I Proposed Because You Were Terminally Ill - Chapter 80

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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 80

“It seems you really haven’t figured out my identity. Seeing how you contacted me separately like this.”

“Perhaps, you have something you want to acquire from Rodion and wanted to ask a favor…?”

Romi offered a clumsy but hopeful speculation.

“That can’t be it. You’re the heir to the Sarkis Ducal Family, so you’d have plenty of people other than some woman you just met at a salon to handle such matters.”

Damia let out a deep sigh and tore open the envelope.

As Damia’s expression hardened while reading the card, Romi bit her lip restlessly.

“Or maybe he wants to get more of that lavender oil? He must have had many things lately that would make his nerves sharp.”

“I don’t think so. He says he has something to discuss privately and wants to meet alone.”

Romi’s eyes widened as she covered her mouth with her hands. She looked shocked.

Though she didn’t show it outwardly, Damia felt similarly.

‘Could he really have fallen for me, or rather… for the woman I was acting as?’

Or maybe he was the type who naturally gave such openings whenever he met a new woman. She couldn’t tell at all.

“So black hair was his preference after all?”

“…Pardon?”

The Emperor had summoned him to the capital for a private audience, yet without a word to his fiancée, he was asking an unidentified woman on a date.

He didn’t even know that woman’s name.

“Maybe his ideal type is a mature woman he can lean on.”

Damia calmly concluded, unaware that Romi’s face was gradually becoming tearful.

* * *

The meeting place was a large botanical garden near Vesper Street.

It was an unfamiliar place Damia had never visited with Cassian, or rather, had never set foot in throughout both her lives.

‘Do they open at night too?’

Cassian had suggested meeting after the sun had completely set.

It was hardly an appropriate time to visit a botanical garden.

“I’ll wait nearby.”

The mercenary Luke had introduced drove the carriage and disappeared into the darkness.

In the distance, a massive glass dome bathed in moonlight was visible.

“Let’s go in.”

Damia startled at the sudden presence. Cassian had somehow approached right beside her.

“How long have you been here? You arrived early.”

The side effects of the medicine treating her vocal cord nodules were evident today as well.

Damia’s voice flowed out much deeper and huskier than usual.

Cassian gazed down at her silently without answering. He scrutinized her persistently from her hair to her toes.

Though his gaze lingered quite long, Damia wasn’t particularly flustered.

Thanks to Romi’s skill, there was no sign that Damia’s black hair was fake.

The dress Romi had carefully selected was also a style Damia would never normally wear, but it suited the ‘noblewoman from Rodion’ perfectly.

“You’re wearing a mask again today.”

There was a strange dissatisfaction in Cassian’s voice.

“Do you have some peculiar preference?”

“Of course not. It would be troublesome if my wandering around like this became known in Rodion, given my position. Please understand this much.”

Honestly, wearing a mask all the way here was rather forced, no matter what excuse she gave.

Cassian, who had been silent, slowly opened his mouth.

“Then I should match you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said it was dangerous and you’d send a separate carriage, so why did you refuse my offer?”

He didn’t press further about Damia’s mask and naturally changed the subject.

He seemed to have swallowed what he wanted to ask, but it was fortunate nonetheless.

“I have sufficient means to hire my own escort. My guard is quite skilled too.”

“Still…”

Cassian, who had been moving his lips, finally let out a sigh.

Taking advantage of his hesitation, Damia stole glances at Cassian from behind her mask.

He wore his usual military uniform, but his hair was neatly swept back.

‘Why did he put so much effort into his appearance?’

With his straight forehead revealed, his sculptural features became even more distinct.

His skin, pale as if from the dragon’s curse, gave off a strangely decadent atmosphere under the moonlight.

“By the way, a botanical garden? Does the Empire operate at night too?”

Damia tried to speak casually.

“I specially requested them to open it.”

“What? What does that mean?”

“…”

“Don’t tell me… you didn’t rent the entire place, did you? Please tell me you didn’t.”

