He stopped breathing for a moment. Damian momentarily examined Lily’s fingers.
Hands are the most commonly injured for office workers. In fact, it was also true that there was nowhere else they could be hurt.
But Lilian’s hands, which he had kissed earlier, were very clean.
There were no paper cuts or nicks from sharp nibs anywhere.
Then that blood…
“Your Highness?”
Lilian was looking at him curiously. Damian smiled habitually.
“Wait a minute. I will bring the good news to Aaron.” (T/N: My mistake. Seems like the Head Butler’s name was actually Aaron. That makes much more sense.)
“To call it good news…”
“You can’t go back to sleep.”
The loose smile disappeared from Damian’s mouth as he turned around after kissing Lily’s forehead.
The ominous feeling of deja vu he felt earlier rang in his head like a bell.
Lilian is hiding something from him.
And those bloodstains must have something to do with that secret.
“Aaron, since the Duchess is eating, heat the stew. And…”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“…I must write a letter to the Duchess’ brother.”
It doesn’t matter if Lily is hiding something.
But she treats Damian as part of that ‘nobody’ and even prevents him from entering her room…
Damian had to know.
***
Damian Rupenwein has always been quick-witted.
‘If there’s anything that the Duchess can keep a secret from me, it’s probably a health problem. It’s her personality.’
He wondered if she had a disease and she pushed him away for fear of spreading it or getting caught.
As soon as he realized a sense of incongruity, he immediately guessed this far.
‘If she’s not trying to get proper treatment, but trying to hide her illness…’
No, that can’t be. Damian desperately denied the ominous possibility.
Not getting treatment is a leap forward. Although Lilian is embarrassed, she doesn’t refuse when Damian offers her mana.
Besides, even when they came this far, didn’t they bring a doctor in case of an emergency?
Before the doctor went back, he said he had examined the Duchess and prescribed medicine. Perhaps, when Cedric comes for the Grand Reconciliation, that trusted doctor will also come to the capital.
The reason she didn’t reveal that she was sick was because she didn’t trust him. That’s why she’s not telling him, and she’s only going to see her family’s doctor, whom she trusts more.
Damian desperately persuaded himself. But no matter how logically he concocted an explanation, he couldn’t shake the foreboding feeling that suddenly surged through his mind.
As soon as he arrived at the study, Damian scribbled a letter with one stroke.
The Duchess’ health is not good, but she doesn’t want to let anyone know about it. She probably didn’t even inform her relatives, so I’m sending a letter like this.
Please tell me on behalf of the Duchess, who can only care about others, if you can advance your schedule and bring the doctor she trusts sooner, and what I should do besides giving mana for her health.
It took him less than 10 minutes to complete this letter.
How impatient Damian was as he melted the wax by pressing it with his feverish thumb. As soon as he hastily stamped his seal, he handed it to Ivan before the wax even dried.
“Don’t send it in person, use a hawk.”
“Understood.”
His fingers, which had become heated with his anxious heart, did not subside easily.
By habit, he missed Lily.
‘But…’
When he got her up and sat her down, the eyes that had been looking at him with embarrassment without saying anything clearly came to mind.
I wonder if he will leave soon, the blue eyes were saying that.
It’s probably the same that she won’t welcome him even if he goes now. Since she was hiding something, there was a high possibility that Damian’s existence would be burdensome.
Damian was also a human being, so rejection hurt. Of course, it didn’t tickle at all when other people rejected him, but Lily’s rejection, even if it was very small, was fatal.
It hurt like his bones were breaking.
If he had been a nicer, more normal man, he might have let Lilian feel free and comfortable at this point.
Damian Rupenwein, unfortunately, was not such a nice guy.
***
The next evening, a letter arrived from Cedric.
The writing was beautiful, but it was sharp and narrow as if revealing one’s temper.
Cedric began by saying “The evils of hasty marriage” and berated Damian for not caring for Lilian properly.
