The Villainous Family is Against Independence

Chapter 22: From Now On, I Will Be Your Dog

[I'm Sorry but the title reminds me of that one song by TXT ]

After the incident of falling off the cliff, I became "seriously ill" and ended up bedridden.

My opinion that there were only scratches and I had no problem with moving around was readily dismissed by the family doctor's diagnosis.

"There is no major injury on the outside, but there may be aftereffects–"

The Duke quickly cut the doctor off, insisting, "It's serious. Refrain from going out for a week and rest."

What?

'Is it serious?'

Despite the diagnosis that it would be roughly okay to rest, which is what doctors usually said, the Duke left a strict order to rest without moving.

And apparently, that wasn't enough; they even deployed guards inside and outside the annex.

And that wasn't all.

On the night that I returned to the mansion, Carlot suddenly hugged me and cried out of nowhere.

I couldn't understand this new situation at all! I was dumbfounded, so I stayed up all night with my eyes open. To top it off, the Duchess came to my room in the morning.

A visit from the Duchess! I wondered if she would ask how I was doing, but I was a little surprised because I didn't know she would come to the annex herself.

'Because the annex is where my birth mother stayed. Well.... I guess it's because my ability is too useful for me to die like this.'

It was enough if my power helped the Duchess and gave her even a little less reason to hate me.

'But why....did you come with these two guys?'

At my questionable gaze, the Duchess glanced behind her and smiled.

"I ran into them on the way here. Because I was on my way to visit you."

"Yes...."

Perhaps because of the Duchess, they didn't come forward and talk to me, but it was quite burdensome to see them standing behind her.

I felt suffocated by instinct in their presence, even if they didn't say anything....

Jansi was looking at me with a smile as usual, and Carlot looked at me with a piercing intensity. As if he wanted me to acknowledge him.

'Yes. Let's ignore it.'

I was busy talking to the Duchess, so I didn't have time to pay attention to these two.

The Duchess asked me how I was doing.

"How are you feeling? I heard you should take a week off."

"It's okay. Father said that for no reason."

"No, Elodie. You are a child with a weak body, so you should rest well so you don't get sick later."

Although my body was on the weak side, I've been eating and sleeping well since I regained my memory of my previous life, so I've gotten much better.

I wondered if the causes of my weak body were irregular eating habits, sleeping patterns, and stress. So, perhaps my constitution became so poor because of my sensitive personality.

"Come to think of it, you couldn't even say goodbye to your benefactor. A mercenary named Ian who happened to be passing by the cliff saved you, right?"

Elodie: "That's right. If it weren't for Rae–or, Ian– I wouldn't have survived. I was lucky."

As soon as I said that, their gazes towards me became more intense. When I made the mistake of looking at Carlot, he looked at me with teary eyes as if he were going to cry.