I’m Not Doing This With A Friend Chapter 123

 

“What a creepy bastard.”

 

Sylvia’s quip was met with nods of approval from the Duke and Carson, who were in the room with her.

 

There were already dozens of letters from Rex Begonia to Leen.

 

We’d suspected he was insane ever since he started sending her unanswered letters every day…

 

Rex Begonia’s insane behavior wasn’t limited to that.

 

Not long ago, he had come to the Duke’s doorstep in a crippled state, demanding to see Leen.

 

In the middle of enemy territory, in the same Lysianthus.

 

He was a bitter man. So I burned all his letters and kept his visit a secret so that Leen would not know.

 

Then, yesterday evening, there was another small intruder in the ducal household.

 

Into Leen’s room, to be exact.

 

The Duke narrowed his brow in displeasure.

 

“I see it’s time for a change of guard. I can’t believe someone would sell information about Lysianthus to Begonia.”

 

“That’s true, and how exactly did he get to Leen’s room…”

 

Fortunately or not, the little intruder was not Rex Begonia, but a messenger bird he had sent.

 

The bird was discovered and dealt with by Carson before it could deliver the letter to Leen.

 

Sylvia sighed and turned to her son.

 

“What did the letter say?”

 

“It was plastered with the phrase ‘I miss you,’ as always.”

 

“Oh, that’s crazy….”

 

Sylvia’s mouth started to spew out a string of insults.

 

The Duke calmed her down and continued, “It’s a wonder Leen has been able to stand up to that madman all this time.”

 

The current Duke of Begonia was only outwardly sound, but Lysianthus was still reeling from the blows of the people’s backstabbing.

 

There wasn’t much to touch, in truth.

 

The Duchy of Begonia was already torn apart by a long-running power struggle between its children.

 

Add to that the untimely death of the Duke and Duchess, and Rex Begonia’s incomplete rise to power by force.

 

It was a delicate balance, and just nudging it had interesting results.

 

The problem was, Rex Begonia was courting Leen even as the duchy was falling apart. Sylvia’s face contorted into a grimace.

 

“Maybe we should put a little more pressure on him…”

 

“I think it’ll be fine if we just keep things the way they are now, but I’d like to save Leen a slap so she can get her revenge.”

 

“I agree with Carson about keeping things the way they are. He’s done anything to get to power, so I’m sure he’ll give up on Leen when it really matters.”

 

Sylvia’s expression did not soften at the words of the two powerful men.

 

“Well, I know because I was previously tormented by a similar madman during my academy days…”

 

The Duke cringed at the mention of the past.

 

She sipped her tea as she studied him leisurely, then continued.

 

“Those kinds of people don’t give up easily.”

 

🍃

 

Entering the dining room, Leen’s eyes narrowed slowly.

 

“I see you’re all here early, huh?”

 

It was not polite to be seated later than one’s superiors, so Leen usually made an effort to come to the dining room early.

 

But today, not only the duchess, but also the busy duke were out early.

 

The couple greeted Leen.

 

“Come, my dear.”

 

“You don’t have to be so polite, but since you won’t listen to us, we have to leave early.”

 

“Thank you for your consideration.”

 

Leen gave a soft smile at the Duke and Duchess’s warm words and headed for her seat.

 

Then, as if on cue, Carson pulled out a chair and helped Leen sit down.

 

She was a beloved daughter-in-law.

 

Leen was feeling it all over. Normally, she would have let her happiness show on her face.

 

But today, she wasn’t feeling so blissful because of a smell that had been nudging her nose since she entered the dining room.

 

Something doesn’t smell quite right…

 

I couldn’t make out the source of the odor, as it was masked by the other food.

 

Quickly noticing Leen’s subtle expression, Carson asked worriedly.

 

“What’s wrong, Leen? You don’t look well.”

 

Sylvia chimed in, “Maybe you don’t like the food?”

 

“No, no. I’m just a little tired.”

 

“Well, research is good, but you need to rest, or you’ll ruin your health.”

 

“I’m resting well, but I’ve been sleeping a lot lately….”

 

Leen’s excuses, or lack of excuses, prompted the people of Lysianthus House to quickly come up with a solution.

 

“Then you should take more breaks.”

 

“It wouldn’t hurt to keep the lab locked down for a while.”

 

“Yes, Leen. How about you put aside your research for a few days and go on a date with me?”

 

Leen couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

 

It would be awkward if the Duke really barred her from the lab.

 

She was working on a very important research right now. The medicine she had tried and failed to create with Arcandus long ago.

 

She was working on a cure for her parents’ disease. They were the only ones with the disease, and when they died, the search for a cure became an unsolvable problem.

 

It’s hard to do research on the disease because no one else has it…

 

And even if they did manage to create a cure, they wouldn’t know if it would work.

 

But Leen had been working on several things based on what she had written down.

 

Her logic told her that the plague was unrelated to her parents’ illness, but her instincts told her that she shouldn’t let things stay the same.

