Chapter 20

“So, are you saying that the Duke will be saved if I get the ingredients listed here?”

“Yes, the most important ingredient is tea mint oil.”

“The combination is simpler than I thought.”

“Duke Jalier is not going to be completely healthy because his disease is already in a serious state, but his coughing will stop.”

Aloken Jalier’s purpose is to restore his father and have his father’s will amended under the observation of a lawyer.

The symptoms of the illness Duke Jalier suffered were like this: weight loss and hemoptysis. In severe cases, brown and white spots appeared on their skin. The disease gets worse the more you eat the fruit that is enjoyed by nobles, popira.  You could see that his disease is the same as the disease Ronwe suffered from.

‘As expected, Duke Jalier also suffered Gustav disease.’

So what’s the cure for it?

‘I don’t know if the death of Duke Jallier was the trigger, but did the treatment of Gustav disease suddenly start to be discussed after that happened?’

An antidote based on the herbal tea mint was the key. The pharmacist who uncovered the secret of Gustav’s disease spread that information through various documents to inform his discovery. I, who returned to the past, could know its treatment of course from there.

“Lady Celcius, what is the cause of the Duke’s illness?”

“The cause?”

“What is the name of the disease?”

“My promise is to extend the Duke’s life span, not to give an explanation.”

Clink.

I lifted the cup of tea that was already chilled on the table to moisten my throat.

“How can you, as the astrologist, not know what kind of illness is that when the patient you treated is your  future fiance’s father?”

“…”

“Can you tell me now? I am not as gentle as I look, and I have less patience.”

In that brief silence, Aloken’s face hardened. I replied helplessly to his cold stare as if there was nothing I could do about it.

“My source of information is some wanderer.”

“…”

“She is a person who travels from kingdom to kingdom to learn about herbal medicine, and she explained that there was someone who treated a patient with the same symptoms as the Duke. There’s also a note about it too.”

“So, you don’t know the details because you only heard it?”

“Yes, it’s unfortunately like that. But the cause of the illness was real… She called that illness ‘painful cough.’”

I began to tell blatant lies as I opened my mouth. They were all excuses that had already been prepared for today.

‘I have to be careful. Otherwise, they will find out what I did to Ronwe.’

I actually remembered most of the information about Gustav disease. It was because I studied the scholar’s thesis that will be published in the future with interest. But there was nothing to gain by revealing that knowledge here.

“Lord have already seen how effective the tea mint oil is. Is the source of information still important?”

“…”

“What I offer in our contract is that I will heal the Duke and help Lord with the succession problem with the time that has already been discussed before.”

Soon I blinked my eyes with the face that I knew nothing more than that. Aloken only laughed at my actions.

“But please keep the things I have told Lord as a secret. It’s not good if there’s a rumor that a noble lady is being close with a wanderer.”

I never treated Gustav disease by myself, and I used the story I had just heard to join hands with the Duke’s family.

It was kind of a gamble. Nevertheless, I succeeded. In fact, as soon as Aloken listened to my advice, Duke Jalier, who had been told that there was no hope for him to recover, began to recover. Aloken had no choice but to acknowledge my boldness. Only then was I certain that I knew about the future.

“I bet the Lord didn’t know how desperate I was or what the Duke’s illness was, but I risked my life for that.”

Aloken then burst into laughter.

“I never have intention of marrying an astrologist.”

I didn’t reply to him and thought about it quietly.

‘But being labeled as an astrologist is better than a murder, right?’

* * *

The schedule after that was simple.

When the servants brought the ingredients, Aloken called a pharmacist and made the medicine on the spot. Then he carefully fed the finished medicine to his father, who moaned on the bed.

Now, all we have to do is wait for the medicine to do its job, so we leave the bedroom. Our next destination was the backyard. There was a tea table there.

“Sit down.”

There was no tea nor refreshments on the table, so only a chilly breeze blew around.  The words that came and went were businesslike, depending on the surrounding atmosphere.

“Once it is confirmed that the Duke is awake, I will return to my mansion. I have something else to do, so I have to leave in a hurry.”

“I put a lot of effort into the ball, but it was a pity. It was the first ball held with my name.”

After that, we briefly concluded discussions about our future relationship. It was about how many months the contract extension period would be based on when we got engaged. So, when the negotiations were almost settled, I asked him,

“Lord doesn’t ask me again why I chose you as my new fiancé?”

I had perfectly crafted excuses after much effort. But Aloken turned the question over as if it was unworthy of being heard.

“The reason is obvious. Because there is a lot to gain if you stick to the powerful family.”

“…”

“And did you have any plan to threaten me?”

At his words, I murmured with a subtle expression on my face.

“It wasn’t… a threat.”

Did I look pitiful when I said that, as I had been proud of myself so far?

Seeing that, Aloken smiled and stood up.

“It doesn’t matter. If you want something, you have to get it at any cost.”

“…”

“It would have been okay if we had lived as a couple if we had similar behaviors. Then get up, my fake fiancée.”

But a few hours later.

It was time for an early dinner with a deer that was said to be hunted by Aloken himself.

“Lord, the Duke is awake!”

