I’m Done Being Your Best Friend

I opened the door to discover that it was a drawing room, and there was another room inside it.
The internal door was leaking more smoke than the external.

I grabbed the doorknob with a handkerchief that was covering my face.
When I opened the door, black smoke came out.

When I saw the black smoke that filled the ceiling, I lowered my body instinctively.
Could I really handle this? I suddenly felt anxious.

This was all because of Daisy.
If I had not had that silly fight with her earlier, I would have come in when the fire had yet been widespread.

As I crouched down, I could see the fire spread long on the floor.
Was it below the knee level? I could not let my guard down, but this much would allow me to move around.
All I had to do now was take Heidi out of here quickly.

It was not hard to find her.
I did not know if it was relief or bad luck, but she was here.
And I would have never thought that she was asleep until I saw her lying flat on the bed.

So she was sleeping alone in a room on fire the whole time? Well, at least I could now roughly guess why people could not rescue her in my previous life.

The bed was the innermost part of the room.
I had to approach her while avoiding the fire as much as I could, but I was wearing an unwieldy ballgown, so the hem kept getting in my way.
It would be the perfect material for the fire to spread, and I myself might get injured before I could save her.

In that case, let’s put out the fire first.
I first put the blanket over the fire on my way to her.

(Whoosh)

As expected, it worked.
The blanket was covered in a wide range and the flame on that area was extinguished.

Now, all I had to do was go all the way over there.
I wrapped the dress around with one hand to reduce the volume of the dress as much as possible.
With that, I walked carefully to Heidi’s front.

I slid my hand under Heidi’s waist and lifted her body. Don’t tell me she is already dead. I was worried for a moment when I saw her pale-looking face.

“Lady Coventry, you are alive, aren’t you?”

Just as I was speaking to Heidi, she groaned slightly.
She was alive! I was beyond glad to see her alive.
It was worthwhile coming here after all.

Heidi struggled to open her eyes and her pupils rounded the moment they met me.

“You are Marquis Nelson’s daughter?”

She could not help but be astounded.
But before she could process anything, she seemed about to lose her mind when she saw the burning surrounding.
If I were to wake up in a place that was about to turn into ash, I would go frantic too.

“How… what on earth is with this fire…!”

“I am sorry, but we ought to talk later.
Would you like to cover your mouth with this first?”

I handed the handkerchief to Heidi.
As she received it while still lost in a daze, I quickly pulled her out of  the bed.

“Can you walk?”

“Pardon? Oh yes…”

“Be careful with the hem of your dress.
We have to escape quickly.”

We started moving with her arm wrapped around my shoulder.
It was the first conversation I had with Heidi, yet I could not have a good laugh with her.
Instead, our life was endangered, it could not have been any worse.

“Ahhh!”