Something Sweet

Chapter 11

Revised

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Chapter 11

-The Next Morning-

"For someone pretending to be asleep... it seems you have the role fully fitted."

With the morning hours passing and pressing matters pending, the acting grandmaster found herself awake for most of the night, finally submitting to sleep at the early dawn hours.

Jean didn't mean to fall asleep and drop her guard. Still, the mental exhaustion of having to coordinate with Lisa to prepare the proper documents and, let alone hope for Diluc to cooperate, left her feeling uneasy for most of the night.

Sleep was bound to overpower her.

It wasn't until she subtly began to recognize the nearby presence of someone sitting at her bedside that she stirred awake.

Detecting the slight noises and the occasional pieces of paper brushing against each other, her attention became more focused.

Without stirring too quickly and avoiding the outcome of drawing attention, the acting grandmaster cautiously peeked one of her eyes open to take in her surroundings, recognizing the person next to her.

Biting back her short startle while taking in the sight of the scarlet-haired man sitting on a chair, he appeared distracted by the documents in his hands. Jean couldn't help the escalated thumping happening in her chest.

With his hair slightly brushed back and his eyes downcast, his formal attire caught her attention next as he sat with his legs crossed.

Diluc's serious demeanor remained as he breathed a long sigh and flipped to the next page, "How are you feeling?"

Jean couldn't help but blink a few times at the question as she noticed he never looked away from the papers in his hands. "...fine."

"Well rested?"

Feeling the slight pang of getting caught fast asleep, she couldn't be quick to deny his claim. " I must have fallen asleep short of sunrise."

"Did you speak to anyone? A doctor or medical staff?"

Jean found herself sitting up at the question, "N-no, I instructed Lisa to keep everyone out of this room and assigned two knights at the door to keep watch."

"Anything else I should know about?"

Besides having Lisa as the carrier of their preparations, no one else except one person entered the room. "My sister. Barbara stopped by... she heard I had fainted and was worried."

With the mention of Jean speaking to a closer relative, Diluc lifted his gaze to meet her sternly. "Did you tell her?"

"N-no, I couldn't bring myself to tell her. Why?"

"It seems the church doesn't know about us quite yet, so our stories must correlate."

"Wait, you spoke with the church officials?" Jean sat up further at the mention of Diluc having met with the church officiants. "What did you tell them--"

"Settle down," He was fast to move and set the papers down on the wooden nightstand, "You shouldn't move."

Seeing his presence much closer, he moved to sit on the side of the bed and carefully helped her lay back again.

"Tell me, what did you tell them?" Feeling the urge to brush off her discomfort and prioritize what was disclosed, she nervously glanced at the file of papers on the nightstand. "What did you do?"