Chapter 108 ….
“It would be best if you avoid contact with other people. A particularly nasty cold has been going around lately.”
At the doctor’s warning, Lucien nodded instead of replying.
“The medicine is quite strong, so make sure you eat before taking it. It may make you drowsy.”
To that, Juliet—who had been observing the examination from behind—answered that she understood.
“For at least a week, please refrain from meeting others. Even if you feel better, the infection can still spread. Please be careful. You understand, don’t you?”
“…Yes?”
Lucien asked back in a slightly hoarse voice, but the doctor, saying he had another cold patient waiting, hurriedly left the room.
A whole week like this…
Lucien let out a sigh.
“It would be best for you to take the medicine and get some rest now.”
Juliet handed her the medicine. When Lucien swallowed it without complaint, Juliet praised her enthusiastically.
“Well done! Very brave!”
Even though Lucien was no child, the fuss didn’t feel unpleasant somehow.
As she lay down quietly, Juliet reached out to check her forehead.
Lucien quickly pulled the blanket up to block her hand. If the cold spread any further, it would be a burden on the estate.
“Please don’t worry. A capable servant knows how not to catch a cold.”
It was clearly a lie.
As Lucien shook her head under the blanket, Juliet repeated confidently,
“It’s true. Miss Lucien, have you ever seen me catch a cold even once?”
…Huh?
“And you’ve never seen Parachute catch a cold either, have you?”
Come to think of it, that was true.
“It’s a basic qualification of an excellent servant. How could we possibly nurse our master if we collapsed over something as trivial as a cold?”
Only then did Lucien peek her eyes slightly out from under the blanket. Still, she couldn’t feel at ease.
“Even so, I’m worried about you, Sister. Please only come if there’s something absolutely necessary to deliver. It would be even better if you left it at the door.”
Since Juliet showed no sign of leaving, Lucien decided to change her approach.
“Please help the Duke instead of me. I’m worried he might overwork himself alone and fall ill again. It feels like… that time is approaching.”
Whenever a fever season came around, Benedict always pushed himself too hard.
“Please tell the Duke that I’m fine. And tell him absolutely not to come anywhere near here—no, actually. Since he knows how serious this cold is, he probably won’t come anyway.”
Benedict would be genuinely worried about Lucien, but he wouldn’t come. He was more wary of illness than anything else.
And knowing how vicious the cold was these days, he would be even more careful.
“Yes, I’ll relay your words exactly, not a single syllable wrong. Please rest without worry.”
Lucien slowly nodded and closed her eyes. They said the medicine was strong, and indeed, she fell asleep quickly.
* * *
Having received her orders, Juliet faithfully went to Benedict’s office. Draping a white cloth over her head, she imitated Lucien.
“Beeeneeedict! You’re just scared of a silly cold, that’s why you’re not coming to see me!”
But since this Lucien was nothing like the one he knew, Benedict felt suspicious.
“…She really said that? Lucien did?”
Juliet pulled the white cloth straight down and answered confidently,
“Yes. The Shoe God who governs my success revealed in an oracle that Miss Lucien’s soul was shouting exactly that.”
If her soul said that, then it meant she’d said something else with her mouth.
There was no need to ask further.
‘Benedict, don’t come to my room.’
This wasn’t the first time Lucien had reacted like this. Whenever she caught a cold, she was desperate to keep Benedict out of her room.
Yet she didn’t panic nearly as much with Juliet or Alfi.
“That mild cold is nothing to me. I don’t know why she worries so much.”
At that moment, a knock sounded, and Benedict looked up.
“My lord.”
Alfi had come to inform him of the next schedule. Juliet, realizing she had seen something she shouldn’t have, requested to withdraw.
“…Alright.”
In truth, Benedict wanted to keep Juliet there a bit longer. Ever since their last confrontation, his relationship with Alfi hadn’t improved.
But Juliet looked busy, so he let her go.
Once she left, Alfi silently brought over a jacket and spread it open for him to wear. Benedict deliberately ignored the gesture and snatched it away.
Sorry, brother.
The thought came naturally, but he suppressed it.
Honestly, Alfi had gone too far last time—saying Benedict would turn into a beast ruled by desire alone.
Until he heard an explanation for that, Benedict had no intention of softening, yet Alfi didn’t seem inclined to apologize either.
“The southern landowner is waiting in the reception room.”
“…I know.”
Several landowners were staying at the estate for meetings, and beyond the conferences, Benedict met each of them privately.
Since returning from Surtcliffe Manor, Benedict had been investigating the people his father had met alone. There was a chance that among them was someone who harbored a “Decision.”
If someone truly carried a Decision, then his father might have proposed some kind of deal.
Benedict probed them by asking about the circumstances of their conversations with his father.
If I find the Decision that way…
Would he have to kill that person to break the long-standing curse?
He didn’t know.
For now, he didn’t want to think about it.
But he did want to find the person with the Decision.
Not simply because it was his father’s dying wish. Not merely because it was the hope of many dukes.
｢Without realizing it… I thought of you, Lucien. No… you, right?｣
Right now, he only wanted to prove the answer to that question.
That Lucien was someone completely unrelated.
To completely clear away the deep unease lodged in his heart.
Holding his jacket, Benedict walked toward the door.
“My lord, you’ve been holding many private meetings lately. Does this have anything to do with the object you’re searching for?”
At Alfi’s quiet question, Benedict stopped dead in his tracks.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Before that incident, you’ve been checking every single person the late Duke met.”
Benedict spun around sharply and glared at him.
“Are you spying on me?!”
“It’s not surveillance—it’s assistance. Taking interest in my master’s affairs is my duty.”
Alfi answered with an excessively polite bow.
“Don’t worry about it. I just have some quiet matters regarding estate management to discuss.”
“If that were the case, calling even the village clockmaker and the embroidery shop owner to the tea house—”
“Enough!”
His heart dropped heavily as Benedict snapped.
“Stop it!”
“….”
At his command, Alfi closed his mouth. But he still watched Benedict with a measuring gaze.
Fear quickly crept over Benedict.
What if Alfi discovered that the Decision resided within people?
And what if he also realized that Benedict had suspected Lucien…?
Benedict forced a calm expression.
“Don’t come near me for a while.”
Issuing the cold order, Benedict turned sharply and left the room.
After meeting the landowners and hosting dinner, he thought he could go to Lucien’s room without it being too late.
* * *
It was a miscalculation.
The private meetings dragged on.
The dinner that followed lasted even longer.
Still, since none of them seemed to harbor a Decision, Benedict spent the time in relative ease.
The excited landowners drank as though they meant to empty the ducal wine cellar, and Benedict endured the misery of listening to drunken old men ramble.
“Like a bunch of drunken whales.”
Finally freed, he muttered while brushing off his outerwear.
The thick scent of alcohol clung to his clothes, giving him a headache. Should he wash up and change before going to Lucien?
…That would be strange, wouldn’t it?
It wasn’t like he’d be getting anywhere close to a lady lying in bed.
A true gentleman, even on a sick visit, should observe the patient from at least five steps away.
Well, it’s not like I care about what my brother said.
｢You’re no longer a child. You should have some sense of caution…｣
There’s no need for that.
