You Said I Was a Persecuted, Terminally Ill Grand Duchess? - Chapter 40

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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 40

 

Mixed between the sobs, the ragged breathing that kept going astray.

 

With each irregular breath, my heart lurched.

 

“Rene, I was wrong. I made a mistake. So don’t die. Please, don’t leave me behind.”

 

Don’t speak as if it’s the end.

 

The man wept endlessly.

 

The woman was the same.

 

They were all thinking the same thing.

 

…If only we had known this a little sooner.

 

“I still… you…”

 

Perhaps the last intake of breath.

 

Sensing this, the Grand Duke also sorrowfully grasped Rene’s shoulder and whispered.

 

“Rene, I never allowed you to leave my side. Even if the end is death… I’ll chase you to the very end.”

 

In the man’s low voice that pleaded desperately, not a trace of reason could be felt.

 

“…I love you…”

 

But inevitably, the last exhale was released.

 

Thud.

 

The woman’s hand fell limply.

 

Even her faint breathing stopped.

 

At the same time, a distant darkness came to me as well.

 

Just like ‘Rene’ who had died so fraily in Jenos’s arms.

 

‘Is this what death is like?’

 

If so, death is quite a distant thing.

 

In the eternal blackout, my consciousness was drifting far away, but only Jenos’s wailing pierced clearly into my ears, making my heart feel like it would tear apart.

 

“Rene! Aaaaah! No, no…”

 

* * *

 

“Gasp!”

 

With the sensation of my consciousness being pulled up from the depths, I bolted upright as if bouncing.

 

Was that just now a dream?

 

No, it wasn’t a dream.

 

This is definitely…

 

“Huh?”

 

It was when I snapped my eyes open at the sudden intuition.

 

What suddenly filled my vision was…

 

“Ah! Wh-what. A chest?”

 

It was a sudden flesh-colored development(?)!

 

My surprise was brief.

 

I saw a scarred hand suddenly come in and quickly pull the collar closed.

 

While I was stammering in bewilderment, a familiar baritone voice soon flew over.

 

“Complaining about chests the moment you wake up.”

 

“!”

 

I thought that chest looked strangely familiar somehow!

 

Only then, in my now clear vision, the Grand Duke was looking down at me with a completely reddened face.

 

Covering his chest with one arm, wearing an absurd expression.

 

His attitude was as if he was looking at some pervert, which was slightly ridiculous.

 

The one who should be screaming was me.

 

The Grand Duke was looking down at me lying in bed wearing only a nightgown in the dead of night.

 

‘Wait a minute. A bed?’

 

Reality gradually came flooding in.

 

When did I fall asleep?

 

And that dream was…

 

“Ugh!”

 

The moment I tried to trace back something.

 

My head suddenly hurt as if it would split.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

When I lowered my head and clutched it, the Grand Duke unusually showed concern.

 

“Sleep more for now. It’s still dawn.”

 

The Grand Duke said, gesturing toward the window with his chin.

 

As he said, through the slightly parted curtains, the moonlit scenery was vivid.

 

With my memories tangled, I just blinked and asked in bewilderment.

 

“Dawn… When exactly did I fall asleep? I’m sure I went boating with Katarina…”

 

Huh?

 

Really… what happened after that?

 

Perhaps the confusion showed on my face, as the Grand Duke asked back with a serious expression.

 

“You don’t remember anything?”

 

“…Unfortunately, no.”

 

Sigh.

 

A sigh escaped through the Grand Duke’s red lips.

 

What followed was even more shocking.

 

“Do you know that you’ve just woken up after three days?”

 

“What? Th-three days?”

 

“That’s right. You fell into the river during that carefree boating trip. And you’ve only just woken up now.”

 

The Grand Duke’s voice was clearly tinged with anger for some reason.

 

Only then did my memories begin to gradually return.

 

‘Right, that’s correct.’

 

I accidentally met the young ladies and became friends, then went boating alone with Katarina on the river, and while trying to catch a hat that flew away…

 

Then.

 

“Katarina Hugo pushed you.”

 

The man’s thick voice burst out like an ambush.

 

“What?”

 

“She deliberately made you fall into the water. There are more than one or two witnesses.”

 

I still just blinked.

 

Meanwhile, my mind was spinning rapidly.

 

Due to the emotions and memories that had become mixed up like pulp, I couldn’t tell at all what was a dream and what was real.

 

But… setting everything else aside, something was strange.

