The Villainess Reverses the Hourglass

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

Cain asked the Count carefully.

"… Do you remember what happened? Do you remember the accident…?"

When he carefully mentioned the accident, the Count, whose eyes were shaking for a moment, slowly closed his eyes and then opened it again. Cain swallowed his saliva. 'I wish he wouldn't remember. How can he remember this incident?'

"Do you remember the criminal…?"

The Count's eyes blinked once.

"… Was it Aria?"

Unlike earlier, the Count blinked twice. That meant…

"Then, it was Mielle, as expected…?"

The Count, who did not answer Cain's question for a moment, closed his eyes. It seemed like a memory he didn't even want to remember. Fortunately, he did not seem to know he was an accomplice to Mielle, seeing that he didn't show hostility or showed no signs of surprise.

The Count had closed his eyes, but just in case, Cain covered his mouth, which went up by itself, in his belief that God must be helping them.

'I'm so lucky, and if he can't talk like that and he can't move his body, he's just a scarecrow.'

His father couldn't do anything with that body, so he would automatically be the Count. It was much better to be a scarecrow who woke up like this and couldn't do anything at all than to be so anxious about when the Count would wake up.

"… Please lie down for a moment. The family doctor will be here soon."

The frivolous Countess screamed, so one of the servants went to look for him.

"Would you like some water?"

"…"

The Count blinked and Cain was about to go out of the room to get some water, but a servant was already standing by the door. He was at a loss whether he had seen Cain go inside earlier.

"Water."

"… Yes? Yes!"

At Cain's short instruction, the servant hurried to bring the water, and the Count drank the cold water. After a while, the agitated Countess came into the room. She held the hands of the Count, checking Cain, and the panting family doctor also rushed in.

"How's my father's condition?"

Cain asked, and the countess's cold eyes followed. After the doctor examined the Count with enthusiasm, he looked incredulous.

"It's hard to believe, but he won't be in a coma anymore."

"My God…" The Countess wept and kissed the Count's hand.

Cain didn't know what she really felt, but she looked like she was giving thanks to God. Cain, who had managed to stop himself from furrowing his forehead at his doctor's hopeful remarks, asked him what he was curious about.

"Well, when will his body be able to move?"

"His body… has no response yet, so I can't guarantee anything."

"What about speaking? He can't even turn his head. What's going on with that?"

"… I can't guarantee that either."

'Then, could he become unable to speak or move for the rest of his life? He just woke up, but it was the worst. It might have been better if didn't open his eyes.'

"Oh, my God, honey…! What can I do?" After hearing what the doctor had said, the Countess buried her face next to the Count with a cry that sounded like the world had collapsed.

Cain also tried to look frustrated with his mouth covered and pretended to join in the grief. Actually, he was happier than anyone else. So the Count's room was filled with the Countess's mournful voice for some time.

"… What's going on, everyone?"

And in a moment, Aria, who returned from a belated outing to meet the businessmen, visited the Count's room, where people huddled together. The servants and maids were filling the hall in front of the Count's room for some news.

Since that incident, the Count's room had been frequented by servants only when they had a job to do, so why were there so many people today? Wondering, Aria approached them.

"Miss…! Please go inside quickly!"

The servants and maids, who recognized her even before she reached the Count's room, urged her to hurry inside. They all had urgent faces. This made her wonder if the Count was dead. As she hurried into the Count's room, she saw the Count, who was looking at her.

"… Father?"

She rushed to the side of the Count, who had awakened. She thought the Count was already dead rather than awake.

"Oh my god… When did he wake up?"

The doctor began to explain to Aria, who asked him, that even the count was in bad shape. The expression of Aria who was hearing his explanation gradually darkened. He was like a dead man just with his eyes open! What was the difference from not waking up in this way?

"I think the damage to his spine while he fell has had a big impact…"

'I can't believe he has to live like this for the rest of his life.' As she glanced at Cain, who stood next to her at the terrible news, he was frowning with his palm covering his mouth. 'Don't tell me your hidden face is smiling.' With a plausible assumption, Aria asked the doctor,

"What should I do to make my father feel better again?"

"… Yeah?"

"What should I do to make him move a little bit? We have to do something."

At Aria's question, the doctor felt embarrassed. He had no answers, but she could feel keenly that there was no way to do it.

The Countess squeezed out her crying voice and said, "There must be a way! When he woke up earlier, he moved his fingers a little!"

The doctor opened his eyes wide and asked again if that was true.

"Would I really lie in front of my sick husband?"

"Well, it's not like that. If that's true, it means there's plenty of room for recovery! It's possible that he'll be able to recover as much as he can, depending on his efforts!"

The doctor's face brightened up. The Countess and Aria also had a big smile. While such a fake family smiled for the Count, the real son, Cain, stuck to his serious face alone.

Aria pointed this out without missing it. "Are you not happy with that? He's awake, and the doctor says there's a chance for Father to recover."

"… That's not it. It's just because I can't believe it."

Aria laughed at Cain's late reply. He was shameless as he had plotted to kill his own father by joining his sister.

"So do you? I'm sure that if our father recovers, the county family will be able to get back to its original form, and the work of Mielle who is insisting on repeatedly being unjust… will be solved, right? I don't think Mielle pushed him either…"

She mentioned Cain, who had been involved in it. When Aria put Mielle's name in her mouth, a wave rose in the eyes of the Count, who had been lying motionless, and his fingers moved a little.

"Well, they are really moving!"

The doctor, who was examining the Count's condition again, saw that and was excited to explain the treatment to help the Count recover.

"For now, you can start by massaging his body. He'll surely be able to walk again in no time if you consistently do that. You can leave the massaging to the servants if you want…"

Against the backdrop of the doctor's voice that resonated throughout the room, Cain, with a very small voice, continued what he was saying earlier, "Oh, no, no. That can't be true. I'm very happy, but I'm just a little surprised."

"Are you? My brother thinks about my father very much. I want him to recover soon, so you can tell him who the real culprit is."

Along with the smiling Aria, Cain raised his mouth awkwardly. It looked as if he were crying, and Aria's smile became even stronger.

* * *

Aria and the Countess, who left behind the servants who massaged the Count's entire body as advised by the doctor, took a short rest in the garden. In front of the Count, the Countess had wept and rejoiced, but the face of the Countess, who was drinking tea, was full of relief.

"I'm glad my father woke up."

"Yes."

There was little joy in the face of the Countess, who answered Aria's words. Rather, she looked a little tired from her exaggerated performance.

When Aria realized this, she made the maids leave and asked her what she really wanted,

"You don't look very happy, do you?"

"That's the same for you. What do you want to ask?"

The Count was an important figure who had changed the future of Aria and the Countess, but it was a natural result because he had always excessively defended his bloodline and treated her mother and her as just beautiful ornaments.