrote it down somewhere.”

That this was what she had gone out of her way to fetch, and that she collected stones as carefully as a squirrel gathering acorns, should have seemed ridiculous.

But seeing the faint smile on her face made it hard to laugh at her.

“You don’t have to go out of your way for my nephew.”

“But. I knew that Leon’s really close to you, right?”

“Who told you that…? The butler, I suppose.”

She must’ve been curious about Leon and asked a bunch of questions. Or perhaps the butler, encouraged by her interest, explained more than necessary.

“Anyway, I’ve never had a nephew before, and I want to make a good impression on the kid, so I’ll take them. I’ll keep a few for myself too. They’re useful when getting up at night to drink water, but I put them here while cleaning and forgot.”

Even without something like that, Ilian thought that with Lydia’s personality, Leon would surely like her—probably even consider her his favorite person. But when Lydia insisted on giving him one as well, he accepted the stone.

“And you never know when something this trivial might come in handy.”

The stone, still warm from Lydia’s touch just moments ago, rolled into his hand.

As the warmth quickly faded, he turned the stone over in his hand a few times, reluctant to let it go, then shifted his gaze to Lydia, who was walking around as if looking for anything else she might have missed that could be more useful.

***

The journey to the Esteban estate was, putting it nicely, peaceful—but in harsher terms, unbearably boring.

Lydia stretched, stifled a yawn, wiped the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes, and turned to Illian Esteban, who had sat without shifting his posture all morning, to speak with a touch of admiration.

“How can you sit like that for so long without moving a muscle?”

“Anyone could do it if they took etiquette lessons.”

Lydia blinked and responded boldly in a tone that said not to spout nonsense.

“No way. I saw the Baroness Schnette adjusting her posture too. You’re just unusual.”

The etiquette lessons that had started before the wedding had been inevitably called off.

The Baroness in question had just left after asking to be invited to the autumn hunting festival.

At the Esteban March’s main estate, various social events were traditionally held from spring to fall.

Lydia had heard enthusiastically that these events attracted not only nobles from nearby territories but also, at times, royalty.

Of course, Lydia’s concentration began to wane when she heard about the vast rose garden being the highlight, so she decided to just see the rest for herself rather than remember more details about the estate.

“If you’re tired, you should sleep.”

“The problem is I’m not tired at all. I’m so bored I’m going to die.”

Her ambitious attempt to read in the carriage had already been abandoned long ago. It had led to the unpleasant discovery that she suffered from motion sickness.

Just thinking about it made her feel queasy again. Seeing Lydia’s pale face, Illian spoke.

“Should I tell them to stop the carriage?”

“Please don’t. I hate the idea of delaying the schedule just because of me.”

On the first day of travel, the carriage had to stop for quite a while because Lydia’s stomach was upset, and they almost had to camp out under the late evening rain. Since that day, she never showed signs of motion sickness again, no matter what.

“Throwing up in the carriage is the bigger problem.”

“Could you not talk like I actually threw up? And even just hearing the word makes me feel worse.”

More than that, it was the burden of the royal physician watching her with concerned eyes, and the butler looking hopeful, that bothered her.

They weren’t a real married couple—what were they expecting?

Eventually, Lydia turned her head back toward the scenery outside.

Resting her arm and chin was uncomfortable, but leaning her head against the window and feeling the passing breeze seemed a little better.

“……”

Ilian silently watched as Lydia’s violet eyes disappeared beneath slowly closing lids, then sighed as he saw her fidgeting and shifting around uncomfortably.

“Don’t do that. Just lean on me.”

Although the royal physician said her health was fine, the longer they spent in the carriage, the more obviously exhausted Lydia became—even to his eyes.

He didn’t enjoy this kind of journey either, but Lydia, having no experience at all, seemed to be having an even harder time.

Normally, she seemed like the type who would say exactly what she felt and thought, but that honesty didn’t apply here.

Instead, her stubbornness came to the fore, and since she didn’t talk much about how she felt, Ilian had developed the habit of keeping a close eye on her condition throughout their travels.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to.”

Lydia, now quietly leaning against the backrest, opened her eyes slightly to look at him, then closed them again with a murmur.

As Ilian watched her for a brief moment, her head began to tilt toward the opposite window, already dozing off again.

With a quiet sigh, he finally pulled her by the shoulder and let her rest against him.

Her head dropped lightly against his shoulder. After confirming that she hadn’t woken, Ilian glanced down at her for a moment, then looked back outside.