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Chapter 5
You’re Very Kind
“I see that the young master ate most of his meal. Please give him his medicine now.”
At the housekeeper’s words, Anasta felt a sharp pang in her chest.
Fortunately, the lie hadn’t been discovered, but it wouldn’t be possible to keep stealing the young master’s meals in the future.
More importantly, there was the medicine.
It wasn’t something she could simply force into his mouth.
Anasta’s vision darkened with worry.
Still, she took the medicine and once again entered the young master’s room.
After the incident with the meal, Rian had completely turned sullen and was pointedly ignoring Anasta. His attitude clearly said he had no intention of taking any medicine she offered.
She didn’t try to force him and first stepped closer to his bed.
Once again, a heavy pillow flew toward her, but she didn’t flinch. Compared to the beatings from the people who were supposed to be her parents, a pillow was soft.
“It’s time for your medicine.”
When she approached as if he hadn’t been hit at all, Rian recoiled in disgust.
“Why don’t you eat it yourself, like earlier?”
She didn’t bother replying and stood silently in front of his bed. Then she began to study his face closely.
Though his constitution had weakened, traces of a body honed by seventeen years of intense physical training and swordsmanship were still visible.
Even if his muscles were shallow now, they must have once been solid. His face, too, was refined and strikingly handsome—just as famed in high society.
A noble status, good looks, outstanding agility. When someone born with everything like him was told he was living on borrowed time, Anasta couldn’t begin to imagine how it must have felt.
‘Still, you shouldn’t live like this. You’re wishing for’d die soon, aren’t you? That way you can escape this damned household and become rich. Isn’t that right?’
She resented herself a little for being unable to deny those words. She had sworn to endure this estate, yet she had treated Rian just like everyone else.
To be honest, she had thought about the money she would receive once he died and she became a widow.
In other words, Anasta had been thinking about the future, not facing the present.
If she was to stay by Rian’s side, she needed to understand his heart first.
Realizing this, Anasta decided to treat him with a bit more warmth and kindness.
“You said that if you don’t take your medicine, you’ll have a seizure, didn’t you?”
“Take it before you have a seizure.”
At her words, Rian let out a hollow laugh.
“Well, fine. Having a seizure feels like hell, but at least it means I can get you out of my sight because of it.”
She neatly set the pills and a glass of water in front of him.
“I won’t force you. If you don’t want to join in, please take—”
Before she could finish, Rian opened the window and flung the pills and water straight outside.
—Crash!
At the sound from below, Anasta’s eyes widened. She ran to the window and saw the glass shattered to pieces, as if everything had been ruined.
“I’m not taking them.”
Rian sneered at Anasta.
Startled by the noise, the head maid quickly assessed the situation after seeing Anasta and Rian. She ordered another maid to clean up the broken shards outside, then called Anasta over.
“He’s not taking his medicine.”
“He never does. I see he’s the same even in front of his wife.”
“Never? Does that mean he has a seizure every time?”
“Yes.”
The head maid, who had seemed to look at Anasta differently after the incident with the meal, now appeared slightly disappointed at the same familiar outcome.
“Then how am I supposed to make him take it?”
Unable to come up with a sharp solution before, Anasta asked the head maid for help.
What came out of the woman’s mouth, however, was terrifying.
“If you need mercenaries with strong physiques, just say the word. They can hold down his arms and legs while you put the pills into the young master’s mouth.”
“…”
“That’s how it’s always been done. The young master resists the medicine every time, but if you repeat it about ten times, he grows too exhausted to resist.”
As she said this, the head maid added, “Though his outbursts do become worse afterward.”
Holding down his arms and legs and forcing pills into his mouth…
No matter how necessary the medicine was, doing that every day would be treating him not like a human being, but like an animal.
Anasta was reminded of the cold, desolate count’s estate. Whenever she grew even a little too thin to look presentable, her parents would stuff foul-tasting food into her mouth.
Anasta knew all too well how humiliating and miserable that felt.
“… Come to think of it, the young master never leaves his room. Do you dislike going out?”
“The young lord’s condition is critical. It’s been forbidden to go outside. He isn’t even allowed to wander freely in the garden.”
“What about books? His room felt almost painfully empty.”
At her words, the head maid shot her a slightly irritated look.
“The most important thing for the young master is rest. He no longer wishes to read books or do anything meaningful. He’s simply waiting in his room until his time comes.”
That wasn’t waiting—it was resignation.
Waiting to die as quickly as possible.
The head maid looked at Anasta as if asking whether she had any more questions, then glanced at the pills in Anasta’s hand.
“The doctor leaves plenty of medicine, but it’s always in short supply. Please make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
It sounded like a request, but it was also a warning.
Faced with the head maid’s unspoken threat—don’t cause any more trouble—Anasta fell silent once more.
If Anasta’s life were to be summed up simply, it was a manufactured life.
Born under her parents’ plans and trained without ruthlessness, freedom had never existed for her. Everything had been coercive.
The days had been hellish, and the only reason she endured was her sister, Natasha.
Selfless and kind, Natasha knew how to sacrifice herself at times, since she was strict and, at others, wise. Standing by her sister’s side, Anasta realized that Rian had no one like Natasha in his life.
He was alone. Before his illness, his life might have been brilliant—but now, it was all the more empty and lonely.
“What are you staring at?”
Rian asked sharply when he saw Anasta return to the room.
“I got scolded by the head maid.”
At her frank reply, Rian turned his head away, clearly uninterested.
“So?”
“Oh, what—are you going to call the mercenaries? Have them hold down my arms and legs and force the pills into my mouth?”
He let out a short, knowing laugh.
“You won’t force me, will you?”
“I won’t.”
“Even if I refuse to take them to the end?”
He remained openly defiant. Anasta slowly stepped closer and held out the pills in her palm.
Two red pills, one white pill, and three small round tablets…
“Yes.”
“…”
“I don’t like forcing people. It’s profoundly irreverent.”
“Hey.”
Rian called out to her, irritation creeping into his voice.
“More than thirty maids have passed through this place. Do you really think not a single one of them came here with the same kind of heart as you? At first, they all showed kindness, smiled at me, said this was a fate worse than that of a beast.”
“And how did they end up? They all left in tears. Some of them, seeing me suffer and thinking about their own misery, wished I’d hurry up and die.”
“This is reality.”
As Rian laid it out point by point, he turned his gaze toward the window. But Anasta could see one thing clearly.
Rian cared about those maids.
Knowing his own end, he had deliberately spoken cruelly and acted sharp—a kind of defense mechanism.
Choosing to believe that, Anasta clenched the hand holding the pills. If she wasn’t going to force him, how was she supposed to make him take them?
Unable to think of a clear solution, she paused and wondered what Natasha would do.
Come to think of it, there had been a time like this before—when Anasta herself had been ill and, in rebellion against her parents, had tried to refuse her medicine and die.
What Natasha had done then was—
“I’ll take them.”
“What did you say?”
“There’s still plenty of medicine. Even if I take these, there should still be more than enough left for you.”
“Have you lost your mind?!”
“I’m serious.”
At her firmness, Rian narrowed his eyes, then gestured with his hand.
“Fine. Go on. Let’s see you do it.”
“I’ll ask one last time. Are you really not going to take your medicine?”
“If you ask again, I’ll snatch those pills and throw them out the window.”
“Understood.”
Without a single second of hesitation, Anasta tipped all the pills in her hand into her mouth.
