Surviving as a Terminally Ill Heiress - Chapter 38

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 38

“Oh, w-welcome, Lady Ambrose.”
Matilda was a small, timid girl.
She struggled to meet my eyes, constantly trying to hide her face behind her adorable bob cut.
“Hello, Miss Hastings. Thank you for inviting me. This is a small token of my appreciation.”
“Oh… th-thank you.”
As I handed over the small gift box, Matilda received it with obvious uncertainty.
She was endearing.
Her careful movements, her sparkling eyes, the slight stammer in her voice—all of it was utterly endearing.
That is, until someone else appeared.
“Matilda Hastings. Quite noisy, I see.”
“Oh, f-father!”
A middle-aged man in travel clothes. So this was the Marquess Hastings.
Matilda hurried to introduce me to him.
“F-father, this is a v-very precious guest…”
“Be quiet and play. Don’t disturb your brother.”
“…Yes, sir.”
The Marquess Hastings simply swept past us.
I glanced sideways at Matilda.
She seemed far less endearing now.
A child should be most precious in front of her parents, after all.
Soon Matilda pointed up the staircase with a shrunken finger.
“W-would you… like to see my room?”
I nodded.
It seemed we had originally planned to visit the garden.
But at a single quiet word, I simply followed the girl to her room instead.
“H-here is my room. I’m s-sorry it must seem so… modest to you…”
Ha, surely not.
I missed the timing to say so.
Because her room truly was modest.
Yet in the center of it all, something incongruous.
“That bed…?”
“I… I wanted it so badly, and m-mother bought it for me.”
A single lavish bed sat alone in the sparse, dilapidated space.
A carriage-shaped bed.
The kind that would collapse any day now.
I asked stupidly.
“You sleep… in that…?”
“W-where else would I sleep…?”
Her expression suggested that sleeping anywhere else was unthinkable.
Right, of course. I know. I do know.
I seized Matilda’s hand.
Grasping her wide eyes with mine, I whispered seriously.
“Miss Hastings, did you know? People sleep much better on the floor—it’s excellent for your health.”
“Y-yes…?”
“Good for the back, good for the spirit, and above all, you’ll live long, very long indeed…”
I continued spouting nonsense, but the atmosphere grew increasingly strange.
Somehow, Matilda and I ended up sitting at a table, and I finally regained my composure.
That’s enough. Don’t overdo it. Surely Matilda isn’t the victim of that accident. Right, statistically…
‘But this is so unsettling!’
What if there’s a structural flaw in that bed itself?
I wasn’t sure whether the tea Matilda gave me was entering my mouth or my nose.
As I held the cup, I kept glancing nervously at the carriage ceiling.
No matter how I looked at it, the thing seemed far too heavy for small Matilda to be crushed beneath.
“I’m… I’m so sorry.”
Hm?
That’s when Matilda suddenly apologized.
I looked up in confusion, and Matilda dropped her head.
“I… I couldn’t introduce you properly to father earlier…”
I waved my hand dismissively.
“It’s fine. He seemed quite busy.”
“Y-yes… lately he’s b-been dealing with some difficult b-business, and I’m t-too foolish to understand… much…”
Matilda’s voice grew progressively softer, trailing off like disappearing foam.
The cool face of the Marquess Hastings, glimpsed moments before, surfaced in my memory.
A child who loses all confidence in front of her parents.
I got the sense of it, but presuming about another family’s affairs like this would be rude.
I swallowed a sigh and set down my teacup.
“Miss Hastings.”
“Y-yes…?”
“I don’t make friends with foolish people.”
At my cold words, Matilda’s delicate shoulders stiffened.
Her large round eyes grew wet with gathering tears.
“I… I’m s-sorry…”
“So don’t call my friend foolish.”
“…”
“Do it again, and I won’t forgive you—not even for being my only friend.”
Matilda looked at me steadily.
Then her eyes spilled over with tears.
Oh no. I retrieved the gift box from Matilda’s lap and opened it instead, speaking breezily.
“Want to see my good taste? I knew you’d need this.”
Inside was a handkerchief embroidered with Matilda’s name.
Matilda finally burst out laughing.
“Y-you really are quite clever, Lady… you’re t-truly remarkable…”
“That’s how real friends work—you understand each other naturally.”
After holding back for a moment, Matilda’s laugh came bubbling out, bright and clear.
That’s when it happened.
“Hey, why is it so loud in here…?”
The door burst open without a knock.
Who has such poor manners?
I turned my head to find a boy who looked rather like Matilda standing in the doorway.
Matilda, clutching the handkerchief, raised her voice.
“B-brother! There’s a l-lady visiting!”
“A lady? Don’t tell me you mean that Ambrose?”
The boy’s eyes widened before a slow smile spread across his face.
“Forgive my intrusion.”
I didn’t much like the look of him. Siblings can be so different.
As I stared at him, he took a step closer.
“I am Marco Hastings.”
Where was this gentlemanly air when he was throwing open the door?
Still, I couldn’t treat my friend’s brother rudely.
I accepted his greeting while keeping my displeasure hidden.
“I’m Ambrose. Lavigne Ambrose.”
“L-Lavigne…?”
“Lavigne.”
Not that I was being particularly kind.
Marco stammered a few times before disappearing.
When our eyes naturally met again, Matilda hastily began speaking.
“S-so that’s… L-La…”
“You can call me Bebe.”
Matilda’s smile was radiant.

