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Money Envelope, I’ll Accept It Once – Chapter : 04
“Even while paying for medication expenses, you managed to save this much. Well done.”
At Dr. O’Neill’s comforting words, my eyes stung. Countless sorrows battered my tear ducts all at once.
“Is there anywhere else you could ask for help?”
Even though he already knew the answer, Dr. O’Neill asked anyway. I could only shake my head helplessly.
“…I see.”
At that moment, I suddenly tightened my grip on Grandma’s hand.
“Grandma! Can you hear me? Do you know who I am?”
“…da.”
“Pardon? I can’t hear you well.”
I leaned my ear close to her lips.
But what I heard brought me such a shock that my mind went blank.
“That’s… enough. I’ve lived long enough.”
“…What did you say just now?”
“There’s no need to keep trying. Just let me die.”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
What… what did she just say to me?
“How… how can you say something like that to me?”
“When it’s time to die, you die. Don’t blame yourself for it.”
“No! If you die, it’s all my fault! It’s my responsibility!”
“My child…”
“If Grandma dies, I won’t eat at all and I’ll just cry every day. I’ll cry and cry until I collapse, and I’ll just keep crying!”
Unable to hold back my rising tears, I ran out of the place. I walked aimlessly, sobbing so hard I didn’t even know where I was going.
The thought of Grandma’s absence—something I had never once seriously considered before—terrified me beyond reason.
My tears wouldn’t stop, and I couldn’t return home until deep into the night.
I don’t know how much time passed.
“Hic… hic… sniff…”
I had cried so much that at some point, no more tears would come out.
I sat curled up, burying my face in my knees, only hiccupping endlessly.
Then I heard footsteps approaching from not far away.
Only then did I realize I was sitting alone in an unknown place in the middle of the dark night. Panic struck me, and I hurriedly wiped my tear-streaked face on my sleeve.
“What are you doing here?”
At that voice, my attempt to run away on the spot failed.
The man who stopped a few steps away and set down a lantern sounded familiar.
“…Duke?”
“You can barely see my face with those swollen eyes?”
His voice was strange—half laughing, half worried. Embarrassed, I rubbed my eyes.
“I actually can’t see well. I recognized you from your voice.”
“So you came all the way here without fear. Do you even know where you’re sitting right now?”
“I don’t… Should I be scared if I knew where this is?”
“You don’t need to be scared anymore. You’re with the man responsible for public safety in Pennington.”
Half joking, half serious, he pushed the lantern toward me.
As I subconsciously moved toward the light, a faint, metallic smell brushed past my nose.
‘Smells like… blood.’
Before I knew it, my mouth spoke.
“Duke, are you injured? I think I smell blood…”
“You can smell that? Seems your nose works as well as your eyes.”
Eyes?
Now that I think about it… did the aide who was desperately looking for the Duke make it back safely?
“It’s not my blood. I was just doing my duty as the head of public security, so don’t worry.”
“…Ah.”
Relief escaped me before I could stop it, but his voice came again.
“So, why is our citizen crouching here crying? Am I supposed to work overtime because of you?”
As if ready to deal with anyone who hurt me, the sound of a sword hilt shifting came off strangely gentle.
In the end, tears welled up in my eyes again.
“Think of this as a direct complaint to the lord and just tell me what happened.”
As I started crying again, hiccuping uncontrollably, the Duke gently soothed me.
He stayed by my side until I finally stopped crying.
“Are you done crying?”
“Sniff… yes. I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. Now tell me why you were crying. I’d like to go off duty.”
“Well… my grandmother is very sick… hic… she’s been taking medicine for years… hic… but now medicine isn’t enough and she needs magical treatment… hic… but it’s too expensive…”
“…Ah. So that’s what you meant earlier when you said you needed money?”
“Yes. Sniff.”
‘He probably never had to worry about money.’
He was one of only three ducal families in the Empire. It would be more strange if he lacked money.
‘He probably gave an enormous amount to his younger brother’s lover, that maid…’
Like in the play I once saw, maybe not 1 billion, but at least 100 million ruoks?
“……”
One hundred million ruoks.
With that much money, Grandma could be treated.
“…Duke.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you remember the joke you made earlier today?”
After wiping my wet eyes, I looked at him through swollen lids.
For a moment, he looked at me with an unreadable expression.
“The one about holding my hand and going home to receive a money envelope?”
“Yes. That one.”
Even saying it made my face burn.
But life is a gamble anyway. Pride, embarrassment—I threw everything away.
“Could you… treat it as if it wasn’t a joke?”
I knew. Even if it was fake, someone like me was not worthy of being involved with a Duke.
But maybe I was mentioned because he needed someone like me for that joke in the first place.
“Hm… this girl is going to get herself into serious trouble.”
The Duke, sitting on the ground in a completely un-noble manner, rested his chin on his bent knee and looked at me.
“What should I call you?”
“My name is Airi, Duke.”
“Right… Airi.”
His whisper felt like a cold breeze brushing my ears.
When I shivered instinctively, he took off his thin jacket and handed it to me.
“Oh, no, you really don’t have to—”
“I understand your situation is urgent, but do you know why I called that a joke earlier?”
“Because it really was a joke?”
“No. I said it seriously at the time. But I realized afterward it would be wrong to do that to an innocent young lady.”
He took back the jacket I had been clutching, spread it wide, and draped it over my shoulders.
The way he treated me so gently with that face made the words “fraudulent marriage by deception” rise up my throat, but since he was a Duke, I only quietly said thank you.
“Linking arms and going into the ducal residence doesn’t mean you’ll receive the money envelope and get kicked out immediately. You understand that, right?”
Why did it change from holding hands to linking arms? Did that seem more affectionate?
Ignoring the question, I nodded.
“You might have to pretend to be my lover for months, and during that time, all sorts of things can happen. You might hear harsh words too.”
“I’m prepared for that much. I can endure anything. Anything at all.”
“Anything?”
“Yes, anything!”
As I clenched my fists with determination, the Duke looked at me skeptically with narrowed eyes.
“You know the situation of the Rudian ducal family, right?”
Speaking of his own family as if it belonged to someone else, he began folding his fingers one by one before I could even answer.
“Father and eldest brother are dead, the sister is ill, the second brother ran away, and the youngest is still a child.”
He folded all five fingers and shook his clenched fist as if to show it off.
“Everyone’s worried I might be the last of the line, so they keep nagging me to meet a woman and have children.”
“…Ah.”
“If you pretend to be my lover just for the money envelope, you might find yourself being pushed toward my bedroom before you know it. Are you prepared for that too?”
