Surviving as a Terminally Ill Heiress - Chapter 66

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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 66

With looks like that, she’d seem even more pitiful.
The Olson Earl’s Daughter muttered in confusion.
What, did you hide away in some countryside luxury villa because of your shameful birth? That’s really too bad.
Well, we rolled in the gutters. It wasn’t much.
And Mother died of a rare illness in all that? Ha ha ha, leaving behind two little lumps of blood as siblings.
The more I continued the conversation, the more the Olson Earl’s Daughter’s expression shifted to ‘this isn’t right?’—until she fell silent entirely.
Yes, sounds pretty grim to you too, doesn’t it? Sordid and all.
‘So let’s not entangle ourselves with each other, shall we?’
We are not guilty.
If anyone’s guilty, it’s whoever carelessly mocked the man’s manhood.
But having no guilt doesn’t mean we’re obligated to accept one another.
Since we’re both uncomfortable anyway, we simply maintain a proper distance and live our lives.
“It’s been pleasant. Well then, I’ll be going.”
“……Yes.”
She didn’t return the courtesy of saying she’d enjoyed it too.
Before I left her to her stiffness, I looked back at the boy one last time.
Ash-colored hair and crimson eyes, sharp and fastidious features.
Identical to Ambrose Duke as a child.
‘……How convenient.’
He could have entered Ambrose without a shred of evidence.
That was his only advantage.
I turned away without hesitation.
* * *
As expected, the capital buzzed with excitement once more.
Ambrose stood at the center of every salacious rumor.
A string of scandals had people singing songs of our downfall—or prophesying it.
Yet despite the atmosphere outside, the Ambrose Residence itself remained quiet.
This held true even as our numbers grew.
The Olson Earl’s Daughter kept her head down in silence. Her taciturn son need not be mentioned.
Neither had I changed.
I attended lessons, cared for my siblings, and gradually learned the business.
Matilda, Vincent, and Juliet offered me comfort, though I felt it was unnecessary.
“Oh my, poor things. How hard it must have been for them.”
The Olson Earl’s Daughter, for whatever reason, began approaching Hui and Dido.
Her expression was one of sympathy for two children who’d lost their mother early.
“I’m not the one to be pitied?”
“……Mm.”
But I felt little concern.
They were my siblings no matter what. They’d manage that much on their own.
“Still playing dirty tricks, I see.”
“It’s funny—I’ve always noticed the losing side is the one who says that.”
Our Ambrose Duke remained unchanged.
He neither drove away nor searched for Terion.
He merely received them when the Olson Earl’s Daughter occasionally brought Terion to pay respects.
Even so, wouldn’t Grandfather prefer to see him more often?
Rather than playing chess wagers with me every day like this.
I moved my next piece on the board and asked in passing.
“Isn’t it strange to you?”
“What is?”
“A child who looks exactly like your son.”
“It is, indeed.”
Ah. That move was shallow.
Grandfather then moved his piece as if he’d been waiting for precisely that.
“Though that sullen, unfazed expression when he’s at a disadvantage—it’s so identical.”
“…….”
“That move, I’ve won.”
He tapped my forehead with the checkmate king.
I touched my brow and made a sullen face.
“You do play dirty tricks too, Grandfather.”
Grandfather chuckled warmly.
* * *
I could no longer put off going out.
Invitations I’d been procrastinating on had accumulated.
Avoiding them would only spawn worse rumors.
I sighed and picked a suitable place to attend.
A tea party—quiet yet moderately noteworthy, and above all, filled mostly with people favorably disposed toward Ambrose.
‘The Dyke Earl family…… not quite as good as the Julliard Marquess, but this should do.’
It was favorable in every way.
Upon arriving after quick preparations, an unexpected face greeted me.
Terion.
It seemed he’d made a similar decision to mine.
I hesitated briefly, then walked to the table as if nothing had changed.
Throughout the tea party, people were confused.
They couldn’t decide whether to address me or Terion.
Terion said little even there.
Yet his mere resemblance to Ambrose Duke was enough to make him the center of attention.
Convenient indeed.
I was quietly laughing and sipping my tea when—
‘……Hm?’
Something just now.
Was it an illusion in the garden dappled with sunlight?
I tilted my head, watching Terion’s hair.
That was when it happened.
“Terion, you really do look exactly like Ambrose Duke.”
Someone boldly broached the subject everyone had quietly been avoiding.
Brave.
I turned my eyes to look at her.
Probably the Kafka Earl’s Daughter?
And Juliet’s self-proclaimed rival.
Transparent. She wanted to isolate me, who was close to Juliet Julliard.
And with her remark as the opening—
“Well, coincidence can’t be dismissed. There must be at least two people in the world who look exactly like me, after all, right?”
“By that logic, shouldn’t it also be common for a dropped object to happen to be a family heirloom of a great noble house!”
A brawl erupted.
These were freshly debuted, still-immature young nobles.
Factions and emotions intertwined, igniting easily.
I quietly sipped my tea in the middle of that brawl.
Getting involved carelessly now would only obscure the real issue.
Terion seemed to share the thought, remaining quiet over there as well…….
‘What.’
Terion was looking at me.
Or was it just a fleeting brush?
As soon as our eyes met, Terion quickly turned his head away.
Soon the host, the Dyke Earl and his wife, suppressed the brawl with their intervention.
Thus the tea party came to an abrupt end.
As if his business was done, Terion rose from his seat first.
And as he passed by me, our shoulders brushed slightly.
Sniff.
‘That scent is…….’
I knew that scent.
* * *
“If this thing could examine everything, it’d be so convenient.”
I muttered, holding the flat magical tool.
The principle of this magical tool is simple: looking inward.
To the very depths of what doesn’t show on the surface.
By examining the degree of material decay and the looseness of each nail embedded inside, one can easily determine safety standards.
If you applied this to a person?
Scanning from head to toe and even the soul, then beeping, ‘Safe,’ ‘Dangerous’—how convenient that would be.
I smiled at the idle thought that had crossed my mind.
Terion was quietly, but gradually, seeping into Ambrose.
I’d even asked Howard what was happening.
He was investigating as well, finding it suspicious, but had uncovered nothing substantial.
[After becoming pregnant, she severed ties with her natal family and gave birth to a child in a secluded countryside villa, where the mother and son have lived in hiding ever since.]
The Olson Earl’s Daughter’s testimony matched what was confirmed.
I tapped the magical tool with my fingertip.
The Olson Earl Family.
They weren’t particularly famous or powerful.
They simply held a fief in the grain belt of the east, so they likely had considerable wealth.
In short: an only daughter from a moderately rich family got pregnant before marriage and was coldly abandoned.
I clicked my tongue.
As someone who’d had a mother left to fend for herself alone, my heart wasn’t entirely unmoved.
Though apparently they didn’t cast her out with nothing—the villa and living expenses were provided…….
Tap. Tap.
My finger’s movement gradually slowed.
‘……But why are they so quiet now?’
The Olson Earl Family’s character was that of typical old-guard Atera nobility.
The kind that valued family honor and reputation so much they’d disown their only daughter rather than acknowledge an illegitimate grandchild.
This quietness didn’t match their demonstrated behavior.
We could have cleanly cut ties, or else Ambrose could have pressured them to take responsibility for the daughter’s honor.
I’d heard that people were swarming the Olson Earl Family these days, troubling them.
Of course there would be. Something this entertaining. I’d want to pry myself.
Yet the Olson Earl Family maintained only silence.
An ambiguous response.
‘Is there some other circumstance?’

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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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