Chapter 46

The living should live, Erina. I’m sure my daughter will live well.

Erina lightly swept the last sentence of her mother’s letter.

She realized it as soon as she read it.

She doesn’t know what and how much she knows, but her mother didn’t take medicine on purpose.

The living should live.

If it were her mother, she would have wished her a good life.

Honestly and wisely.

But my mother didn’t know. Without her, Erina loses her reason to live right.

She was smoothing the letter for a long time when someone knocked on the door.

“Miss, the Duke is calling you.”

When the maid’s voice came over the door, Erina stood up without hesitation.

When she arrived at the duke’s study, he brought up the main subject.

“Take on Bayer Pharmaceutical.”

“What?”

Erina asked back in surprise.

She heard that her older brother decided to take charge of the newly established Bayer Pharmaceutical.

Besides, she still has a year left until she becomes an adult.….

“Officially, Evan will run it, but make sure you take care of it behind the scenes.”

Only then did I fully understand what the Duke was saying.

He meant for her to work on behalf of her incompetent brother. Of course, all her efforts will go down to him.

Her role in this family was just that.

Erina chewed her lips.

Just as she was about to say it was too heavy a task for her, the Duke spoke again.

“If you do well until you become an adult, Bayer Pharmaceuticals will be yours.”

Erina stood for a long time.

Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Harris Pharmaceuticals, her mother who hasn’t taken any medication, ‘my daughter will definitely live a good life’.

Everything got tangled up in her head.

“Alright.”

But Erina finally bowed her head.

If she couldn’t live wisely and honestly as her mother wished, she was going to live well in a different way.

Returning to her room, Erina put her mother’s letter in a drawer.

And never opened it again.

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

That’s how the dream ended.

Even after the dream was over, I couldn’t open my eyes for a long time because my swollen eyes pricked.

It’s definitely someone else’s memory, but maybe because I was trapped in that person’s body, my heart rumbled for a long time even after the dream ended.

It was a long time before I could open my eyes.

Slowly lifting my eyelids, I faced exceptionally clear red eyes in the dark.

Tuduk, Tuduk. The last tears that had been collected flowed down my cheeks.

So our eyes were intertwined for a long time.

Until Cardan opens his mouth and recites it languidly.

“Stop dragging your feet, will you? It’s disgusting.”

“Ah….”

My thoughts broke at once.

I wiped my wet face.

That is embarrassing.

It’s not enough to cry because of a dream. I can’t believe Cardan caught me crying.

“I’m sorry. My eyes are tired these days, so I fell asleep. When it happens, my tears come out first.”

I made a random excuse as I felt the sensation that heated up to the end of my ears.

But Cardan still dragged his shirt with an angry gesture, as if he was disgusted or frustrated.

Fortunately, the coachman knocked on the door just in time.

“We have arrived at the Imperial Palace, Duke.”

Without hesitation, Cardan opened the carriage door. It was a hasty gesture as if he could not take being in the same space as me for even a moment.

“Ugh, it’s suffocating.”

Cardan, who uttered a small curse, began to stride away.

Their feelings of feeling dirty for each other was mutual.

When I tried to put my middle finger on Cardan’s back, I found the candle on the wagon seat on the other side.

“What?”

Did he just throw away the candle he got in exchange for their new contract?

His mother’s candle?

I’ve never seen such a fool.

I grabbed the candle in a hurry and jumped out of the carriage.

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

Throughout the carriage ride, Cardan’s mood was indescribably low.

In the stifling carriage, Erina’s feeble sobbing continued to disturb his ears.

It wasn’t just noise.

Her small, wrinkled nose, her red-stained eyes, and her red lips panting for breath.

There was nothing that didn’t bother him.

Maybe that’s why he couldn’t take his eyes off Erina.

In unbearable annoyance

After the carriage stopped, Erina’s deep blue eyes, clouded with tears, stared at him silently for a few seconds.

At that moment, the narrow space felt unbearably stuffy.

So he got off the wagon as soon as he had a chance.

Fortunately, as soon as he stepped into the garden, his breath opened up.

“As expected.”

Cardan clicked his tongue.

He must have been in the same space with the Duke of Baloa for so long that he felt dirty.

Unfortunately, Erina followed him out of the carriage without him noticing.

“Your Majesty?”

Ignoring Erina’s call, Cardan strode across the courtyard to the palace.

“Your Majesty!”

However, Erina snatched his arm  as if it was not enough to follow him.

Without a moment to think, his hand went out first.

When he slapped her hand, Erina stumbled with a short groan.

But Cardan was not willing to let her go.

“Don’t touch me.”

Cardan growled and rubbed out where Erina’s hand had touched.

It was unpleasant to see the burning part of his hand.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.”

While saying that, Erina came a step closer instead of falling as it was.

