I Proposed Because You Were Terminally Ill - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10

“This is my first time on a boat ride.”

The young ladies and gentlemen invited to the party looked more excited than usual.

Damia, who had arrived at the lakeside, also whispered to Cassian with her cheeks slightly flushed.

“That’s good.”

At that indifferent response, Damia narrowed her eyes.

Why has he been acting like this since earlier?

Even when I asked if he had something to say, he hesitated for a long time and then ended up closing his mouth.

“Young Duke, do you perhaps have some grievance with me?”

“No, I don’t.”

“It seems like you do.”

“I said I don’t.”

“Then do you have something you want to ask me separately?”

“What? Ah… no, not at all.”

Today’s Cassian was really strange.

He seemed to be trying not to make eye contact with Damia, yet he persistently stared at her fingertips.

‘He definitely seems to have something he wants to say.’

She was curious, but not enough to press him about it.

“Then that’s fine.”

In the end, Damia obediently backed down.

At her quick surrender, Cassian’s eyebrows twitched as if displeased.

Just as he was about to open his lips, Drury Soro, the Marquis’s daughter, approached with her followers.

“Thank you for inviting me, Young Duke. It’s nice to see you too, Lady Ponti.”

Drury dismissed the maid who had been holding her parasol and greeted them with perfect etiquette.

“Though it’s late, congratulations on your engagement. You two look so perfect together.”

Drury, who had been acting as the Young Duke’s implicit fiancée, had actually secured that position in her previous life.

‘I must be a thorn in her side, so she can’t be sincere.’

If Damia hadn’t intervened, that engagement would have been smoothly arranged in this life as well.

“I’ve always wanted to become friends with Lady Damia, but I never had the chance before, which was so disappointing.”

“I’m even happier that you knew about me.”

Drury smiled brightly and then turned her gaze to Cassian.

“Lord Cassian, it’s been a while since we went boating. Oh, do you remember the first day we rode a boat together?”

“I wonder.”

“You held my parasol yourself while rowing, Lord Cassian. You said you were worried I might get sunburned.”

“Did I? I don’t remember.”

Cassian, who seemed distracted all day, answered half-heartedly.

As he kept glancing only at Damia’s fingertips, Drury’s beautiful brow furrowed slightly.

“I’m so envious of Lady Damia. Having someone who’s kind to everyone as a fiancé!”

At that clearly sarcastic tone, Damia became a little intrigued.

‘So this was her personality? I didn’t know since we rarely had conversations in my previous life.’

Drury seemed to want to get under Damia’s skin. That desperate appearance was somewhat cute.

“No matter how closely I think of Lord Cassian, it’s different from being his fiancée, isn’t it? Although…”

“That’s right.”

Cassian suddenly spoke up, cutting off Drury’s sarcasm.

He looked as if he could no longer bear Drury’s continued chattering without leaving them alone.

“…Excuse me?”

Cracks appeared in Drury’s perfect smile.

She seemed not to have expected the indifferent Young Duke to readily agree.

‘Wasn’t he desperately trying to tell me not to cling to him because he was interested in Drury?’

He’ll probably regret this terribly when he comes to his senses later.

I was about to make excuses on behalf of the strangely acting Young Duke.

“So could you step aside? Damia is quite looking forward to the boat ride. I want to take her out quickly.”

Cassian gestured toward the lake with his head.

“As Lady Soro already knows well, time spent with one’s fiancée is special.”

“…Oh my, I was being inconsiderate and disturbing you two. I’ll go ahead.”

Drury smiled brightly and stepped back. Her exit was so composed that Damia didn’t even think to stop her.

‘Huh?’

But the profile that passed by looked like a completely different person.

Drury was biting her lips so hard they might bleed. She looked like she was barely holding back her anger.

* * *

“Ah, it’s okay, Young Duke.”

Damia took the servant’s hand instead of Cassian’s to board the boat.

Since the Young Duke had unusually taken off the black gloves he always wore, this was a considerate action for someone with his germaphobia.

“…”

A sigh escaped through Cassian’s tightly pressed lips.

At his reaction, which seemed almost regretful, Damia tilted her head.

“I’ll start rowing.”

Once Damia settled in the boat, Cassian began rowing skillfully.

The ripples on the lake sparkled in the sunlight.

Damia let out a short exclamation at the mirror-like surface that seemed to reflect the summer sky perfectly.

“Oh? Mother is waving at us.”

In the distance, Countess Sarkis was watching the two of them with an extremely pleased expression.

Damia waved back in response.

‘She seems to really like me. Since she doesn’t know that the Young Duke and I have a contractual relationship.’

Unwarranted guilt pricked at Damia’s heart.

While Damia bit her lips and was lost in thought, the Young Duke cleared his throat.

“I’ll give you the contract a bit later. Something new came up that I need to verify.”

“Ah, yes. Please take your time.”

Damia trailed her fingertips through the lake’s ripples.

