I Proposed Because You Were Terminally Ill - Chapter 59

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

Chapter 59

“Let’s hurry to the Duke’s mansion. It’s much closer there.”

Damia didn’t miss the opportunity and grabbed his sleeve.

“Quickly.”

Cassian sighed, but obediently allowed himself to be pulled along by Damia’s touch.

“Head to the Duke’s mansion.”

Cassian instructed Alec and pushed Damia into the carriage.

But his composure lasted only until then.

It was the moment the carriage door closed with a dull sound.

“…Ugh!”

Cassian’s body, who had been trying to sit on the opposite seat, collapsed.

“Young Duke?”

Cassian roughly clutched his chest area and hunched his upper body.

Cold sweat poured down like rain over his face that had instantly lost all color.

It seemed as if some terrible pain was tearing through his entire body.

“Are you alright? It’s because of that handkerchief, isn’t it!”

Damia hurriedly approached him. It was when she reached out her hand to support Cassian.

“Don’t!”

Cassian roughly pushed her away.

The sound of friction echoed through the narrow carriage.

“…Ah.”

Damia clutched her stinging hand.

Cassian’s red eyes were flashing fiercely like a beast.

Such intense rejection was a first.

‘Why is he suddenly acting like this?’

He seemed to find Damia’s touch repulsive, and at the same time, he seemed afraid of it too.

“Um, well… I’m sorry.”

She offered an apology first, trying not to provoke him.

As if that voice was a signal flare, focus gradually returned to the empty red eyes.

“…Damia?”

Cassian’s gaze, who had been breathing heavily, fixed on Damia’s reddened hand.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Well…”

“Wait, don’t tell me I… hit you?”

His eyes, alternating between looking at himself and Damia’s hand, shook as if an earthquake had struck.

“It’s nothing. You seemed startled.”

“I really… laid a hand on you?”

Damia’s defense didn’t seem to reach his ears.

Cassian’s face crumpled even more miserably than before.

“I told you I’m fine.”

No matter how much she tried to comfort him, she couldn’t pull Cassian out of his shock.

He bit his lips so hard that blood formed, as if he couldn’t believe it.

‘A sick person can’t always be in their right mind.’

Honestly, she was surprised, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t understand Cassian at all.

Just enduring that tremendous curse until now was remarkable.

The curse was eating away not only at his body but also his mind.

Then, Cassian suddenly raised his head.

“Did you… hear it?”

“What? Hear what?”

“…That voice.”

A voice?

Damia reflexively looked around.

Outside the window, it was already getting dark.

True to the deep forest, it was as quiet as death except for the sound of hoofbeats and wheels.

The knights were also maintaining their guard stance while suppressing their presence.

It wasn’t a situation where strange voices could be heard.

“I didn’t hear any sound.”

Heavy silence flowed through the carriage.

Cassian’s eyes, staring into space, were shaking uneasily.

“That… didn’t you hear something like a man’s voice? It had a commanding tone.”

“Um… I didn’t hear it.”

Did he hear hallucinations?

Would it be better to pretend she heard something too?

“…I see.”

“Yes?”

“I must have really lost my mind for a moment. Don’t worry about it.”

He seemed to accept this situation. No, he seemed to be trying to accept it by force.

Damia was about to offer some comfort that he’d feel better after resting.

But at that moment, Cassian’s hand came into Damia’s view.

‘Huh?’

He was clenching and unclenching his pale fist.

It was a habit Cassian unconsciously repeated when he was lying.

* * *

“The Viscount is waiting inside.”

Count Fabron repeatedly wiped the sweat on his forehead with a handkerchief.

He had hurried over upon hearing that Viscount Soro was urgently looking for him.

“His Highness the First Prince came to Miss Soro’s coming-of-age ceremony?”

If he had known in advance, he would have attended the young lady’s coming-of-age ceremony too.

Even if he was busy with the gold mine business he’d been working on lately.

“The Viscount is waiting inside.”

The Viscount’s butler repeated the same words without answering his question.

‘Not even answering properly… how rude.’

He had abandoned his business and come because it was supposedly urgent.

Having shown this much sincerity, shouldn’t the Viscount have come out to greet him personally?

“The weather is quite hot.”

Fabron fanned himself while reproaching the butler for not offering a guest even a glass of water.

If this were his own mansion, he would have slapped that fellow long ago.

“Please hurry, Count.”

Instead of bringing refreshments or apologizing, the butler urged Count Fabron in a mechanical tone.

“The Viscount’s family has terrible hospitality for guests.”

Even when he gritted his teeth right in front of him, the butler showed no sign of shrinking back.

Fabron, who was about to curse at the insolent attitude, hesitated.

‘Wait, could it be…’

The butler’s eyes, which he glimpsed, were completely empty.

His movements also creaked like an unoiled ball-jointed doll.

‘Why is he guiding me to the study in the annex?’

The butler gave Fabron no explanation and began pulling out books one by one from the shelves packed with volumes.

“What exactly are you doing right now?”

Finally, as the last book was removed, the heavy bookshelf made a grinding sound as it slid to the side.

‘A secret passage?’

Looking down, he saw pitch-black darkness of immeasurable depth gaping like a maw.

If the butler were to push his back, he would fall straight down and break his neck.

“Please go down below.”

Fabron’s round shoulders flinched. He stiffly turned his head to glare at the butler.

“Am I going alone?”

“Please go down below.”

The butler repeated the exact same words without changing a single syllable, his eyes vacant.

Fabron bit his lips. It seemed impossible to have a proper conversation.

“….”

Fabron slowly rolled his jet-black pupils.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could faintly see stairs leading underground.

“Please hurry, Count.”

Fabron stepped forward, unable to shake off his uneasy feeling.

The moment he crossed the threshold of the entrance.

Zing-!

A pressure that seemed to twist space crashed down on him.

“Ugh!”

Fabron involuntarily let out a groan. His entire body felt hot as if he had swallowed a ball of fire.

Prominent blue veins on the back of his hands began to writhe disgustingly.

“What is this…!”

The butler slowly pointed upward with his finger.

Only then did he notice the strange pattern carved above the entrance. It seemed to be some kind of barrier.

“Ugh…”

Before he knew it, the pattern had turned an ominously bright red.

As that red light swept over Fabron’s body, the pain subsided like a lie.

“Only those with at least some dragon blood flowing through them may enter.”

The butler’s dry voice was extremely dry.

“…What? I nearly died just now, what the hell kind of stunt is this!”

“Your bloodline has been confirmed. Please go down below.”

The butler bowed his head stiffly as if nothing had happened.

Fabron’s face flushed red and blue with anger.

“How quick to inform me. Was not telling me beforehand the Viscount’s instruction?”

Fabron let out a hollow laugh. Cold sweat trickled down his temples.

“Did you think I might have lied about my heritage?”

“Please go down below.”

Instead of answering, the butler only repeated his programmed-like guidance.

“Ha, damn it.”

Fabron twisted the corner of his mouth.

After all these years of groveling like a dog under the Viscount, to test him with his life on the line.

The dragonkin, led by Viscount Soro, treated the House of Fabron as shameful mongrels.

Since only one of his very distant ancestors had been dragonkin, even Count Fabron himself felt embarrassed to claim he carried dragon blood.

But even if it was just a tiny bit, mixed blood was still mixed blood.

‘They couldn’t trust that all this time and had to confirm it in this way?’

Fabron’s fat fists trembled with rage.

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