The World Mistakes Me for Terminally Ill - Chapter 42

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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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The World Thinks I’m Terminally Ill Episode 042

 

‘A person?’

 

This hot spring is exclusively mine.

 

The hot spring used by guests and servants is on the opposite side, so unless someone intentionally came looking, there would be no reason for anyone to come this far.

 

‘There shouldn’t be… any reason.’

 

Splash, splash.

 

My nerves went on edge at the slow, leisurely footsteps. Who dared to carelessly enter the bath used by the master?

 

Annoyed, I whipped around to see a tall man slowly approaching through the white mist and lamplight.

 

The front of his loosely tied robe was completely visible between the open folds…

 

‘Shubel?’

 

I was flustered by my immodest husband’s appearance.

 

He must have showered first, as water droplets dripped from his ink-black hair.

 

His face, wet with moisture, looked strangely younger than usual. At a glance, he even seemed pure.

 

He either didn’t notice me hidden in the mist or never looked this way once as he slowly entered the bath.

 

Swoosh.

 

The water rippled and overflowed.

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

The calm surface swayed, and the moon’s reflection on the surface became blurred.

 

In this moment, there were no lines or barriers between us.

 

A silhouette faintly visible through the white steam.

 

I bit my lips, pondering why he was here, when I realized.

 

‘Ah.’

 

Just like when I first came to the Grand Duke’s Castle, when Bikal had pushed my luggage into Shubel’s room.

 

It seemed one of the servants had guided him here.

 

Naturally, since we’re married.

 

‘This is driving me crazy.’

 

If I had made my presence known from the beginning, I could have naturally left.

 

Having missed the timing, even my breathing seemed to sound loud.

 

I couldn’t understand why I was acting like such a fool. Normally, no—

 

If it were someone else, I would have casually said, ‘The hot spring is nice, isn’t it? Don’t you feel like all your fatigue is melting away?’

 

If it were someone more intimate, I would have playfully scolded them, asking how they could not see me.

 

But now I couldn’t do either. Such a version of myself felt very unfamiliar.

 

‘I’ll just brazenly leave. I just need to act like usual. There’s nothing to be nervous about— no, who said I was nervous?’

 

I took a deep breath internally and glanced at the man who was annoyingly large and kept appearing in my peripheral vision.

 

“…!”

 

Our eyes met.

 

Flinch.

 

When I opened my eyes wide in surprise, the other party, who didn’t seem flustered for someone who had just discovered me, elegantly curved his lips upward.

 

“I would have told you that staring like that makes me nervous.”

 

“…”

 

“Or… perhaps that’s what you want?”

 

I suddenly realized. Ah, this man knew from the beginning.

 

“…What kind of manners is it to barge into a place where someone else is resting?”

 

Annoyed at feeling like I was being teased, I asked, and he replied innocently.

 

“Someone else? We’re not strangers to each other, are we?”

 

Then he slowly lowered his head toward me.

 

Ripple.

 

Waves spread, and the invisible line between him and me blurred along with the swaying water surface.

 

“I’m hurt, wife.”

 

A voice that settled softly by my ear. Water droplets falling with a ‘plop’ from his hair.

 

His solid upper body was revealed through the robe that had opened with his movement.

 

It was covered with faintly healed scars, proving his words about being on the battlefield.

 

I realized at some point that I was holding my breath.

 

“…Even married couples are strangers.”

 

“How resolute of you.”

 

Strangely unable to push him away, I shrank back and turned my head.

 

With a low chuckle, he playfully wound my hair that had scattered on the surface around his finger.

 

And again, I couldn’t tell him to stop and kept my mouth shut.

 

Finding myself so unfamiliar, annoyed, and wondering why I was being such an idiot, I felt my anger boiling inside before I spoke.

 

“Move away a bit.”

 

I thought the man who usually listened well, even if he was a bit troublesome, would back off on his own.

 

Shubel whispered with a smile.

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

“…!”

 

Flustered, I turned to look at him, and he had a satisfied smile around his eyes.

 

Clearly teasing me, I got annoyed and grabbed his shoulder to push him away.

 

“Go away. I said go!”

 

“Don’t you think you lack strength in your hands, wife? You should eat better.”

