Chapter 132
The Suspicion
“Lady Pellon, I didn’t get the chance to greet you properly earlier. How are you feeling these days?”
It was Cedric, who had quietly walked over.
Harriet felt a strange, small disappointment when she realized he wasn’t calling her. She quickly scolded herself for even thinking that way.
“I’m feeling much better, thank you. Though I should probably thank you as well, Duke Kailas.”
“Me? I don’t think I’ve done anything worthy of your thanks, Lady Pellon.”
“You’re being modest. Thank you for helping our Harriet last time. I’ve been too unwell to thank you properly until now.”
Cedric smiled and waved his hand lightly.
“That gratitude should really go to Her Majesty, the Empress.”
“Of course, but if you and the Grand Duchess hadn’t supported her, would the Empress have taken such good care of my poor child?”
“Poor? That’s not a word that suits Miss Harriet at all.”
Only then did Cedric turn toward Harriet.
“How have you been since then?”
His deep red eyes seemed to see right through her, and Harriet felt slightly flustered.
But after all she’d been through recently, she’d grown better at hiding her feelings. So instead of talking about herself, she spoke about Trisha.
“I’ve been fine. Just a little worried about my grandmother’s health. Honestly, I wanted her to rest at home today instead of coming here…”
Trisha clicked her tongue and looked annoyed.
“I’ve never been nagged this much in my life. She just won’t stop fussing, even when I tell her I’m fine.”
“Haha. I suppose it’s because Miss Harriet cares deeply for you, Lady Pellon. I know some people who also ignore their illnesses until they become serious, so I can understand her worry.”
“I’m not joking — I really am fine. The new medicine I started taking works perfectly. It’s amazing.”
Cedric’s smile stiffened slightly.
“Really? You’ve improved that much?”
“I feel just like I did before I got sick. I sleep a bit more than usual, but that’s just a small side effect.”
“That must be a very powerful medicine. It’s rare for something to work that well…”
His eyes shifted briefly toward Harriet, who looked worried, before returning to Trisha.
“As it happens, our family physician, Sir Benjamin Nelson, is coming later today. Since he’ll be here, why don’t you let him take a quick look at you?”
Sir Benjamin Nelson was Jeremiah’s personal doctor — a skilled and trustworthy man who had even given up a royal medical position just to continue serving her.
Harriet looked at her grandmother with hopeful eyes, urging her silently to agree.
But Trisha shook her head firmly.
“I appreciate the offer, but I must decline. I came here for tea, not a check-up. That would be far too embarrassing.”
“Grandmother…”
“Quiet. The medicine I’m taking works perfectly. Why bother people for nothing?”
She truly seemed to believe it would be troublesome for others.
Harriet felt frustrated, but she couldn’t drag her grandmother in front of a doctor against her will.
So, after thanking Cedric for his offer, she waited until Trisha became absorbed in conversation with other guests.
Then, she slipped away and approached Cedric quietly. He was still talking with a few people, but Harriet’s heart pounded — she didn’t want Trisha to notice.
“Um… Duke Kailas. Could I speak with you for a moment?”
She was nervous, afraid he might refuse.
But Cedric only raised an eyebrow, surprised, and then nodded. He smoothly stepped away from the group and walked alongside her.
They stopped at a quiet corner, away from the crowd. Cedric still said nothing, waiting — a tactic Harriet recognized well. He always made the other person speak first.
Normally, she might have resisted his control of the situation, but now she needed his help.
“I feel awkward bringing this up again, but earlier you said your doctor, Sir Nelson, could examine my grandmother. Is that offer still open?”
“Of course. Anytime.”
Harriet breathed a little easier and continued.
“Actually… I wanted to ask for something else instead. Could he check the medicine my grandmother is taking? I just want to make sure it’s safe.”
She pulled a small brown glass bottle from her pocket — the same medicine Joseph had prescribed to Trisha.
Cedric frowned slightly as he took the bottle.
“This is that miracle medicine?”
“Yes.”
He looked at it carefully, then turned his gaze back to her.
“She seems to be doing well — why do you want it checked?”
“I’m just… a little uneasy about it.”
“I’ll need to know why you’re uneasy, so I can tell Sir Nelson what to look for.”
Harriet hesitated, then took a deep breath.
“It might sound strange, but… isn’t it too effective?”
“I see. Go on.”
“Before this, she was taking medicine prescribed by the late Sir Jasper Atworth. That one worked well too, but she still had pain and coughing sometimes. But after changing to this new one, everything disappeared overnight.”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“No pain, no coughing. She even sleeps longer now and feels weaker overall. It’s too sudden — it scares me a little. And there’s something else that doesn’t feel right.”
She explained that Joseph, the new doctor, had rejected Jasper’s idea of hot spring therapy, calling it useless — something Jasper had once strongly recommended.
“It could just be a difference in opinion,” Harriet said, “but most doctors would still encourage any treatment that might help, right? It’s strange that he didn’t.”
“You mean… you suspect something,” Cedric concluded quietly.
After listening carefully, he nodded slowly, looking down again at the bottle in his hand.
Harriet grew more anxious and blurted out, “Please. I’ll find a way to repay you, no matter what it takes!”
“Alright.”
He answered at just the right moment — not too fast, not too slow.
“It will take some time to analyze the medicine. I’ll probably need help from the Royal Health Bureau as well.”
Harriet nodded several times.
Honestly, she hoped Nelson would tell her everything was fine. Because until then, Trisha would have to keep taking the medicine.
“Thank you, truly.”
“You’re welcome.”
Cedric didn’t put the bottle away. He kept turning it in his hand while quietly observing Harriet.
He knew — this was one of those rare moments when she was the one asking him for something. That made his pulse quicken.
He had missed her face ever since the royal banquet. Her eyes, her tone, her stubbornness — he’d thought about all of it more than he wanted to admit.
The way her gaze wandered — avoiding his eyes and landing on random things like the walls, the pillars, or flowers — only amused him more.
If she had been looking at another man, jealousy might have flared. But she wasn’t.
“How have you been?” Cedric asked softly.
Harriet finally looked at him, but there was no smile on her face.
“To be honest, I’ve been on edge every day because of my grandmother’s health. I can’t focus on anything else.”
“…So you really meant it,” he murmured.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.”
He had thought she was using Trisha’s illness as an excuse to keep her distance from him. But her expression, her trembling voice — it was all too genuine.
That meant he needed to act fast.
‘I’ll tell Sir Nelson to hurry.’
He had planned to take his time, but now he changed his mind.
The more he helped Trisha, the more indebted Harriet would feel. And a relationship where one person owed something to the other always leaned in his favor.
Cedric smiled faintly at the thought — just as Jeremiah stepped out of the parlor and caught sight of him.
‘Cedric?’
It wasn’t the sight of him talking to a young woman that surprised her — her son knew many women in society. Even if it was Harriet, that wasn’t shocking.
What startled her was the way he was looking at her.
Cedric was a man who always knew his limits. He never crossed the line of propriety, especially with young women.
But now, he was looking at Harriet in a way that was too direct, too focused — almost impolite.
‘That’s not how you look at a business partner.’
She had known for a while that Cedric found Harriet interesting. She had even teased him about it before, thinking it was nothing serious — just curiosity, or passing affection.
But now…
‘Don’t tell me he’s serious about her?’
Jeremiah stared at her son with a complicated expression before walking away quietly, unable to settle her swirling thoughts.
