IBYVS 45

Chapter 45

At first, I thought I had misheard.

But then it happened again.

“Ahhh…!”

When that scream echoed, both Cedric and I sprang to our feet.

“Cedric, did you hear that?”

“Yes. I thought it might be an auditory hallucination caused by the curse, but it seems not.”

We both slipped on our slippers and flung the door open at the same time.

“What’s going on?”

“W-we’re not sure yet.”

I asked one of the guards stationed nearby, and he, too, looked bewildered.

“Sa-save me…!”

As soon as the door opened, the voice grew even louder, making everyone in the corridor cover their mouths in shock.

A tense, eerie silence followed, like the calm before a storm.

Then, as if a tornado had swept through, the corridor erupted into chaos.

The source of that ear-piercing scream was none other than Calib!

My mind went numb.

“Elia!”

Olivia rushed over in a panic.

“The Grand Duke, the Grand Duke…!”

I didn’t even wait to hear her finish and bolted out the door.

I didn’t want to think it, but a nagging sense of dread crept into the back of my mind.

And memories I had long tried to forget resurfaced.

It was back when Yooni was still in the hospital.

My father had passed away in a traffic accident, and my mother fainted at the news, collapsing headfirst.

Misfortune struck suddenly and all at once.

All the insurance money from my parents’ deaths was snatched away by relatives, leaving me with barely ten million won.

I used it to rent a tiny one-room apartment, living there with Yooni.

If it weren’t for my master’s help, even that would have been impossible.

I believed the only way to repay my master and take care of Yooni was to become a Taekwondo athlete.

Luckily, I had been called a prodigy since childhood.

But for that reason, I had left my two-year-old younger sibling with the landlord, turning my back.

At nineteen, I was still so young and the reality so overwhelming that I couldn’t spare energy to care for anyone else.

“I heard some girls in their senior year stay completely silent at home.”

“They’re busy preparing health foods for their kids every day.”

“They get chauffeured to and from school by car.”

Whenever I closed my eyes, stories of various lost families flooded my mind.

My master repeatedly told me to bring Yooni to the dojo, knowing my situation, but I didn’t.

I was embarrassed that, at nineteen, I would have to raise a two-year-old brother.

The sports world had far more privileged kids than I expected.

I didn’t want to reveal my family situation to those peers.

It was childish pride.

Then, one day, after training, I returned home.

“Ahhh… aahhh…!”

Yooni was having a seizure.

It was so severe that his face was almost corpse-like, foam mixed with vomit at his lips.

Coincidentally, that day the landlord was going on a trip.

She knew my situation and asked the neighbors to watch Yooni, but they also had work at eight.

I arrived at nine.

Even in that terrifying situation, the only thought in my head was:

“If Yooni leaves me too, I’ll truly be alone.”

Looking back, it was insane.

My brother was having a seizure, and I was worried about being alone.

I only thought, I don’t want to be alone, and carried Yooni to the hospital.

I could have called 119, but stubbornly I went out to the main road to catch a taxi.

Under the bright lights of the ER, Yooni looked very different from the child I knew.

As a child, we had heard a story in a ghost tale that someone who went through something terrifying could have their hair turn completely white.

That had happened to Yooni.

His once black hair had turned stark white, and his light brown eyes, unfocused, were now red.

“Is he an albino patient?”

“No… it used to be just like mine.”

Even the doctors frowned in confusion.

A week later, my master and I learned Yooni’s diagnosis.

A disease not yet published in any medical journal.

A rare, incurable illness that baffled even the most renowned doctors at university hospitals.

It had no official name, so it was called “Yooni’s disease.”

A ridiculous disease that slowly drained all the pigment from his body, sapping his strength until death.

This was the fate of my only sibling.

“Ah!”

I twisted my ankle and stumbled.

“Elia!”

I thought I was lost in long memories, but I was still near the bridal chamber, having fallen over.

Cedric hurried to support me, but I pushed him away and ran forward again.

“Elia, wait…!”

Cedric called out to stop me, but I didn’t.

The image of Yooni struggling in that tiny one-room apartment was etched into my retina like a tattoo, constantly resurfacing.