“But Your Majesty left this behind.”

And she held out a candle.

“I was going to bring it to you because you seemed to have forgotten, but my hand went out without realizing it.”

For a moment, he almost just looked at the thin hand that stuck out the candle while being dumbfounded.

No, maybe she’s right.

Cardan took the candle, biting down on fifty thousand curses in his heart.

Indeed, it was a continuation of displeasure.

“Ha ha. You forgot.”

He wanted to cover Erina’s mouth, that is smiling awkwardly.

“I was worried if it meant you were going to break the new contract…….”

Erina scratched her head with her left hand.

“……is it still valid? Our contract.”

Her right arm had been unnaturally drooping since earlier.

It was so annoying that he kept staring at it.

Then Erina awkwardly looked at him and hid her right arm behind her back.

As if she’s afraid he’ll pull out her whole arm.

A small laugh broke out.

It was always the duke who made him a cruel tyrant without blood or tears.

“Yes, it’s still valid.”

Cardan forced his gaze up to Erina’s face.

Erina’s deep blue eyes still showed signs of tears.

There was a time when he wanted her eyes to look only at him. Now he was so reluctant that his heart was tight.

A new contract or whatever.

All of this would have been planned in advance, but the way she looked up at him was disgusting, so he kept speaking.

“You must keep your word, Duke Baloa.”

Cardan tilted his head toward the candle.

“So that I won’t want to kill you until I give up on my mother.”

And he managed to wring up his mouth.

“The living should live, aren’t they?”

As the faint fear passed by Erina’s eyes, the stuffy feeling that was tightening his heart was relieved a little.

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

As soon as I returned to the office, I looked at my right arm.

“Ouch!”

It was a horrifying sight.

A large bruise was covering my arm as if my veins had burst.

“Oh, my God, I’m injured because of a candle.”

My stiff shoulder seemed to hurt her muscles.

I wanted to fall on the bed right away, but I ended up roughly threading my jacket on one arm and heading to the infirmary.

As soon as I stormed through the door, the doctor rolled his eyes as if he was in trouble.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, Duke. We don’t have any more medicines you’re looking for.”

“Forget that.”

I couldn’t even reach out my arm, so I jutted to my right arm.

“Look at my arm.”

The doctor’s eyes were wide open as soon as he saw my arm.

“How did you end up like this?”

“Someone tried to pull my arm out.”

Sitting on the stool in a pompous position, I had a cool bout of swearing.

It was an unbecoming act of the Duke, but now it was not a situation to argue about dignity or anything.

“What?”

The doctor was alarmed.

“Who dares to do that to the Duke……!”

“Yeah, but I let it slide because he’s a person who can pull out my neck.”

The doctor seemed to think that I had lost my mind.

“Then I’ll take a look.”

The doctor poked me in the arm and let me move.

In short, it means that there are more opportunities to curse.

“Fortunately, I don’t think you broke your bone. But keep it fixed for the time being.”

It was a relief.

The doctor bandaged my arm with an experienced touch.

“It’s done. If the bandage comes loose, I’ll put it back for you.”

“Okay, good job.”

I waddled to my feet.

The muscles of my body seemed to scream.

It’s not enough to be beaten by Cardan, now my arms are in this shape.

It wouldn’t be surprising for me to lie down for a few days, but I couldn’t afford it.

“By the way, prescribe me some medicine.”

The doctor’s complexion turned pale.

“I told you that medicine is not good for women! You won’t know if it’s only once or twice, what if it affects your future?”

“Ha.”

I was so shocked that I laughed out loud.

“I don’t drink that anymore.”

However, the doctor only rolled his eyes nervously.

“His Majesty told me not to give you any medicine unless you are sick.”

The irritation shot up to my head.

I’m embarrassed to death just because I had a misunderstanding, but he keeps reminding me of that.

“I’m sick now! I’m a patient! Can’t you see my arm!”

The doctor sweated as I wielded my bandaged arm threateningly.

“Oh, I see! I see!”

The doctor waved his hand as if to calm me down.

I held my forehead with my normal hand.

“Then give me some medicine and painkillers.”

With that, I poured the medicine that the doctor had brought into my mouth at once and stumbled back to the office.

Thanks to the hasty use of vacation and running away to the Duke’s mansion, there was quite a lot of work accumulated in the meantime.

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

The doctor tilted his head at the back of Duke Baloa leaving the infirmary.

“She doesn’t seem to be interested in having a successor, and now she seems to be a little concerned.”

Her blushing was more suspicious.

The doctor grinned and scratched his cheek.

“The day I saw the Duke of Baloa getting embarrassed, Well, it’s a matter of long life.”

Even though he said that, if Duke Baloa had heard it, he would come running right away and pull out all of the doctor’s coveted mustache, he smiled happily.