I Proposed Because You Were Terminally Ill - Chapter 17

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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 17

Damia greeted him with a rather sullen expression. It was an uncharacteristic reaction for a girl who claimed to be madly in love with him.

‘She must be embarrassed? Maybe she doesn’t want to show how thrilled she is.’

His already solidified preconceptions clouded Cassian’s vision.

“What brings you here, Young Duke?”

The girl seemed to have hastily changed her clothes. Her silver hair was more disheveled than usual, and she was breathing heavily.

“What were you doing?”

“I was just reading a book. It was getting to a really exciting part when they told me you had arrived, so I came out.”

“Are you trying to give me attitude right now?”

“Oh, of course not.”

Damia seemed reluctant to talk about what she had been doing at the rear of the manor.

It was a pointless act. He had already seen everything.

Cassian gentlemanly chose not to point out the dirt on Damia’s knuckles.

Instead, he recalled the scene from earlier in his mind.

* * *

He hadn’t intended to spy on her.

While on his way to the Viscount’s Manor to meet Damia, the weather was so nice that he had simply stopped the carriage.

Despite the coachman and escort knight’s attempts to dissuade him, Cassian walked aimlessly toward the manor.

‘How far should I trust Damia?’

Summer was nearing its end. A cool breeze brushed against his cheek.

‘I wonder if her injury is alright.’

The reason he started walking was truly because the weather was nice.

It absolutely wasn’t because his mind was complicated over his fiancée.

“Oh, this is…”

After dismissing everyone and walking for quite a while, he had arrived at the Viscount’s Manor. He must have taken the wrong path, as he was at the back gate instead of the main entrance.

In the distance, he could see Damia’s figure.

“Miss!”

Damia was with Romi. She wore simple clothes without any decorations. They looked hardly different from Romi’s maid outfit.

‘I should have new dresses made for her.’

Belatedly, he noticed the trowel in Damia’s hand. It wasn’t that she lacked clothes, but rather she had chosen comfortable attire for moving around.

‘Should I prepare plenty of dresses that she can afford to get dirty while working?’

That seemed like it would be better.

“…No. Come do this with me…”

“…Miss, you too…”

He wanted to make his presence known, but he couldn’t explain why he had come via the back path used by servants.

Fortunately, the distance was quite far, so he couldn’t hear their conversation clearly.

Eavesdropping on a conversation with a maid was undignified. Even if Damia did have suspicious aspects.

‘Is she tending to the garden herself?’

In truth, it was more like modest flower beds and a vegetable patch than what could be called a garden. But he could feel that Damia had put considerable effort into cultivating it.

She had said she wanted to study herbology, and it seemed she was more serious about it than he’d thought.

“Miss! Let me do that!”

Damia touched the soil without hesitation, and her touch was quite skillful.

Her silver hair sparkled in the sunlight, and her purple eyes caught attention even from a distance.

There wasn’t anything particularly suspicious. Except that she was excessively spirited and diligent.

‘So she wrinkles her nose when she concentrates.’

Just then, his face reflected in a puddle. Cassian was startled to discover that he had been smiling.

This made it seem like he secretly found that girl endearing!

‘Get it together.’

He had simply learned one of Damia’s habits. There was no reason to feel pleased about it.

While it was true that the girl was irreplaceable for his curse, he mustn’t let his guard down.

‘Was she well-versed in herbology?’

Like the etiquette-conscious Young Duke he was, he always insisted on using the main entrance when visiting the Viscount’s Manor.

So this was the first time he learned that Damia was growing plants at the rear of the manor.

Cassian observed Damia’s garden with careful eyes.

Could that remedy also be made from herbs she cultivated herself?

The medicine was purple. Since it wasn’t a very common color, he might be able to narrow down the candidates quickly.

Violets, lavender, sage, irises…

But Damia’s garden had an unusually large number of purple plants. Moreover, even to Cassian’s eyes, who knew little about gardening, they all seemed to be common varieties.

‘Right, just because the medicine is purple doesn’t mean its ingredients have to be the same color.’

While watching from a distance, Damia smiled brightly and grabbed the maid’s hand.

