FERH 40

Chapter 40

“I’m not injured, and there are no fractures or anything beyond that.”

“That’s not the issue!”

The duke grabbed Rianel and pulled her to her feet.

“The consecrated flower must have touched you….”

Only then did Rianel notice the consecrated flower lying between the boy’s baskets.

A consecrated flower was one cultivated in a temple while offering prayers of consecration.

It wasn’t something one commonly saw, since you had to make a donation to the temple to receive one, but because it carried the meaning of a prayer, it was often used by people who wished for something or as a gift when visiting the sick.

The problem was that Rianel was allergic to that flower.

“The area of contact was limited to part of my elbow, and I didn’t touch the stamens. I’ll be fine.”

“What nonsense! Your body temperature is already rising!”

The duke truly did seem to be the power behind the medical institute. At a single shout from him, doctors came rushing over, and an empty bed was prepared.

Before Rianel knew it, she was laid down on the bed, examined by three doctors, and even given a prescription for medicine.

The doctors were corrupt enough to change the order of treatment at the duke’s authority, but their skills seemed genuine.

The rash that had risen on her elbow was subsiding at a rapid pace.

As she stared at it blankly, she heard the sound of someone sniffling beside her.

“I’m sorry. I tripped so stupidly….”

It was Torban’s son.

Even though the bread and flowers he had gone to such trouble to buy were crushed on the floor, the boy rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and cried.

Behind him, Torban hovered awkwardly, watching the duke’s expression.

He was afraid they might be expelled from the medical institute because of this incident.

“I understand. It wasn’t intentional, was it?”

Rianel had no intention of demonstrating the abuse of power, so she dismissed them.

To begin with, an allergy to consecrated flowers was a rare occurrence.

‘Come to think of it, something feels off.’

“How did you know that, Your Grace?”

“Do I look like such a heartless father that I wouldn’t know my own child’s allergies? Using that cold form of address is a problem to begin with, but honestly, you—!”

“That’s not what I meant. I was asking how ‘you’ knew that I had an allergy….”

Mid-sentence, Rianel realized that her conversation with the duke was subtly misaligned.

The duke wasn’t talking about Ensillen, the former empress.

He was talking about Rianel—the owner of this body, his daughter.

In other words—

‘Rianel had the same allergy as me?’

She had thought she’d glimpsed many of Rianel’s memories after entering this body, but it seemed there were still areas she hadn’t seen.

“What is it? Why did you suddenly go quiet?”

When Rianel fell silent, the duke examined her with concern.

“Is it a side effect of the medicine? Is something wrong? Doctor! Get over here at once!”

“No, it’s nothing like that, so please calm down.”

Rianel raised her hand to stop the duke’s fussing.

She had always thought her possession was nothing more than the result of coincidence, and she hadn’t seriously questioned why it had to be Rianel’s body.

Trying to interpret an inexplicable phenomenon that no field of study could explain would only be a waste of time.

It was better for one’s peace of mind to think of it as nothing more than overlapping coincidences.

But still—

‘When I think about it, we had a lot in common.’

Being thrown into an environment where one received excessive criticism for a single mistake.

Having no one with whom to regularly stay in contact.

‘And even our physical conditions were similar.’

Of course, their personalities, appearances, and hair colors were different.

But their height was similar, their builds were alike, and even their tastes were close.

That was why adapting to Rianel’s body had been easy…

‘But was all of that really a coincidence?’

The more she retraced her thoughts, the more uneasy she felt. A chilling sensation seemed to run down her spine.

“Are you really all right? You’re not in pain anywhere…?”

Rianel let out a short breath and replied,

“I’m fine.”

She was just a bit tired.

‘In the end, everything was taken from me….’

Vanessa sobbed quietly.

She was wearing nothing but a plain indoor dress in the early winter.

It was long out of fashion, and one corner bore the rough marks of mending, but for now, it was the only piece of clothing Vanessa owned.

Cash, jewelry, and every cherished possession she had—all of it had been taken by the servants.

And the cruel world didn’t even allow Vanessa a place to stay.

“We’re from the Special Taxation Bureau.”

