Chapter 22
Damia returned to her room and held the letter for a long time.
My head was so complicated that I felt suffocated.
‘Why hasn’t Romeo come back yet?’
Perhaps he had become accustomed to Romi’s chatter, but even the quiet room felt unfamiliar.
When I was alone, useless thoughts kept coming to my mind.
For example, Cassian, who suddenly became obsessed with Damia.
‘If Cassian could escape his terminal condition, would anything change in the future?’
And if that key is Damia herself.
‘Could this fake engagement be real?’
It was a situation that could perhaps be considered an opportunity.
But Damia’s heart was pounding with anxiety, not excitement.
In her previous life, she had no intention of forever occupying the position of the Duke’s fiancée, who had belonged to someone else.
I didn’t want to live as a duchess in name only, enduring the sarcasm of being considered a far inferior to him.
‘A marriage where one party leans too heavily can never lead to happiness.’
So Cassian had to be paired with a young lady with at least Drury’s background.
‘By the way, why did I have this strange ability?’
No, I was skeptical from the beginning whether this was even a proper ability.
It could have been a simple anomaly, and there was no guarantee that it would happen again in the future.
Even the personal physician of Duke Sarkis, who had long studied the dragon’s curse, declared that this was the first time he had ever seen anything like this.
“Miss Damia!”
Then suddenly, urgent footsteps were heard, and the butler knocked on the door.
Damia, who had woken up from her thoughts, reflexively pushed Arsene’s letter into the side table.
My heart started pounding for no reason even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Can I come in for a moment? It’s urgent!”
I glanced out the window absentmindedly, and it was already pitch black. It wasn’t the kind of time the butler would rush to find Damia.
“This is a big deal! Ro, Romi…!”
Why are you suddenly talking about Romi?
A startled Damia opened the door.
The butler, who was pale and tired, was stamping his feet.
“What’s going on? Why is Romi here?”
“Hey, they say he’s in critical condition. He’s seriously injured and almost dead….”
“what?”
Damia’s lips slowly opened.
A chill ran down my spine. I could almost hear tinnitus.
“A message has arrived from the Duke of Sarkis’s residence. They say Romi was found on the mountain behind the family home, and she’s practically dead.”
“Romy said she was going to go to town. There’s no reason to go all the way there!”
“There are many rare medicinal herbs in the mountain behind that place, and it is said that the villagers would sneak in and out to dig them up and sell them, but the people generally turned a blind eye to it.”
Damia suddenly remembered what Romi had muttered as she passed by.
‘If the Duke would only give me permission, I would like to dig up and sell medicinal herbs from the mountain behind the Duke’s house.’
They were selling herbs and ointments little by little through Luke, Romy’s older brother.
It wasn’t widely known yet, but it was a decent amount of pocket money.
Having had a taste of the fun, Romi became increasingly enthusiastic about helping Damia. She even told her story about the hill behind the Duke’s house.
Still, he wasn’t the kind of kid who would do something like that to Damia without saying anything.
“Romy, isn’t she a bit greedy? She must have snuck in and stumbled.”
“…That can’t be true. It can’t be Romi.”
The butler lowered his head with a somber expression.
“The Duke’s family sent a carriage. The maid’s life or death won’t be a big deal to them….”
He seemed to have already decided that Romi was dead.
“Since she is a maid assigned to you personally by the Duke, it seems he will take special care of her.”
“…….”
“If Romi were to die from illness, I think you would personally hold her funeral.”
“A funeral? You’re already talking about that….”
Cold sweat kept seeping out from my palms.
Even if someone she didn’t know well was on the verge of death, she would be worried, but Damia had become much closer to Romi during that time.
Romy was a cheerful person and treated Damia like a benefactor. Their time together was always enjoyable.
As we talked about what to make and sell with herbs, the sun would soon set.
“Young lady, I know it’s hard to believe, but… here is a letter with the Duke’s family seal.”
