I Became the Substitute for the Runaway Heroine - Chapter 52

‘Why won’t she wake up?’

Caesar shut his eyes tightly in anguish as he looked at Odette, who lay as still as death.

The image of her curled up in the midst of the flames vividly surfaced in his mind, and a pained groan escaped his lips.

Inside the shield formed by divine power, Odette had curled up like a fetus in its mother’s womb.

As though nothing in this world could harm her. The way she tried to protect herself made his heart twist.

‘I told you I would protect you… so why?’

As Caesar sat with a face frozen like stone, Arden approached and spoke in a subdued voice.

“My lord, the seventh physician has arrived.”

By emphasizing the words ‘seventh physician,’ Arden meant to imply the futility of calling yet another doctor.

But Caesar didn’t care how many there had been.

If only Odette would awaken—!

“Let him examine her.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The elderly physician, renowned in the region and carrying himself with an air of self-importance, examined Odette and merely repeated what all the others had said.

“She didn’t suffocate from the smoke. She’s simply asleep.”

“…Then when will she wake up?”

“She should awaken soon, I believe.”

“Even now, you can say that?”

He lifted her hand and let it fall, pinched her cheek between his thumb and forefinger, even tickled her palm—

Odette didn’t move.

“What is this, then? Is this what you call sleep?”

“…I’ve never encountered such a case before, so I’m not sure what to say… but perhaps the patient simply doesn’t want to wake up?”

Caesar frowned and pressed a hand to his forehead, having already heard the same words from every other physician.

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“I once had a patient like this. He didn’t want to return to war, so he stayed asleep for over a year.”

When the physician offered to explain how to feed her through her nose in such cases, Caesar drove him out immediately.

“Bring another physician.”

“The eighth one, my lord?”

“What does it matter if it’s the tenth or the twentieth? We have to do whatever it takes to wake Odette.”

“…My lord, you must receive treatment as well. Pus is seeping from the burns on your shoulder and back.”

Caesar had taken off his enchanted cloak, wrapped Odette tightly in it, and carried her out from the annex basement.

Thanks to that, not even a single strand of her hair had been harmed.

But Caesar had suffered deep burns on his back, shoulders, and elbow.

If his sword arm—his right elbow—wasn’t treated immediately, the damage could lead to disfigurement and prevent him from wielding a sword at his best.

“I’ll get treated when Odette wakes. For now, bring someone capable. Understood?”

“…The Count may grow suspicious. He still doesn’t know that Lady Odette rescued the maids from the western annex.”

“Then we’ll kill him.”

“…Pardon?”

“…The Count, anyone—kill them all. Odette… she risked her life.”

Caesar clenched the locket in his hand.

The very same locket-necklace Odette had clung to so desperately that day.

It was Andrea’s keepsake.

“Odette… she went down to the annex basement for me.”

He opened the locket, and inside was a small family portrait.

“Caesar, stop fidgeting, or the painter can’t do his work.”

His biological father, Dmitri Maes, and his mother, Grace Maes.

And there, smiling, were young Andrea and child Caesar, painted in miniature.

“Sit still, will you? Heehee. Caesar, that tickles. Hohoho. Father, please scold Caesar. He keeps tickling me.”

A memory from one of those spring days, filled with laughter. He had nearly forgotten such days had ever existed.

“Odette… was this really worth risking your life over? Did you want to prove you belonged to me?”

Caesar spoke in a low, lamenting voice.

Did she hear him somehow? It felt as though a cold chill passed through her fingertips.

“It’s my fault.”

Her finger twitched.

Lifting his head, Caesar spoke again, more desperately.

“Please, come back to me. Please…”

At his plea, Odette’s hand stopped moving.

And her fingers seemed to grow colder still.

“…Maybe I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.”

Caesar’s eyelids drooped heavily.

“My lord, shouldn’t we inform them—even now—that the engagement ceremony is canceled?”