 

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t need to waste energy on things like this!”

 

“That’s fortunate. Otherwise, I might have had to kill them.”

 

“Kill, what?”

 

“You misheard.”

 

“Don’t lie! I heard everything!”

 

“Oh my.”

 

I don’t know why I was doing this with him in the water, but after struggling for a while, I finally managed to push Shubel away and successfully got out of the water.

 

Swoosh.

 

Whether from the heat of the hot spring, both my cheeks burned hot.

 

I quickly pulled my robe tight and tried to enter the room.

 

If it weren’t for the voice calling me from behind.

 

“Wife.”

 

I shouldn’t have turned around.

 

But after three months in Lunein, I had grown accustomed to that title and unconsciously turned back.

 

The man, with his arms crossed and resting on the edge of the hot spring, looking up at me quietly, said:

 

“Tomorrow at this time.”

 

“…”

 

“I’ll be waiting here.”

 

For a moment, my heart fluttered.

 

Had there ever been someone in my life who came this deep inside and said they would wait?

 

There were many people who expected something from me or hoped I would accomplish things.

 

But when I was sitting collapsed in sorrow, there had been only one person who extended their hand and waited for me to get up.

 

‘This is strange. We’re in a contract marriage.’

 

I bit my lips tightly and turned my back.

 

And the next day, though I glimpsed the man’s figure under the snow-covered tree through my room window, I didn’t go out.

 

[I’m not feeling well, so I plan to rest. Don’t wait for me.]

 

Shubel looked down at his wife’s brief message card that the maid had brought.

 

A faint warmth appeared in his previously emotionless eyes.

 

“How thoughtful of you.”

 

She could have simply ignored such a one-sided promise.

 

Going so far as to worry about it and send something like this must be Elisia’s true nature.

 

Shubel savored that gentle rejection.

 

His sensitive five senses detected the presence of someone pacing behind the window of Elisia’s room.

 

‘How adorable.’

 

He considered staying here a bit longer to monopolize her attention, but decided against it. It seemed right to step aside so she could rest.

 

He wasn’t originally someone who cared about others’ circumstances or feelings, but there was one exception.

 

From the moment his one and only sun appeared in his black and white world.

 

And… from the moment he thought he wanted to cross the line she had drawn for him called ‘contract’.

 

‘Madam is a fair person.’

 

Elisia was someone who calculated precisely. As much as he gave, she would return.

 

Then if he gave his everything, could he have her everything? He suddenly became curious.

 

Without realizing it, Shubel approached the window side of Elisia’s room with large strides, his lips subtly curving upward.

 

Perhaps hearing that sound, he felt flustered movement from inside.

 

“I will wait here tomorrow as well.”

 

“…”

 

“Until Madam comes out.”

 

As he raised his hand, snowflakes swirled above it.

 

Shubel left the small creation he made on the railing of Elisia’s room and departed.

 

After a moment’s hesitation, the sound of a window opening was heard.

 

Would she get angry asking why he left such a useless thing, or would she be flustered?

 

“She probably won’t like it.”

 

He had never known that imagining others’ reactions could be such an enjoyable thing.

 

His emotions, which had been as barren as his colorless world, gradually became more colorful after meeting Elisia.

 

For Shubel, everything he did with her was no different from a first experience.

 

Like making the first footprint in snow-covered snowy plains. He found everything he did with her quite enjoyable.

 

‘So I cannot let something like illness invade Madam.’

 

His purple eyes, which had momentarily held warmth, sank coldly.

 

Shubel crossed the villa with a cleanly erased expressionless face.

 

The arrogant man acknowledged the fact that his abilities alone could not stop his wife’s coughing up blood.

 

Therefore, it was when someone who had never done anything with enthusiasm because he had no desires decided to move for just one person.

 

“Um-”

 

Something completely unfamiliar invaded his tranquility.

 

“Hello…”

 

A woman greeting him shyly.

 

“You’re sister’s husband, right? I’m Shasha, the younger sister that sister cherishes! We met briefly before.”

 

The woman who had caught his attention by mentioning Elisia spoke while blocking his path.

 

“May I call you Shubel?”

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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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