Chapter 69 [Thank you, Lex]...
As dawn broke, the servants in the manor set off one by one to their respective posts to begin their day's work.
A maid in the prime of her life hurried to the kitchen, carrying two buckets of fresh milk with her strong arms.
The kitchen was already bustling with activity, with people moving around and calling out everywhere. The maid struggled to get past other people's elbows and backs, and had to be wary of spoons and ladles that suddenly flew out. Finally, she managed to put the wooden bucket in its proper place.
Whew, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Mela remained comfortably nestled in her soft down-filled blankets until the golden dawn fully illuminated Furhorst Manor, when someone knocked on her door and asked in a soft voice if she was ready to get up.
Mela lazily replied with a "yes".
Then the door was opened, and several young maids filed in, carrying clean towels and copper basins filled with hot water, to help Mela get up.
This spectacle chased away the last bit of sleepiness from Mela.
She was fully awake, took the towel, wet it, wrung it out, wiped her face haphazardly, and then told the maids they could leave.
"Oh, and remember to leave your clothes behind," Mela quickly added.
Last night, despite being sleepy, she took a nice, warm bath before going to bed. She was only wearing the nightgown that Catherine had prepared for her, and the nightgown she had changed out of was taken away by Catherine.
Because Mela refused again, one of the young maids had no choice but to place the clothes she was holding at the foot of the bed for Mela to change herself.
After everyone had left, Mela picked up the dress that Catherine had specially prepared for her.
The layers of silk fabric are light and soft, while the outermost dark green petticoat is particularly lustrous, with even the cuffs embroidered with delicate lace, making it look very valuable.
However, Mela abandoned the cumbersome crinoline and the troublesome corset, simply tying a waistband around her waist, and then headed to the restaurant led by her maid.
At the long table, Mrs. Jones was already seated in the head seat, with Lex and Cherk to her right, while Mela sat directly to Mrs. Jones's left.
"Did you sleep well last night?" Mrs. Jones asked Mella while the servants were serving the food.
Mela, of course, smiled and replied that she slept very well.
Lying down on that soft bed, it felt like sinking into the clouds.
Mrs. Jones then turned her attention to Lex and Chelge, and the three of them exchanged a string of polite words that Melanie was not interested in.
As she enjoyed the unusually lavish breakfast, she suspected that Mrs. Jones was deliberately avoiding certain sensitive topics, perhaps because of her presence.
For example, what kind of life has Lex led all these years, and how did he meet Mela?
Breakfast was only halfway through when a servant rushed into the dining room, his face beaming with undisguised joy: "Madam, the Marquis has woken up!"
"Have the kitchen send him a breakfast first, and we'll go see him later."
Mrs. Jones calmly cut a small, thin piece of beef with her silver knife, showing no sign of being eager to visit Fernando, who had just woken up.
Years of aristocratic upbringing made it impossible for her to abandon her guests halfway through the meal; that would be far too impolite.
Therefore, after Mela and the others put down their knives and forks, Mrs. Jones led them to Fernandez's room.
At that moment, Fernando had just finished a small bowl of warm pumpkin soup.
Having just awakened from a long period of darkness, his appetite was clearly not very good, so as soon as he saw Mrs. Jones and the others behind her, Fernando naturally had the servants take the food away.
"How are you feeling? Is there anything else that's bothering you?"
This was the first time since Fernando's accident that Mrs. Jones's face, which had been frozen like ice, had melted and shown a hint of concern.
"I'm fine. You've worked so hard for me these past few days." Fernando had a gentle smile on his lips.
Even before Mrs. Jones could say anything, Fernando could guess how much effort she had put into handling this huge mess these past few days; otherwise, he wouldn't have woken up so quickly.
"Your Highness Lex, it's been a long time."
Then, Fernanke's gaze passed over Mrs. Jones and landed on Lex's face, but he didn't seem to show much surprise.
In his words, it was as if Lex had never experienced that harrowing disappearance, and that he had never been estranged from Lex after not seeing him for several years.
“You have taken good care of yourself over the years. I believe Her Majesty Queen Lillieles will be very pleased to see you like this.”
This was the first time Mela had heard someone mention Lex's mother directly. She secretly observed Lex's expression and saw that he seemed quite used to the familiarity between Fernando and Lilyles.
"It's a pity that you've made the trip to Furhorst Territory, but I won't be able to show you around the manor properly for the time being," Fernando said with some regret.
“It’s alright. His Highness and I will be bothering you here for a while longer. We won’t miss the opportunity for you to be our guide this time,” Cherge interjected with a smile.
"It seems I need to get better soon." There was a hint of helplessness in Fernando's voice.
Of course, he didn't miss Mela standing at the back of the crowd. "And this lady is?"
“Thanks to Mela, she helped you regain your senses,” Mrs. Jones told Fernandez.
“So it’s Miss Mela,” Fernando said, treating Mela with the same gentleness as everyone else. “Thank you for your help. If there’s anything I can do to repay you, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“No need,” Mela said, “Mrs. Jones has already sent Physician Aaron to treat my companion. You don’t need to pay me any extra.”
