Surviving as a Terminally Ill Heiress - Chapter 62

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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 62

* * *

The carriage from the Mansion was waiting at the station, timed perfectly to our arrival.
We’d sent word of our schedule through the Communication Network before departing.
Convenient, isn’t it? So much less wasted time.
When there was no concept of communication and transport, we managed without them, but now it seems impossible to return to those days.
The Ambrose Territory really does need a railroad soon…….
“Hm?”
As the carriage carried us into the Mansion at last, I noticed someone lurking about.
Probably a gardener.
The longtime gardener had retired recently, and this was the new hire.
The old gardener had made quite a spectacle mocking Adam before cheerfully taking his leave from the Mansion.
In any case, the one wearing the Straw Hat crouched poorly hidden in the bushes, peering at us like he was checking on something.
That’s suspicious…….
And then it happened.
“Now!”
At his shout, a blast suddenly rang out.
Shasha and I, just stepping down from the carriage, both jumped and looked up.
And then, suddenly, everything made sense.
Seeing the state of the sky and noticing Vincent Grime and Juliet Juliad barely hidden behind the Mansion, it became even clearer.
I murmured to Matilda, who had come to stand beside me.
“……Why are they setting off Fireworks before sunset.”
“This isn’t the end!”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Looked like a birthday party—loud and elaborate after years of being put aside—was about to begin.
A headache forming, I found myself laughing softly instead.
Before she fell ill, Mother never let our birthdays pass without ceremony.
And then, all at once, something struck me.
Mother’s Death Anniversary in this life—it was the same day I’d come to the Ambrose Territory.
Like a belated birthday gift from an overzealous devotee.
* * *
Exhausted.
The birthday party showed no sign of ending, even as the night grew late.
Everyone at the Mansion had pooled their celebrations to shower me with wishes, and I couldn’t bring myself to refuse them.
Nearly at midnight, I slipped away to somewhere quiet.
Just a short rest. Honestly, this cold was wearing me down.
But I couldn’t ignore everyone’s sincerity—I had to keep up appearances…….
“You look pale.”
That annoying voice following me.
Ambrose Duke.
I gave him a listless glare.
“……Grandfather’s just unnaturally robust.”
At my complaint, he snorted.
Ha. If anyone, it’s him.
It had taken me over three years before I could bring myself to call him grandfather.
Only recently had I started.
The reason was absurd.
“You lose at Chess to me and yet you still talk?”
Yes. I’d lost to him in our wager match.
Even now, thinking back, it feels unjust. Just one blunder.
Gritting my teeth over it, I suddenly felt dizzy.
As I stumbled without thinking, a rough, large hand steadied me.
“At this rate, you’ll beat me to the grave.”
……His insight was sharp. Is that how he made his fortune?
But when he makes jokes with that edge, doesn’t it wound him most of all?
I looked up at him slowly.
About two years ago, I’d begun inheriting Grandmother’s estate in installments.
Eleven years after the war’s end.
Which meant my father had officially transitioned from missing to deceased.
What could that mean to the man before me…….
“It’s a waste.”
“What?”
“To die leaving so much money behind. It’s a waste.”
The moment I returned, I confirmed my inherited account with my own eyes.
It was dazzling.
I’d prayed for my own long life as never before.
With that money, I’d never close my eyes in peace again.
“So I’m going to live a long, long time.”
At my sudden words, Grandfather raised one eyebrow.
Then he laughed quietly and
“So you shall.”
said simply.
So you shall. So you must do.
So you will do that for me.
His voice seemed to echo for so long that my ears tingled.
* * *
And of course, a birthday health examination couldn’t be skipped.
The next morning,
Morgan, who had examined me from head to toe as he did every year, nodded.
“Nothing unusual again this time.”
“Always welcome to hear.”
“And there’s still no real progress in the research…….”
“That part I don’t welcome.”
Morgan lowered his head in contrition.
I’d asked him to research the Wax Disease.
Since he’d examined Mother before, I held hope, though I didn’t expect a miracle cure for an incurable illness all at once.
I waved my hand at the dejected Morgan.
“I’m not blaming you. That’s just my personal feeling.”
“I understand. But I wish to be of help to you soon……!”
“You already are enough.”
“It is not enough. If not for your kindness, I would have remained a poor physician in the Slums forever, and then Genie could never have set foot in the Academy doors no matter how brilliant, suffering only because of this worthless father…….”
“Listen, Morgan.”
I grasped his hand gently and spoke softly.
“Do you remember how we lived in the Slums?”
“Of course. It’s as vivid as yesterday.”
“So do I. I still see you getting struck from behind, played for a fool over and over.”
“Cough…….”
“Being kind isn’t a sin, but I used to think Morgan was the exception—almost a crime. People would skip out on their bills and run, and you had no idea how to deal with it, so you’d come begging Genie’s rice for us to eat.”
“Cough, cough…….”
“How many times did my fragile mother hike up her skirts and chase after them to collect instead.”
Of course, she only looked fragile. Mother was quite fast and strong.
Muscles honed from dancing work, densely packed.
That’s why she could snap Dido’s father’s fingers and kick his buttocks to send him fleeing.
Morgan, coughing painfully, smiled sheepishly.
“I owe Sena a great debt.”
“You repaid that debt a hundredfold by helping when Mother was ill.”
“That was…… simply what I should have done, as a physician and as a neighbor.”
I shook my head firmly.
Simply what was natural? Caregiving was difficult even between family.
But Morgan had cared not just for Mother in my past life, but for me as well.
So without him, Genie who assisted, and those two kind souls, I would have died alone with my body stiff as a board.
I shifted the subject with a shrug.
“Anyway, see? Being good always comes back to you in the end.”
All of us.
I smiled playfully, and Morgan laughed along.
“Yes. It truly is like a miracle sent by God.”
Yes. It is.
In fact, I was developing faith I never had before.
I was living a second life, after all.
‘I really should visit the Nibellis Temple once.’
I thought this as I showed Morgan out.
I’d wanted to go for some time, of course, but until now it had been impossible.
It was because of the Nibellis Temple’s regulations.
Before the Archangel descended at the call of the Ambrose family’s first patriarch and corrupt officials were purged, young worshippers at the temple had been targets of exploitation and abuse.
So the reformed temple had imposed strict age limits on entry.
Fourteen. My age now.
Whether novice priestess or mere visitor, even members of the royal family could only enter the temple from the age of fourteen.
I’d heard Pandium had similar rules…….
A certain face naturally seemed about to surface in my thoughts.
Stubbornly, I closed my mouth.
She always came like a storm and disappeared like a typhoon.
Each time she came and went without promise or word, and somehow her presence never quite felt real—like a mirage.
‘……I won’t wait.’
On wounded pride, I coughed shortly.

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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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