The Military Doctor Excels at Being a Contracted Duchess - Chapter 22
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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 22】
No matter how much Genevieve opposed it, it was useless.
Victor had already accepted the idea, so what could be done?
After some minor commotion, under Ebel’s leadership, the house began to completely transform.
The scent of peaches wafted in, and the stuffy, suffocating air was finally cleared.
Since it was such a beautiful season, the sunlight was simply wonderful.
Then, Ebel headed to the twins’ bedroom with a group of maids.
Genevieve followed frantically, but she ignored her.
“…Good heavens.”
The sigh escaped her lips involuntarily as soon as the door opened.
In a place dark enough for ghosts to appear, the fireplace alone blazed bright red.
“In summer… with all the windows closed… lighting the fireplace?”
As she muttered in disbelief, Elroy, who had been watching nervously from beside her, explained.
“Th-that, Lady Genevieve said this is how to ward off the curse.”
“Ha.”
No wonder Damian wanders outside.
Even she couldn’t have lived like this.
Ebel slapped her forehead and gestured to immediately put out the fireplace.
“Take all the bedding out and wash it. Replace it with new ones, and tear down the curtains. Unless it’s severe, coughing illness can improve with just that.”
“No! Stop! Stop right now!”
Just as Genevieve screamed and lunged at the curtains.
“Why all this commotion?”
A low voice cut through the air. His shirt was soaked with sweat as if he’d finished training. She flinched slightly but didn’t avert her eyes.
After all, hadn’t she seen Victor like this countless times?
Just because she was wearing a dress now didn’t mean she needed to be surprised.
…Didn’t mean she needed to be.
“No, listen here. This house is about to be cursed with poison, what do you mean!”
As soon as Genevieve saw Victor, she eagerly poured out her complaints. However, Victor cut her off before she could finish.
“She is a doctor who has learned all the latest medicine. Do as she says. Especially from now on, I’ll entrust all matters concerning the children to Ebel.”
“Wh-what…! A doctor?”
Blue eyes turned toward her. Ebel nodded slightly in gratitude, then slid her gaze behind him.
Two small heads were visible.
One was looking only at the floor, while the other was staring up at her intently. Before she could even mention the children’s names, Genevieve bustled forward.
“I’ve been caring for these children diligently all this time. How can you take away my joy overnight? They may not be born from my womb, but how precious they are to me! Isn’t that right, Angelm?”
Genevieve naturally passed by the one looking down at the ground and approached the child with bright, alert eyes.
It was as if the child beside him was completely invisible to her.
‘Angelm? This child is?’
But Ebel could only tilt her head in confusion.
Of course, this was her first time properly meeting the two children, so she couldn’t be certain, but—
Somehow the feeling was.
“That child looks like Damian to me.”
These words came out because she was also a twin.
When adults couldn’t distinguish between Abel and her in childhood, how awful it made her feel.
“What? What do you know to say such things? This child is Angelm.”
“Is that so? To me, he looks like Damian.”
“Ha, how do you never back down and answer back so promptly? Were you taught to behave this way toward adults?”
“What is there to win or lose here?”
When she replied indifferently, finding the noise somewhat bothersome, Victor laughed. He pretended otherwise immediately, but she knew. His mood had softened.
“Then I’ll go bathe the children now. Since we ran together.”
“May I examine them later?”
“Yes, please do so.”
Though she never got a definitive answer, Ebel was confident she was right.
The boy who had been looking down as if there was something interesting on the ground looked straight at her at the last moment.
In those blue eyes that resembled Victor’s, there was definitely cunning.
‘He’s just a child so everything shows now, but by fifteen, it’ll be hard to read his thoughts.’
The next generation of Bayern will be inherited by Angelm.
It’s common for twins of that age to switch names and play. It’s fun to fool adults too.
However, what bothered her was…
‘The one who bit my hand was definitely Angelm. The one who shot the steel ball was also Angelm.’
But wasn’t Damian the one said to have mental health issues?
* * *
Though she had doubts, she quietly buried them and shortly after was able to meet the now fluffy twins.
‘I thought I couldn’t expect anything like proper greetings.’
Perhaps because Victor was present, both boys were quite well-behaved.
“Hello, madam. I am Angelm Bayern. After father passed away, I inherited mother’s surname.”
Angelm, now dressed in cute shorts and a shirt, placed one arm behind his waist and bowed politely.
Black hair and piercingly blue eyes. Pale skin from rarely seeing sunlight, with particularly rosy cheeks.
Just looking at his appearance, he was truly a cute child.
So he almost would have been, if not for the layers of hostility and malice accumulated in his eyes.
“Nice to meet you, Angelm. Please take care of me from now on.”
“Yes.”
The child smiled brightly and stepped back to introduce Damian.
“This is my younger brother Damian. It would be nice if he could greet you, but I’m sorry.”
That’s not what you should be apologizing for.
‘I’m certain. The one who bit me was also Angelm. The one who shot the slingshot and broke the window was also Angelm.’
It’ll take a long time to get a proper apology.
She could point out the child’s wrongdoing now.
But as long as that child is a Bayern, where would that temperament go?
She could never win his heart through such forceful methods.
Unless she wanted him to hide his true feelings even more tightly and completely shut down communication.
Therefore, Ebel acted calmly as if those incidents had never happened.
“It’s fine. Let me take a look. Do you like candy?”
“I don’t particularly like it. Damian does though.”
“How mature of you.”
While holding his wrist to check his pulse, she examined whether his eyes were bloodshot and if he had a fever. Then, what she considered most important was the movement of his chest.
How his breathing sounds changed when sitting, lying down, or standing. How he reacted when his chest was pressed, and so on.
Using the stethoscope she’d brought in her medical bag, she realized that Angelm’s sounds were quite concerning.
“Next, let’s look at Damian.”
The boy who had been leaning against the table with a bored expression, stacking blocks, growled lowly as she approached.
But when Victor whistled sharply and briefly, he immediately became docile.
“Yes, you both endured very well. Victor, how about giving the children some snacks?”
As she put the stethoscope back in her bag and suggested, Victor nodded.
Soon after leaving the room, Ebel fell into deep thought.
“Damian is surprisingly fine. Very healthy. Angelm also doesn’t seem serious to me. Of course, if we don’t remove the current cause, it might become serious soon…”
They’re twins, yet they’re different.
Why?
“They eat the same things, sleep in the same place, same environment.”
The only difference was their lifestyle.
‘Angelm studies indoors for long periods while Damian rolls around outside playing in the dirt. That’s the only difference. Oh, according to the data Banya brought, Damian usually eats about three times as much as Angelm.’
It’s frustrating since there are no facilities available here right now for conducting research.
It would be useless to get impatient since I need to take time to slowly figure things out.
“Victor.”
When I called to him quietly, he who had been walking through the corridor with me turned around without a word.
“I know a doctor who’s an authority on respiratory diseases. He’s a chemist, and I had a brief discussion with him when I was in university. He took a liking to me then and even offered me a position as his assistant.”
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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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