The two seemed to have grown close quickly.

Though it couldn’t be true, Damia appeared more intimate with Romi than with Cassian.

Just as he was about to look away, feeling inexplicably irritated.

“Young Duke! Were you here?”

Even though he had told them not to follow, the knight had managed to find him.

“Let’s return to the carriage.”

Cassian swallowed his inexplicable regret and immediately turned around.

His heart was still slowing down moment by moment. He didn’t have the luxury of standing around in a daze.

In that time, he needed to find even one more clue. About what connection existed between his curse and that girl.

Whether by getting close to Damia and making her open up, or by finding irrefutable evidence. Either way would do.

To do that, he needed to know his opponent well, winning her favor would be advantageous, and above all, he had to protect her safety.

That really was all there was to it.

* * *

Cassian had been visiting her every day lately. He clearly had something to say, but he absolutely insisted that wasn’t the case.

‘If you have business, just say it properly!’

Since it seemed like the same thing would repeat today, she had planned to give him some tea and send him away quickly.

That’s why she made the excuse about going out. She had even deliberately hired a shabby rental carriage, but…

“What are you so dissatisfied about?”

Why had Cassian bothered to follow along?

Damia stared intently at Cassian sitting across from her.

Since Romi had quickly escaped to the seat next to the coachman, only the two of them were in the carriage.

“Haven’t you been dropping by every single day lately?”

“You get to see my face often, shouldn’t you be a bit happier about it?”

“Of course I’m happy.”

“But you look annoyed.”

Damia flinched. The Young Duke’s perceptiveness must be detachable.

“How could that be? Of course I’m pleased. I just worry that you might be busy.”

“I told you to accompany me when you go out. It could be dangerous.”

“What? You seriously meant that ridiculous… Ah!”

The carriage shook violently. As Damia was about to tumble forward, Cassian quickly caught her.

“Be careful. That’s why I said to take my carriage.”

“So we could widely announce that Young Duke Sarkis is making a procession to the town?”

“…”

“I just wanted to quietly look around the town. I have things to buy too.”

Cassian pressed his lips tightly together. He seemed to have some awareness that he was interfering with Damia’s outing.

“You rejected my offer to provide you with guards.”

“I told you there’s nothing that would require guards. Today was just my first time out in a while.”

Cassian frowned as if displeased.

“It’s dangerous for a kid like you to wander around alone.”

“If I’m a kid, then aren’t you the same, Young Duke?”

“I’m different. How exactly do I look like a kid to you?”

His bristling reaction to being called a kid was proof enough, but Damia didn’t bother pointing out that fact.

It wasn’t so much out of consideration for Cassian as it was because she found it bothersome.

Contrary to his reputation for being mature, Cassian was surprisingly childish and stubborn.

“You look like you have something to say.”

“No, I don’t.”

“It’s written all over your face. Be honest.”

“Sigh, don’t you have any intention of respecting a lady’s privacy?”

“A lady? Who are you suddenly talking about?”

“I’m talking about myself. Why do you keep following me around these days?”

Cassian flinched, but soon put on a resolute expression.

“We’re engaged. I have a duty to be responsible for your safety.”

“That’s a lie. That’s not all there is to it.”

“Fine, good that you understand. No, wait. What did you just say?”

“Do you have some reason to monitor me?”

“Monitor? What are you talking about?”

Cassian’s red eyes shook violently. Damia didn’t miss that opening.

“What are you hiding from me?”

She already knew that Cassian’s attitude had subtly changed. It probably started from the day of the boat outing.

At first, she thought he was simply being overprotective because she had almost gotten hurt. She almost applauded his terminally ill chivalrous spirit.

‘But it was too suspicious for that to be all.’

Damia was quick to pick up on things. Count Fabron from her previous life had made her that way.

The Young Duke was hiding something from her. Even while struggling because of it, he seemed to have no intention of sharing secrets with Damia.

‘I can’t keep pretending not to know.’

Damia hoped her contract with Cassian would continue for a long time.

Any factors that could shake their trust needed to be addressed beforehand.

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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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