* * *

In the deep of night when everyone slept, my eyes were wide open once again.
“…This is driving me mad. I can’t sleep from all this worry.”
My insomnia had begun the moment I returned from meeting Matilda.
Had I not known, I wouldn’t have thought of it—but I’d seen that bed in Matilda’s room.
‘My small, dear first friend could be crushed beneath it!’
I’d spent every day pulling at my hair. And I hadn’t been idle about it either.
I’d even written to Matilda, subtly suggesting she change the bed, and once I’d invited her to stay with us at our estate.
I’d even openly told her the bed looked like it might collapse and frightened me.
‘G-goodness, Lady Ambrose would say such a t-thing… how unexpectedly charming you are!’
But all my attempts had failed.
There were limits to how much I could control the daughter of a marquess.
In the end, I’d even considered something drastic.
‘What if I just broke it first?’
Destroy it ahead of time and replace it with a safe new bed.
It was the most plausible idea.
But before attempting to go to the Marquess Hastings’s estate and do it, I politely asked Matilda if she treasured the bed.
‘M-more than life itself. M-mother sold her jewelry to buy it for me…’
I gave up.
Without any guarantee that Matilda would be the victim, I couldn’t destroy something she valued more than life itself simply because I was anxious.
For now, I tried to recall the newspaper article.
Which family’s child was it? When and where did the accident happen?
But no matter how hard I thought, I couldn’t remember.
All I could vaguely recall was that it had been an extremely hot day when I read that newspaper.
Since it was now early summer, it really would be any day now…
‘But what if it’s not Matilda?’
Then I should be relieved.
It didn’t matter if some other child got hurt from being crushed.
“Please.”
The thought that escaped me tormented me.
I shouldn’t think like this, not when I’m barely just.
I rolled across the bed, yanking roughly at my pale purple hair.
Who do I think I am?
I just need to take care of my one friend.
Even if the victim turns out to be some other precious child from another family…
“Argh!”
I bolted upright.
When my mind grew crowded, a walk was best.
As I rose, Shasha stretched and trotted along after me.
The cat and I wandered through the garden beneath the crescent moon for a while, then I sank down onto the grass to clear my troubled mind.
Then a quiet, bitter laugh escaped me.
Suddenly my situation struck me as absurd.
Here I was, sitting in a garden bursting with blossoms in the dead of night, wrestling with despair.
“Seems I’ll survive, at least.”

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