The Obsessive Maniac Is Trying To Confine Me - Chapter 116
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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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Episode 116
A chill came through the gap of the open window, making my body shiver.
“Cough.”
“Are you sick?”
I had only coughed once, but Dillen hurriedly climbed through the window.
“It’s just a cold, Dillen. I took medicine so I’m fine.”
Dillen quickly touched my forehead as if to check my fever.
The cool sensation made me feel good for a moment, then I belatedly remembered a fact I had forgotten and pulled my body back.
“If you touch me… Dillen, it hurts you.”
“I’m… fine, Rose.”
Fine, my foot.
I examined Dillen.
Fortunately, he was unharmed without any injuries.
“…Why are you suddenly saying you’ll get engaged?”
However, Dillen had an angry expression.
“Are you being threatened or something?”
“Everyone’s strangely going on about threats.”
Of course, it did start with a threat at first, but now it was my choice.
“Then this is… your choice?”
“Yes.”
“Why? You weren’t interested in things like engagement.”
“Interest can develop anytime.”
But why is he getting so angry about this?
“…Then you don’t want to return to Korea anymore?”
Dillen asked in a much more subdued voice.
“…Would it be possible to return?”
I muttered blankly.
…Strangely, after possessing Roji, I had no memories of Korea.
“Dillen, strangely, I’ve hardly ever thought of that place for years.”
Was it because I had no memories?
Since coming to This Place, I had hardly ever thought about wanting to return to Korea.
“I wonder why that is.”
That point puzzled me.
“It’s because you have no memories.”
“Is that so?”
“…Rose, you desperately wanted to return to That Place.”
So Rose did.
That was about the extent of my sentiment. Strangely, I didn’t think much of it.
“I don’t know why you’re suddenly getting engaged, but don’t do it.”
“I’ve already made my decision.”
“…Then back out. Or run away again.”
“Run away again?”
“Yes. I’ll help you. If there’s anywhere you want to go…”
“Dillen.”
I called out to stop him as he seemed to be shouting excitedly.
“Thank you for helping me. But you don’t need to do that anymore.”
“…You said you needed my help.”
“I did?”
“You might not remember, but you definitely did. So you… to me…”
Dillen stopped speaking for a moment as if his throat was blocked.
He kept swallowing as if frustrated by dry thirst. His Adam’s apple bobbed several times, and Dillen opened his mouth with a completely reddened face.
“…You asked me to stay by your side.”
“…”
“You said you couldn’t do without me… you definitely said that.”
Rose said such things?
I was quietly shocked while Dillen had a rosy face as if something was embarrassing.
“…Dillen, I don’t remember anything.”
I’m not Rose.
“So there’s no need to try to keep past promises.”
Incomprehensibly, he had a hurt expression.
His eyes reddened and he clenched his fists tightly.
Unable to watch that pitiful sight any longer, I tried to approach him.
Belatedly, I noticed he was breaking out in cold sweat.
“Even at this distance without touching, you’re in pain.”
“…Rose.”
“Being by my side hurts you.”
“…No.”
“You’re in pain right now and even breaking out in cold sweat.”
And yet how could you help me in that condition.
I wanted to offer him a handkerchief, but I couldn’t close the distance.
“Go back, Dillen.”
“No.”
“When you’re suffering like this, how could you help me. Just admit it.”
“…Rose, please.”
He let out rough breaths as if pleading.
However, I couldn’t accept that plea.
Dillen was in pain when he was with me. So I had no choice but to push him away.
“Stop bothering me and go back.”
“…”
“I don’t need you anymore.”
As I uttered words I didn’t mean at all, it hurt as if sharp thorns were piercing my heart.
Dillen looked at me with a hurt expression and then left.
Long after he left, his afterimage remained in my head and wouldn’t disappear.
‘I should have driven him away long ago.’
Let’s not regret it.
What Dillen was trying to help wasn’t me but Rose.
I couldn’t let that poor man sacrifice himself needlessly by setting his own body on fire.
* * *
That night after sending Dillen away, my fever got worse as if by magic.
It was the most powerless time I’d had recently.
Even drinking a sip of water was done by the servants of the Northern Castle who were startled and did it for me, so I didn’t need to lift a finger. It was all because of the strict orders from Arzen, who had become my fiancé.
‘Is it really necessary to go this far just because I caught a cold?’
It was suffocating overprotection.
