DBOFS 48

Chapter 48

I turned pale and muttered. Harris was displeased at the word “stand out,” but he sneered.

“Can you carry it?”

“No, I can’t…”

That enormous inheritance—it would take over a week just to look at it. I got tired of looking and stopped.

“Why… why me…?”

Before I could even say “this kind of trial,” Harris’s hand pressed my cheek. My lips puckered like a duck’s bill and shot out.

“Quack.”

“What do you think the reason is? Think carefully.”

He expected me to think about something he himself didn’t know?

Unbelievable. The most unbelievable part was, even in this situation, my spirits were lifted, probably because of contact with Harris.

“What is this? Am I crazy with fangirling?”

I flailed around, trying to break free from the duck lips.

“No, I really don’t want to receive that inheritance…!”

“That’s not true.”

“……”

He was so resolute.

But no matter how much I like unearned income, this was too much! I shook my head frantically.

“Anyway! I want to earn money myself. On my own! My own money!!”

So don’t give me any inheritance. I can’t handle that kind of family disgrace!

“Why?”

Harris looked like he didn’t understand. I realized his identity all over again.

“Even though he was locked up in prison and mistreated by servants… still, he’s a noble.”

Nobles don’t think about earning money by their own labor.

But I…

“I don’t want to live on other people’s money.”

Usually, saying that would mean you just want financial independence.

But to me, it was literal.

I was a terminal rare disease patient, literally someone who breathed by living off my family’s money.

To save me, my older sister quit her trainee job just before debut to get a real job, and my mother had to sell the house they lived in for over 20 years.

Even after that, they moved from monthly rent to key money leases repeatedly.

“It’s painful.”

I don’t regret my life. I was happy in my own way and had many joyful memories.

But it was terrible.

Watching my sister and mother grow frail and worn out was awful.

Every time I thought if only it wasn’t me, they would have had a different life, I felt hopeless.

“Maybe…”

It would have been better to give up. It would have been better to accept that there was no hope.

But they loved me. So much they poured their lives into keeping me alive.

That’s why it was miserable.

And yet, I was disgusting for wanting to live.

Begging for love somehow, struggling to live even one more moment—I hated myself.

I hated that I couldn’t see death as rest…

“That’s why it was easy to accept.”

That I was dead.

That I had possessed the body of a disposable extra is still hard to believe, but I find peace in death itself.

No longer is the burden of me laid on them. My weight won’t press down on those two.

I…

“Alright.”

“…!”

My eyes widened.

It wasn’t because of Harris’s answer.

His eyes of crimson flame. Hair so black it seemed layered with darkness. His face, as if sculpted by a god, smooth as if coated with white glaze.

Harris Godwin.

That breathtakingly handsome man said,

“Alright, so don’t cry.”

With his large hand, he gently pressed my jaw, softly easing the tension from my clenched teeth.

“Huff, uh…”

My breath came fast. My vision blurred with moisture. In that panting breath, I realized,

“I’m crying.”

It was strange.

Of course, I had cried before, but it was more a reflex to a life-threatening situation.

To be this emotionally shaken, submerged in past memories, and bare my vulnerability…

“Why is this happening?”

I tried not to do this even in front of my family.

I clenched my teeth not to scream through painful treatments, swallowed stress that ate away my mind, and worked hard…

Then why?

“Of all people, why in front of Harris?!”

Harris grew up in an unfortunate family and doesn’t understand crying over family matters.

Besides, he doesn’t even believe I came from another world.

“He’ll think I’m crazy…”

My heart panted with crazy fangirling and anxiety.

Maybe I’ll be discarded. Anxiety born from the Absorbing Breath Technique and slots gnawed me from the inside.

“Harris himself said with his own mouth that he doesn’t believe me and will throw me away.”

Maybe not immediately, but if he finds a guide to replace me, I’ll be classified as a part to swap out.

“I’m not crying.”

I hurriedly wiped my tears.

I still like Harris. He’s my favorite. I haven’t quit fangirling.

So I know well.

He is suspicious, hates people, and doesn’t easily grow attached to anyone.

“Maybe… we’re a little closer.”

Compared to how he treats others, his attitude toward me is almost kind.

But friendship is a fragile feeling that can turn upside down anytime.

“Wait, wait a moment. It’ll stop soon. Just a moment…”

Sniffling, swallowing my wet voice repeatedly.

“As Harris told me many times, I shouldn’t trust him too much.”

I can’t go all in on just one person. That’s why I have plan B prepared.

“I have to hold on.”

At least until I can establish some foothold in this strange world.

“Wait for me—quack!”

Suddenly, a blanket was thrown over my head. Actually, not just my head, but my whole body was wrapped tightly in the blanket.

