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Sitting on the wet bed, I stared at the rising sun absent-mindedly.
It was just in time for the sun to rise when I woke up from my sleep.
While I was looking at the sun that slowly rose higher, someone opened the door.
Unexpectedly, it wasn’t a maid who came to help me prepare for the morning, but Jeremy.
“You woke up early.”
“Were you unable to have a good sleep?”
“No. I had a good sleep.”
“But your face . . .”
I brought my hand to my face without knowing it.
I felt a slightly warmer temperature than usual.
It seemed like I got a little cold due to the wet bed added with the dawn air.
“I’m fine.”
Jeremy, who stared at me with very concerned eyes, slowly approached my bedside.
His reason for visiting my room early at dawn like this was clear, so I could laugh even when I was exhausted.
“You must come because of Adel.”
“Did you still have a bad night? I always sleep well whenever I have Adel next to me.”
Jeremy looked down as though he regretted that I couldn’t feel the effect.
To be honest, I was grateful enough for his consideration.
Just a few months ago, he used to look at people with dull eyes as if he had nothing to do with anyone, saying he was going to die.
I handed over the flowerpot to him while looking at his odd but lively face.
“Here.”
After accepting it, he carefully examined Adel’s condition.
“Oh!”
I stared at him, curious at the quite loud shout.
Jeremy, who attentively looked down at the pot, began to look alternately between the pot and me with a very confused expression.
“Wha-what is this . . .!”
“Is there anything wrong?”
Did I perhaps hit the pot while I was sleeping?
As I asked Jeremy, who couldn’t calm down as though something unbelievable happened, he gushed with an excited voice.
“Adel grew up!”
At that, my eyes quickly moved to the pot as well.
There was still only a small sprout there.
“Aren’t you imagining things?”
“That is impossible. I always check on Adel’s condition every morning. Look at this.”
What Jeremy showed was a very small needle.
After bringing the small needle at the size of a finger to the sprout, he raised his voice and claimed.
“Look. Before, the size was only ⅓ of this needle, but isn’t it now it’s a bit more than half?!”
He measured it himself every morning, and the position marked on the needle was definitely different from the current measurement.
As I listened to the claims over and over again, I began to wonder if that was true.
Even so, it only grew a bit more than a fingernail.
Despite that, its growth had stopped enough to doubt whether it was alive until now, so he deserved to be excited.
Should I congratulate him?
I was hesitating as I stood next to Jeremy, who was crouching.
Suddenly, he slowly got up and stared at me.
“Congratulations, on Adel’s growth.”
Although I wasn’t sure if it grew or not.
Jeremy slightly caught his breath at my words, then nodded.
At first, his lips were surely curved up, but as time passed, he strangely looked down.
As expected, did he really mistake it for growth, when it’s not?
A dark shadow hung over the boy’s face.
His hands held the pot very preciously and he looked down at it.
“You don’t need to be disappointed. Adel is just—”
“After all that care I gave every day, Adel couldn’t keep growing, but she grew this much in a day on your bedside . . .”
His calm voice gradually trembled.
There was sadness in his eyes looking down in order to keep his composure.
There was moistness in his lamentation-like words.
“Of course I’m happy. Since you made Adel grow. But I’m a bit sad that I couldn’t watch that precious scene . . .”
“If she grew today, then won’t she grow too tomorrow? You can watch it anytime from now on.”
“What should I do if she doesn’t want to grow because I’m a very unreliable owner?”
Not only plants, but also animals, even humans, could not say that they refused their own growth.
I didn’t know what to do with his remark, which ignored the most basic in biology, so I was silent.
Since he claimed that the child, who didn’t grow at all while they were together, grew overnight while it was with me . . .
This is not my fault, right?
While I was looking around out of confusion, fortunately, a maid entered to wake me up.
Amidst the awkward situation, Jeremy carefully held the pot and left.
The flustered maid asked,
“Why did the Prince come to your room early this morning, My Lady?”
“I don’t know well either. It seems like he couldn’t sleep.”
I felt restless as I glossed it over.
A scene in my dream, which I forgot for a moment thanks to Jeremy— who came at dawn, then disappeared with sad eyes while saying he wouldn’t blame me— was played before my eyes.
Usually, I wouldn’t even be sure if I dreamed when I woke up, but it was a curious thing that I could clearly remember every word in that dream.
“I’ll prepare you some water to wash first so you can go down to eat.”
Nodding to her kind words, I leaned my body in the bed.
I had thought I had a cold and now my body began to shiver.