CH 23

lurelia11-14 minutes 21.12.2022

Chapter 23: What Love Letter?

Anette was horrified in her heart.

‘No!’

But Hernan said what he had to say anyway.

“I will wear it tomorrow, and I would like it sent to the palace by tonight.”

“But there’s only one of those, and it’s been chosen by His Highness Izekiel…….”

Annette’s back was soaking wet. She had been sweating profusely.

“Let me take responsibility for the aftermath,” Hernan insisted confidently. 

“…….”

“Is there an objection?”

Anette frowned.

‘Your Highness Izekiel……. I’m sorry. But your Highness was used by Prince Hernan today…….’

She replied, with tears in her eyes, “Please spare me, Your Highness.”

“Why would I kill you. Ridiculous,” Hernan snorted.

Annette felt the life draining from that sneer.

* * *

Linzel could tell as soon as she woke up from her long sleep. Her body was not in the best of shape.

She hadn’t made it out of bed until the sun was high in the sky.

With no sign of energy returning, she turned to Mini.

“Mini, can you bring me the medicine that Father got from the doctor the other day?”

“Yes, Miss. Just a moment!”

Mini returned shortly.

Raising only her upper body, Linzel swallowed the pills her maid brought.

She’d been taking them every day to keep herself alive, but she hadn’t noticed any improvement.

Truthfully, she felt like she was getting weaker.

But it seemed like it was better to take them than not to take them, so she took them.

When she had taken all the pills, Mini spoke to her.

“Miss. There’s a letter for you. I picked it up when I went to get some medicinal ingredients.”

“What about it?”

“It’s a letter from the imperial palace, or should it be called a love letter?” Mini added while blushing shyly.

“A love letter. It’s too early.”

Linzel corrected her, but a faint smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. If it was coming from the palace, it had to be from Hernan.

Linzel read the letter.

⌜My dear Linzel. This is Hernan.

The meeting you requested will take place tomorrow.

I will be at the ducal residence tomorrow afternoon at four o’clock, and I hope you will be there to meet me.⌟

‘Oh yes, Hernan. You granted me my request at once.’

Linzel set the letter she’d finished reading on the bedside table and stretched out on the bed.

“Miss. Are you going to sleep?”

“Yes. I really need to regain my strength for tomorrow’s social gathering. I think I’ll take a nap until Letty gets back.”

Was Letty attending a tea party? Anyway, Linzel was told Letty was off to a gathering to gossip with other noble youngsters.

Letty, who was much more sociable than Linzel was, often attended banquets and tea parties.

‘She must be able to get away with it because she doesn’t suffer from the same physical ailments that I do,’ Linzel thought.

She was suddenly envious. Linzel envied Letty’s freedom because she was not getting out of bed much these days.

It was a vain greed. Damn, shame on her for being jealous of such a pretty, adorable child.

“But Mini.”

“Yes, Miss.”

” What about me, will I ever be well?”

” ……Miss. Why do you say that?”

Mini sobbed as she came to the bedside.

Linzel was troubled. She didn’t want the cute little girl crying, not even because of me.

Did her words about wanting to be healthy sound pathetic to her?

Was the sight of a healthy Mini looking at Linzel’s frail body inviting pity?

Linzel put on a cheery voice.

“Hey, don’t cry. I didn’t ask you to cry. I just said it because……. I’m so weak, that’s all.”

“…….”

Mini couldn’t answer, she just sniffled.

This was bad. Linzel knew that if she said one more word, Mini would burst into tears.

“I’m really going to bed now, so you should get some rest.”

Linzel said nonchalantly while pulling the covers over her shoulders and closing her eyes.

The sleep-inducing effects of the medicine Mini had brought her must have made her sleepy, because she dozed off immediately.

Just before she drifted off, she felt Mini squeeze her hand that was poking out of the duvet.

She was stubbornly staying by Linzel’s side, telling her to get some rest.

As Linzel straddled the line between dream and reality, she heard Mini’s voice faintly.

“This time too… … I can’t……”

What can’t be done?

She wanted to ask, but she couldn’t rouse herself from her trance.

In the dream, there was Mini, and not just any Mini, but a crying Mini. There was nothing in the space where she existed. No sky, no wind, no seasons, nothing.

Mini was sitting on the ground, and her sobs could be heard quite clearly.

Linzel’s gaze in the dream began to move closer and closer to her.

Then she saw a woman lying in front of Mini. Mini was clutching the woman’s white, thin hand and holding it to her face as she wept.

Mini’s tears were dripping down the back of the woman’s hand. The tear-stained back of her hand was eerily familiar.

Linzel’s gaze began to drift up from the woman’s hand towards her face.

When she finally made out the woman’s features, Linzel took a deep breath.

