Chapter 56
“Please calm down, my lady. The Grand Duke has hired that man as your personal physician. He said we never know when something like this might happen again.”
“What? That man, as my personal physician?”
“That’s right. So there’s no need to rush — you’ll be able to see him anytime. He’ll have to check on your recovery anyway…”
Marina gently laid me back down on the bed and tucked the blanket around me neatly.
“So for now, please rest a little more. The young masters should be here soon…”
“Hey, shorty! You’re awake?”
Speak of the devil.
Before Marina could even finish her sentence, the door burst open and the three brothers came rushing in.
“It’s been exactly a week. Looks like that guy wasn’t a quack or a fraud after all.”
Cishe said coolly, sitting down on the edge of the bed and placing his hand on my forehead.
Maybe it was because I still had a slight fever — or maybe Cishe’s hands were naturally cold — but the cool touch actually felt nice.
Lucas came closer next to him, brushing away the strands of my hair stuck to my forehead with sweat.
“How are you feeling? You’re not hungry, are you? Should I have something prepared?”
His voice held a note of urgency that was unusual for the always composed Lucas.
‘I didn’t even think about being hungry…’
But the moment he mentioned food, my stomach suddenly growled fiercely.
‘Humans really are fickle creatures.’
“I’m hungry. I want to eat.”
“Really? Then we should start with something gentle on your stomach — maybe some soup?”
As Lucas glanced toward Marina while saying that, she quickly stood up, bowed, and left the room, no doubt heading to the kitchen to prepare food.
Baratheon sank into the chair Marina had just vacated, letting out a deep sigh.
“Hey! Didn’t I tell you to eat properly? You must’ve been starving yourself to just collapse like that!”
His scolding was completely unfair.
‘I have been eating properly lately!’
“It’s not because I wasn’t eating. Didn’t the doctor already explain why I fainted?”
“That’s still what happens when you don’t take care of yourself. If you were healthier, stuff like this wouldn’t happen.”
Baratheon grumbled and lifted my wrist with exaggerated exasperation.
“See? We finally got some meat on these bones after bringing you here, and now you’re back to being a skeleton.”
“Teon, what are you saying? Don’t call your little sister a skeleton.”
Lucas’s stern tone cut in, but Baratheon ignored him.
“What, she’s my sister, not someone else’s. And Cishe over there doesn’t even treat me like an older brother anyway.”
Cishe, whose name suddenly entered the conversation, merely shrugged and gave a short scoff.
“And besides, what else do you call a skeleton if not a skeleton? If she doesn’t want to hear it, she should eat properly.”
“Teon.”
Lucas said his name again in warning, and Baratheon just shrugged.
“You’re too overprotective, you know that? Kids have to be raised tough.”
“You’re too rough with Danae. Raising her to be strong and being harsh are two different things.”
The conversation suddenly veered off into parenting philosophy.
‘Wait, what? Who’s being raised here?’
I was growing up just fine on my own, thank you.
As I stared at the two of them with a sullen expression, Cishe quietly rose to his feet.
“I’ll go to the Grand Duke. He probably doesn’t know she’s awake yet.”
“That’s a good idea,” Lucas nodded, adding one more instruction.
“Bring the doctor with you when you come back. It’d be best to have him confirm she’s really okay.”
“Ah… that doctor?”
The moment the word doctor came up, Cishe frowned.
He didn’t say much, but his expression made it clear how reluctant he was.
“The Grand Duke really wants that guy as her personal physician?”
“That’s what he said.”
“I don’t like him. There’s something shady about that man.”
“It’s His Grace’s decision. Do you think your judgment is more accurate than his?”
“Well…”
Cishe trailed off under Lucas’s pointed remark.
He clearly had his doubts but didn’t want to go against the man who’d saved his life — the Grand Duke.
Finally, he sighed.
“Fine. I’ll bring him.”
“Good boy, Cishe.”
“Enough already. Stop treating me like the youngest. The real youngest is right there.”
Cishe pouted at Lucas’s patronizing tone and stomped out of the room.
He didn’t act that way with Baratheon, but somehow with Lucas, he really did seem like the little brother.
‘So Cishe really doesn’t treat Teon like an older brother.’
I gave Baratheon a pitying look, and he tilted his head in confusion, clearly not getting it.
A little later, as I was eating the thin soup Marina had prepared, the door opened again.
“Danae.”
The door swung open rather abruptly, and the Grand Duke stepped inside.
Despite his sudden entrance, his expression was as calm as ever.
If not for his slightly disheveled hair, I wouldn’t have guessed he’d rushed here at all.
Baratheon and Lucas, who had been guarding my bedside, immediately moved aside to make room as the Grand Duke approached slowly.
His face looked so tired and drawn that I thought he was the one who needed a doctor, not me.
While I was thinking that, he spoke.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. Nothing hurts.”
The Grand Duke’s eyes swept over me, as if checking whether my words were true.
When he seemed convinced, his stiff expression softened slightly.
“I think it’s best if we reduce your workload.”
“…What?”
The unexpected statement nearly made me choke on my soup.
‘Reduce my work?’
But my goal is to become a powerful deputy heir as fast as possible!
Only then can I run the family into the ground, cash in the treasures I’ve stashed away, and live a blissful, lazy life!
He should be giving me more work, not less!
But the Grand Duke’s reasoning was completely different.
“I gave you too many responsibilities because you were doing so well, but you collapsed from overwork. It seems I was wrong to push you.”
“No, Grandfather!”
I waved my hands frantically.
“I really want to become a proper deputy soon! I didn’t faint because of the work, I promise—”
“Danae.”
The Grand Duke placed a heavy hand on my shoulder.
“You don’t need to overwork yourself to prove anything. You’re already a proud member of the Ashenoff family.”
Baratheon and Lucas both looked at me with serious eyes, clearly agreeing with him.
To them, I was just “the sweet little girl working hard to be recognized by the family.”
‘If I were really the Grand Duke’s pure-hearted granddaughter, I’d probably be touched right now.’
But I wasn’t.
I had plans.
“…I don’t want to. I want to keep working.”
“Danae.”
The Grand Duke’s lips pressed together, clearly not expecting me to resist so stubbornly.
Baratheon and Lucas exchanged uneasy looks as the air between us grew tense.
But I didn’t avert my eyes.
‘I just got promoted from candle-level to salaried-level authority. I can’t back down now.’
If I did, all my hard-earned progress would go up in smoke.
“You really won’t back down, huh.”
The Grand Duke finally sighed.
“Fine. Do as you wish and keep working.”
Yes!
“But you’ll be examined regularly by the doctor. If I get any report saying you’re unfit to work—”
“Don’t worry! That’ll never happen!”
“You always say that.”
He scolded me lightly, pressing his large hand down on my head.
“Don’t make me worry. You’re my precious granddaughter.”
Precious granddaughter…
Hearing that made me feel a little guilty about all my scheming.
Baratheon and Lucas both looked just as worried for me.
‘Ugh… my conscience…’
It felt like a dozen needles pricking my chest.
Just then, the tightly closed door opened again, and Cishe’s flat voice came through.
“I brought the doctor.”
The doctor!
The man who had spoken to me in that dark space!
I quickly turned my head toward the door and immediately spotted the man standing beside Cishe.
Silver hair, pale sky-blue eyes — a face I knew all too well.
Master!
There was no mistake. It was truly him.
