Chapter 18

“Right.”

Fabian smiled bitterly.

He leaned against the armrest of the chair and spoke helplessly.

“I need to find a woman who wants to marry me. A woman with just a noble descent. No title required.”

Fabian thought for a moment, then corrected his words.

“No, I’d rather like a weak and penniless noblewoman.”

Fortus furrowed his eyebrows and pushed up his glasses.

“It will be a little difficult.”

“Yeah. Uncle Dominic won’t sit still. But I need to find a woman to be the Grand Duchess at all costs. As soon as possible.”

At Fabian’s words, Fortus kept his mouth shut.

He rolled his eyes for a moment and thought about something, then said with a grin.

“Isn’t there a woman with the condition you mentioned earlier?”

Fabian widened his eyes.

“Who? Oh…!”

The woman who claimed that the Grand Duke would fall in love with her sister at first sight was now staying in this mansion.

“Because there is a surname called Blick, she must be a noblewoman.”

Fabian remembered her sister, who hastily hid in the dining room.

“… she seems to have run away from home after being abused, and she has nowhere to go, and she is interested in the position of the Grand Duchess.”

Fabian muttered softly in thought.

***

I was sitting in front of the mirror drying Larissa’s wet hair with a towel.

Through the mirror, Larissa’s face that looked exactly like mine was reflected.

Both were so beautiful that I was ecstatic to see them.

But Larissa’s eyes stared into the air without focus.

I carefully wrapped her fine silver hair that came down to her waist and dried it well with several towels to avoid catching a cold.

And I continued to talk to her.

Although it was one-sided, it was not bad to chat like this and have someone to take care of.

It’s boring because I’m just in the room.

From this morning on, I washed Larissa’s face and washed her hair as if washing my two-year-old nephew.

“How are you, Larissa? Don’t you feel good? If you get better soon, you can do more fun things.”

“……”

“Don’t you know how good it is to soak yourself in a warm bath? Sometimes I fall asleep when I get tired.”

The truth is unknown because she does not speak, but if I dare to guess, Larissa would never have been in a large bathtub before.

I can’t even imagine that Igor or Villain would go down to the basement with warm bathwater.

In addition, there were too many wounds on Larissa’s body.

Once a wound is formed, it must not come into contact with water until it has healed. Of course, a bath would have been even more difficult because another wound would have formed on it before it healed.

‘Come to think of it, yesterday the doctor treated Larissa’s wound quite suspiciously.’

When I asked for bandages and medicine to take care of Larissa’s wounds, the maid sent a doctor to me instead.

Still, it said that the owner of the house was in critical condition, so I was very careful to ask for medicine. I decided to thank him for his kindness.

When the doctor pulled off Larissa’s clothes saying he was going to look at the wounds, it wasn’t just the doctor who was surprised.

So did I.

I guessed that the bottom of the clothes would be full of scars, but I didn’t expect it to be this much.

The night before I escaped, Larissa’s clothes were covered with bandages by the nanny.

Even the bandage was stained with blood from the wound.

Carefully removing the bandages, I could only see the scars covering her small body.

Shocked, the doctor asked me.

“… is she a slave? It’s a shame. Are you aware that slavery was outlawed?”

“No. This is my younger sister.”

“But no matter how you look at it, it’s a beating mark…”

The doctor took turns looking at me and Larissa with a suspicious look.

I just didn’t say anything.

Only Larissa was calm.

She reflexively flinched whenever the medicine touched her, but she showed no other reaction.

After the treatment, the doctor urged me to never let the water come into contact with her wounds.

He said he would come every day and take care of the wounds.

I made an appointment with Larissa yesterday as soon as the doctor left.

“I’ll wash your hair until you get better. Even if you can’t take a bath for a while, you’ll be fine to wipe your skin with a warm wet towel when you get better.”

Since then, Larissa has been completely kept out of the water.

“Come here. If you sit by the window and brush your hair while in the sun, it’ll be dry soon.”

“……”

“Getting in the sun every day is very important. Vitamin D is also necessary for your body, and it makes you feel much better. When you are depressed, you should do something like this.”

It was the first time in my life that I talked to myself so much.

I sat Larissa on the sofa by the window and stood behind her, then started brushing her hair slowly.

The moist hair was really soft like silk.

The more I combed her shiny silver hair, the more ecstatic I felt.

‘How can your hair look so good?’

From now on, I will have to get her in the sun every day and take care of her diet.

At some point, I was lost in thought and my hand slowed down little by little.

‘I thought that if I met the Grand Duke, everything would be solved in an instant…’

The very night we came here, the Grand Duke suddenly became in critical condition.

And the next day, that is yesterday, he passed away.

‘What if I escaped only a day late?’

Because of the sudden death of the Grand Duke, the whole mansion must have been in chaos.

It was really good until I came here a day early to find out who the prince in the fairy tale was and to get lucky enough to stay for a while.

Although I stumbled a bit in the middle.

But who would have known that the Grand Duke would lose his life the very next day?

No one explained the situation to us, but I heard the voice coming from outside and knew that the Grand Duke had passed away.

And at the same time, I gave up on winning Fabian’s heart.

Who in the world is enjoying a romantic relationship after his grandfather has passed away?

“You know, Larissa. Maybe I was wrong. I thought you’d be happy right away if you just came here.”

I said softly as I slowly combed Larissa’s hair.

Larissa’s hair shimmered in the sunlight.

Her hair was almost dry now.

“Don’t worry though. I’ll take care of you until you become an adult.”

If she had been locked up in the basement, she would have met the prince three years later, when she was a 16-year-old.

It’s not just meeting the prince.

The prince executes all of the family members who know the secret of Larissa.

‘But since we ran away before Larissa met the prince, Igor and Villain will surely chase after us even to the end of the world to find Larissa.’

Everything got complicated because of me.

‘So I have to take responsibility.’

When I thought of Igor and Villain, goosebumps appeared on my back.

I quickly brushed Larissa’s hair again and said in a bright voice.

“I’m afraid they’ll find us here. Let’s go somewhere far away. Is there any place you’d like to visit?”

Larissa still did not answer.

Then I heard a knock.

‘Who is it? Is it time for the doctor to come?’

I laid down the comb and went to open the door.

It was Fabian standing outside the door.

“Excuse me. Can I come in for a moment?”

At the unexpected visit, I nodded in embarrassment.

Fabian’s expression as he entered the room was unexpectedly calm.

After a few days of hardship, his face looked a little bad, but that was all.

“Lady Blick, how is your injury?”

Before I could even say condolences to his grandfather, he asked how I was doing.

“Thank you for sending a doctor even though you may be having a hard time… also we have heard of it. You must be heartbroken. We would like to express our condolences.”

I bowed lightly. It was a sign of gratitude and condolences.

“Thank you for your kind words.”

Fabian also bowed his head.

When he looked up after a while, his expression had changed somehow.

He looked like he had a tense expression on his face.

‘Huh?’

Is there anything?

He didn’t seem to have come to check on my well-being, but as if he had come to say something.

Sure enough, he asked me in a cautious tone.

“I have something to tell you, would you mind?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“It is difficult to talk about here. Can we move to another place?”