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EPISODE 198 – MERIT CEREMONY (1)
“Ah.”
She slowly opened her eyes and let out a blank voice.
Because she was actually in a stupor.
“
lia
?”
She heard a voice in her ear, but she couldn’t understand it properly because her head was in a daze.
As her blurred vision gradually turned clear, Cordelia blinked a few more times.
“
ss?”
The voice became more audible. At the same time, Cordelia felt thirsty. Her mouth was dry, and it was difficult to swallow her saliva.
“Haa.”
She let out her breath after she groaned.
Her vision still felt cloudy, but she could somehow see ahead of her.
An unfamiliar ceiling.
But it wasn’t completely unfamiliar. She felt like she had seen something similar to it.
The ceiling had a flashy and luxurious feeling.
Where did I see it?
Duke Spencer’s mansion?
My room in the royal palace?
“Miss! Can you hear me?!”
The voice.
Cordelia shifted her blue eyes and saw.
The teary-eyed Dahlia was beside her.
“Dahlia
?”
As soon as she spoke while struggling a bit with her pronunciation, a response came back.
“Yes, Miss. It’s me. It’s Dahlia. Are you awake? Are you okay?”
Cordelia nodded a few times at the other’s fervent response. Frankly, she was still in a daze and didn’t know what was happening, but she didn’t want to worry Dahlia.
“Wate
”
“Water? Please wait, Miss. I’ll give it to you right away.”
Dahlia immediately answered at the words she mumbled, and after raising Cordelia’s upper body halfway up, she grabbed a cup with her empty hand.
“Here it is, Miss. Slowly. Slowly.”
Cordelia still had a blank face because she didn’t have much strength in her body, so Dahlia brought the cup to Cordelia’s lips and tilted it slowly, and Cordelia closed her eyes and drank the water like a baby.
Slowly but steadily.
“Fuuaa.”
After drinking all the water, Cordelia opened her eyes again. Although she was still lacking in energy, she felt a bit refreshed when she moistened her dry throat.
“Ah
uh
”
“Are you feeling better now?”
“Yes
”
“I’ll lay you down again. Slowly.”
Dahlia gently whispered and laid Cordelia down very carefully, and Cordelia opened her lips after closing her eyes tightly.
“Ah.”
Aaaaah.
Huuu.
She felt like the water she had just drank was circulating in her body.
Her blurred vision finally became clear.
“Dah
lia?”
“Yes, Miss. It’s Dahlia.”
Dahlia grabbed Cordelia’s hand and smiled with a tearful face.
Since she was a knight, Dahlia’s hands were rough but warm.
Cordelia somehow felt better and grinned, and she soon realized.
Dahlia’s hand.
What about Jude’s hand then?
“Jude?!”
Cordelia became conscious and shouted, sitting up and reflexively raising her right hand.
Her hand had always held Jude’s hand, but it was alone now.
“Jude.”
She remembered it.
She recalled it.
The last situation before she lost consciousness.
After all sorts of hardships, they defeated the Lord Protector and then she talked with Jude with their eyes.
They threw up blood and fell into a deep sleep while holding each other’s hands.
And now.
She didn’t see Jude. That fact made Cordelia very worried.
“What about Jude? Where is Jude? Is Jude okay?”
As she poured out words and tried to get out of the bed, Dahlia hurriedly stretched her hands and pressed on Cordelia’s shoulders.
She said as she softly smiled to reassure her.
“Lord Jude is okay too. He’s resting in another room now.”
“Another room?”
“Yes, another room. Please don’t worry since Maja is taking care of him.”
“Maja.”
Jude’s exclusive maid.
A person who was not just a servant for Jude, but was like a real sister to him.
“Haa.”
Cordelia let out her breath, and Dahlia asked as she carefully laid her down again.
“Have you calmed down?”
“Eh? Yes. Uh-huh.”
From her answer, it seemed like she had not yet completely calmed down, but Dahlia was satisfied for now. She held Cordelia’s hand and continued.
“He’s really okay. So please don’t worry.”
“Okay.”
Because Dahlia never lied.
Moreover, Jude had absorbed the Sphere of Life and boasted about it whenever he had a chance. He was a guy with a regenerative ability that was better than Cordelia’s, so he should be fine and not in poor health.
“Haa.”
That’s a relief.
I’m really, really glad.
Cordelia sighed in relief again before she turned her eyes and looked at Dahlia.
“Is Dahlia okay?”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Dahlia was also in the grand banquet hall.
“I’m okay. Count Chase protected everyone.”
“Father?”
“Yes, not only did he support with his magic the palace that was destroyed, but he also defeated the zombies and traitors. Without the count, many people would have died or be injured by the collapsing palace.”
At Dahlia’s explanation, Cordelia slightly smiled.
Because she was proud of her father.
“But you’re not hurt anywhere, right?”
“Yes, I’m not. So please don’t worry about me.”
“Okay, I won’t be worried.”
When Cordelia faintly smiled, Dahlia also brightly smiled.
“By the way, Dahlia.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“How long have I been asleep?”
“Two full days.”
“Eh?”
Cordelia was surprised and unconsciously asked again.
Two days?
Not half a day or a day, but two days?
“Yes, I’ve been worried about you not waking up for two days. Everyone around me said that it was fine because you were so tired that you fell into a deep sleep, but
 But it’s not normal to sleep for two days straight.”
“Indeed.”
Cordelia nodded her head and looked back at herself.
She was wearing a white and loose dress that seemed comfortable and resembled a patient’s clothing.
“Let me check for a moment.”
Cordelia briefly said and closed her eyes, checking out her body’s condition.
By lightly circulating her mana, she was able to know her condition.
‘My mana has been exhausted.’
Perhaps when she released that last divine lightning, all the mana in her body was released too.
