I stared at Duke Kalinos’s sorrowful expression, my mouth hanging open as I pointed at him. After hearing, one after another, all the circumstances he had misunderstood from his own mouth, I was utterly shocked.
“W-Wait, you’ve got it all wrong! I’m not terminally ill!”
“…What?”
“I’m perfectly fine and healthy!”
“Then why do you keep coughing up blood…?”
“That just happens because I overexert myself a little when using mana.”
“…”
“I’m really healthy.”
His eyes, which had been red with emotion, suddenly turned cold, and the tears that had welled up quickly dried, leaving his gaze icy. The atmosphere between us grew oppressively silent.
Unable to bear the heavy silence any longer, I quietly muttered, “…I’m not terminally ill, so please don’t worry. I won’t be risking my life like this anymore. Still, I’m glad the fake married-couple act ended well. Thanks for worrying about me, and for helping me.” I tried to reassure him, like offering a carrot.
He stared at my neck for a moment, then pulled a potion out of his pocket. “I didn’t bring a healing potion, but this anesthetic potion should help with the pain.”
His cold hand, coated with potion, suddenly touched the back of my neck. The sensation made my toes curl and sent a tingling jolt through my hands and feet, making me flinch.
As he treated me, he murmured softly, “…Ah, that just reminded me.”
“Yes?”
“My family also thinks you’re terminally ill.”
“…Huh? W-What did you just say?” The continuous shocking revelations left me completely stiff.
* * *
It was the next morning. During breakfast at the Kalinos household, I finally realized their ‘terminal illness misunderstanding’ with certainty. Because only my place is filled with health-boosting meals!
“A-Am I the only one eating this kind of food?”
“That’s right.”
For some reason, I could see Garno, Yuliana, and Neslan all tearing up at the same time.
Wait, they’re serious. How did I not notice this until now? Well, I was too busy swatting the mosquito… Feeling a bit bitter, I adjusted the scarf I’d wrapped tightly around my neck to hide the bruise and spoke up. “I really need to clear this up.”
“Huh?”
“To get straight to the point, I’m actually very healthy.”
The moment I said that, there was a loud clatter as someone dropped their cutlery. I turned my gaze toward the source of the sound…
“Y-You don’t have to reassure us or a-anything like that…”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
…This is getting serious. Neslan had already pulled out a handkerchief.
“I’m really healthy. It’s all just a misunderstanding.”
“Re-Really?”
I gently patted the innocent Riwes’s head and smiled softly. “Of course.”
But Yuliana eyed me suspiciously and asked, “Are you really telling the truth about being healthy?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly healthy. Do I look like the type to lie about something like that? If I were sick, I’d be the first to throw a fit, grab anyone nearby, and demand they save me right this instant.”
Yuliana’s suspicious expression finally faded. Neslan and Garno also nodded, looking genuinely convinced.
“Well, that does make sense.”
…No matter how you look at it, they were convinced way too easily.
As I chewed over my bitterness, Neslan suddenly spoke up. “Then, the nosebleed?”
“It’s really nothing else, I just overworked myself a bit, that’s all.”
It’s absolutely not because I’m some kind of pervert…
Just then, there was another loud clatter from Garno’s side as his cutlery hit the table. “Overworked yourself?!”
“Overwork is the fast track to terminal illness!”
With all this commotion, I had no idea how to explain myself and just gnawed on my lip.
Riwes suddenly hopped down from his chair, climbed onto my lap, and mumbled softly. “I hope it’s true that Sister isn’t sick.”
As Riwes hugged me tightly, my scarf slipped down a little. I hurried to fix it, but…
“Maybe we should ban you from going out starting today.”
“…We must serve only healthy foods. I’ll add health potions into my muffins…”
“I should invent a magical artifact for health checkups.”
Hearing Yuliana, Garno, and Neslan speak one after another, my face went pale. They saw the bruise I was hiding with my scarf, I know they did! And I could sense it… Even if they find out I’m not terminally ill, nothing will change! It seemed their overprotectiveness would continue indefinitely.
