108 Uneasy mind
***[Heroine Oscar]***
are you okay.
she is sleeping peacefully
nothing is strange
Deeply relieved, I ran my fingers through Katrin’s hair and pulled it back.
My hair, slightly wet with perspiration, clung to my fingers and then fell off, somehow reassuring me.
I feel like I am a living person.
For a moment, Igor’s face came to mind, and his voice replayed in my head.
It gets terrible again.
I got goosebumps and it felt like all the blood in my body was frozen.
I looked into Catherine’s face again.
A small sighing sound was heard.
His face was still a little red from the heat, but he didn’t have any nightmares or any signs of distress.
Yeah, it was just a normal cold.
It has nothing to do with the fortuneteller.
While I was relieved to check on Catherine like that, the wife of the counselor, who was different from when I left the mansion, told me about Catherine’s condition.
He said he was still sleeping.
Continue calmly without waking up once.
“…”
Those words made me feel terrible.
What if I don’t wake up like this?
The thought came to me out of the blue, and I had just been relieved by Catherine’s placid face, but this time I was suddenly afraid of the situation.
I leaned over and whispered softly into Catherine’s ear.
“Catherine, I’m back.”
“…”
Catherine did not wake up.
A child who cannot wake up from sleep.
It was natural.
But for some reason I felt uneasy, so I whispered her name again.
“Catherine.”
“…”
A colorful, quiet sound of breathing rang in my ears.
The eyelids are still closed.
The wet eyelashes swayed occasionally, but that was all.
I don’t think I’ll wake up like this.
When I thought so, my life up until now flickered in my head like a movie.
I always wanted to have a family.
When I was in nursery school, where I had to share everything, even the teacher’s attention, I was hungry for my own things.
This place is my own, not mine.
That thought didn’t leave me.
I always felt uneasy at the thought of being somewhere out of place.
Mine must be somewhere, but this isn’t the right place for me.
I kept thinking like that.
Maybe that’s why I became obsessed with my family.
Hunger in childhood will continue into adulthood if not satisfied then.
It seems that you will be hungry for the rest of your life.
And I think maybe it was worse than others.
To the extent that he meets and falls in love with a woman just to satisfy his hunger for his family.
He loves women not because love comes first, but because he wants a family.
That kind of thing was repeated, but it was never fulfilled until I came to this world.
Even when I thought I had caught it, it slipped through my fingers like sand.
‘I finally found it.’
I have finally found my own, my own family.
Mothers and wives, subordinates who are like family members who provide for me.
I just found it.
made my family
Like a bird that built a nest, my heart gradually became cozy, and before I knew it, I was completely at ease.
‘but.’
Could it be that you are trying to steal it?
You start to suspect that this world is laughing at you, saying, “Does it know how to give you a family?”
A man without money is always in need of money.
Those who have no luck with their parents suffer from their parents for the rest of their lives, and the same goes for those who do not have good luck with their children.
There are often people in this world who were born deprived of one blessing from the beginning.
I didn’t know when I was young, but as I grew older, I heard those words from adults, and there was a moment when I felt it myself.
I’m really out of luck with my family.
I looked at Catherine’s face still.
She hasn’t woken up once since I left this house.
“no way….”
I muttered involuntarily.
Wasn’t she taken away by fate because she was born destined to be lonely?
When I thought so, impatience came out.
I lowered my body again and called her name a little forcefully while holding my mouth in her ear.
“Catherine!”
“…”
doesn’t wake up
it got creepy
Both the wife and maid standing near the bed seemed to think something was wrong.
A voice called for a doctor rang out, and people started to move around busily.
Then the butler’s voice was heard.
“Master, Countess Becker is here.”
I broke up with her a little while ago.
After coming out of the evening and dropping off the countess at her mansion, I headed for the duke’s house, so it really wasn’t long before.
“He brought a magical amulet and a prayer.”
I have already told you that Katrin is sick with a cold.
He didn’t say anything at the time, so he probably thought the fortuneteller’s behavior was ominous.
“Ask them to come in.”
As soon as I nodded, Countess Becker entered, as if she had been outside.
It was the same clothes I was wearing when we broke up earlier.
From an aristocratic point of view, this is outrageous disrespect.
But there’s no way she didn’t know that, and that must mean she was in a hurry.
He already knew that she and Catherine were very close.
The fact that Countess Becker is very fond of Catherine.
He didn’t know that she, who had a high reputation in the aristocratic society, valued her so much that she even ignored the etiquette and came running.
“Forgive me, Duke. Catherine… I couldn’t stand it when I heard that your wife was sick.”
There was little expression on Countess Becker’s face.
It’s like putting on a mask.
In a way, he seemed a little angry.
She held out a small box in her hand.
“These are the amulets and prayers I made for the temple I mentioned earlier. Is it okay if I keep these by your wife?”
“of course.”
As soon as I had said my words, Countess Becker came over and opened the box.
The Countess took out a piece of paper with an amulet drawn on it from the box, shoved it under Catherine’s pillow, and took out a prayer.
“These talismans and prayers are blessed by the priests. They will definitely work.”
Countess Becker lightly kissed the prayer.
Maybe it’s because of the mood.
For some reason, it seems that warm energy is coming out of the prayer door.
I feel something good.
The bad mood and ominous feeling I felt when I met the fortune teller faded a little.
“That prayer… would you mind if I read it?”
When I asked without realizing it, the Countess bowed her head slightly and offered a prayer.
The letter written on the top caught my eye.
[Goddess, help my beloved child.]
The prayer that began like that was the content of the mother’s prayer for the safety of her child.
As I read the prayers with my eyes, I felt as if moist rain was accumulating in my heart.
