Dear to the count

'Is it too late? Am I too late? What if she hates me? What if she dies?', James was consumed by his thought as he sat in the carriage heading to the East. 'Lilian, I'm sorry. I lost you and now I'm about to lose our daughter. Lilian, please give me one more chance, this time I'll protect our Lili." These were the cries of a man who lost his light; his love. A father who so wished to cherish his daughter but couldn't. A man asking for redemption.

It was around noon when the count finally reached Hower castle.

"Make haste and pack my daughter's clothes and escort the healers to her quarters", the count ordered as soon as he got off the carriage.

He hurriedly followed Sophia to a room on the second floor of the mansion.

The miss' room was filled with flowers from her servants and friends, who wished her a quick recovery. Among all the flowers and gifts, lay a canopy bed covered with thin wisteria-colored curtains. The person on the bed could not be seen, due to these curtains.

"This way my lord", Sophia guided the count toward the bed and opened the curtains.

Lilith lay on the bed with her hair disheveled and slightly sweating. It was obvious that the girl was finding it hard to breathe as she was wheezing and taking fast shallow breaths.

"Allow me to examine her my lord", the healer said as he approached. He diagnosed her with pneumonia, and also that he would be able to treat it.

"Will she be able to travel", James asked. Eager to bring his daughter home. The healer gave him the green light and that's how they started their journey toward the capital.

A few days before the letter had been sent to the capital, Clair and Sophia had acquired the enderwood powder and Lilith had taken the liberty of dumping the whole bag into the mansion's water supply.

Killing off the countess' people seemed to be more troublesome than she thought. Going after them and killing them one by one would only raise suspicion and if she were to credit their deaths to an accident such as a fire or carriage accident, it would be hard to explain how she and her people survived. So this was the safest option.

She poised the water supply with enderwood powder, which causes a person to display symptoms of pneumonia. Of course, the powder was only a temporary fix. The infected servants were then poisoned using the incent they received from the healer. The poison made it seem like they died from respiratory issues or something like that. As for Lilith, she knew how dear she was to the count. She purposefully drank the infected water for two reasons. The first is to avoid suspicion and the second is to get the count to take her back to the capital.