With a miserable expression, I spooned the countless health foods before me one bite at a time. Ha, this seriously tastes ve~ry healthy! It’s awful!
* * *
After somehow managing to shake off the Kalinos family, who all looked like they were about to cry, I finally made it to my bedroom and let out a sigh. Complicated. Everything is complicated. Still, I had to admit, this sitcom-like daily life was kind of fun. Neither in my past life as Giselle nor in my modern life filled with part-time jobs had I ever had a family that worried about me this much. It made my chest feel all warm and tingly.
Trying to suppress the smile tugging at my lips, I sat at the table in my room to enjoy a light tea time. Across from me, Duke Kalinos spoke calmly. “My family cherishes you as well. They said they wished you could live forever, and even counted how much time you might have left while crying.”
“Ah…”
“Everyone in this mansion likes you. Myself included.”
“Yes…” Suddenly, I could almost hear five billion flying away, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
“And I can’t stand to see you undervalue yourself like this anymore.”
“…”
“So, let’s renew our contract and keep up this marriage. I recall you once asked me for five billion.”
“Yes, t-that’s right.”
“In exchange for continuing the marriage, I will give you fifty billion. No, five hundred billion.”
With a stunned face, I thought. Is this a tenfold increase? No, a hundredfold? Does he even understand money? But faced with such a mouth-watering offer, I lost any chance to figure out what I really felt about him. He was valuing me at five hundred billion. All that remained was to pledge loyalty to my employer… No, wait! Can I really decide something as serious as marriage this casually?
Trying desperately to regain my last shred of reason, I asked carefully. “Then can I keep living like this? This comfortably?”
“Yes. If you stop causing a scene, the family will be disappointed.”
“…?”
Isn’t that a little weird? But by now, I’d gotten used to pretending to be the fake crazy character. I nodded appropriately and replied. “… I’ll think about it carefully, Milord, I mean, my employer.”
“Yes. Let’s also try treating your throat.” He lightly patted and rubbed the area around my neck with a hand smeared by a healing potion. His touch was rough and clumsy, not delicate at all, but I could feel my wounds slowly healing.
The people in this mansion, and Duke Kalinos himself, were helping to heal the anger and scars left by those b*stards. Thinking that, I started to feel like maybe keeping up this marriage wasn’t such a bad idea after all…
I blinked rapidly. Am I seriously getting swept up by this bulldozer-like family? What snapped me out of my stiff daze were the voices of the servants drifting in through the open window.
“Did you see today’s <Gossip Daily>?”
“You mean the story about that damned Duke Reshaniel harassing our madam?”
“People are saying it’s just a rumor though…”
“They said why would Duke Reshaniel even bother with our madam, right? It’s ridiculous!”
As I listened to the servants grumbling, I suddenly noticed the veins standing out on Duke Kalinos’s hand.
“Shall I deal with those who spoke carelessly?”
If you had only heard up to this point, it would seem like all my efforts had failed miserably. After all, instead of rumors about Duke Reshaniel, it looked like only my own past scandals were being dredged up.
“No.”
I absentmindedly touched my neck, which already seemed to have healed, and opened the window a bit wider. Just then, a strange voice drifted in through the crack in the open window.
“S-So there’s another rumor, but you have to keep this to yourself. They say our madam turned Duke Reshaniel into a eunuch…”
“Ah, I heard that too. Apparently, Duke Reshaniel went bald, so he has to wear a wig now.”
I closed the window again with a bright smile. When Duke Kalinos looked at me with a puzzled gaze, as if trying to see right through me, I decided to play another card I’d been holding.
“It wouldn’t be any fun if this ended as just a simple love triangle.”
“That means?”
“We need to blow the story up, make it even more scandalous. That way, people will keep talking about it for longer, don’t you think?”
Stirring up drama is my specialty. And more than anything, I needed Duke Reshaniel to become the laughingstock.
“I plan to make him even more desperate.”
Once Duke Reshaniel loses both his mana and his honor, he’ll be frantic enough to lay all his cards on the table and come at me head-on.
Lightly gripping the lucky stone hanging around my neck, I smiled brightly. Next time we meet, I’m going to take everything he has.
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