Caesar remained motionless at Odette’s side, and Arden, unable to watch any longer, finally spoke.

“My lord, the Count?”

“He’s too distracted, busy meeting with high-ranking nobles expected to attend the engagement ceremony.”

Amelia’s escape, the adoption of a maid, and now, circumstances requiring the Count to become Caesar’s father-in-law for a second time—

The Count seemed to be scrambling to meet the nobles in advance, likely in preparation for the flood of questions he expected at the engagement.

“And the Countess?”

“She ordered the annex to be set on fire, and now she’s completely unhinged. No matter how much they search through the ashes, no bodies have been found. Even Gallerwin, who started the fire, has disappeared.”

It had been revealed that Countess Katarina had, on impulse, given the order to burn down the annex.

No doubt it was an attempt to eliminate all evidence that Erik was a dark sorcerer.

And perhaps it hadn’t even been done in consultation with the Count—the cleanup was clumsy at best.

The servants and maids all regarded the western forest as a restricted zone, so none of them had gone to extinguish the fire.

Taking advantage of that gap, the maid from the annex had already been sent to Caesar’s domain in Count Maes’s territory, while Gallerwin and the annex guards had been imprisoned in a warehouse on the outskirts of the Hoan district.

They were both witnesses and accomplices—capable of testifying against the Count and Countess.

“If Odette doesn’t wake by tomorrow, they’ll use a double to go through with the engagement.”

“A d-double?”

Odette had originally come to Caesar as a stand-in for the runaway Amelia.

And now they were talking about using someone to impersonate Odette? Arden’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“T-They’ll realize immediately—it won’t work!”

“What matters is Odette. If the engagement doesn’t take place, the Count will find any excuse not to release her.”

Officially, Odette was still the Count’s adopted daughter.

He hadn’t even noticed she’d been unconscious for days, showing just how little he cared. But when it came to using her to manipulate Caesar, he wouldn’t hesitate.

“…You’re right.”

“The best outcome is for Odette to regain awareness and wake up on her own.”

Caesar gently brushed her cheek with the back of his hand.

“If she fully manifests the power of the High Saintess, she won’t be able to remain asleep.”

“You intend to force her awakening?”

“Yes. A single Saintess’s divine power is limited, but if we gather several together, perhaps we can wake Odette.”

“But if the Saintesses realize Lady Odette’s divine power is far beyond normal…”

“Even so, it’s better than letting her wander aimlessly in a dream.”

The last time Odette had entered Caesar’s consciousness, she had been near the cabin where she once lived with Heravrua.

He could still see her tear-streaked face.

Standing barefoot in her nightgown amidst the harsh northern winds—that image was seared into his memory.

Was she still in that cabin, crying?

The sharp, jabbing pain in his heart was unfamiliar. He had to take deep breaths again and again, trying to calm the ache.

‘Why didn’t I think of this sooner?’

Odette had imagined a magnificent castle right beside the cabin where she had once lived with her mother.

In its gardens, she planted beautiful flowers and created a view that stretched out to a distant blue river.

At first, she was overjoyed by the ability to create anything she wanted with her imagination.

“Can I create people?”

She tried to focus her thoughts on conjuring attendants or knights to guard the castle—but it was impossible.

“Just disappear.”

Sweeping her arm through the air, a brilliant light burst from her fingertips, and the space around her began to dissolve.

As the whiteness consumed the scene, color slowly returned, as if paint had been spilled into the void.

The world was changing again.

Now, she stood in a plaza drenched in radiant sunlight.

‘Mother?’

Far off, at the entrance of a temple, stood her mother.

“Where is this? Who are all these people?”

This wasn’t a place she had imagined, nor was it from any of her memories.

It felt like she was witnessing a moment from the past—perhaps even from before she was born.

Her mother was there, revered by all as the High Saintess.

Not wanting to lose sight of her, Odette quickly wiped away the tears that flowed down her cheeks.

‘I missed you so much, Mother!’

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