“Miss.”
Then one of the maids approached me.
“Miss, the physician has arrived.”
“A physician?”
I became puzzled. A physician from the northern castle had visited this morning, hadn’t they?
…Don’t tell me Arzen stubbornly called for an outside physician?
Such a fuss over a simple cold was truly excessive.
“It’s a physician from Persen Estate. They say he’s the most renowned doctor in the North!”
Hearing that made me feel deeply burdened. Is it really okay to use such precious human resources like this?
‘But if it’s Persen Estate….’
I had recently read in the newspaper about a major incident that occurred there.
A benefactor had appeared, they said?
“Oh! And this person even personally examined that mysterious ‘Benefactor’ who appeared in Persen!”
What?
“Count Evantes must truly love you, miss.”
“Wait, what did you just….”
At that moment, the door opened and the physician entered.
“Good day, miss. I am a physician who came from Persen Estate under orders to examine you….”
The physician stopped mid-sentence. The moment our eyes met, all color drained from his face.
His hands trembled greatly as if he might drop the bag he was holding.
“…Physician? What’s wrong?”
“…N-nothing.”
…Why is he acting like that?
As if he had seen a ghost he shouldn’t have. The physician hurriedly lowered his gaze and approached me.
“…Your cold seems to be almost cured.”
The physician’s hand taking my pulse was trembling slightly.
Thanks to taking medicine and resting well, my fever had broken, but the physician’s attitude sent a strange chill through me.
“You should continue taking the same medicine you’ve been taking.”
Throughout the examination, he thoroughly avoided looking at my face.
His gaze remained fixed on my chin or somewhere in the air.
When he finished the examination and hurriedly tried to pack up and leave, I couldn’t help but ask.
“…Physician, do you perhaps know me?”
I had no memory of him, but I had traveled around various places while running the trading company with Michelle.
…Perhaps he knows ‘Rose’ rather than me.
“No.”
The physician hurriedly spoke up.
“I don’t know you.”
His voice was strangely urgent.
“Th-then I’ll be going now….”
And with that, he hurriedly left the room as if he had finished his examination.
‘Why is he acting like that?’
…He was a strange person.
But I felt uneasy and kept thinking about that physician all morning.
My thoughts only stopped when afternoon came.
“Rina!”
Michelle came to find me.
Though the party was canceled, she had taken the opportunity to enter the estate again.
“A sudden engagement! Is what I heard true?”
I had expected Michelle to be angry when she found out, but her eyes were fierce as if she would burn everything around her.
“Seeing that he was even going to hold a party, it seems the Count cherishes you quite a bit… But it’s still dangerous, Rina.”
“….”
“Think about it again. Please?”
Michelle called to me pleadingly, but I couldn’t give her the answer she wanted.
“Miss, I’m fine.”
“…Rina, are you serious?”
Michelle looked incredulous. But perhaps reading the determination in my eyes, she moved her lips then finally closed them.
She realized I wouldn’t change my mind.
“…Sigh.”
After a long silence, Michelle rubbed her face dry and stepped back.
“Fine, if that’s what you say, then so be it. But promise me one thing.”
“….”
“That I’m always on your side. If it becomes too much to handle, tell me anytime. Don’t try to bear it alone.”
I was grateful to Michelle for caring about me until the end.
But it would be better if we didn’t meet for a while.
* * *
The night before leaving the North had arrived.
When I complained of being cold, Arzen brought all sorts of artifacts to warm up the room.
But the degree was too excessive… It was like a fiery hell.
“Water….”
I was tossing and turning, muttering in a half-asleep, hazy state when I felt the cold touch of glass against my lips.
Water flowed according to the direction of the tilted glass cup, trickling in a thin stream between my lips.
I drank the water in my drowsy state, then soon came to my senses.
“Cough cough!”
Recognizing the abnormal situation, I was startled and choked, bursting into coughs.
I immediately sat up, clutching my sore throat and coughing violently.
Moonlight streaming through the window gradually illuminated a man. I saw a man with beauty as deadly as poison.
Rihardt was looking at me with calm eyes devoid of any expression.
“Why are you here….”
When I asked in surprise, he added an artificial smile.
“I’m contemplating.”
“…Contemplating?”
The smile drawn on his lips was somehow eerie.
It was when I gripped the blanket tightly due to the ominous feeling.
“Whether or not to kidnap you again.”
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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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