Chapter 4
“You managed to save up even while paying for the medicine. That’s admirable.”
Dr. O’Neill’s words of comfort brought tears to my eyes. All the sorrow I had bottled up came flooding out, pounding against my tear ducts.
“There’s nowhere you can ask for help?”
Even though he knew the answer, Dr. O’Neill still asked. I could only shake my head.
“…I see.”
At that moment, a voice rang out, and I urgently grasped my grandmother’s hand.
“Grandma! You’re awake? Do you know who I am?”
“…course.”
“What? I can’t hear you.”
I brought my ear close to her lips.
But what I heard shocked me to the core.
“I’ve lived long enough.”
“…What did you just say?”
“There’s no need to try anymore. Just let me go.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Did Grandma really say that to me?
“How… how could you say something like that to me?”
“It’s just my time. Don’t blame yourself.”
“No! If you die, it’ll be all my fault, all my responsibility!”
“My dear…”
“If you die, I won’t eat, I’ll just cry every single day. Even if I collapse from crying, I’ll just keep crying!”
I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer and ran out of the room. I walked aimlessly, sobbing, not even knowing where I was going.
The thought of losing my grandmother—something I’d never considered before—terrified me.
The tears wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t bring myself to go home until late into the night.
* * *
How much time had passed?
“Hic… hiccup! Huuu…”
I had cried so much that eventually, no more tears came out.
Curled up in a crouch with my face buried in my knees, all I could do was hiccup over and over.
Then, I heard footsteps approaching—steady, firm.
Only then did I realize I was crouched alone somewhere in the dark, unfamiliar night. I quickly wiped my tear-streaked face with my sleeve.
“What are you doing here?”
At the sound of the voice, I instinctively tried to get up and run—but froze instead.
The voice was too familiar.
A few steps away, the man set down a lantern on the ground.
“…Your Grace?”
“Your eyes are all swollen. Can you even see my face?”
The voice was strangely both teasing and concerned. Embarrassed, I rubbed my eyes.
“Honestly, I can’t see very well. I recognized your voice.”
“So that’s how you came all the way out here without fear. Do you even know where you’re sitting right now?”
“I don’t… Is this somewhere I should be afraid to be?”
“Not anymore. You’re with the chief of public security, who’s working hard for the peace and safety of Pennington.”
With a light, almost humming tone, he slid the lantern closer to me.
I unconsciously scooted toward the light—and caught a whiff of something metallic at the tip of my nose.
A blood smell…?
I blurted out before I could stop myself.
“Your Grace, are you hurt? I think I smell blood…”
“You can smell that? So your nose is sharp too, huh?”
My nose? Oh right—what happened to his aide, who had been desperately searching for him earlier?
“It’s not my blood. Just doing my job as the chief of security. Nothing to worry about.”
“I see…”
Just as I whispered in relief, his voice continued.
“But why is our dear citizen crouched here, crying like this? Do I have to work overtime now?”
The way he intentionally rattled his sword hilt—like he was ready to punish whoever had hurt me—strangely sounded… comforting.
Tears welled up again.
“Think of it like filing a direct complaint to the lord. Come on, at least tell me what’s wrong.”
As I began to hiccup and cry again, he came closer and gently soothed me.
He stayed by my side until I had cried it all out.
“All done now?”
“Sniff… Yes. I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. But seriously, why were you crying? Tell me so I can go home.”
“Well, my grandma’s really sick… hic! She’s been on medication for years now, but hic! it’s not working anymore. She needs magical treatment, hic! but it’s just too expensive…”
“Ah… So that’s why you said you needed money earlier?”
“Yes. Sniff.”
‘His Grace has probably never even worried about money.’
He was one of only three dukes in the empire. If he didn’t have money, that would be the strange part.
‘I bet he even gave that maid—the one who was his older brother’s lover—a huge sum of money…’
Even if it wasn’t the 1 billion I saw in the play, maybe 100 million?
…
One hundred million lukes.
With that much, I could save Grandma.
“…Your Grace.”
“Hm?”
“Do you remember that joke you made earlier today?”
I wiped my wet eyes and looked up at his face, still swollen from crying.
He was staring back at me with a strange expression.
“The one where you said if I held your hand and came home with you, I could get a money envelope?”
“Yeah. That one.”
My face was already burning from embarrassment.
But life’s about taking chances, right? I threw away my pride and shame.
“Can we pretend that wasn’t a joke? Can you make it real?”
I knew it. I wasn’t fit to be even a fake romantic partner to someone like him.
But maybe—just maybe—he said it because someone like me was what he needed.
“Hm… You really are a dangerous young lady.”
Sitting ungracefully on the ground like a commoner, he rested his chin on his bent knee and looked at me.
“So, what should I call you, citizen?”
“My name is Airi, Your Grace.”
“Airi…”
He repeated it like a whisper, like a cold breeze brushing against my ear.
I shivered, and he immediately took off his light jacket and offered it to me.
“Ah, no, there’s no need for that…”
“I understand your urgency. But do you know why I called it a joke earlier?”
“Because it was just a joke?”
“No. I was being serious, but afterward I realized it would be wrong to say something like that to an innocent young lady.”
He gently spread the jacket over my shoulders.
With that face and that tone, it felt like romantic fraud. But since he was a duke, I quietly thanked him instead.
“If you walk into the duke’s mansion on my arm, you won’t get the money envelope that same day and be sent home. You understand that, right?”
Why did it go from holding hands to locking arms? Was that to look more affectionate?
Pushing aside the thought, I nodded.
“You might have to pretend to be my lover for months. During that time, you’ll face all kinds of things. You’ll hear cruel words, too.”
“I’ve already prepared for that. Whatever it is, I can endure it.”
“Whatever it is?”
“Yes, anything!”
He narrowed his eyes, clearly doubtful, then spoke again.
“You know the situation with the Ludian ducal family, right?”
He spoke of his own family like it was someone else’s, and before I could answer, he started counting on his fingers.
“My father and older brother are dead. My sister is sick. My second brother ran away. My youngest sibling is still a kid.”
He folded all five fingers into a fist and held it up.
“They’re afraid the family line will die out. So whenever they see me, all they talk about is finding a woman and having a child.”
“Ah…”
“If you pretend to be my lover to get a money envelope, you might suddenly find yourself being pushed into my bedroom. Are you prepared for that too?”
