Surviving as a Terminally Ill Heiress - Chapter 53

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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 53

He couldn’t have been more than a year or two younger than me, and yet the maturity between us was staggering.
“Act your age, apprentice.”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them, and a crack formed across his smooth brow.
Had his pride been wounded by the word “apprentice”?
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
Ah, so that was it?
An utterly unpredictable madman, in any case.
Here he was, constantly calling some nobleman’s daughter a failure, while he himself—ah.
A childish impulse seized me in that moment.
“I call an apprentice an apprentice. If you don’t like it, tell me your name.”
He cupped his chin in one hand, his gaze oddly evasive, then answered flatly.
“…Kiel.”
“Kiel?”
I see. Not that I’d asked out of genuine curiosity, mind you.
“I’m Ravigne.”
……
“Ravigne, I said.”
Let’s see you try.
I hid a wicked smile.
In all my time, only Orca had ever pronounced my name correctly—aside from family.
Go on, give it a try. I gave you mine, so returning the favor would be common courtesy, wouldn’t you say?
Kiel looked me over with a smug expression, then laughed mockingly.
“Got it, failure.”
Here I was, debating courtesy with something barely human.
Well, that killed my enthusiasm. A yawn slipped out before I could help it.
After days of carriage travel, my exhausted body was crying out for sleep.
“…Right, that’s enough. I’m leaving.”
“Already?”
“What do you mean ‘already’? It’s late.”
I waved a dismissive hand back and forth.
I opened the balcony door and ushered Shasha inside first, then turned to step through myself.
Kiel remained perched on the railing, watching me with that blank stare.
I’d have to lock the door the moment I got inside.
I made that resolution and then stopped short—wait. How could I forget?
‘I nearly forgot that.’
I strode purposefully back toward him.
Then I reached out and shoved him hard.
He kept his eyes on me all the way until he fell.
It went more smoothly than I expected.
He dropped.
“…What kind of game is that?”
After a beat of silence, his voice drifted up from below.
Kiel hung upside down from the railing, his long legs hooked over the edge.
It had happened in an instant—I couldn’t believe he’d recovered.
It didn’t seem to be Magic, just extraordinary reflexes.
I dusted off my hands and spoke.
“It’s not a game. It’s revenge.”
“Revenge?”
“You strangled me last time.”
He flipped himself upright using only the strength in his legs.
He settled back onto the railing, head tilted in confusion.
His expression was one of genuine bafflement.
“But I saved your life. You should be thanking me.”
Is he insane? Yes. Definitely insane.
I turned to leave without another word.
I’d half-expected him to pull something else, but he let me go without fuss.
He even offered a parting gesture.
“See you again.”
“Don’t count on it.”
I really, truly didn’t want to see him again.
That face of his—it made me lose my grip on reality, drowning me in ridiculous behavior until suddenly I’d crash back to earth, dazed and hollow.
Even now…
I’d declared coldly that I wouldn’t look back, but when I did glance over my shoulder, the night sky stretched out silent and empty.

* * *

The next morning, I didn’t see the sorcerer before we left the hotel.
Whether he’d departed earlier or was sleeping in, I couldn’t say.
Before boarding the carriage, I glanced back at the balcony one last time, then turned away.
By that point, we’d covered roughly half the journey.
After that, we rode without stopping until we reached Peta Territory.
Just a single bridge across lay Ambrose Territory.
“Mmgh…”
I stretched my stiff body with a groan.
Peta Territory was a small, quiet place.
I’d heard it was full of textile shops that specialized in dyeing—and that matched what I saw.
We were heading toward one of the few restaurants in the area when
I caught a familiar smell.
‘This scent…’
A memory surfaced from my days working at a textile shop long ago.
The owner had been a miserly bastard, obsessed with cutting corners however he could.
For instance, he’d force unsold fabric by artificially re-dyeing it.
It was simple enough: coat it again with cheap chemicals.
Labor costs didn’t matter to him.
Kids like me, desperate for work, would handle it with our bare hands for pennies.
Just thinking about those days, my fingertips still ached.
Dyeing itself had been bearable—you just had to endure the stench.
‘But bleaching was different.’
That clear, viscous chemical.
It was so potent that working with it to strip the color from cloth felt like your skin would peel away.
That exact smell was wafting from the storefront ahead.
‘Knowing the pain makes it harder to ignore.’
I clicked my tongue silently to myself, my steps growing heavier.
‘…Hm?’
That face.
I know it. I’ve seen it before.
Not personally—only in my past life.
In the newspapers.
‘She was incredibly, incredibly famous…?’
Who was she, again?
An opera singer? An artist’s model? Perhaps one of those.
She looked haggard from hard labor, but strikingly beautiful nonetheless.
A delicate beauty with pure white hair tied together in a loose knot, she struggled to carry a water bucket that was nearly as large as her own frame.
A man nearby, watching her, hurried over.
They began bickering—something about helping or not helping.
‘How charming.’
I watched with amusement when
another man appeared and joined in the squabble.
A love triangle. If it weren’t my own business, it’d be entertaining.
Then yet another man showed up. A four-way tangle? Well, a rare beauty in this remote territory would naturally draw attention.
And through them all came another man.
And then another.
As an eight-sided romantic entanglement formed, Tru quietly raised a hand with a suggestion.
“Um… could we perhaps stay and watch how this all plays out?”
All of us, already rooted in place as spectators, nodded in agreement.

* * *

It was entertaining.
After witnessing this little romantic drama, we sat down at the restaurant with satisfied expressions and ate.
The only disappointment was that the ending felt rather anticlimactic.
“In the end, it seems none of them won her heart,” Tru muttered a little ruefully.
We’d stood around long enough to see a thirteen-sided entanglement form, only for none of it to come to fruition.
The woman received no help whatsoever from any of them.
From start to finish, she simply dragged the water bucket along by herself, barely sparing a glance at any of the men surrounding her.
Disappointing, but unavoidable. She doesn’t need to take up with some random man just for our entertainment.
Still, it was good to have witnessed something interesting in this small town.
That’s what I thought, at least.
‘…But isn’t that a bit much?’
That night, while staying at a shabby inn, it was already late but the outside noise wouldn’t stop, so I looked out.
That same woman from before was surrounded by men again.
Good grief. Her life must be exhausting. It’s like watching my mother and my former self.
The difference was that we’d used force to survive it, whereas this woman seemed to lack any strength to do the same—which made it all the more pitiful.
Eventually, the woman fled with a look of disgust on her face, unable to take it anymore.
I rested my chin on the windowsill and murmured.
“Beauty is a curse.”
“Then you’re off the hook.”
I’m actually starting to get used to this.
These sudden appearances don’t even surprise me anymore.
I slowly closed my eyes, then opened them.
And there he was—Kiel, leaning against the windowsill like a painting.
“…What are you doing here?”
“You said we’d meet again.”
I said we wouldn’t. And isn’t this way too soon?
I stared at him in disbelief.
“Did you follow me?”
“Half and half.”
What does “half and half” even mean? Like ordering a mixed dish?
Shrugging at my bewilderment, he explained.
“This is within my search area, but I didn’t necessarily have to come here. It just seemed interesting, so I decided to.”
What does that mean?
I narrowed my eyes at him, and Kiel turned his head.
Toward the direction the woman had vanished.
“…But things just got really interesting.”
His eyes gleamed as he murmured.
“I found her.”
“Found…oh!”
It suddenly clicked.
The fog in my mind cleared with a sharp intake of breath.
“A Wanted Person!”

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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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