Chapter 198 - MERIT CEREMONY (1) (2/2)

Because she could not understand.

“Le-left arm?”

“Yes, it’s impossible to regenerate it… so I think he’ll have to wear a prosthetic arm.”

His situation was different from Princess Daphne who was able to secure her severed hand and immediately reattach it.

To begin with, the severed arm was discovered too late, and the damaged part itself was so large that reattaching it was impossible.

“W-wait a second. Wait. Unnie and brother-in-law were outside the royal palace. How would they get hurt in the first place…”

That was it.

Because she realized it while she was talking.

“The capital. The royal capital was also attacked.”

At Cordelia’s words, Dahlia nodded with a troubled expression and spoke again.

She told Cordelia about the royal capital that had suffered more damage than the royal palace.

“No way.”

She thought that they had stopped the terror plans of the Black Moon, but she didn’t expect that there would be a bigger incident.

‘Were we… wrong?’

Should we have just let the Black Moon commit terror?

If that happened, the Devil’s Hand wouldn’t have directly attacked the royal capital, right?

She was confused.

She couldn’t come up with an answer at that moment.

“There was a lot of damage, but we were able to overcome it. In particular… Velkian, one of the five heroes of the Paragon Kingdom, played a huge role in that.”

Cordelia’s eyes widened at Dahlia’s words.

Because an unexpected name came up.

“Ve-Velkian? Necromancer Velkian?”

“Yes, Velkian-nim.”

“Woah.”

Just as the Devil’s Hand attacking directly was unexpected, Velkian’s assistance was unexpected too.

She didn’t expect that the letter they left in the Temple of Life would help them in this way.

‘W-wait a minute. Is he trying to find Pink Bomb then?’

There was only one reason for Velkian to come to the royal capital in the first place.

‘Ugh…my head hurts. Still, it was worth it for us to run wild this time.’

They did a lot of things to prevent the genocide of the royal family.

Among those were some that were rather harmful, such as the betrayal of First Sword and the direct attack of the Devil’s Hand, but there were some helpful ones too, such as Velkian and the Rogue Master.

‘In the end… we just have to do our best.’

They didn’t know if the results of their efforts would be good.

They were just trying to do everything to get the best results.

‘Haa… we have a lot of work to do.’

The fight was over, but there were so many things to do, such as the cleanup and so on.

‘We have to meet Velkian and check on Scarlet too…’

Come to think of it, is Lucas okay? It seems that it wasn’t that bad in the grand banquet hall, so he’s probably fine, right?

“Miss.”

“Yes?”

Cordelia was in the midst of her thoughts, so she raised her head and responded when Dahlia called her and smiled.

“Would you like to see Lord Jude?”

“Jude?”

“Yes, he’s still asleep, but I think you’ll be very relieved if you see that he’s all right.”

At Dahlia’s words, Cordelia nodded without realizing it.

“Yes, I want to see him.”

Her answer also came out unconsciously.

And in response, Dahlia grinned and stood up. There was quite a lot she wanted to say to tease Cordelia, but she put Cordelia’s wish first for now.

“Let us go, Miss. It’s not that far because it’s right next door.”

She helped Cordelia stand up before taking out a large shawl and placing it on Cordelia’s shoulders.

“Well, will this be all right?”

“Yes, frankly, it’s not a situation where you need to get dressed properly.”

Cordelia slightly pulled the shawl around her shoulders, and left the room while being supported by Dahlia.

Judging from the decor and structure of the hallway, it seemed like they were in the main palace and not a different palace.

“This way please.”

Count Bayer’s knight who was guarding the door opened it right away, and Cordelia entered the room, pressing on her slightly pounding heart.

“My lady.”

“Maja.”

It was Maja whose face had become thin from her excessive worry for the past two days.

But she smiled as if she was very relieved to see that Cordelia was fine, and she immediately pointed towards Jude.