We rushed to the Duke Jallier’s bedroom when we heard that Duke Jalier had regained consciousness.

“Al-Aloken…”

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“!”

When we arrived, a middle-aged man was blinking in sweat. Finally, brightness returned to the Duke Jalier’s eyes.

“Father…!”

The scene that followed was the tenderness of the son holding his father’s hand tightly and welcoming him.  I realized something as I watched the scene from the side.

‘Huh, he hasn’t used the word ‘father’ until now.’

Aloken right now is really similar to the Aloken that I know. He is a human being who will not hesitate to act to achieve what he wants.

“I’m glad that the Duke is healthy. So should I go back now?”

It was a waste of time to watch Aloken Jalier’s act. Having made that decision, I politely opened my mouth. Then an unfamiliar voice came from the other side.

“Ahem. That child… who is she?”

The voice came from Duke Jalier, who rose from his bed, asking for my identity. He looked at me with a frown on his brow as if he wasn’t in good condition yet.

“This is the lady from the Count family, whom I mentioned when you woke up the other day. The Celcius family, father.”

“Aah…”

“She is very kind-hearted. When she heard that father had collapsed again, she sank in anxiety, so she had been coming to Sangtepul for about a month. She always prays for your well-being.”

Aloken laid out lies without batting an eye. The fake sadness in his eyes had gone away over time, but Duke Jalier didn’t seem to notice it because he had been wandering through death for a long time.

“Her prayer… seems to have worked. Come here, Celcius. What is your name?”

“It’s Vanora.”

“Vanora… yes. This was the first social season for my son, who was confined in the Northern region… I heard you treated him very well.”

“…”

“And I’m grateful that you’ve come to visit me at my news. Please continue to be good friends with Aloken.”

I looked at Aloken for a moment. Then Aloken spoke with the face of a good son who respected his father.

“Father, I’m sorry but… Lady Celcius is not my friend.”

I was wondering what he was saying with that face.

“I was going to tell you when you’re fully recovered…”

“Well?”

“Lady Vanora is the person I want to have as my companion, so please correct how you addressed her.”

Companion?

Duke Jalier was puzzled by the words from Aloken’s honey-sweet voice. Even I had a look that was similar with Duke Jalier’s expression. It was Aloken who kept smiling at that situation.

* * *

“W-What? You mean that you want to marry that child? You didn’t say anything in the meantime…”

“I will explain it to you one by one, father.”

Creek, thud.

I opened the door and left the room behind, which was noisy with the topic Aloken brought up. After eavesdropping on the conversation between father and son over the door for a while, I saw a young man with black hair coming out and stopping acting.

“Let’s find a suitable place to talk.”

This was the first sentence Aloken said when he found me outside the door.

“You did a good job today.”

“…”

“It exceeded my expectations. I didn’t expect that man to jump up.”

Aloken once again changed the way he addressed his father since it was only the two of us left.

‘That man and Duke are words with a sense that he’s not close with his family.’

Even this trivial choice of words showed that he didn’t really like his father. But I didn’t have to dig about it.

‘That’s right. I called my father like that too, over and over, but I didn’t even get an answer from him.’

More than that, it was important that we achieved the terms of the deal we offered for the contract.

“Congratulations on doing your job well. I will pretend to be your fiancé for a moment as you wish. It’s not difficult to persuade the Duke, so there won’t be any setbacks.”

“Yes.”

“If you want, would you like me to send a messenger to your family and start the engagement process right away?”

“Pardon? No, it’s not necessary.”

Whether he was so happy to hear that his father had become healthy, Aloken tried to fulfill the terms of the deal quickly. Thanks to this, I was promised an engagement ceremony before summer ended this year.

‘I’m glad things went well.’

So now I’m done with treatment matters. I got in the carriage and prepared to return to my mansion.

‘As expected, the devil who gave me a second chance is taking good care of me.’

However, Aloken unexpectedly followed me to see me off. I glanced at him in front of the carriage and said,

“Can Lord discuss the engagement procedure directly to the Count without me? Wouldn’t it be faster like that?”

Aloken’s amber eyes were squinted to hear the sentences that seemed stiff. Then he made his distinctive smile.

“Even though it’s a show-off event… how about your choice of dress or location?”

“It’s all up to the Lord. You don’t have to ask me. After all, it’s troublesome even for the Lord too, right?”

I lowered my voice as the coachman approached from afar. On the other hand, Aloken said without changing the expression on his face.

“Lord… If you still call me with that title while you said we fell in love at first sight and promised to get married, a person named Naverius would find it strange.”

“Then what should I call Lord in front of others?”

I thought that his words were undoubtedly true. So, I kept thinking about how to address him for a while, but after hearing the answer that followed, the problem was clearly solved.

“Call me Aloken. Without any additions.”

He said with a perfect smile. I had brief thoughts as I watched him treat me with respect.

‘Honestly, I can’t trust him. His greed for the title is so big that he may have really killed his brother in the future.’

Aloken was certainly an attractive fiancé, but he was not trustworthy.

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But what’s wrong with not believing Aloken?

Although fake, I was promised a social status as a prospective duchess. I, who had been deprived of everything, gradually began to increase the things in my hands.