I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 44

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 44.
The moment my eyes opened, they met Cashion’s, whose complexion looked decidedly unwell.
“Your Highness? What are you doing here?”
“I saw the carriage blocking the way, but no one was coming in. I wondered what had happened.”
For some time now, Cashion had taken to worrying about me.
“Just a moment, Your Highness.”
I flicked my hand, and Cashion stepped closer to the carriage.
Since Cashion was short, all that showed through the window was his tousled hair sticking up at odd angles. With little choice, I leaned my body out through the window.
“Your Highness, did you come find me because you were worried Julia might bother me?”
Gripping the windowsill, I spoke softly so no one else could hear. Cashion shook his head.
His frown deepened as he grumbled his response.
“Who said I was worried? The carriage is blocking the road and obstructing my view. Move it quickly.”
As if he could be straightforward about anything.
“Can’t you see the path being cleared? We can’t leave until it’s finished.”
Cashion glanced back and forth between the horseman working diligently on the pruning and me, my chin resting against the window frame.
“Still going to take a while.”
His voice trailed off.
“Why? Do you wish you could play with me instead?”
“Don’t twist my words. Who said anything about playing with you? I’ve never played with you once.”
A vehement denial often sounds like a passionate affirmation.
“But this right here—talking like this—isn’t that playing?”
“Th-this is playing?”
Cashion asked hesitantly, his expression genuinely shocked.
Did he think play was something grand? No, it couldn’t be. Play was just play… unless?
Suddenly, Cashion’s upbringing flashed through my mind. Perhaps—surely not.
“Your Highness, what do you think playing is?”
“You think I don’t know what play is? I know, I know play!”
“Then what is it?”
“Hide-and-seek, war games…”
“Have you actually tried them?”
Cashion’s eyes widened. His lips trembled slightly, as if he’d never done them but was too stubborn to admit it.
Oh, how pitiful.
An eleven-year-old boy who’d never properly played. And I’d nearly agreed to marry him straightaway.
‘I had no conscience at all.’
I allowed myself a moment of self-reflection.
I checked the time. Fortunately, there was nothing urgent to do today.
I’d even received a gift from Karman, so why not rediscover my conscience for once?
“Come on, Your Highness. Let’s go play.”
Though I’d suggested it, I myself had lived a life far removed from play.
My only friend was Bella, and all we’d ever played was house.
‘I can’t very well play house with Cashion.’
I could suggest it, but Cashion would probably grimace.
While I pondered what to do with Cashion, he climbed into the carriage.
“Your Highness, sit here.”
I patted the seat beside me, speaking to Cashion as he tried to sit across from me.
“Why?”
“Sitting backward will give you motion sickness.”
Even with a clear explanation, Cashion just stared blankly. I had no choice but to move myself.
I reached out and pulled Cashion’s arm. Off-guard as he was, he came easily with my gentle tug.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Cashion protested.
“Consideration for the other person. I apologize, and you’re welcome. Horseman, depart.”
Before Cashion could open his mouth, I rapped on the driver’s window. Four horses whinnied softly and immediately broke into a run.
The sudden start jolted my body. I displayed remarkable reflexes, stretching out my arm to steady myself. Cashion, lurching just as suddenly, tumbled into my embrace.
“Oh my, another accident. Your Highness, is this your fault this time?”
Before I knew it, we’d ended up in a holding embrace. I felt Cashion’s body stiffen rigidly within my arms.
“L-l-l-let go.”
I’d expected him to snap sharply, but instead Cashion murmured quietly, his head bowed low. The exposed nape of his neck had flushed a deep crimson.
Embarrassed myself, though I’d only grabbed him for safety, I deliberately stiffened my tone and adjusted our position.
“Sit properly.”
I wedged cushions firmly against Cashion’s sides to keep him from tumbling again, then stepped back.
Seeing his embarrassment, heat crept up my own neck. I opened a window and fanned myself with the hand fan.
***
That day, I’d genuinely wanted to play like a child, but my plans collapsed spectacularly.
Cashion’s condition deteriorated rapidly.
I gave him a pain reliever that Robert had prepared in advance, entrusted him to Flak’s care, and returned to the Estate.
I’d wanted to stay beside him through the evening, but I’d officially entered the palace, so I had no choice but to leave a record of my departure.
All the way home, his ashen face wouldn’t leave my mind.
Leaving Cashion at the palace and turning away grew harder with each visit.
Once home, I discussed the Phoenix Bank operations with Rumdracks and informed Cho that I’d found a buyer for the lumber.
Before I knew it, evening had slipped away.
‘I wonder if Cashion is all right.’
The image of him collapsing in convulsions, cold sweat pouring down his face, wavered before my eyes.
‘Marriage matters, yes, but nothing matters more than a person.’
Cashion was my benefactor. Had I been neglecting him too much while caught up in becoming the head of the household?
I was becoming convinced that curing Cashion’s illness had to come first.
