Who Brought the Head Maid Back? - Chapter 41

“Your Highness, the wind is getting cold. Shall we head inside?”

As Noah stared blankly out the window, Rita approached him quietly and spoke.

“Already?”

Noah pouted and frowned. After being forbidden from going outside due to the aftereffects of the poisoning, sitting in front of the large floor-to-ceiling window of the sunlit drawing room, wrapped in a thick cloak and drinking hot tea, had become his only joy.

Of course, Rita knew exactly why the Grand Duke had suddenly started frequenting the drawing room so diligently. She comforted the sullen Noah.

“The Head Maid will be coming in soon.”

“Then I should go.”

At those words, Noah stood up from his chair without a second thought. However, feeling lingering regret, he couldn’t leave easily and kept glancing out the window. Down there was Amy, sitting at a table drinking tea and conversing with Morton, the former Captain of the Guard.

Lately, Amy had been going around meeting people who had been at the Grand Duke’s castle for a long time—people like Melbourne, Morton, and even retired guards. Though it wasn’t clear why, she seemed to have questions for them.

“Let’s go.”

Noah turned dejected and walked out of the drawing room. Rita followed behind him. As they climbed the stairs, they happened to run into Melbourne, who was coming down to the lower floor.

“Your Highness, are you heading to your chamber?”

Melbourne hurried over and asked with a smile, seeing Noah looking much better. Noah nodded and mindlessly continued up the stairs. Just as Melbourne shrugged and prepared to head down again, Noah suddenly turned back toward him.

“What did Amy ask you?”

Dazed for a moment by the sudden question, Melbourne quickly regained his composure and answered.

“Ah, she asked about the regions where ethnic tribes frequently appear.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Noah blinked a few times and muttered to himself.

“Is it related to the magic tool?”

“Pardon?”

“It’s nothing. Go about your business.”

“Yes, sir.”

Melbourne tilted his head and descended the stairs. Noah trudged toward his chamber. From behind, Rita watched him with a worried gaze.

“Your Highness, you haven’t fully recovered yet. The physician said you shouldn’t be moving around like this.”

“I know.”

“If you know, why are you doing this? It’s as if you have no intention of getting better.”

Noah mumbled indifferently.

“Something like that.”

“Pardon? What did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Noah immediately shut his mouth. Just when she thought he was being unusually communicative. Rita shook her head, thinking that was more like him.

Back in his chamber, Noah lay down on the bed. He pulled back the canopy and stared endlessly toward the door. As Rita tidied up the cloak he had been wearing, she had the treasonous thought that the Grand Duke looked exactly like a dog waiting for its master.

“Rita.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Still gazing at the door, he murmured gloomily.

“Because I took the poison, Amy must have been worried, right?”

“Why state the obvious? She was incredibly worried.”

“I see.”

Noah recalled a secret known only to him and broke into a faint smile.

In truth, he had known there was poison in the cup the Crown Prince handed him. No, it would be more accurate to say he had expected it.

‘It would be stranger not to know when a man who was dying of hatred for me offers a drink with eyes sparkling in anticipation.’

He knew his half-brother’s intent to remove him from Amy’s side better than anyone. Because when he was at the Imperial Palace, that was exactly how he felt looking at the Crown Prince.

‘I took a gamble.’

It had been successful. Amy had cast everything else aside and clung only to him.

‘But I am still anxious.’

Noah was far more obsessed with Amy than she vaguely guessed. He didn’t want to be away from her for even a single moment.

However, from time to time, Amy would look toward the distance—specifically, toward the South. As if it were a place she would eventually return to. Noah was terrified of that.

‘Why, Amy?’

He had decided on her as his final destination, so why was Amy thinking of flying far away? Though they were close, in another sense, they were so far apart. Noah felt a sudden chill and shivered.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Amy, whom he had been desperately waiting for, walked in.

“Your Highness. You were lying down.”

Amy’s expression was bright, seemingly thinking he had been staying quietly in his chamber. Noah felt the darkness that had been slowly consuming his body and mind melt away. When Amy was near, the world was bright and warm once again.

“Yes.”

Noah submissively lowered his eyes. He tried to look harmless, to look fragile. Only then would Amy feel pity and sympathy for him and be unable to think of leaving.

As if his efforts were not in vain, Amy knit her brows and hurried toward him. She examined him carefully with a look of pity. The beast crouching deep inside him let out a low, satisfied purr.

“Phew.”

Standing a distance away, Rita let out a short breath of disbelief. As a supporter who personally cheered for the two of them to get together—given how perfectly they suited each other—she couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty whenever she noticed the Grand Duke’s blatant schemes that only the Head Maid remained unaware of.

“I’ll leave you two to talk.”

In times like these, leaving was the best policy. Hugging the laundry, Rita shook her head and walked toward the door. Amy sat in the chair next to the bed and spoke.