[Who would criticize the child’s admirable temperament? She’s a child who’s like a gift sent from heaven out of pity for man. As much as that, I cherished that child who couldn’t take care of herself.]
It was a reprimand for why he couldn’t do that on his own and wrote a letter. After that, he wrote about five lines of Lily’s likes and dislikes.
[…the current reality of having to tell Your Highness all of these facts is deplorable, but I want to think only of the peace of my sickly sister.]
The spirit of not letting go unless you’re stupid and his dear poor and wonderful sister is not happy dripped from each text.
Damian closed the letter without saying anything. It wasn’t without references, but anyway, information about Lilian’s minor likes and dislikes, such as she dislikes kiwi, seemed very useful, but it wasn’t what he wanted to know.
‘Looking at the contents of the reply, it seemed like this person didn’t even notice that his sister was hiding something.’
A sense of superiority crossed his chest but only for a moment. He was one step ahead of Cedric, but he was only one step ahead.
Perhaps, when Cedric comes up to the capital, Lilian will tell him the secret she’s hiding right away.
If that were the case, being one step ahead would be meaningless.
A tinge of emotion soared.
The night before, Lilian greeted Damian with a troubled face. Damian was shameless and tried to feed Lily the stew himself.
Lilian said she would eat it herself, and that she was sorry but when he stubbornly refused, she couldn’t kick him out.
Damian’s plan went as planned, but the joy was short-lived. Because…
“Your Ladyship!”
As soon as she had a few sips of the stew, Lily started to have a nosebleed. She must have been stimulated by suddenly eating something hot.
His heart seemed to thump.
Giving up on even pretending to be relaxed, Damian went straight to Lily.
It’s just a nosebleed. You can bleed easily when you’re tired.
He didn’t have such a rational thought. It was as if the ominous premonition he had felt earlier had become a reality, and starting with Lily’s nosebleeds, he was overcome with extreme fear as if she would collapse and die at any moment.
“Wife, Lily, hold on, I…”
Fortunately, Damian’s hand steadily carried out first aid measures even though he stuttered. He grabbed Lilian by the back of her neck to prevent her from bending her head back and pressed on her nose with great force to stop the bleeding.
Fortunately, the bleeding quickly stopped.
As he returned the blood-soaked towel to Rita, Damian sat on the edge of the bed, his pulse throbbing.
“Your Highness, Your Highness?”
“…ah. Yes?”
Damian managed to come to his senses. Lily shyly apologized and said, “Sorry to startle you.”
Damian wanted to cry a little, then.
“Wife, that’s not something you should apologize for… no, it’s okay. Just answer me. What’s wrong with you?”
“It often happens when the weather is dry.”
Damian’s sharp premonition whispered. That’s a lie.
Damian, more than anyone else, is Lily’s.
He wanted to believe the words “I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you’d be surprised”. He wanted to believe Cedric’s reply. He wanted to believe that he was overreacting, hurt, and sensitive to Lily’s rejection.
The reason Lilian rejects him may not have anything to do with her health.
This isn’t a possibility he’d like to think too much about, but apart from her health condition, it could just be something she doesn’t like and is uncomfortable with.
‘Yes, this is better.’
But even today, Damian’s footsteps were heading towards Lilian’s study.
When he heard the news that this sincere person came out to the study again after such a fuss yesterday, he was really dumbfounded and couldn’t even speak.
When asked if she had a lot to do, Ivan closed his eyes rather than looking at him.
“Hasn’t the paperwork that has been posted in front of Your Highness recently become strangely easier to see?”
“…”
And then he saw it.
“That’s what Her Highness taught me.”
“What?”
“Not only that, but she also taught us how to write the account books. We are already working on integrating and organizing our existing ledgers.”
“Ivan Isaac.”
“Her Highness told me not to tell His Highness and that she was ashamed of her poor skills. Even if I stop her, Her Ladyship will do it herself…”
“So you just obeyed? Have you been told not to inform me?”
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