“……!”

Even though it was a dream, she could feel her heart beating fast.

The woman…… looked exactly like her face.

No, it was exactly like Linzel’s face.

Was it …….Linzel?

The woman’s eyes were closed, and her face was very pale, like the back of her hand.

There was no color in it, like you could stab her and not a drop of blood would come out.

She looked like a dead person.

Then her eyes, nose, mouth, ears…… blood started dripping from every orifice. It soaked Mini, who was sitting down, and then surged forward as if it was rushing to drown her – soon even Linzel’s vision was stained red.

Everywhere, it was blood.

“……heuk!”

Linzel gasped, her breathing shallow and sporadic as she fought to wake up. Her heart, which had been beating fast for what seemed like forever, refused to calm down.

She continued to gasp and stretched out her hands. Her palms were tinged with a pale pink color.

Linzel was relieved. Her palms weren’t as white as they had been in her dream.

But she couldn’t get rid of the dream’s lingering images, which grew in front of her eyes like phantoms.

She could still see the red blood trail from her dream.

At that moment, she felt her stomach churning.

Linzel wondered if it was because she had taken a pill and gone straight to bed……, but then a lump rose in her throat.

She reflexively opened her lips wide as something like vomit came out of her open mouth.

It was a handful of blood.

It soaked the white sheets of the bed in bright red.

“……Hemoptysis?” 

(T/N: Hemoptysis refers to spitting out or coughing up small amounts of blood or bloody sputum.)

Bleeding. It was something she hadn’t done since she became Linzel.

And…….

She was reminded of the story from the book 〈Don’t Love Me, Because I’m Dying〉.

Bleeding was something Letty regularly had trouble with, because unlike her sister, she had a very bad heart.

“…….”

The part where Letty’s hemoptysis started was in the second half of the novel, after her heart condition worsened.

Now, at the beginning of the novel, Linzel was wondering why she was bleeding and not Letty.

Linzel looked down at the vomited blood, frozen, for a few minutes.

She heard the door open and Mini, who seemed to have been out for a while, walked in. Mini screamed when she saw the reddened duvet.

“Ah, ah, Miss! Are you all right?”

She ran over to Linzel and checked her over.

“Where are you sick?”

Linzel looked at Mini and giggled.

It was a little scary to cough up blood, but seeing Mini genuinely concerned about her made Linzel feel better.

Facing someone who was genuine. It didn’t seem like such a bad thing.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, we have a lot of blood in our bodies, throwing up a handful of blood isn’t going to kill me. I’m not going to die.”

‘I’m not dying.’

The words were comforting to Mini, but they were also comforting to Linzel herself.

She would not die.

At least, Linzel didn’t die in 〈Don’t Love Me, Because I’m Dying.〉.

As for the blood, she wasn’t feeling well…… so she let it go. That’s right.

“I’ll get the doctor, just give me a minute.”

Mini left the room once more. Left alone, Linzel wiped the corner of her mouth with her sleeve.

Only then did she notice that it had grown dark around her.

It must have been midday before she fell asleep.

Had Letty returned from her outing?

* * *

It was like looking at a grave. In front of Linzel were three people with tears in their eyes.

Mini, Letty, and their father.

Linzel’s father, who had been traveling a lot lately, had rushed to her room as soon as he heard that she was bleeding profusely.

Letty, who had just returned from an outing, also came to see Linzel. A little later, Mini, who had brought the doctor, joined them.

The three of them, who were like a family gathered around Linzel, started crying as soon as they saw her.

If you looked at their faces, you’d think she was about to die.

‘Oh, well. I’m not dying.’

Linzel couldn’t tell them what the novel was about, so she was going to have trouble explaining why she was so calm.

The whole time the doctor was examining her, she was smiling. She figured that if she smiled, the three of them would have to stop crying.

The doctor’s examination was soon over.

“……There’s nothing wrong with you, all I can tell is that you’ve been weak and have lost a load of blood.”

Look at this. Clearly not dying.

“I’ll prescribe you some medicine to boost your vitality, but you’ll have to take it sparingly.”

Linzel replied like a well-behaved student.

“Okay-.”

After examining her, the doctor left the room.

Despite the fact that nothing was wrong, the three of them were still sad.

Linzel turned to them.

“Hey, guys. Let’s lighten up a bit. I’m really fine now, see.”

But Letty said, “But Linzel……. It’s the first time you’ve ever been bleeding, and I’m so worried.”

Yeah, sure, Letty. Linzel had that thought too.

She was wondering if she had just replaced her sister somehow. So that Letty would have to do it less often in the future.

‘If that’s the case,’ Linzel thought, ‘Then it’s okay to do it again and again and again.’

Would Letty know how she felt?