I Proposed Because You Were Terminally Ill - Chapter 3

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

Chapter 3

“This is quite a novel approach.”

When Cassian’s straight brow furrowed, Damia unconsciously gulped.

Even though he was still a young duke, his presence was formidable.

“The daughter of Viscount Ponti, was it? I suppose speaking with me must have been your lifelong dream? Judging by the insane things you’re saying.”

“What? There’s no way I would have such a dream…”

“Then?”

An unbecoming roguish sneer appeared on his handsome face, unbefitting of a young duke.

“Oh, no, you’re right. It was my greatest wish in life. To make eye contact with you even once, Your Grace.”

Damia, who had been about to grimace while narrowing the space between her eyebrows, quickly agreed as if she had belatedly realized something.

“Well, it’s a common thing. I understand the young lady’s feelings. How much you must have wanted to catch my attention…”

Though Damia’s sudden change must have been quite awkward, Cassian didn’t seem to doubt the girl’s words at all.

“Hmm…”

The young duke’s excessive confidence was a bit off-putting, but she couldn’t really deny it either.

After all, he had such a magnificent face that she found herself admiring it unconsciously even in moments like this.

“Your courage is commendable enough that I’ll at least listen, so continue.”

If she failed to capture Cassian Sarkis’s interest here, there would never be another chance.

Damia’s violet eyes shone with determination.

“I told you, didn’t I? I know that you’re terminally ill and will never live past adulthood.”

“I’m terminally ill?”

“I also know that from the moment you were born, your heart has been growing colder day by day.”

Cassian’s cheek, which had been trying to appear nonchalant, stiffened coldly.

“You… where did you hear such ridiculous rumors?”

“No, Your Grace. I didn’t hear it from anywhere. I saw it myself.”

The Damia of her previous life had lived longer than the boy before her.

And she already knew why Cassian had to die at such a young age.

The founder of the Sarkis ducal house had slain a mad dragon, and the dying dragon had cursed the ducal family.

The curse’s seal, which had barely been maintained, gradually weakened by the time it reached Cassian.

“Ever since I was little, things I saw in dreams would sometimes happen in reality. Only occasionally, though.”

Damia straightened her thin back.

Using dreams as an excuse seemed more plausible than mentioning her previous life.

“Ha, you saw it in a dream? Are you telling me to believe that now?”

“You’ll have to believe it. Because I have a way to temporarily stop the mad dragon’s curse that’s tormenting you.”

When she mentioned the mad dragon’s curse, Cassian briefly stopped breathing. Shock flickered in the boy’s red eyes.

‘Of course he’d be surprised. The ducal house is desperately hiding the fact that the curse’s seal is breaking.’

There had been one herb discovered just before Cassian’s death in her previous life.

By then it was already too late, so it hadn’t been very effective.

‘It was an herb that slowed the hardening of Cassian’s heart, so even if it wasn’t a perfect solution, it could have at least bought time.’

That purple herb only grew in the backyard garden of the Ponti Viscount’s old manor.

Still left neglected, mistaken for a weed.

‘In my previous life, its efficacy was only proven after that old Count Fabron had devoured our entire family.’

In the end, the only one who benefited from that herb in her previous life was Damia’s ex-husband.

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying, Your Grace.”

Cassian warned in a tightly controlled voice.

Though he seemed to be trying not to show it, a glimmer of hope crossed the boy’s eyes.

“In exchange for telling you that method, you want me to become the young lady’s fiancé?”

“Yes, but I promise I’ll never interfere even if you freely meet other young ladies during our engagement.”

“What? Why?”

“I can slow the curse’s progression, but I can’t solve it completely. So I won’t hope for your heart as well.”

“You can buy me time, but the rest is up to me.”

“Yes, exactly. Anyway, you won’t find a fiancée as useful as me.”

The boy’s deep eyes narrowed for a moment.

“Then what does the young lady gain from this deal?”

“You asked me earlier, didn’t you? Whether speaking with you once might be my lifelong dream. You’re right, that’s it.”

“Young Lady Ponti.”

“I love you that much, Your Grace. Enough to be happy just staying by your side briefly.”

It was a shameless confession that felt no excitement, embarrassment, or hesitation.

Cassian let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.

“Is that the attitude of someone making a confession? You expect me to believe that?”

“What? I’m incredibly nervous though…”

Damia widened her eyes in apparent surprise.

“I’m really sincere. Actually, I’m just a bit pressed for time right now.”

“What?”

“My father is trying to sell me off as an old count’s second wife.”

“What kind of disgusting talk is that? What parent in the world would… apparently they exist.”

Cassian, who had been about to vehemently deny it, belatedly trailed off.

A sudden silence fell between them.

“Oh, Your Grace.”

Damia found the suddenly awkward atmosphere very uncomfortable.

While her desperation was real, she didn’t want to appear pitiful.

So she quickly pulled out a small glass bottle from inside her clothes.

“There’s no need to apologize or anything. Here, try drinking this.”

“What is this?”

“Proof that everything I said is true.”

“What reason do I have to trust you and put this suspicious thing in my mouth?”

Cassian glared at the purple liquid sloshing inside the glass bottle.

“That’s your choice, Your Grace. Well, you don’t have any other options right now, so why don’t you just close your eyes and swallow it?”

“You…”

“I’m sure it will be effective.”

Damia pressed the glass bottle firmly into the boy’s gloved hand.

Perhaps from frequent training, it was a firm and large hand, unbefitting of a young duke.

“Then please send word to the Ponti Viscount’s house.”

Though she was pretending to be calm, Damia’s small heart was pounding frantically.

‘Even if I cling desperately, that proud young duke won’t do anything he doesn’t want to do.’

An attitude of having nothing to lose seemed better.

So that he would move personally, if only out of curiosity.

Damia hurried her departing steps.

* * *

“Oh, Young Lady Ponti. This is actually the first time I’m seeing you in person.”

Her father had finally brought the old Count Fabron into the house.

The old count had such a robust build that he more than filled the small drawing room.

“Ugh…”

Damia couldn’t help but let out a groan and pressed her temples firmly.

‘Cassian Sarkis didn’t come looking for me.’

Several days had already passed, but there had been no contact from Cassian.

Should she have forcibly poured the medicine down the young duke’s throat after all?

If only that were the case, she wouldn’t have had to endure the humiliation of encountering this old count again in this lifetime!

“I am Joel Fabron.”

Damia reluctantly took the count’s outstretched hand.

His plump hand was already damp with sweat.

“…Hello, Count.”

Damia knew how violently this hand, which pretended to shake hands in a gentlemanly manner, could turn.

Recalling the past when she lived not as a person but as a decoration, nausea surged up.

“I hear the young lady’s hobby is reading? How demure, I like that.”

“You flatter me, Count.”

At the count’s patronizing compliment, Damia’s father bowed repeatedly.

Her father seemed ready to grovel as much as necessary to establish connections with the wealthy count.

“Growing saplings need sunlight and nutrients…”

Count Fabron swept his gaze over Viscount Ponti’s old and cramped manor.

Eventually, his eyes settled on Damia’s thin shoulders and frayed sleeves.

“How about moving to my estate ahead of time?”

“…Count?”

“I promise to treat you with the utmost care. I’ll make you into a perfect lady with all the refinements a noblewoman needs.”

“…”

“It pains me to see a gem like you so gaunt, wearing nothing but rags. Come now, give me your answer.”

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