Since Dr. Aaron had been mentioned, Mela simply said, "Just to be on the safe side, you should have Dr. Aaron come over and take another look at you."
“That’s right, we should have the doctor check you again to see if there are any other problems.” Mrs. Jones nodded in agreement and was about to ask Catherine to call Aaron over.
"Let me go call someone. I also need to check on Yuriel's condition." Mela took over Catherine's task and left the room.
She had only come along casually to take a look. Of the people present, she was the only one who had no relation to Fei Nanji. Since she saw that Fei Nanji was alright, she didn't have the inclination to stay and listen to other people reminisce.
Mela arrived outside Yuriel's room just as Doctor Aaron opened the door from the inside.
"Is Yuriel awake?" Mela asked.
“He’s awake,” Aaron replied.
When Aaron saw Mela again, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when he remembered that he had exposed her identity in front of Catherine. However, he still explained Yuriel's current situation to Mela in great detail.
“Generally speaking, now that Miss Yuriel has woken up, she may soon feel a strong hunger, but it is best not to let her eat too much at this time, otherwise it may easily stimulate her weakened body again and cause her to vomit up what she has eaten.”
“I understand.” Mela said knowingly, and told Aaron to go and check on Fernando’s condition, and that she could take care of Yuriel.
Upon hearing this, Aaron left without stopping, without even having a chance to rest and catch his breath.
"Yuriel".
Mela sent her maid to fetch a simple breakfast and went into the room alone, where she saw Yuriel struggling to sit up in bed.
She had no choice but to rush forward and help Yuriel up, then casually tuck a pillow behind her back to help her support herself.
"Where are we?" Yuriel looked around curiously at the environment, which was clearly different from the inn.
Her memory only went back to before she fell into a coma, that is, the night before last. Therefore, Mela could only tell her about what happened yesterday in a few short sentences.
"What did you say?" Yuriel never expected that so much had happened in just one day. All she could think about was what Mela had mentioned. The reason they were arrested was probably related to Erica.
"Why would my aunt want to harm this lord named Fernanki? Does he have some connection with the royal family?" To Yuriel, it was perfectly reasonable for a witch to want to harm a member of the royal family.
Although she couldn't help but feel a little resentful, she wondered why Erica would do something like this all by herself without even saying a word. Didn't she know she would be worried?
“I don’t know why Erica did this, but Fernando has no blood relation to the royal family. He just served as the prime minister to the current king for many years.”
Mela felt that this shouldn't be a reason for Erica to attack Fernanki.
Otherwise, following this logic, wouldn't Erica want to kill all the nobles associated with the royal family?
—Mera began to consider the possibility of a witch becoming king.
"Okay, let's not worry about why Auntie did this for now. If we want to know the reason, we still need to find her first."
Yuriel assured Mela, "I will get better soon."
“That’s probably not up to you,” Dr. Aaron said. “Patients like you with a severe case of black maple odor poisoning will need at least half a month to recover and return to full health.” Mela said with pity.
In other words, Yuriel has to stay in the manor for another half a month.
"Can't you just concoct a healing potion for me?" Yuriel asked, puzzled.
As long as she drinks the healing potion, this little ailment will be cured immediately, and she will soon be able to leave the manor with Mela, full of energy.
If they didn't do this before because they were worried about their identities being exposed, now that their identities have been exposed, they might as well recover quickly and leave as soon as possible.
“Of course not, because there aren’t any materials here that I can use to concoct healing potions.” Mela shrugged, dissuading Yuriel from trying to recover quickly.
Yuriel: "..." This reason is indeed very reasonable, even she is speechless.
Just then, the maid brought in breakfast for Yuriel.
Yuriel awkwardly tried to take the tray from the maid, but Mela interrupted her, "Why are you being so stubborn? You don't even have the strength to sit up. Just let her feed you this bowl of porridge."
Nevertheless, when the spoonful of porridge touched her lips, Yuriel still wore an expression as if she wanted to stay far away, as if the maid was feeding her a spoonful of poison.
Mela, who was watching from the side, couldn't stop laughing.
Knowing that Yuriel's shame would be lessened by her presence, Mela didn't stay to see Yuriel make a fool of herself. She made up an excuse and left the room.
As Mela closed the door and turned around, she was nearly startled by Lex, who had suddenly appeared behind her.
“What are you doing standing here? Isn’t your room at the other end of the hallway?” Mela asked curiously.
"It's been so long since we last met, don't you have anything else you want to say to me?" Lex was also somewhat exasperated by Mela's attitude.
"What are you saying? Weren't we already prepared to never see each other again?" Mela tilted her head slightly, her innocent expression revealing a cold and cruel edge to Lex's eyes.
"But it is a pleasant surprise to see you here. Without you, I would not be able to stand here safely like this."
Mela smiled, stood on tiptoe, and patted Lex on the shoulder. "Thank you, Lex."
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