“I did.”

At that calm voice, Damia barely managed to close her mouth that was about to fall open.

‘Get it together. I’m a young lady from Rodion who’s been enjoying such favors as naturally as breathing.’

No matter how much she tried to compose herself, Cassian putting in this much effort and care was unexpected.

An uneasy feeling crept in that perhaps the Young Count had really fallen for her.

That is, not for Damia, but for a fictional character who didn’t even exist in the world.

* * *

“How did you know I like plants?”

Cassian naturally led her toward the glass greenhouse.

The massive dome that had looked magnificent from afar became overwhelmingly grand and splendid as they approached.

“It’s not common for someone to specifically seek out the damp wetland garden at the Midnight Greenhouse.”

“Ah.”

How unnecessarily observant. Damia bit her lip firmly.

“The rumor spread everywhere, didn’t it? That the Young Count seemed to have fallen for me at first sight.”

A petty mischief welled up in her.

Damia deliberately chose a topic that would embarrass him.

“Well, that could be true.”

“What?”

Cassian’s answer was unexpectedly close to affirmative.

While Damia tilted her head in confusion, he silently opened the greenhouse door.

“What exactly did you want to discuss privately that you rented this entire place?”

“Who knows.”

“Are you really going to confess or something?”

Please say no.

She was so flustered she was breaking into a cold sweat.

However, the moment she stepped into the glass greenhouse.

“Wow…”

Damia forgot even the fact that Cassian had avoided answering.

As she crossed the threshold, light poured out first.

The transparent glass ceiling seemed to have swallowed the night sky whole.

The Milky Way felt close enough to touch if she reached out, and the platinum-crafted walls sparkled like stars.

The walkway was covered with softly glowing sand, and crystal birch trees that only grew in the Northern Snow Mountains lined both sides.

Whenever the ice crystal-like transparent leaves swayed in the wind, clear bell sounds spread throughout the surroundings.

“My goodness… there are all kinds of rare plants here. They’re all ones you can easily find in the West…”

“…In the West?”

“Actually, no, they’re ones that would be unlikely to find there, and they certainly don’t grow in the Kingdom of Rodion.”

Damia hastily suppressed her excitement. She had almost made a slip of the tongue.

“Thank you, Young Count. I’m truly moved that you would go to such lengths for someone whose face and name you don’t even know.”

“Haha.”

It was a strangely sharp and self-deprecating laugh.

“Are you planning to keep wearing that mask?”

“Yes. Why? Are you so curious about my face that you can’t stand it?”

With Cassian acting like this, she couldn’t reveal her identity even more.

‘He might throw a fit and cancel the contract immediately out of pride.’

Damia swallowed dryly.

“You’re the one who fell for me, Young Count. Even if you’re curious, please be patient.”

Despite her blatant provocation, Cassian only gazed at Damia silently.

“Haven’t you had any trouble with rumors spreading?”

“Not particularly.”

“And your fiancée hasn’t said anything about feeling hurt?”

She probed cautiously just in case, but when their eyes met directly with those red pupils, her heart felt like it was being squeezed.

“My fiancée is still too young to hear such rumors.”

“What? Isn’t there only a two-year age difference? The rumors were quite loud – there’s no way she couldn’t have heard them.”

After all, Elena, Arsene, and even Romi had all heard those rumors.

“Even if she did hear them, she doesn’t seem to care much about it. She doesn’t seem angry either.”

Cassian frowned slightly.

It might sound absurd, but he seemed oddly dissatisfied with the fact that Damia wasn’t getting angry.

“Maybe because she heard I might be leaving for the capital, she packed up all sorts of things and sent them over.”

Damia had sent much more dragon herb medicine than usual, even though Cassian hadn’t specifically requested it.

“Your fiancée is really thoughtful.”

“Do you really think so?”

Cassian chuckled and tilted his head slightly.

‘Does he not think so himself?’

Damia bit her lip at the strange tension.

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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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