The Obsessive Male Lead Is Jealous Of My Doll - Chapter 61

Chapter 31.1

When Karentina finally managed to open her eyes, she saw a blue and silver canopy hanging from the ceiling. At some point, she had been moved to a bed.

“Lady Karentina, are you feeling a bit better now?”

Hearing Gemma’s worried voice, Karentina responded with a raspy croak.

“I-I’m fine.”

“Oh dear, your voice is completely hoarse.”

Gemma looked at her with a concerned expression.

“What happened? I was definitely in Cocoel Forest…”

“Lady Karentina, don’t you remember? You collapsed from pushing yourself too hard.”

Karentina’s eyes widened in surprise.

‘Ah, I collapsed…’

She couldn’t believe she had passed out just from a fall. Her stamina must have been embarrassingly low.

“Both Her Highness, the Princess, and His Highness the Crown Prince were really worried about you.”

Karentina tilted her head, skeptical that she had heard correctly.

‘Who is worried? About me?’

Stella, maybe, but definitely not Ignis.

“His Highness? Why?”

As if reading her thoughts, Gemma quietly poured her a glass of water and handed it to her.

“Don’t you remember? His Highness the Crown Prince carried you here himself.”

Karentina blinked in disbelief at Gemma’s words.

‘…Not Zion, but Ignis carried me?’

Her face stiffened as confusion set in.

“His Highness may seem cold, but he’s a lot more caring than he appears. If he considers someone as one of his own, he treasures them greatly.”

Just as Karentina was about to dismiss the idea that Ignis could ever consider her one of his own, a realization struck her.

‘Ah! It must be because I’m Damion’s sister.’

Finally, Karentina nodded as if she understood.

When she tried to sit up, a sharp pain shot through her back, causing it to crack painfully.

“Ugh…”

She groaned, accepting the water Gemma handed her.

“Please hold on, I’ll go get the physician.”

As Gemma rushed off to find the physician, Karentina’s mind wandered back to what had happened in Cocoel Forest.

She hadn’t felt much at the time, but now that the tension had faded, her whole body ached, and the pain was worsening. Both her knees were bruised and scraped from the fall, and her face was dotted with small scratches.

‘Is Stella okay?’

Sipping the water to moisten her dry mouth, she stared blankly at the ceiling until the physician arrived and began the examination.

“For someone with such weak stamina, you really pushed yourself too hard. You must rest completely for the time being.”

When the physician mentioned that she had narrowly avoided a more serious situation, Karentina had a sinking feeling that she would be stuck in bed for quite some time.

̊ · : * ✧ * : · ̊

“Lady Karentina, say ‘Ah—’.”

“Gemma, I have enough strength to hold a spoon.”

Although Karentina’s tone was serious, Gemma shook her head firmly.

“It’s His Highness’s orders. Besides, you heard the physician say you need absolute rest.”

The corner of Karentina’s mouth twitched slightly at the mention of Ignis’s orders.

‘It’s somehow uncomfortable…’

Karentina sighed briefly at Ignis’s overly attentive behavior, furrowing her brow.

Thanks to Leah’s divine power, her knees and muscle aches had healed quickly, except for her face. Even though she hadn’t treated the smaller cuts to avoid drawing attention to them, Leah had prepared a special ointment through Zion to prevent scarring, so the wounds were fading fast.

Stella, who was sticking closely to the side of the bed, looked up at her with a bright, innocent face. Karentina quickly adjusted her expression.

‘I heard Ignis and Gemma gave her quite the scolding… Is she okay?’

At the sight of Stella slumping her shoulders slightly, Karentina began to feel sorry for the child. As soon as Gemma stepped out for a moment, Karentina cautiously asked,

“Stella, are you okay?”

Stella’s eyes widened as if they might pop out, and soon, they brimmed with tears.

“I’m sorry.”

Tears fell from the child’s eyes as she looked at the wounds on her face. On the other hand, seeing her cry snapped Karentina out of her thoughts, and she quickly waved her hands in a flustered panic.

“Your Highness, I’m really fine. This happened because I accidentally fell…”

“You fell because you were looking for me.”

Looking at Stella’s reddened eyes as she tried to hold back her tears made Karentina feel as though her pain was melting away.

‘Stella was really worried about me.’

It felt like warm spring sunlight wrapping around her, and a soft smile crept onto her face. She gently patted the child’s head to comfort her.

“I didn’t listen to you…”

“Didn’t listen? No, it’s not like that. At your age, everything is new, and you’re curious about everything. That’s perfectly normal.”

Seeing Stella hiccup as she tried to hold back her tears, Karentina slowly changed the subject.

“Were you excited to see a bear for the first time?”

“Ung, the baby bear was so cute.”

Karentina gently wiped the tears welling up in the child’s eyes.

“Did you have any scary dreams or lingering thoughts because of the mother bear?”

Karentina worried that the incident might have shaken Stella up, but thankfully, Stella shook her head.

“At first, I was a little scared, but I saw Karen save the mother bear. Leah has special abilities, like Zion, right?”

“….!”

Karentina silently parted her lips in surprise.

Although she had changed Zion’s hair and eye color, he still looked exactly like Ignis, which had already put her nerves on edge. Now that they were still living in the castle, there was less attention on them, but once they reached the capital, both Zion and she would undoubtedly become hot topics of conversation.