Chapter 19

The carriage that brought Tiara and Ruddy arrived at the front porch of the Von Knightley's residence. Ruddy pushed the door very hard. "Where's the maid and butler?" Ruddy panicked. He carried Tiara with both his hands and noticed that her body's temperature was still high and did not subside. After Will and Eliza heard Ruddy's call, they quickly came down to look at what had happened.

They were shocked to see Tiara's condition. "Oh, dear god." Both of them were appalled at the condition of their lady. "Call your physician. Now!" Ruddy ordered both of them. Will calmly came closer to Ruddy. "Let me handle this." Will took Tiara from Ruddy's hands. After that, Will looked at Eliza. "Eliza, Duke Ruddy seems tired. Take him to the guest room and show him our hospitality." Eliza bowed her head to signal that she understood the order from Will. Then, Will left them and took Tiara to her bed-chamber, and Eliza guided Ruddy to the guest room.

In the hallway, Will carefully walked as slowly as he could as he held Tiara in his arms. Tiara slowly opened her eyes and started to gasp for air. In her half-consciousness, she saw that it was Will who held her in his arms. "Where is he?" She said word by word. "Leo is in very bad shape but he is still stable." Will answered her question while he was still focused on walking slowly. "My son… I want… to know." Tiara's voice stammered because she could not hold her pain. "I suggest you take the medicine first." Will said as if he tried to hide something. Luckily, Tiara didn't fight back due to the state her body was in.

In the guest room, Eliza served Ruddy tea. On the table, Eliza had already prepared some soup and sweets to ignite his appetite. While he sipped his cup of tea, Ruddy looked at Eliza. "Are you the only maid serving this house?" Ruddy wanted some certainty because when Ruddy looked at his surrounding, he only saw Eliza and Will who served this household.

"I apologize for my rudeness, duke. I did not realize you were not satisfied with the hospitality shown." Eliza bowed her head because she was worried that Ruddy was not satisfied with her display of hospitality. Ruddy took a sip of his tea. "It is not what you think it is. I only saw the two of you working, so I wondered if there was any other staff in this house. " Ruddy cleared up what Eliza misunderstood. He felt strange that someone who held one of the highest titles had those little workers who worked for her.

"Please forgive me for misunderstanding you. The only other staff works during the day, duke." Eliza answered his question. "What about you?" Ruddy felt unsure. With a poker face, Eliza looked at Ruddy. "I'm preparing all their needs, at all times." She said to Ruddy in a tone of voice as if she was making a vow to her master. "How many workers are there in this household?" Ruddy tried to investigate further by questioning Eliza. "I'm…"

"I'm presuming that all of your questions are about Tiara's life." Will suddenly appeared at the guest room's front door to intercept Rudy and Eliza. "My apologies, I was not trying to be rude to you." Will bowed his head towards Ruddy. Ruddy did not respond to it but instead, he just kept quiet and kept drinking his tea.

"How is she now?" Ruddy changed the topic. "Her condition is slowly recovering. Thank you for saving my lady." Will bowed his head again to show his appreciation towards Ruddy. "My lady needs your help." Will took out something from inside his pocket. He took out a small pouch and after that, he placed the pouch on the table.

Ruddy slowly reached for the pouch and opened it. Inside the pouch, there was a piece of Mana stone that was collected by Tiara. "She left this matter to you because she trusted you." Ruddy felt guilty after he heard what Will said to him. He gripped the top of the pouch and then he carefully kept it inside his pocket.

"Can I see her for the moment?" Ruddy gently asked permission from Will. "My apologies, as I do not have permission to allow anyone to visit her at this moment because she needs some rest and does not want to be disturbed." Will directly denied Ruddy's request. Ruddy's face looked worried. "If you want to stay here, we can prepare a bath for you to clean up." Will tried to reduce Ruddy's distress.

"There's no need." Ruddy stood up from his seat and adjusted his clothes. "I want to settle this matter." Ruddy touched his pocket to show that he wanted to investigate the piece of Mana stone. He left the guest room assisted by Will. Before he got inside the carriage, "Send my regards to Tiara and tell her to get well soon." Ruddy then took a seat. The coachman closed the carriage door for Ruddy and finally, the carriage started to move forward and left the Von Knightley's residence.