The already familiar emblem of the Sarkis Dukes was clearly visible.
“Romy might not make it through the night, so how about saying goodbye for the last time?”
Damia could no longer deny reality.
* * *
The air was quite chilly as the night deepened.
Damia closed the hem of her only coat tightly and headed to the backyard.
Something rattled inside my pocket, but I didn’t have time to pay attention to it now.
“You told me to take this carriage and come to the duke’s residence?”
A large carriage was sitting there, just sitting there.
It was a pitch-black carriage without any decorations, including the Sarkis family crest.
“Yes, my lady. Please get in quickly. The coachman is the one who brought the letter with the official seal, so you can trust him.”
“Why didn’t you send Duke Sarkis’s carriage?”
“You two aren’t officially married yet, are you? Some people might find fault with you for visiting each other’s residences late at night, so you should be careful.”
“They say Romi is in critical condition… What good are rumors?”
At that moment, a kick and a stifled laugh were heard from the coachman, who was wearing his hat pulled down low.
“Didn’t that coachman just laugh?”
“It must be a mistake, miss. Come on, I think we should hurry.”
The butler also raised his eyebrows at the coachman’s suspicious reaction, but soon pretended to be calm and urged Damia on.
A strange anxiety rose from Damia’s ankles to the top of her head.
“Just a moment. I’m going to see Father. This is about the maid of our family, and Father, as the head of the household, should know about it.”
“It’s okay, my lady. The Count is already fast asleep, and I will explain the situation in detail tomorrow morning.”
The butler answered, opening the carriage door himself.
Why do you seem to be in such a hurry?
Damia stepped onto the stairs, half in doubt. If Romi were truly in critical condition, she knew she’d regret hesitating for the rest of her life.
“Anyway, there’s a lot of dirty talk.”
At that moment, the butler’s cynical monologue penetrated Damia’s ears.
The voice was very small, but it was heard clearly because the surroundings were so quiet.
“What did you just say?”
Damia turned around and faced the butler.
He sighed heavily and shrugged.
“I told you to hurry.”
“lie.”
“It seems like the young lady is in shock and is at a loss.”
“I’m not going. Now that I think about it, something seems strange.”
Damia stopped with both legs clenched.
I had a feeling that if I just kept getting dragged along like this, it would never work out.
“Didn’t Romee follow you around quite a bit? You should watch over your final journey.”
“…….”
Those words pricked Damia’s guilt.
Was it for nothing that Romi was taken out of the Soro Marquis’ residence?
If Damia hadn’t stepped in, Romi would have succeeded like in her previous life, even if it meant suffering a bit.
“Well, let’s get going. The little duke will be waiting for you.”
“Stop rushing me. First of all….”
“Ha, are you going to keep bothering me like this?”
“what?”
The middle-aged butler pressed his temples and let out an irritated sigh.
“Ouch! Let go of this!”
He lifted Damia like a piece of luggage and tried to shove her into the carriage.
“I told you to let go!”
Damia wriggled, her claws raised.
However, there was no way that Damia, who was thinner than the average girl, could really reject a middle-aged man.
“ah!”
The butler threw Damia into the carriage.
He nervously wiped my face, which was a mess from his fingernail marks.
“No matter how much you struggle, it’s no use, miss.”
“Why on earth are you doing this to me!”
“Now that I’ve received the money, I’ll do my best to fulfill my duties. My mission today is to safely deliver the young lady to her husband.”
“What the hell are you talking about! Who the hell is that person!”
Could it be Count Fabron?
Was the resentment of not receiving my salary on time while being used as a butler this great?
To the point where he would sell the young daughter of the master to the old count to make a fortune!
But it’s not my fault, it’s my father’s fault for blowing the fortune!
“Miss, I think this will be the end, so I’ll be honest with you. I mean, I mean.”
The butler, who had finally caught his breath, raised the corners of his mouth in a vulgar manner.
“Actually, I would have done the same thing even if I hadn’t received the money.”