It works.
Feeling that way, I began to read the prayer out loud.
He puts his lips to Catherine’s ear and reads the words of a mother praying for her child.
Katrin’s breathing occasionally bounced, and her eyelashes trembled slightly.
My dizzy and anxious mind calmed down.
It’s okay, it’s okay, that’s what the prayers that were constantly leaking out of my mouth seemed to say.
I read the short prayer over and over again.
Meanwhile, Countess Becker took a step back and quietly came out and watched Catherine.
While I was reading the prayer for a while, I heard the sound of footsteps running hurriedly down the hallway.
In the duke’s family, both the head family and the royal residence have dedicated doctors.
Maybe the doctor came running.
The footsteps were getting closer, but suddenly a small sound leaked from Katrin’s mouth.
“… two….”
I don’t know what you mean.
But for the first time, she responded to something, which put my mind at ease.
“Catherine.”
As the prayers were paused and sung softly, Katrin’s eyebrows lifted slightly and her eyelids lifted.
Katrin looked at me with unfocused eyes, then muttered again.
“… two… two Oscars…”
“What are you talking about, Catherine?”
The tense atmosphere of the people loosened, and a sigh of relief came out from here and there.
A doctor entered the room.
Examining Katrin, the doctor chuckled.
“Your fever has gone down. Just rest for a day or two and you’ll be fine.”
Catherine blinked a few times before turning her gaze toward me and Countess Becker.
Suddenly, Catherine’s eyes brightened.
It seems to be really good now.
“Have you been there already?”
It seems that he wanted to hear the story of the last evening of the year.
When Katrin, who was trying to stand up, was gently pushed on her chest and made her lie down again, Katrin’s mouth protruded the size of her fist.
“I’m fine now.”
“Not yet, Catherine. You must lie still.”
You don’t even know how worried I was.
Swallowing those words in my mouth, I took a small breath.
“Duke, today I would like to stay by your wife’s side for a while and talk to you.”
Countess Becker asked me.
The mask-like expression from a while ago had disappeared before I knew it, and the countess had returned to a gentle lady’s face like a spring breeze.
She seems to be expressionless when she is anxious or complicated.
Quite the opposite of Catherine.
I bowed my head slightly.
I can’t make the Countess go home this early in the morning anyway.
“If you do that, I’ll be relieved.”
“Thank you, Duke. If I go back without properly checking on my wife’s condition, I’ll continue to be anxious.”
“Auntie!”
It seems that he was happy to hear that the countess was there.
Katrin smiled, eyes twinkling.
Her fingers came out of the covers and fluttered frantically in the corner.
It seems to be signaling something to Anne, who was standing at the bottom of the bed.
Anne, who had been pale a moment ago, moved her fingers vigorously, as if relieved now.
Does that complex finger signal between the two of them really make sense?
He moved so frantically that it made me a little doubtful whether the two of them really understood each other.
Countess Becker left for a while, guided by the lady-in-waiting.
You can’t stay in evening dress.
She will change into the dress prepared for the guest, remove her makeup for the night, and return.
They say that women’s night and day dresses, makeup, and props are all different.
I passed the time sitting by and watching Catherine to wake up until Countess Becker returned.
Katrin bangs on the side of the bed, enticing him to come in, but I can’t crawl into bed next to the sick.
I stared at Catherine’s face.
Overnight, she seems to have drawn out.
The under eyes were slightly sunken.
“Did you have another nightmare?”
I grabbed Katrin’s finger and asked, and she tilted her head slightly.
“I don’t know. It seems like I had a dream where I was trapped somewhere… but I can’t quite remember.”
“…”
It is not known whether she fell under the fortune teller’s curse.
It could be that you woke up later than usual because you were simply sick.
But lately, Catherine had been having nightmares, and maybe even that had been the work of the fortuneteller, so my mind was inclined to blame the fortuneteller.
In the middle of the heart, Countess Becker has returned.
I got up from my seat while receiving the Countess’s bow, and this time she sat down next to the bed as if taking turns.
I left the room after warning the people in the room not to leave the amulets and prayers on Catherine’s bed.
“Igor. The fortuneteller at the party you went to today. Investigate him thoroughly. Find out where he’s from, what he’s been up to, who he’s related to, as much as you can.”
When I spoke in a low voice to the butler who was waiting at the entrance of the room, the butler lowered his head.
“As ordered.”
*
A few days later, an interim report was posted.
Igor, the fortuneteller, seems to have entered the aristocracy of this country through the introduction of Baron Hiss.
Baron Heath was the family of the young lady who tricked Crown Prince Robert into becoming the concubine.
‘Robert’s…’
It became even more reluctant to say that it was related to the main character of the original work.
A few days later, when Catherine was completely normal, I decided to leave the capital as if I was running away.
The amulets and prayers that Countess Becker had given her were placed in pretty decorative pouches and kept by Catherine at all times.
Katrin thought it was strange, saying she didn’t know why, but the short time Katrin couldn’t come to her senses seemed to come as a strange feeling to everyone.
Anne and the other ladies-in-waiting were always watching Catherine to make sure she didn’t lose her amulet.
On the day we left the capital, the butler told me several times to be careful about safety.
It is said that there have been several eyewitness reports of seeing witches near the capital.
“It’s strange, but since not long after the fortune teller Igor came to the capital, the number of sightings of witches has been increasing. It may be a coincidence, but it bothers me for some reason. If possible, hurry on your way to the capital. please give it to me.”
Receiving the butler’s worried gaze, Pooh was the first to shake his large body and run forward.
As if that was a signal, the procession of dukes slowly began to move.