"Has he left?" Tiara sat on her bed as she took a deep breath. Her body was still weak but her condition has improved a little. "Indeed, my lady." Will stood in front of the bedchamber's door. "Where is he?" Tiara asked while her right hand touched her head. She felt a little dizzy after she suffered a severe case of fever.

Tiara's question was hard for Will to answer since he was still trying to hide something. He didn't answer because he could not. If he answered her, the situation may worsen her health conditions. Tiara sighed as she did not get any answer from Will. "Take me to Leo." Tiara gave a rather cold expression to Will. "I understand." Will could not do anything except therefore he just followed her order.

Tiara slowly got inside the room with the help of Will. Inside the room, there was Leo who laid on the bed unconscious. "Tell me what actually happened?" Her tone of voice got a little bit higher. "When he came back through teleportation, both his arms were broken and he had a stab wound on his chest which left him with a strong poison inside his body." Will explained Leo's condition.

"What about my son?" Tiara forced Will to answer. "He's the only one who did not make it back through teleportation." With regret, Will had to tell her the truth. After she heard that from Will himself, Tiara raged and threw all of the things on the table that was near her. Her rage continued and she hit the table with her bare hands. In the end, although it was painful to hit her hands hard on the table, the more painful feeling was to lose her son.

Suddenly, a man's faint voice was heard from nearby the area. When Tiara and Will searched for that voice, they found that it was Leo who spoke as he started to regain consciousness. "My lady…" Leo called out to Tiara but his voice was too weak. Tiara stood closer to him. "My lady, please forgive me." Leo's face changed to show deep sadness and regret. He was still in pain but he forced himself to speak. "Young master was taken as a hostage."

"You promised me you will protect him no matter what." Tiara was disappointed with what had happened. "I never realized that it was a trap." Leo felt guilty because he was not alert and did not protect Tiara's son although he had promised her that. "I'm very sorry, my lady." Another apology was made by Leo in hopes that she forgives him.

"Tell me the details of your accident." Tiara ignored Leo's apology and instead she just wanted the information. "I can't remember what happened but the kidnapper's voice showed that she was a woman." Leo lost some memory of the accident but he tried his best to tell her all of the details that he still remembered.

"How are you sure that she is the kidnapper?" Tiara questioned the validity of the information as Leo's memory in regards to the incident was still scattered. Therefore, she was afraid that he may give her false information. "I'm sure of it because she told me that she wanted to use them as her toy and then proceeded to use the teleportation item by controlling my hand." Leo further elaborated to prove that he told the truth. With no time to waste, Tiara proceeded to walk out of the room.

Before she completely walked out, Tiara stopped at the door. "You have failed me, Leo. My Mana was wasted because I trusted you with this." She gave him the cold shoulder and then she left Leo's room as Will followed her from behind. She was very disappointed as she gave him all of the appropriate tools and above all, laid her complete trust in him. The teleportation item was extremely hard to produce. Only certain people had the skills to build it. In addition, one needed a large sum of money to produce it. She also had to infuse her blood into her Mana in order to seal it. When someone used the teleportation tool, the item automatically consumed Tiara's Mana. That was the reason Tiara suddenly got sick as her Mana was used extensively.

As Tiara walked away, she started to exercise her hands by clenching her fists to test whether her body was still in good shape. "Eliza, prepare my dress and my gear." Tiara felt confident about her condition. Eliza quickly prepared according to Tiara's order. "My lady, you still need to recover." Will objected Tiara's plan. "Enough, I don't want to listen to anything from you." Tiara warned Will. Will then just went silent.

"She will pay for it if anything happens to my son." Tiara did not plan to show any mercy towards her.

Far from the residence of Von Knightley, Ruddy was in his carriage en route to his faction. "Why am I still thinking of her?" Ruddy was confused but at the same time, he was still worried about Tiara. "Why couldn't I answer Will's question?" He questioned himself about that time between him and Will. At this point, Ruddy could have either carried on with his journey back home or turned back to Tiara's place. Without thinking too much, Ruddy made his decision.