If I had listened to my master and brought Yooni to the dojo…

If I hadn’t thought, “Surely she wouldn’t leave the child alone,” and trained anyway…

If I had called 119 sooner…

If I had just paid a little more attention to Yooni…

If I hadn’t been embarrassed…

I burst into Calib’s wide-open room, and there he was.

“Gasp…”

Yooni’s hair had turned completely white.

He squeezed his eyes shut, clawed at his chest, and thrashed violently.

White foam appeared at his lips, and his wide, red eyes were unfocused.

I stood frozen at the door, watching the maids move busily.

The scene reminded me eerily of the ER, where doctors had frantically tried to help Yooni.

I couldn’t bear it any longer.

My legs gave way, and I literally collapsed.

“Elia!”

A firm hand grabbed both my shoulder and arm, steadying me.

It then effortlessly guided me to lean against him.

Strange… no one would do this for me.

My parents were gone.

Was it my master? Had I contacted him?

But he was about my height.

I looked up, my neck stiff, as if gravel were lodged in it.

“Ce-Cedric…”

“Are you all right? Your face is pale.”

There he stood, a man more dazzling than the brightly lit room.

Cedric—the tragic supporting character in Not a Chance, the turning point of the black plot… and…

“My husband.”

The words spilled out dumbly, and Cedric flinched.

The tremor slowly brought me back to my senses.

Ah, right. This isn’t the modern world.

This isn’t the place Yooni was in. I had lost Yooni, fled the world, and possessed this body.

So the one suffering here isn’t Yooni.

“Hick… ughhh!”

I turned my gaze from Cedric to Calib, who still hadn’t calmed down.

I had thought that being possessed in this world with someone who looked and even seemed to live like Yooni was my chance to make amends.

That thought hadn’t changed.

At least in this world, it wasn’t too late.

I clenched my trembling hands and murmured,

“Thank you, Cedric. You helped me regain my senses.”

“Elia?”

Cedric looked puzzled, but I simply pushed away the large hand holding my shoulders and arms.

His hand fell away easily, and I weaved through the maids to reach Calib.

“Elia…!”

“You shouldn’t be doing this…!”

The maids protested, but I ignored them.

Yooni’s seizures had appeared intermittently throughout the five years of hospitalization, even while reducing medical costs under the pretext of participating in research.

And the best solution at that moment was clear.

“Calib, it’s okay.”

I plopped onto the bed and hugged the foam-covered, vomit-streaked Calib tightly.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

I rubbed his back, helping him calm down.

“I’m here, it’s okay.”

Even when he kicked violently, scratched my face with his nails, or grabbed my hair, I didn’t let go.

“It’s okay, I’ll stay by your side. It’s okay.”

I continued to soothe, comfort, and share my warmth.

The maids tried to stop me, but Cedric blocked them.

He stood ahead, quietly watching Calib gradually calm in my arms.

After some time, Calib finally relaxed.

His lips, cracked and dry from screaming, moved slightly.

“El… Lia…?”

His voice was barely a whisper.

I bent down and pressed my lips to his forehead, answering,

“Yes, it’s me. I’m here.”

Hearing that, Calib loosened his grip on my clothes.

The seizure was completely over.

Soft, peaceful breaths came, and the tension in his body melted away.

I held him a little longer, then slowly lifted my head.

“It’s going to be okay now.”

The butler and others breathed sighs of relief at my words.

“But just in case, I’ll stay with him tonight.”

“I’ll help with the Grand Duke’s bath.”

Olivia stepped forward.

“That’s fine, right, Cedric?”

“Of course. If needed, I can also…”

“No, it’s okay. I’m used to it.”

Cedric wanted to help, but I shook my head.

In the original story, the progression of Cedric’s curse depended on mental strength.

Because he was naturally emotionless, it progressed slowly. A normal person would have despaired and fallen asleep quickly upon realizing they were cursed.

Just like Renoa.

“Watching a sibling have a seizure is extremely painful. So it’s better if a stranger like me handles it.”

I passed Cedric and Olivia, heading to my room with Calib.