“It’s almost time for your nap, so I came to see you briefly before that. I heard from the physician that you’re taking your medicine well?”

“Hic?”

Rita, who was pulling the doorknob, suddenly gasped. Just this morning, she had tried pleading, coaxing, and even getting angry, but she had failed to get him to take the medicine. And that wasn’t all.

Whenever the Grand Duke poured the painstakingly brewed medicine out the window right in front of her, it reminded her of her youngest brother’s puberty years, and her fists would tremble with the urge to hit something.

‘He only ate two sips after I threatened to tell the Head Maid.’

And yet, there he was, wearing such an innocent face as if to say the Head Maid was absolutely right.

‘A deceiver exclusively for the Head Maid.’

Rita shook her head and exited the chamber, closing the door. Seeing Rita make strange noises with a pale complexion, Amy worried if she was unwell. But Noah simply asked back happily.

“Did you ask the physician about my condition yourself?”

Since she was the Head Maid, it was natural for her to worry and care for him, but every time he received confirmation of her interest, his heart raced shamelessly.

“Yes. He said you are recovering smoothly. It must be frustrating not being able to go outside, but please bear with it a little longer.”

“I will.”

Noah nodded excitedly. Amy took a small bottle containing the herbal medicine from a small basket she had on her wrist.

“I brought the medicine personally. Drink it all and then go to sleep.”

Noah’s smile cracked. Amy poured the steaming medicine into a cup and held it out to him.

“Since you’re taking even bitter medicine so well, you’ll truly get better in no time.”

“Is that so?”

Noah forced a smile and took the cup. He stared with glazed eyes at the medicine that smelled as if someone had gathered every filthy, nauseating thing in the world and squeezed it into a liquid.

“It will be troublesome if you don’t. Once Jack and Dwayne return from their mission, there is a place we must go together.”

When Amy knit the corners of her brows, Noah’s eyes widened. Going somewhere together with Amy?

He quickly pressed the cup to his lips and swallowed the slippery, thick medicine in one gulp. His stomach churned in rejection, but he endured it by thinking of Amy’s words.

In fact, Amy, who had come after hearing from the physician that the medicine was incredibly foul-tasting, was genuinely pleased to see Noah swallow it in one go without a single complaint.

She popped a sugar-coated jelly she had prepared into Noah’s mouth and then sucked the sugar off her finger with a clicking sound.

Noah’s eyes bulged as if they might fall out. Seeing him sitting there with his mouth agape, unable to even chew the jelly, Amy tilted her head.

“Is it bitter? Do you dislike jelly?”

She wondered if she should have brought preserved fruit instead, but Noah, finally snapping back to his senses, muttered indistinctly with his neck turning red.

“No, I’ll eat it.”

Noah rolled his eyes around, not knowing where to look, and chewed the jelly vigorously before swallowing. Amy looked satisfied.

“Well done, Your Highness. Now, please lie down. You must sleep.”

“Yes.”

As Noah submissively lay down, Amy pulled the blanket up to cover him. Noah stared at her and spoke.

“Amy.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

A pale, long hand emerged from under the blanket and lightly tapped Amy’s finger. Just as Amy flinched and was about to withdraw her hand, Noah whispered softly.

“When I was little… I wonder if my mother did this for me too?”

The unexpected words made Amy freeze. She hesitated for a moment before giving an ambiguous answer.

“I’m not sure.”

Among the rumors circulating in the Imperial Palace, there were claims that the mother of the Second Prince, the Imperial Consort, had suffered from severe lethargy until her death. When Amy was the Head Maid for the Crown Prince, she only saw Noah once or twice a year, but even then, she never felt he was receiving devoted care.

Noah looked up at her, gazing blankly.

“Amy, how did it feel for you when you received care while you were sick?”

Amy looked at Noah with a strange expression and replied calmly.

“I don’t know.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Because I have never received care before.”

This time, Noah was flustered. He quickly sat halfway up and asked.

“Not once? Even as a child?”

“Yes. I have no memory of it.”

Noah blinked with his mouth open before slowly averting his eyes. He then lowered his gaze as if thinking about something.

Amy watched him quietly, thinking it was a relief that he took his medicine well in front of her.

‘He probably doesn’t know the physician witnessed him throwing the medicine away.’

Rita chattered about useless things often, but she was tight-lipped about truly important matters.

No matter how much Noah tried to silence her, it was a matter concerning the Grand Duke’s health, so she must have been under great stress. If Noah had continued to refuse the medicine, she would have eventually told Amy. Anyway, that was why Amy had personally brought the medicine today.

Noah finished his thoughts and looked straight at her.

“Then let’s do this. Since Amy looked after me, the next time Amy is sick, I will take care of her.”

Support