 

‘If my memory is correct, that can’t be right.’

 

Meanwhile, the scattered fragments of information in my head continued to complete a single scene.

 

The Grand Duke looked down at me with an utterly cold face.

 

What followed was nothing short of bewildering.

 

“Katarina Hugo attempted to murder the Duchess, so her crime is great. I’ve locked her up in the underground prison now.”

 

“Eh?”

 

Murder? Prison?

 

This isn’t something that should escalate this far!

 

I urgently shot back.

 

“The underground prison? She’s a noble young lady!”

 

“Even noble young ladies must pay the price when they commit crimes. Isn’t that natural logic?”

 

“To begin with, that she pushed me in? That’s ridiculous.”

 

It really was an absurd story.

 

I could be certain.

 

Katarina wasn’t the type of person to do such a thing.

 

But I didn’t know what to say to the Duke about this strange conviction of mine…

 

The Duke’s sarcasm flew at me as if it were natural.

 

“Did you lose your memory from the shock? Or did your intelligence drop? Rene Blanche. There’s a limit to being naive. You almost died because of that woman!”

 

“Ugh!”

 

The Duke’s shout brought another piercing headache.

 

“Haah…”

 

The Duke, who let out a deep sigh, forcibly pressed down on my shoulders.

 

But it didn’t hurt at all.

 

Rather, it was rough but careful.

 

He looked just as confused as I was.

 

I smoothly let my back touch the bed again as he intended.

 

“Just rest for now. Don’t think about anything. I’ll leave you alone.”

 

The Duke, who kept running his hand through his bangs, soon left.

 

But of course I couldn’t fall asleep.

 

The piercing headache like being stabbed with an awl, and the memories that weren’t mine crossing back and forth with my own memories in my head.

 

When I put all of that together, there was only one conclusion.

 

‘I remembered. This novel.’

 

I thought I hadn’t found any clues, but as the Duke said, it seemed right that the shock had done something to my head.

 

And the first thought that came to mind was…

 

‘I’m screwed.’

 

The title of this novel is ‘The Northern Duchess Knows No Spring.’

 

Isn’t it?

 

Honestly, it could be different.

 

I can’t trust my memory at all…

 

But one thing.

 

What I clearly remember is the fact that I couldn’t help but give harsh criticism while watching the ending of this novel.

 

Still, the author’s writing skills themselves weren’t bad, so I had been reading it with reasonable enjoyment until right before the final chapter.

 

The problem was the ending.

 

To roughly summarize the plot…

 

First, the female protagonist, Rene Celeste.

 

Rene, born as an illegitimate child of House of Blanche, lived always being persecuted, then was married off in a political marriage as if being cast out.

 

Truly falling in love with Jenos, her marriage partner, was the beginning of another tragedy.

 

Jenos despised her and inflicted every possible wound on her.

 

Every time that happened, I beat my chest in frustration at the sweet potato being shoved into my mouth.

 

“Argh, so frustrating! Rene, you fool! How long are you going to act so clueless! Phew… Still, if he’s accumulated this much karma, Jenos will suffer terribly later, right? Kyahahak! This bastard. Become Rene’s doormat right now.”

 

Still, I thought there must be a reason why the author was treating the female protagonist so harshly.

 

I mean, right?

 

This is a romance fantasy novel!

 

No matter how much it’s a tragic story, in the end, as a reader, it’s natural to hope for an ending where the female lead becomes happy after all this hardship and persecution!

 

So I thought all of this was buildup.

 

Even though that buildup felt strangely long and spiteful.

 

I never knew the ending would be so completely ruined!

 

‘The Northern Duchess Knows No Spring,’ shortened to ‘North.Duch.Spring.’

 

Come to think of it, even the title was terrible from the start.

 

“…The female lead has a terminal illness… and it ends with her dying from the terminal illness? What kind of ending is this? Author, are you crazy!?”

 

Why doesn’t she know spring?

 

Even if she doesn’t know, you should make her know!

 

That should have been the real ending!

 

‘North.Duch.Spring’ ended in the complete opposite of the tightly closed happy ending that ordinary readers would expect.

 

The female lead, whose condition worsened, died without even being able to lift a finger, and the male lead only realized his feelings after the female lead died and shed tears in deep regret.

 

And that’s it.

 

Yes.

 

The end. Finished. Ending. A completely closed bad ending without even any side stories!

 

“I was ‘that Rene’?”

 

Damn it! Are you insane?

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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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