Published: August 25, 2025
After properly compressing and settling the mana inside my body and becoming able to move normally, I reached out my hand to the bell on the side table next to my pillow. Before I could ring it, Richarda entered the tent—perhaps having noticed the sound of me stirring.
“You’ve finally woken up, Princess. You didn’t wake for two whole days; we were truly worried. I repeatedly asked young master Ferdinand, who was slow to act, and finally he came here… but—”
When I reported Yustox fainting from overexcitement, the high priest apparently told Richarda to press an empty mana stone to me and leave me alone until the mana inside me calmed down. Even so, I couldn’t help but be amazed at how excited I had been, considering I had slept for two whole days.
At the same time, I imagined what would have happened if I had already been awake when the high priest reluctantly arrived after being called so many times. I pictured his extremely displeased face, the storm of scolding that would follow, and felt the blood drain from my face.
“Richarda, I want to lose consciousness once more. Preferably until Lord Ferdinand arrives.”
“What are you saying, Princess? Everyone is worried about you too. Since your mana has settled, there’s no problem. Let’s go to the dining hall for dinner.”
When I went to dinner, everyone turned to look at me at once.
“Lady Rosemine!”
“You’ve finally woken up. Your uncle said there’s no need to worry, but I was truly concerned.”
“What happened to the tea party?”
While eating, I asked about what happened after I collapsed.
Since Gudrun was attending, Richarda wasn’t in the tea party room but was giving instructions behind the scenes. While she was directing the attendants to bring extra sweets, Gudrun arrived carrying me while I was unconscious. After handing me over, Gudrun returned to clean up the tea party, so Richarda didn’t know what had happened inside.
“The organizer collapsing like that, how could everyone just casually enjoy tea and chatting as if nothing happened?”
The lord candidates attending had their impression of my frailty confirmed—that touching me carelessly would cause me to collapse—and the tea party was immediately disbanded.
“The hardest hit was Lady Hannelore. Make sure to apologize properly later. She held back desperately but ended up crying.”
Hannelore, who collapsed when she held my hand, apparently went into a panic, not knowing what to do. Wilfried, who also has trauma concerning me and knows panic states well, reportedly did his best to comfort Hannelore and her close aides.
He told them stories like when we first met at the baptism ceremony, ran holding hands, and I lost consciousness midway, tripping and being dragged, nearly dying covered in blood, or when I got hit by several snowballs during a snowball fight and fainted, causing the knights who were on guard for us all to turn pale. “For Rosemine, this happens often. Though shocking for those around her, when she regains consciousness, she acts as if nothing happened, so don’t worry,” he said.
The close aides, having witnessed my sudden loss of consciousness, nodded strongly at Wilfried’s words and said, “It’s not Lady Hannelore’s fault, so please don’t worry.”
Still, since Hannelore was sulking, saying “It might be my fault,” Wilfried escorted her back to the Dunkelfelger dormitory, explained the day’s events, and apologized politely for having caused her distress.
“I apologize for the inconvenience to everyone.”
“You remained unconscious for two full days. Tomorrow’s the territory competition. …Still, why did you collapse this time? I don’t think you did anything special…”
When Wilfried asked, I tried to answer, “I got too excited about my cute book-loving friend, Lady Hannelore,” but then I suddenly realized—
If I said that as is, wouldn’t I sound like a pervert? Maybe I should soften it a bit. Excited about making a friend? No, no, maybe just really happy about becoming friends?