They are all staring at Elanore. The Duke is frozen mid-sentence, Orlando's jaw is slightly open, and Lily is looking at her with eyes shining with tears. But Sara doesn't notice a single bit of it. The world around her is muted, replaced by the comforting warmth of a home lightyears away.
"HEY! Have you finally lost it?!"
A loud, piercing shout violently shatters the air, snapping the peaceful chains of Sara's thoughts into a million pieces.
I flinch, my eyes blinking rapidly as the warm memories evaporate, dragging me brutally back into the cold reality of the bedroom. I look up, startled and thoroughly annoyed, to see Orlando glaring at me from the foot of the bed.
"What?" I ask, my voice laced with sharp frustration as I rub my temples. "What on earth are you talking about? And why are you shouting like that right next to my bed? Just keep your voice down, okay? I am not deaf!"
"Oh, really?!" Orlando scoffs, throwing his hands up dramatically, his sweaty training sword cutting through the air. "Because from where I'm standing, it looked like you completely lost it! It looked like you were never going to hear my voice or anyone else's voice ever again! You were so incredibly lost in your own head."
He steps a fraction closer, his eyes narrowing as he points a finger at my face. "And why are you grinning like that? Have you finally lost your mind? Look, I always knew you were a bit crazy, but these days, you are acting completely unhinged! It's nothing like how you used to be. Just a moment ago you were laughing out loud like a maniac, and now you're sitting there grinning at nothing. What is there to even be grinning about?! Just tell me! Have you finally snapped?!"
Before I can even process his childish outburst, Orlando abruptly wheels around, turning his frantic gaze toward the Duke.
"Father, just look at her!" Orlando demands, waving his arms toward my bed. "Doesn't she look really weird right now? She was never like this before! These days, she has been behaving so oddly. Do you think there is something seriously wrong with her mind? Did the coma break something?!"
"Don't talk absolute nonsense, Orlando."
The Duke's deep, commanding voice cuts his son off instantly. He casts a sharp, warning glare at the silver-haired heir. "You should watch your manners. Focus on your decorum, and start learning how a proper gentleman conducts himself. I will be giving you a proper lesson on this later. Do not talk to your sister like that."
Orlando opens his mouth to protest, but the Duke silences him with a single look. The older man's expression softens just a fraction as he turns back toward me.
"Maybe she still needs some rest, or maybe it is something else," the Duke murmurs, his tone shifting from authoritative to something uncharacteristically quiet.
Taking a slow, deliberate step forward, the Duke closes the distance between the threshold and my bed. He leans slightly over the mattress, his sharp, calculating eyes boring into mine with a mixture of intense curiosity and an underlying hint of concern.
"What is wrong, Elanore?" the Duke asks softly, his voice echoing in the suddenly quiet room. "And why are you smiling like that? Today... you look really different than you ever have before. What is truly going on in your mind? I am really wondering."
I pull back slightly against the pillows, my heart giving a nervous flutter under the Duke's intense, unblinking gaze.
What on earth is going on here? I think frantically, my mind racing as I try to analyze the situation. What kind of face did I just make to cause this level of suspicion? Were they actually... worried about me? Did I really smile that weirdly? I was just thinking about my real family. I wonder what Elanore's face looked like just now.
As I desperately try to formulate a believable response that won't compromise my cover, the Duke turns his head slightly and gestures toward the corner of the room. Lily quickly springs into action, hurrying over to bring a heavy, high-backed wooden chair closer to the mattress.
With a low, deliberate movement, the Duke pulls the chair right up to the bedside and takes a seat. Sitting down beside me, he rests his forearms on his knees, leaning in slightly to bridge the gap between us. The sheer presence of the ruler of the Valerius estate sitting at eye level with me makes the room feel incredibly small.
He waits patiently, his eyes never leaving my face, silently prompting me to speak.
But as I study the rigid lines of the Duke's face, a sudden, jarring realization hits me. They are worried about Elanore, their daughter.
My inner corporate skeptic instantly raises a red flag. Wait, what? The Valerius family... actually worried about Elanore? That makes zero statistical sense. From everything I know about this story, they never cared about her. Not even a little bit. So what changed? Did something happen in this world while my soul was pulled back into my original body? Is there a massive piece of data I'm missing here?
I glance subtly at the floor. I definitely need to interrogate Lily about this later. But right now, I need to answer the Duke's question, otherwise these two are never going to leave my room and let me rest.
Stay focused, Sara, I tell myself, taking a swift, stabilizing breath. Regain control of the room. Handle the stakeholders.
Plastering on a smooth, perfectly calibrated "usual" smile, I look directly up into the Duke's calculating eyes.
"There is nothing wrong with me, Father," I say, my voice carrying a gentle, rehearsed warmth. "I was simply happy because I can finally hear your voices again. I have been asleep for so long that I genuinely missed the sound of you all talking. Seeing both you and Orlando here, healthy and well... it just made me incredibly happy. It warms my heart to see us spending a moment like this together as a family. That's all it was."
The Duke's sharp eyes widen by a fraction. The room becomes silent as he processes my words. I can practically see the gears turning in his head; he has clearly noticed the subtle shift in Elanore's behavior. The old Elanore would have shrunk back, but this version is articulate, composed, and openly expressing affection.
A look of deep appreciation, mixed with a trace of relief, softens the Duke's harsh features.
"Oh... so that is all it was," the Duke murmurs, his posture finally relaxing. "I was truly wondering what had taken hold of you. So that is what you were thinking, my daughter. You do not need to worry about a single thing. We are perfectly fine, and you will be completely fine as well. Do not overthink it. We will have plenty of time to spend together from now on."
"Yes, Father. I know," I reply politely, nodding.
But as the word family echoes in my head, a cold, alarming memory suddenly flashes across my mind, shattering my temporary calm.
Wait a minute, I realize, my internal alarms blaring. Where is Elanore's mother? The Duchess? Everyone else ran to my room the second I woke up, but she is nowhere to be found. Is that woman currently plotting something behind the scenes?
Determined to fish for data, I tilt my head, forcing an innocent, curious expression onto my face.
"But Father," I begin softly, keeping my tone casual. "I was wondering... where is Mother? I haven't seen her yet. Is she not at the estate right now, or has she gone somewhere outside?"
The moment the question leaves my lips, the atmosphere in the room completely freezes.
The warmth that had just begun to thaw the space instantly evaporates. The Duke's expression goes entirely blank, his eyes turning incredibly distant and cold. Next to him, Orlando stiffens, his jaw clenching as he looks away. Even Lily lowers her head, a tense, suffocating silence swallowing the bedroom.
The heavy silence that follows is entirely different from the awkward, stunned quiet of a few moments ago. The atmosphere plunges into something thick, rigid, and deeply uncomfortable. The subtle family bond Sara had just started to feel cracks and vanishes under a wave of sudden tension.
Even the powerful, unyielding ruler of the household, the cold duke starts to behave differently. For a split second, a look of profound discomfort flashes across his sharp features. Then, deliberately and coldly, the Duke turns his face away, actively avoiding my gaze. His eyes tracking toward the grand window instead, his shoulders turning rigid.
Sara watches them, her sharp corporate intuition instantly going on high alert.
He is avoiding my gaze, Sara realizes, her mind cataloging their drastic behavioral changes with calculating precision. A high-ranking nobleman like him doesn't look away unless he is actively hiding something. The warmth is completely gone. Whatever happened to Elanore's mother while I was asleep... they are deliberately keeping it from me.