 

Her body moved of its own accord, and when she awoke, she was studying him intently.

 

Leen shrugged, “Thank you for your concern, I’ll take it easy as you said.”

 

Then, with a smile to show that she was fine, she called for the meal to end.

 

Then, reluctantly, the Duke’s people began to eat.

 

Leen’s first bite was a stir-fried beef and vegetables. She dipped the meat into the stir-fry and brought it to her mouth.

 

The aroma of the eggplant and the crunchy texture were enough to fill her mouth,

 

Blurgh!

 

I felt nauseous. I thought it was meat, but it turned out to be eggplant.

 

When asked to name her three least favorite things in the world, Leen said without hesitation, Erhan, Rex begonia,

 

and lastly, eggplant.

 

For the record, the first one was the eggplant, and the second was Rex Begonia.

 

Leen’s complexion turned pale.

 

Realizing that her nausea had caused the silence to fall, Leen quickly spoke up.

 

“I, I’m sorry….”

 

But she couldn’t finish her sentence, as the eggplant still in her mouth triggered another wave of nausea.

 

“Ugh! Blurgh—!”

 

Leen knew it would be rude to spit out her food, so she forced herself to swallow the eggplant.

 

But her deep-rooted aversion to eggplant was too much to resist.

 

She finally stood up and stormed out of the dining room.

 

The people of Lysianthus stared in disbelief at Leen’s empty seat.

 

How much time had passed. They exchanged shaky glances, but it was the Duke who spoke first.

 

“It can’t be…”

 

In fact, when Sylvia was pregnant with Carson, it was the Duke who suffered the most from morning sickness.

 

The Duke had taken over Sylvia’s morning sickness.

 

As a result, he was able to be sure a little sooner than Sylvia and Carson.

 

Leen was pregnant.

 

It was then.

 

A maid, standing in the corner of the dining room, stood in front of the confused Duke’s people.

 

“Actually… The other day, Miss Leen stroked her belly happily and said, ‘You pretty thing. Thank you for coming to me’.”

 

“Oh my…!”

 

“And then she’d say, ‘If my belly shows, I’m sure I’ll probably have to wear a dress’.”

 

If those words were true, Leen was sure she was pregnant.

 

The Duke turned to the maid, his face grim.

 

“Why are you telling me such an important fact now?”

 

“Ah, it’s the lady’s pregnancy, so I thought you would know of course…! I apologize.”

 

Sylvia’s head turned stiffly to Carson.

 

“…Caon, before you left things, I’m sure you made sure Leen took her medicine, and of course you took yours.”

 

Carson, still in shock, stammered, “That, that… I had to leave so abruptly.”

 

“You call that an excuse!”

 

Sylvia jumped to her feet and grabbed Carson by the scruff of the neck.

 

“This is your life partner, the woman who will be your wife! How can you be so irresponsible! Do you think having a child is something to be taken lightly? It’s something that will change Leen’s life forever, not to mention yours!”

 

Seeing that Sylvia seemed overly agitated, the Duke grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

 

“Hey, honey. Calm down a little…”

 

“Let go of me!”

 

Her fierce glare turned to Carson.

 

“I thought you cared about Leen, so I voted for her to be our daughter-in-law instead of our daughter, but you betrayed her like this?”

 

Carson was taking a moment to reflect on his past, whether Sylvia was cursing at him or not.

 

He ran a hand through his hair.

 

“Ha, come to think of it, Leen once asked me if I liked children…”

 

“What? And what did you say, of course you said yes!”

 

“…”

 

“Ahh…”

 

Sylvia grabbed him by the throat and shook him as he clamped his mouth shut.

 

For once, the Duke couldn’t hold it in and yelled at him.

 

“You fool!”

 

“What the hell did I say….”

 

Silence once again fell over the dining room as Carson, who normally wouldn’t have batted an eye no matter what had happened, scolded himself.

 

“And what about Leen’s comment earlier that she’s been sleeping a lot lately…”

 

“And the whole thing about Leen being anxious about her relationship with Carson…”

 

Sylvia turned to Carson as if to give him one last confirmation shot.

 

“When did you suspect this?”

 

“Two months ago…”

 

Good Lord.

 

Two months ago was just in time for her to not yet have a baby, and just in time for her to have morning sickness.

 

The Duke patted Sylvia on the back and said his thoughts.

 

“I feel sorry for Leen for leaving her with such an ugly son, but she should be blessed to have a child at all.”

 

“Yes… I’m not used to seeing Leen either, so I’m glad to have a grandchild.”

 

“Good thing, too, Leen seems to like children.”

 

Sylvia leaned into the Duke.

 

“That’s a good thing. When is Leen going to tell us about it?”

 

“She’ll tell you when the time is right, but until then, let’s pretend we don’t know.”

 

Around that time, Carson muttered, “Leen and my child…”

 

He was still in shock over the news.