Lionel's Point Of View

Once lit the beeswax candle casts a gentle warm glow over Lily's bedside. It's not often you see someone sleep on their back, but apparently Lily is one of those. As light fills the area by the light stand she clutches the pendant I gave her tighter and her expression scrunches up in discomfort. She's crawled under the duvet at one point, but you can still see her give a light shudder.

The room had been mostly dark before since the sun is setting, so the sudden change of brightness should stir her awake. Honestly, I came to see if she had gotten something to eat and drink since this morning, but according to Asher she had been asleep the entire time. Going by Asher's words Lily was bound to be in a bad mood as she wakes up, though, I think that is natural for people that wake up sick.

She still looks quite pale, and a bit of her cheeks are flushed red. She's tossed the rag into the bucket at one point, but apparently didn't have the energy to refresh it herself so now it just floats listlessly. Her usually narrowed vicious eyes are relaxed and what is left is just a sweet looking sleeping young girl appearing as though she's in a mild pain as she lays 'defenselessly' on her back. To anyone that doesn't know her she would look innocent and defenseless right now. They'd be wrong of course. The hand not clutching the pendant is right next to her pillow.

If the original Lily had been in her body, then Lily would surely have looked adorable with innocent expressions and wide open eyes, but the Lily in her now is different. While she does always draw this cute face into a vicious or cautious look, that is charming in its own way. Not that she'd want to hear it. Rather, I think she would get honestly angry with being called cute directly. Last time was indirectly, and not intended. She even held the grudge until next morning... well 'grudge'. She wouldn't accept being called 'not cute' either. Like a cat not knowing whether it wants to go inside or not. I never did ask if she was a guy or a girl before being Lily, but after that I'm quite certain she was a girl. Now, back to the person in question, her eyelids eye trembling.

"I'd say you've slept enough, it's about time for you to get something to eat," I say softly. Instead of answering she clutches the pendant I made her tighter and rolls away from the light. She was waking up, right? I watch her sky blue hair slide down over her shoulders as she with a light tug pulls the duvet over her shoulder.

"I'm going to take your temperature," I tell her ahead of time and stand up to reach over her to her forehead. As I expected at this point, she's still burning up. Sadly, it's worse than this morning. Her lake spirit is floating around over her head calmly and simply watches over her, but judging by her forehead being moist, it has probably attempted to routinely keep her forehead cold as well.

Hearing shuffling by the door I note Asher and the maid talking hushedly. He looks cautious, but the maid looks thoroughly amused. She seems to take notice of my gaze and smiles wider at the attention. She whispers something to Asher and then looks back to me.

"I'll be right back milord," she hums out and walks off in the best mood I've ever seen her in since we took her in. She looked so bored before... Asher follows her with his eyes, a bit tense and uncomfortable, but not aggressive. The bodyguard language for 'I cannot tell if she is trouble or not'. I'll leave that to him while I take care of Lily, but I should keep my guard up just in case.

When I look back to Lily I find her sky blue eyes glaring up at me with this look as though she's plotting all the ways she can get rid of me... even while being curled up in a bed sick from fever she apparently doesn't want help. I could maliciously comply and leave her be, but I've endured enough glares from her that I'm just about used to it anyway, she probably just doesn't want to be seen when she's feeling weak.

"How are you feeling?"

I ignore her irritation and pull my hand away.

"I'm fine. There are no problems, I just fell asleep for a while. I can go back to work."

See.

She even sits up stubbornly to prove me wrong... perhaps proving herself right.

"Your fever still hasn't settled. I'll take you to the infirmary to use spells, but then you'll go back to bed."

Ah, there it is again, that 'I am going to kill you' look she uses to scare people off when she doesn't actually intend on killing them but just wants to be left alone. How in the world does her family deal with this one?

"Is this the first time you've been sick?"

I just need to know if House Celeste has dealt with this problem before or not. She grumbles while shifting to sit on the edge of the bed. Her face kind of drops with only her eyes looking at me as though I'm being an idiot. Her expressions are quite colorful compared to usual, so she's giving me the full look without resisting.

"Of course not. I usually walk and train it off," she says with a bit of pride in her voice.

In other words, they lost to her stubbornness.

---*---

"Lord Lionel, Lord Augustus, I brought refreshments."

The maid from before appears with a tray in hand with water. I'm thankful, Lily should have been sweating a lot so replenishing water is important. I take a step away from the bed, but before the maid can even step into the room Asher grabs her arm. His brows are furrowed and his lips are pressed into a stiff line. His ash mauve eyes are locked onto the made in an intense gaze. He visibly swallows.

"It would be better to test it for poison," he says out in a somewhat defeated manner. Is she a spy? I take a step forwards as the maid visibly sulks at Asher's behavior, but as she is about to speak Asher takes one of the cups and takes in a big mouthful of the water... and calmly puts it back down...

