“Master!”
Hearing the news of Sylvia’s recovery, Tania rushed over and embraced her tightly.
Her shoulders shook as tears streamed down her face.
“Oh my, oh my. I thought you had grown up already.”
Sylvia gently patted Tania’s back and reached out her hand to Jana as well.
“You’re both still too young. I’m sorry.”
As Iris carefully helped them down, the two children clung to Sylvia, crying for a long while.
Comforting the children, Sylvia quietly spoke to Iris.
“Grand Consort, you must leave at once.”
“Grand Matriarch.”
“Before Cedric finds out what has become of me, you must go quickly.”
She did not want to show that side of herself to that child.
Sylvia chose to live forever branded as a villain.
But Iris remained rooted in place, looking down at Sylvia with a face full of unspoken words.
“Now that I think about it...”
Right, there was something.
“I never heard your final request.”
Sylvia clearly remembered what Iris said just before she fainted.
Was it too late to hear it now?
“What request could an old woman like me have?”
After a brief moment of hesitation, Iris lifted her head and spoke with resolute determination.
“My request is—”
What awaited Cedric upon returning to the estate was utterly incomprehensible news.
His wife had been attacked by those damned collateral branches.
“The Grand Matriarch had collapsed.”
It turned out she had been suffering from illness for a long time,
and today had been the critical moment.
With a desperate expression, Cedric hurriedly ascended the stairs.
At Sylvia’s chamber door, someone waiting looked up.
“My lady!”
Worried if she still hurt anywhere, Cedric could barely even hold her hand properly.
Iris gently grasped Cedric’s cheek, soothing the worried man.
Startled and frozen, Cedric was drawn close as Iris pressed her forehead against his.
“I’m alright.”
She placed her wrist near his ear.
He heard the steady beating of her heart.
Feeling her warmth against his skin, Cedric finally accepted that Iris was truly alright.
Exhausted, Cedric embraced Iris, resting his forehead on her shoulder.
“I was so, so worried…”
“Of course. I understand well.”
“What should we do about those bastards?”
“Let’s take that slowly later,” Iris soothed his emotions.
“But there’s something we must do first.”
Cedric quietly lifted his head again.
Until now, he rarely showed Iris his troubled side.
But now, his beautiful crimson eyes trembled.
Iris did not avert her gaze and asked,
“Would you like to go in?”
She slowly released the hand holding his cheek.
After a moment’s hesitation, Cedric took a deep breath, exhaled, and nodded.
“I’ll wait here.”
Smiling, Iris stepped back a pace.
She had done everything she could now.
Cedric knocked twice lightly and entered the room.
Sylvia, watching the setting sun through the window, turned her gaze toward Cedric.
Her breath caught at the sight.
“You came? Cedric?”
The image of her mother, who left the world before her, overlapped.
The difference was that the woman before her now said nothing.
Cedric slowly approached the bed, growing more and more breathless.
Had she always been this thin? This weak?
His last memory of her was different.
“I can’t be with you.”
Those words had been spoken as she turned away, her posture upright.
When had she lost all her strength?
“Why… why…”
All Cedric could say was those words.
Sylvia looked up at him, struggling to hold back tears.
“Please don’t avoid whatever Cedric asks. Answer him fully.”
“Answer every question.”
“And—please live.”
That was Iris’s request.
In Sylvia’s eyes, looking at Cedric, were countless untold stories she had held inside all this time.
Chapter 92