It was only natural for the residence of a former minister who had fled on charges of embezzlement to be seized, but Vanessa sniffled, feeling unfairly wronged and miserable all the same.

When was the last time maids had brushed her hair? When was the last time she had bathed in clean water?

Drifting from cheap inn to cheap inn, staving off hunger with hard bread, and cleaning the room she stayed in herself—her life was indescribably wretched.

Of course, Vanessa did have real estate.

The hotel still hadn’t been sold.

‘For now, I’ve only received delinquency notices.’

Perhaps because tax evasion seemed trivial compared to embezzlement, or perhaps because they wanted to collect late fees, the building hadn’t been seized.

‘So what? I don’t even have the travel money to get there.’

Vanessa had only ever flitted about high society in the capital, insisting people call her the duke’s prospective wife.

She didn’t have a single real friend.

Everyone around her had been parasites who flocked to her for the power of Duke Vincenheim.

Now that she had fallen out of the duke’s favor, it was obvious she’d only be turned away if she went looking for them.

“Sniff….”

Just recalling that fact was miserable enough.

To make matters worse, the ankle Royhem had shoved continued to throb.

‘Did I sprain it? Or is it broken?’

Vanessa had no medical knowledge.

She only knew that it was swollen and that it hurt whenever she walked.

But calling a doctor required a significant amount of money.

‘I’ll go to the medical institute.’

She chose the next best option.

‘If even beggars can receive free treatment there, they’ll surely treat a noble like me.’

Of course, she didn’t go alone.

“Hurry up, Rupert!”

“….”

She wondered what the point was of dragging this man along, but Vanessa still hadn’t let go of her lingering hopes.

The Duke of Vincenheim had never been stingy with secret support, even toward his illegitimate daughter.

He was angry now and had driven out his son and daughter-in-law, but once his temper cooled, it was obvious he would call them back.

He was that kind of soft-hearted man.

And so Vanessa dragged her injured leg and arrived at the medical institute, but—

“W-What? You want me to pay?”

Her expectations shattered the moment she arrived.

“You weren’t aware? Treatment subsidies apply only to low-income individuals.”

“And you are a noble—and a property owner, no less.”

“What nonsense! I have no income! I’m unemployed!”

“However, the real estate under your name alone is estimated to be worth over one billion gold. That places you in the top ten percent of the empire.”

“That’s just on paper! Someone like me is poor!”

“Regardless, rules are rules.”

‘Damn it… I really don’t have any money.’

Vanessa bit her lip.

But when a commoner who had taken the next number glanced at her, she turned her head away in embarrassment.

Even if she starved to death tomorrow, she wanted to die as a noble.

Nothing was more shameful than proclaiming to the entire world that you had no money.

Just as Vanessa was about to leave—

“Father?”

She froze when she saw a familiar face.

“It really is you, Father, isn’t it? Father, it’s me, Vanessa….”

What did dignity matter now? She had met the duke at the medical institute!

As Vanessa chased after him up the stairs, security guards she hadn’t even known were there grabbed her and stopped her.

“You’re disturbing another patient’s rest.”

“What do you mean! I’ve only come to see Father! You could just go and pass on a message! Father will definitely recognize me!”

At that moment—

The duke turned around, and Vanessa forced a tearful smile.

Clinging to a thread of hope.

“….”

Their gazes met briefly.

A few seconds later.

As if nothing had happened, the duke turned and went back into the hospital room.

“He says he doesn’t know you. Please leave.”

“No! That can’t be! Let go of me! Father, Father, please, just once!”

Held by the security guard, Vanessa was dragged along the corridor floor and thrown outside.

“Aaah!”

Slumping to the ground, Vanessa looked up at Rupert standing beside her, then stared back at the medical institute.

The fact that she hadn’t properly met the duke faded into insignificance.

If her eyes hadn’t deceived her—

‘I think Rianel was in that hospital room.’

Was it just her imagination?

And the next day.

Asil, who had come to work early, was met with an unexpected question.

“What do you think the former Empress and I have in common?”

“…Are you confessing to something?”

That you’re my mentor?

“Of course not.”

Rianel replied curtly.