Since the Young Duke would handle things well on his own, she wasn’t particularly curious about what else needed verification.

“Since we’re on the topic, let me ask you one more thing.”

“Yes, anything.”

“After I die, what are your next plans? You’ll have gathered enough funds as payment for the contract.”

Was this kind of information also necessary for writing the contract?

Or did he still find something suspicious about her?

Damia turned her gaze from the lake to look directly at the Young Duke.

Rather than offering a clumsy lie, it seemed better to answer honestly.

“You know that the Ponti Viscount Family originally did herbal medicine business, right? I heard they were quite successful at one point.”

“I know. Why suddenly?”

“This is the first time I’m confiding in you, Young Duke, but I want to study herbalism. I might have talent for it, you know.”

“Well, even that remedy you gave me had amazing effects.”

“And I want to earn money directly with that. The money you give me would be a sufficient foundation.”

Perhaps it was an unexpected answer, as the corners of Cassian’s mouth lifted slightly.

Life also returned momentarily to his eyes that had been unfocused, as if his mind was elsewhere.

“I vaguely thought you’d use that money as a dowry.”

“I’m not particularly interested in marriage…”

Damia, who was about to answer that she wasn’t interested, belatedly bit her lip.

For a thirteen-year-old noble lady of the Empire, this was far too unconventional an answer.

A more plausible explanation was needed.

“I’m not really thinking about marriage. Because….”

I’ve already had enough of married life in my previous life. It was quite terrible too.

“I don’t think I could ever like anyone else as much as I like you, Young Duke.”

Damia gently recited a justification completely different from her true feelings.

The Young Duke, seemingly accustomed to her confessions, merely let out a hollow laugh.

* * *

In truth, Cassian had been restless all day. He wanted to verify some absurd hypothesis.

The day he first coughed up blood in front of Damia.

That moment when his bare skin touched Damia’s as she tried to give him medicine.

His heart, which had been stopping due to the curse, clearly beat.

‘It was too intense to be just the effect of the remedy.’

So today, he had been looking for opportunities whenever he could.

After much deliberation, he had even removed the gloves he always wore.

‘It’s okay, Young Duke! Don’t push yourself.’

But Damia stubbornly refused any contact with him. Even when boarding this boat.

She seemed to firmly believe the rumors about his germaphobia and was being considerate by taking the initiative.

“I got a letter from a friend who recently moved to the Kingdom of Rhodion.”

“Mm.”

Cassian answered halfheartedly and rowed the oar.

His mind was complicated, so Damia’s words weren’t registering well.

“Well, she knows about my engagement news. It seems Mother contacted the Rodion Trading Guild about my engagement gift.”

Just because he touched someone with bare skin, there was no way his heart, which hadn’t budged despite every method, would beat.

‘But what if Damia is a special existence? That mysterious remedy was effective too.’

Then, Damia lifted the cloth covering the picnic basket.

Since the conversation wasn’t flowing properly, she seemed to want to share some snacks.

“Young Duke, would you like something to eat? There are lots of delicious things….”

The girl who had been looking into the basket couldn’t continue speaking for a while. Cassian, puzzled, looked up.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

Damia, pale as a sheet, seemed to have forgotten even how to breathe.

Could she be terrified?

And….

“Kyaah!”

With a single scream, Damia jumped up and threw the basket.

“Why? What’s happening!”

“A sn-snake…!”

“Snake? What do you mean suddenly….”

Before Cassian could finish speaking, the small boat began to tilt.

“Damia, sit down first. Sit down!”

“S-sorry. I think I got bitten slightly, but I was so startled… Ah!”

The girl stopped struggling, but eventually lost her balance and swayed greatly.

The boat rocked and water splashed in all directions.

“Damia!”

The moment his fiancée nearly fell into the water, Cassian instinctively reached out with both hands.

And quickly grabbed Damia’s wrist and pulled her with force.

“Th-thank you.”

Thanks to his swift movement, Damia was safe. It was the moment Cassian was about to let out a sigh of relief.

‘Wait.’

Thump.

At the unusual feeling, Cassian looked down at his chest.

His brow furrowed deeply in disbelief.

“Um, Young Duke…?”

Damia tried to pull her caught hand free, but Cassian didn’t let the girl go.

No, he tried to let go with his mind, but his hand wouldn’t obey.

‘It wasn’t a mistake.’

Cassian stared intently at his bare hand touching Damia.

Thump, thump, thump….

A beat so unfamiliar after such a long time was clearly felt in his left chest.

Just like that moment a few days ago when his bare skin touched Damia as she tried to give him medicine.

“Y-Young Duke?”

All sounds around him seemed to disappear at once.

It wasn’t an absurd delusion, nor was it the medicine’s effect appearing particularly intense.

His heart, which had been stopping due to the curse, responded to contact with Damia.

Cassian gritted his teeth to keep from laughing out loud.

“Found it.”

Another way to make his dying heart beat.

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