His cheeks flush redder almost in an instant and he grips the maid's arm tighter. He's still staring at her intensely, but the maid looks puzzled for a few moments, staring back at him wide eyed.

"As I thought, it tastes wrong, it tastes awful. Something has clearly been put in it." He looks at us as he says this, but I don't think that Asher himself noticed how his eyes widened for a moment as he drank the 'water' or how he ended up licking his lips at the taste...

In the first place, if he seriously expected it to be poisoned then he would have sipped rather than drunk of the water, so I don't know what is going on, or why they're clearly having a conversation of gestures that we don't understand. I am quite sure something happened between them while they were alone.

"It does not! And it is not!" The maid finally protests strongly and purse her lips in defiance.

"I just put a bit honey and mint in it!" Her hands clench on the tray and she even goes as far as to stomp her foot in protest at Asher's accusation. She's sincerely angry. She tries to pull the tray away from Asher who just uses his other hand to grab its side.

...if it had been a spy then he would have caught or hurt her, right? What in the world is going on?

Asher begins to pull the maid's arm to get her out of the room, and the maid squirms in response.

"Brute! Wet Blanket!"

Eh? What is with those insults? Was there really something in there, or wasn't there?Asher finally snaps back at her in a moment of frustration: "Just come!"

"...Asher, is everything alright?" I ash out softly to get some sense of what reaction to make. I cannot tell if something is in the cups or not and why Asher is treating the maid weirdly. Is it a spy or not?

Asher looks to me and gives a quick bow.

"Everything is alright. Please excuse me for the evening. I won't be able to guard Celeste-sama for the rest of the evening, so I leave it up to you. Please be careful with what you eat or drink... I will find out for certain what was in the drink and... I'll go to the infirmary at one point," he says... no... shouldn't you go to the infirmary now? Also, judging by your certainty when you drank you already had a feeling what it was, didn't you?! ...he says that things are alright in an incredibly and sincerely insistent voice, so I can't really doubt it, even though I really want to. It kind of feels like he was preventing the maid from pulling a prank on us, but I don't think that maid had that personality..

Asher pulls off the maid that keeps whining as she's dragged down the hallway. Whatever was in the cups was something which tasted good and wasn't poison, but he still decided to warn us against. Furthermore, he had seemingly tried to stop the maid before smelling, inspecting or tasting the drink... he knew she was going to do something before she did it. Is that why he hadn't know whether or not she was trouble earlier?

I look back to Lily and find her expression... annoyed at best...

"Somehow that maid of yours reminds me of Gilbert." You can hear the disdain in her voice clear as a the ring of a bell. I can't really deny that. Right after the fight between Lily and I Gilbert had been lying in wait for me near the baths...

I end up taking a step closer to Lily and gaze around somewhat paranoid. A rush of blood red anger flows through me as I recall that conversation... the first real conversation I feel like I've had with Gilbert. Just the thought makes my skin crawl. Even more so when I recall his threat aimed at Lily. 

If that maid had something to do with Gilbert, should I have her executed, or would that make Gilbert dig more? Worst case scenario would be that Gilbert finds out about Lily's false identity. While I don't think a move would be made during the war, Lily would face some rather dire consequences afterwards... no... I think that is putting it lightly. The worst case scenario would be a repeat of the story-line ending. A woman in war far outweighs bullying when it comes to severity. If they just hide her male identity then it shouldn't be a problem having her executed for cross-dressing and disgracing her family and the country. Needless to say, this is an exaggeration, but so was killing Lily over some bullying.

"Lionel."

Lily calls my name which brings me back to the present. She looks somewhat groggy and miffed like someone just drained the rest of her energy out of her.

"It is fine. He was confident about it. He's got control of her."

Unexpectedly she's calming me down. She slowly gets up from the bed with a small sigh.

"Now, I'm thirsty."

She stares at me with listless eyes as though I'm about to do something unreasonable. To be more specific, it kind of looks like she's expecting me to get stubborn and carry her. For some reason a bit of my worries fade away.

"Very well. Let us leave for a while then so you can walk out that sickness of yours," I tease her a bit instead and start walking. Why didn't I offer my arm? Because she looks like she needs a win. She's going to push herself, but she's happier that way. I just need to be there when he body and her pride start to disagree. Lily straightens up, and in an instant there's nothing in her movements to hint at her sickness other than her pale clammy skin and red cheeks. Personally I would've probably been swaying a bit in my walk had I been in her condition... but either way, Lily looks happier.

Lily does wince in pain when we finally find her something to drink because she's been dehydrated, but again plays it off. Once she's full as well I take her to the infirmary where she cast the rest of her spells.

The day mostly concluded there... other than one unexpected incident I'd never foreseen was possible.