“This is… a kimbap roll?”

When I came to my senses, my face was stuck out of the rolled-up blanket. Dumbfounded, I forgot to cry and squeaked.

“What are you doing?!”

“I saw you crying.”

Harris, lying next to me, rested his face on his hand and said,

“Cry more.”

“……”

Usually, people tell you not to cry at times like this, right? I was stunned and squeaked.

“I already stopped crying!”

“Why?”

“Can’t you tell by looking? How can I cry like this?”

“I don’t know. Why can’t you cry?”

“……”

I was at a loss for words and just moved my lips.

Then, a white slender finger touched my tear-stung eye.

“…!”

I instinctively closed my eyes. My eyelashes trembled.

The large hand that once threw people, smashed desks, and crushed bones gently wiped my wet tears.

It felt strange.

Like watching a clumsy beast trying to give a gift to its owner by bringing its prey and putting it at their feet.

“Could it be… that Harris is trying to comfort me…?”

That the rolled blanket kimbap was his awkward way of saying “don’t cry” or rather “cry more.” And wiping my tears too…

If true, it was incredibly clumsy and awkward. After all, when has Harris ever been comforted properly?

“…Harris.”

Suddenly, an impulsive question popped up. Without opening my eyes, I asked,

“Did you just believe what I said?”

In my emotional turmoil, I accidentally spilled a fragment of my past.

I wasn’t sure how much of my life from the other world I had revealed, but I was curious.

“At first, I said I don’t believe you.”

That I am a soul from another world. That I am a prophet.

“I don’t believe you.”

“……”

That unwavering firmness without even a second’s hesitation! I buried my rotten face in the blanket.

“Good thing I didn’t open my eyes.”

If I had looked him in the eye, I might have let slip things I shouldn’t have.

Slowly, I felt the weight beside me lift. His hand took the sedative I brought.

“Go, go.”

I didn’t know why he came, why he got mad, then suddenly calmed down, but as Harris said, I might as well sleep.

I was really sleepy, maybe from crying or fatigue…

“But at least, to you, it must be the truth.”

“…!”

My eyes widened.

In the dim doorway, Harris met my gaze and said while turning off the light,

“I believe that.”

Sleep well. After those words, darkness fell.

“…What was that?”

Left awake, staring blankly at the closed door, I thought.

He couldn’t possibly believe I’m a terminal mental patient with delusions, right?

“Damn it!”

Penelope, the daughter of Count Artu, threw a flower vase.

Crash!

The valuable full-length mirror was cracked from the direct hit, and the expensive vase shattered to pieces.

The place was already a mess with broken and damaged things everywhere.

But the maids who usually surrounded Penelope to be beaten and help her vent her anger were nowhere to be found.

They had all been taken away for interrogation.

“Who does that lowly maid think she is…!”

In the absence of others’ eyes, the sweet and pretty noblewoman’s face twisted into a chilling blank expression.

The Artu count family had sent Penelope to pursue the vacant heir of the Godwin duke family.

Naturally, this ambition was supported by the current duke.

The Count Artu told his daughter,

“If you can’t seize the inheritance rights, at least become the wife of the heir.”

So Penelope aimed for Harris Godwin’s guide from the start. If she couldn’t kill him, she’d at least make him incapacitated.

“An ability user without a guide becomes unstable.”

Taking advantage of this, they could try to reexamine the inheritance rights.

Even if things went wrong and she became that monster’s wife, they could never allow a lowly maid with such base beauty to become the husband’s guide.

“A guide can always be replaced.”

A guide with that kind of face must be eliminated.

This was the predetermined conclusion—not just her thought, but the other guests’ intent was the same.

“Still, I didn’t mean to be so blatant about killing her…”

Why did things go so wrong?

“The Count Artu family should be held responsible.”

Because secretly bringing an ability user could be interpreted as an assassination attempt against the former duke.

It was unfair. They weren’t aiming at the former duke, yet this was such an unreasonable claim!

If they had really killed her, at least tearing that bastard’s face apart would have eased the anger.

“How dare you imprison me when I’m safe and sound without a scratch?”

Penelope clenched her teeth.

Usually, ability users recognize their guides, not the other way around.

She didn’t know why things had gone this way.

But.

“…People aren’t meant to die so easily.”

She checked the secretly folded note beneath the cold dish, something only prisoners get.

Fortunately, she had already prepared the next move before being caught.

“If it’s that bastard, he’ll definitely move first.”

Penelope was confident. Even if it wasn’t him, the “one” who promised had something else.

“The grand banquet.”

She just needed to hold out until that day.

Don’t Obsess Over the Fake Sedative, Black Curtain