“The young master is all right. He has yet to wake up, but… they said that his life was not in danger.”

There was an awkwardness in the way she talked, which was unlike the usual Maja who spoke perfectly, but Cordelia didn’t mind it. Without realizing it, she took a step closer to Jude.

‘You idiot.’

When she saw his face, a curse came to her mind first.

She couldn’t help it.

She was angry.

At the same time, she was very relieved.

“Haa…”

Cordelia let out a long breath and plopped down on the side of the bed to look down at Jude.

His pale face didn’t look good, but when she saw that his breathing was even, she thought that his life was not in danger.

“The count said that he used too much energy, so he is like that now. The count said that he would get up soon since there are no problems with his life.”

Cordelia nodded at Maja’s explanation.

She was at the scene herself, so she knew better than anyone on what happened to Jude and why he wasn’t waking up.

‘Sixth door…’

He didn’t lie down like this simply because of overdoing it.

It was the consequence of forcibly opening the door, so he was unable to wake up.

‘Stupid idiot.’

You always boasted about your physical strength.

You always bragged about your Cheonmujiche.

Cordelia felt her vision blur again. Without realizing it, tears flowed down along her cheeks.

‘It’s because of me.’

Cordelia herself was the one who came up with the idea of opening the sixth door.

Cordelia herself was the one who pushed Jude into doing it.

“I-it’s all right, Miss. He will wake up soon.”

“Yes, my lady. Count Bayer said the same.”

As Cordelia shed tears, Dahlia and Maja were flustered and quickly spoke.

Instead of answering, Cordelia bit her lips and sniffled, but she soon nodded her head.

Because it naturally occurred to her what Jude would say if he was awake now and what she would also say to him.

“My lady, aren’t you hungry?”

“Yes, Miss. You woke up after two days.”

Maja and Dahlia spoke again when the still sniffling Cordelia looked a bit calm now.

And Cordelia realized it.

The fact that she was really hungry.

Perhaps because she had realized it, she felt so hungry now that her stomach was growling.

“Please come this way. Since you woke up after two days, I will prepare something soft to eat.”

Maja smiled and spoke, leading Cordelia to a table before leaving the room, and she soon returned with a few dishes on the tray.

Soup, bread, and water mixed with fruit juice.

It was a very simple meal compared to the ones she normally ate, but she was drooling because she had an empty stomach.

“Please eat.”

“Thank you for the meal.”

Cordelia immediately said and lifted her spoon before she looked back at Jude.

Because she was worried about Jude who had not yet eaten.

‘Wake up quickly, okay?’

Let’s go eat something delicious together.

After muttering a slightly childish wish, Cordelia focused on eating again.

And a few minutes.

Around the time when Cordelia emptied the soup and swallowed the juice with a gulp.

“Cordelia, so you were here.”

A handsome man appeared after the door opened.

He had a face that resembled Count Chase and Adelia.

And Cordelia realized.

That she had completely forgotten about the man in front of her.

“Ah.”

“Ah?”

Edward Chase.

The eldest son of Count Chase and the older brother of Cordelia herself.

He was also at the grand banquet hall and attended the ball, but she somehow forgot about him.

“Why does it look like you’re feeling very sorry about something?”

“N-no, I’m not. Oppa is also fine. Yes, yes. I’m glad. Oppa is also safe.”

As Cordelia quickly laughed ‘ehehe’ and said, Edward narrowed his eyes in suspicion but fortunately, it was only for a moment.

He sat in front of Cordelia who unconsciously began to sweat coldly, and he glanced at Jude once before looking at Cordelia again and saying.

“First of all, let me say this an older brother who share Count Chase’s blood like you. I’m really glad that you woke up fine. I was very worried.”

“Yes, thank you, oppa.”

I’m really, really sorry for forgetting about you.

Edward narrowed his eyes again when Cordelia awkwardly smiled, but this time, it wasn’t that long.