Add to that was her physical fatigue, so it was understandable for her to sleep for two days.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine now.”
It wouldn’t originally take two days of sleep to recover her depleted mana, but it seemed to have somehow recovered due to the increase in her angel rank.
“Dahlia, what about the others?”
She was not only worried about Jude.
There were a lot of people she was worried about too.
To the extent that she didn’t know who she should ask about first.
At Cordelia’s somewhat awkward question, Dahlia replied with a smile.
“I’ll tell you about the royal family first.”
“Okay.”
They were the most important people in this fight.
“His Majesty The King and the three queens are all safe. Crown Princess Daphne, Prince Dion, and Princess Darianne are also safe.”
Cordelia breathed in relief at Dahlia’s statement.
In fact, she wanted to slightly question if Crown Princess Daphne was really fine since her right hand was cut off, but it wasn’t life-threatening anyway, so it was good news to her.
‘She’s royalty, so she can have it reattached with healing magic.’
Her severed hand was surely at the scene.
“What about father? I mean, my father.”
Instead of immediately answering Cordelia’s question, Dahlia laughed ‘Ufufu’ before she furtively smiled and teased her.
“Miss, your father? Or his father?”
“F-father is father, whyyy?”
Dahlia giggled as Cordelia responded with a slight blush on her face.
T/N: The father part here is a wordplay in the formal and informal ways of calling your dad in Korean. ‘Abeoji’ is the informal/casual way of calling your own dad. ‘Abeonim’ is the formal way of calling your own dad, but it is also used to refer to a friend or someone else’s dad.
So when Cordelia asked, ‘what about father?’, she used the formal ‘abeonim’ but corrected it later to the informal ‘abeoji’, which is ‘my father’ because she was only referring to her own father. But Dahlia teasingly asked Cordelia if she was referring to Jude’s dad (because ‘abeonim’ could be used to refer to someone else’s dad or your father-in-law) or her own father (Count Chase). Dahlia used both ‘abeonim’ in her question of ‘your father or his father’.
Dahlia was subtly teasing Cordelia if she was only interested in Jude’s father because of Jude, even though Dahlia knew that Cordelia was only referring to her own father. Cordelia replied that she was only interested in her own father, but that blush on her face hinted that she understood what Dahlia was teasing her about.
“Miss.”
“Why?”
“Can I pinch your cheek? You’re so cute that I want to pinch it.”
“No.”
“Why? Because it belongs to Lord Jude?”
“Yes- NO! Why are you mentioning Jude!”
“You asked about his father, right? And you unconsciously answered ‘yes,’ right?”
“No, I did not, okay? My cheeks are mine, okay? It doesn’t belong to Jude, okay?”
“Then, can I pinch it?”
“No! Why aren’t you listening to me!”
As Cordelia became annoyed, Dahlia chuckled again.
“Miss is so cute.”
“Dahlia is not cute at all.”
“Really? Is that really true?”
“Ueueue
 Why are you doing this to me? Why?”
Cordelia asked if she was crying, Dahlia replied with a smile.
“Because I like miss so much. Plus, you’re so cute. It’s not my fault but my lady’s fault for being cute, okay? Who said that you can be so cute?”
“Dahlia has become weird.”
What’s wrong with you today?
When Cordelia was at a loss on what to do, Dahlia giggled for the last time before she corrected her expression.
“Anyway, this is enough
 let’s go back to the main point. Does miss like me too?”
“I hate Dahlia.”
“I like my lady.”
She had been really worried for the past two days.
So she was really happy to see Cordelia open her eyes.
Dahlia continued as she stroked Cordelia’s hands.
“Both Count Bayer and Count Chase are safe. They both did very well in this incident.”
Count Bayer defeated First Sword, one of the traitors, and Count Chase saved everyone in the grand banquet hall.
A catastrophe would have occurred if neither of the two were there.
“Haa
 That’s a relief.”
Because her father-in-law was safe.
She was honestly worried since First Sword was his opponent.
“Because Count Bayer is strong. It seems like he wasn’t overwhelmed at all by First Sword
 that traitor, I’ll rip him into shreds.”
Dahlia’s voice was mixed with various emotions.
When she talked about Count Bayer, she was proud of him as if he had already become a family member of theirs, and when she talked about First Sword, she revealed her blatant hatred for him.
‘I guess they all know now.’
Two days had already passed.
Everyone must have already exchanged information to figure out the full situation.
‘But it’s kind of
 shocking.’
She had never thought that First Sword was a traitor.
‘I never even imagined it.’
He had always been kind to Jude and Cordelia.
Above all, there was no story of a traitor in the game.
‘But that did not mean there was no traitor.’
First Sword only existed in the background setting, so there were still a lot of things they didn’t know about.
‘Hmm
 If I think about it, he might have faked his death and was not actually killed by one of the 7 major calamities.’
And after that, he might have changed his name to his demonic human name like the other Ten Great Swordmasters who were traitors too.
“Haaaa.”
Either way, it was something unpleasant.
Furthermore, when she heard the story from Dahlia, it seemed like First Sword had escaped.
“What about unnie? What about brother-in-law GaĂ«l?”
Instead of answering Cordelia question right away, Dahlia shrank her lips and spoke in a cautious tone.
“First of all
 Adelia-nim is safe. She was really exhausted, but she wasn’t that hurt.”
Cordelia was relieved to hear that Adelia was safe, but she did not breathe in relief for now.
Because she felt like there was something wrong with Gaël with the way Dahlia talked.
“As for Lord GaĂ«l
 his life is not in danger.”
“Life
?”
“Yes, he was a bit
 he was hurt a lot. He had a lot of injuries all over his body, and he lost his left arm.”
Cordelia blinked her eyes.
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 SĂ€len 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.
“GaĂ«l’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.