“But I need to know what the disease is to cure it!”
Dallas, a physician renowned throughout the Kingdom for his skill, hadn’t even been able to identify Cashion’s affliction.
I’d gathered information about rare diseases from Cho, but nothing matched Cashion’s symptoms.
‘His condition is difficult to pinpoint.’
Sometimes he collapsed with high fever, sometimes he coughed up blood, sometimes he shivered with chills like today.
In frustration, I sought out the Study and began poring over medical texts.
It was a medical section I’d set aside for Robert, and it remained pristine.
‘Robert must not have time to read medical texts.’
I’d heard he was working around the clock mixing compounds and running experiments.
I stacked medical volumes like mountains on the long table and began reading.
Whenever I found a disease described with symptoms resembling Cashion’s, I wrote the name on paper.
The list of possible diagnoses grew longer and longer.
That’s how I spent two days locked away in the Study.
“Miss, you’ll collapse at this rate,” Jennis warned.
I ate in the Study, napped in the Study, immersed myself in the books like someone preparing for a crucial exam—yet Cashion’s diagnosis remained a complete mystery.
‘It was foolish of me, a non-physician, to attempt finding the disease in the first place.’
But I’d watched Cashion suffer repeatedly, and I’d seen him collapse two days ago. How could I simply let it go?
I closed the book and sighed.
Jennis approached and draped a blanket around my shoulders, then began scolding me as she organized the books I’d finished into the shelves.
Jennis’s chiding felt distant. I pressed my dry, strained eyes repeatedly, trying to stay alert.
As I reached for a new book, my vision blurred.
“Jennis, something’s wrong.”
“Yes? What is it?”
I stood and lifted my head. Jennis’s form appeared hazy. The room spun. The moment I recognized the dizziness, my body toppled backward.
“Miss!”
Jennis cried out and rushed toward me.
Crash—a cacophony of sound, and my vision shifted. I wanted to tell Jennis I was all right, but the words wouldn’t come.
Blink by blink, my vision darkened. In that moment, the ceiling of the Study—which I’d never truly noticed before—came into sharp, vivid focus.
***
“You’ve been pushing yourself continuously. You’ve always been diligent, but for the past two months you’ve been living as though you’ve compressed two days into one.”
“But you’ve seen me sleep properly. And I’ve eaten well.”
“That’s true, Cho. You’ve eaten well and slept soundly—except these past few days. These past few days you told me you were sleeping, but you’d wake up every night and keep writing. And the last two days, you didn’t sleep at all.”
I heard the voices of Cho and Jennis. At first, their words were unclear, but as time passed, they grew distinct.
After that, I felt the weight of their gazes falling upon my face.
Though I couldn’t hear every word, it seemed there were several others in the room besides Cho and Jennis.
“Ah, from now on, please… please tell me.”
The voice thick with tears belonged to Robert.
“I understand, Robert. But what did you give our Miss? Why won’t she wake up?”
As Jennis reproached him, I sensed Robert shrinking back.
I wanted to tell Jennis to treat Robert more gently, but despite my clear consciousness, words wouldn’t form.
In any case, I’d learned something unexpected.
Jennis knew everything I did. She’d been watching even when I woke after sleeping to do my work.
‘How does she know?’
I remained constantly curious about how Jennis could be so aware of everything.
‘Why am I so drowsy? I wish someone would wake me up.’
There’s the maritime trade agreement, family council business to settle beforehand, and now an investigation into Cashion’s illness on top of everything—a mountain of tasks.
I waved my hand with the desperate hope that someone might wake me.
“The young lady moved!”
Yes, Jennis. I’m awake.
But I can’t seem to move.
Would you mind giving my body a little shake, please?
I reached out my hand, hoping someone would grab it and help me up.
“When you’re ill, you want to be coddled.”
Someone seized my hand at once. From the callused palm and the prominent knuckles, I knew it was Choi.
That’s fine, Choi. Help me up like this!
“When I was young and sick, my parents would hold my hand like this. It’s lonely to be ill alone, you see. So holding someone’s hand reminds you that there’s a person beside you.”
But contrary to my expectation, Choi sat beside me while explaining this to someone else.
As the mattress tilted toward Choi, my body tilted with it.
“Look at that. She’s drawn to human warmth. She carries on cheerfully as if nothing is wrong, but Diana misses the comfort of another’s presence.”
My body had simply shifted with the weight, but Choi offered a strange interpretation.
The delusion that I was indulging in childish behavior because I happened to be ill!
“Our young lady was longing for someone’s warmth?”
Jennis asked in astonishment.
I Bought the Villains with Money (Serial)
Author │ Lee In-hye
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd. – Tiramisu
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 1101, 11F, Ace Techno Tower 8th, 33 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul
Email │ [email protected]
Homepage │ http://blog.naver.com/jayplemedia1
ⓒ Lee In-hye 2021
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder,
and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the publisher and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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