“Next… as a noble of the Sälen Kingdom, I would like to express my gratitude. You and Jude saved this country. You really contributed well in this fight.”

Having said that, Edward bowed his head.

“O-oppa?”

“I’m very proud that you’re my younger sister.”

At Edward’s words, Cordelia blushed in shyness and joy instead of embarrassment.

Because she felt a great sense of satisfaction deep in her heart.

We did well this time, just like we did in the wild lands.

We did a good job for everyone again this time.

“Ehehe.”

As Cordelia shyly laughed, Edward smiled as he found it to be very cute, and he spoke again.

“Then let me get straight to the point. Cordelia, I have good news and good news. Which one would you like to hear first?”

“Huh?”

Good news and good news. You want me to choose from one of those two?

Cordelia blinked her eyes and asked, and Edward said again.

“There are good news and good news. I’ll leave it to you on which one you would like to hear first.”

What kind of nonsense is this?

Come to think of it, Edward was originally a person like this.

“Uh… Then I want to hear the good news first.”

“Good, that’s an excellent choice.”

“Oookay.”

I don’t know in what exactly I chose, but anyway, good news is good news.

When Cordelia faintly smiled, Edward got to the point instead of dragging it on.

“Gaël’s condition is rapidly improving. Perhaps he will open his eyes tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest.”

“Really?!”

“Yes, really. So don’t worry about it too much. I’ll make him a very cool prosthetic, of course.”

If Adelia was a combat-type wizard, Edward was a research-type wizard who specialized in crafting magic tools.

It was reliable if the prosthetic arm was made by Edward and not anybody else.

“Haa… that’s a relief.”

“Yes, it’s a relief.”

Edward happily smiled and waited for a while. So that Cordelia could pay her full attention to the second good news.

“Are you ready to listen now?”

“Eh? Yes. I want to hear it.”

The second good news.

As Cordelia brightly smiled and looked excited, Edward suddenly stood up and courteously greeted her.

“Edward Chase from the Chase family greets Viscountess Chase.”

“Huh?”

Cordelia blinked her eyes with a blank face, and she soon stood up from her seat.

“Viscountess Chase?”

“Yes, Viscountess Chase. Because you made a huge contribution. Wouldn’t it be natural for you to raise in rank?”

He was right.

They made a really, really big contribution, so they deserved to have their titles raised.

“Wow, viscountess.”

Viscountess Chase.

Not Baroness Chase but viscountess.

“Hehehe.”

Cordelia chuckled with a happy face, and Edward giggled before he slightly raised Cordelia’s hand and touched his lips on the back of her hand.

“Countess Chase, Crown Princess Daphne has already given her word that she will be holding the merit ceremony herself.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes, indeed.”

When Edward spoke in a theatrical manner, Cordelia responded as if they were in a play.

And a few seconds.

Cordelia’s eyes widened and she asked.

“W-wait a second. Countess Chase?”

“Yes, countess. After being promoted from baroness to viscountess, you’ll be promoted to countess again.”

Because they had all saved the lives of the king, queens, and their children.

It was not an exaggeration to say that they were literally heroes who saved the country, so it was natural for them to be promoted to the count rank.

“Wow, countess. What about Jude?”

“Yes, he is Count Bayer.”

Countess Chase and Count Bayer.

A couple who were both counts.

“My goodness.”

Cordelia sat down again and giggled with a face as if she didn’t know if this was a dream or reality, and Edward lightly pinched Cordelia’s cheek then. He was a bit surprised at its softness that Scarlet also liked, and he said.

“By the way, Countess Chase.”

“Yes, Lord Edward Chase.”

“I have better news.”

“Huh?”

You have news better than this?

Cordelia widened her eyes in surprise, and Edward smiled like a mischievous kid and drew his face closer.

He whispered in a small voice to Cordelia’s ear just like how Jude did.

The third good news.

Surprise and joy spread on Cordelia’s face at the same time.