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Chapter 6
Damn Woman
“W-What the…?!”
Before the shocked Rian could even finish speaking, Anasta—still holding the cup—swallowed all the water inside it in one go.
Clack.
The cup was set down on the table.
Anasta opened the hand that had been holding the medicine and looked straight at him.
“I took it.”
“Are you insane?! Do you have any idea how strong that medicine is? We don’t even know what side effects a normal person might suffer if they take it!”
Rian sprang up from the bed and strode toward Anasta.
Faced with a man nearly two heads taller than herself, Anasta was momentarily startled—but Rian was far more shocked.
In panic, he pried her mouth open and checked inside.
“Damn it! You really swallowed it?!”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to be crippled? Or are you so desperate to die? Why the hell would you swallow that?!”
“You said I should take it.”
“Head maid! Butler! Call a doctor—now! Right now!”
At Rian’s urgent shout, the sounds of the head maid and the butler running toward them could be heard from afar. Only Anasta remained calm. She took out the medicine bottle from her pocket, then held out the morning dose to Rian.
“Take your medicine.”
“Is that really what you’re saying right now?”
“If you don’t take your medicine, I’ll refuse to examine you.”
Rian’s face went pale. This woman… she really was insane.
“Young master! What’s going on?”
Just then, the head maid and the butler burst through the door.
They had even brought mercenaries with them, but seeing Rian standing there perfectly fine, everyone blinked in confusion.
“Where’s the doctor?”
“Even if a doctor comes, it’ll be useless. If the young master doesn’t take his medicine, I’ll refuse to treat him.”
Anasta answered before Rian could.
“Go on.”
She took out another pill.
“Otherwise, I might die.”
Realizing that Rian’s own behavior was no different from hers just moments ago, he let out a hollow laugh.
“Aha… right. Go get your checkup.”
“Head maid, could you prepare a basket for me?”
“What are you talking about? I said get your checkup!”
“I will, but first I need to vomit up the medicine.”
“What?”
The head maid, stunned by the situation, brought a basket, and Anasta calmly walked out.
She returned at lunchtime, wearing a completely non-flesh-toned expression.
Rian was in an extremely foul mood.
‘Damn woman.’
The woman who was to hold his medicine had allegedly shoved her hand down her throat to make him vomit it all back.
Luckily, the medicine hadn’t been digested and came right back up, and the doctor arrived immediately.
Seeing the doctor leave politely, it seemed nothing was wrong with him physically, though he probably received a severe scolding. He likely had to ensure the various variables of how it almost risked his life.
Rian now hoped this crazy woman had finally calmed down—but she hadn’t.
Anasta carried in his lunch with an expression as if nothing had happened.
Rian disliked her. The woman who had manipulated him through the medicine incident.
He didn’t even want to eat the food she brought, but if he refused, she would just eat it herself.
Having skipped breakfast and eaten the medicine on an empty stomach, his stomach was upset. He grabbed the bowl from Anasta’s hands.
Angry as he was, he chewed the food carefully and calmly.
Anasta said nothing further, quietly stepping back to read her book.
“Why don’t you just disappear already?”
At Rian’s remark, Anasta merely nodded.
“I just wanted to clear the bowl for you. If my presence is in the way of your meal, I can go back to my room.”
That calm, matter-of-fact tone made Rian frown.
“What book are you reading?”
Anasta’s eyes widened slightly, as if she hadn’t expected this question.
“It’s a theology book.”
“That doesn’t suit you. You’re crazy.”
“It’s good for calming the mind. And as for being crazy… I’m not that crazy, really.”
“Ordinary people don’t eat someone else’s medicine.”
“… They say that to persuade someone, you need to be on the same level as them.”
“Who said that? The book?”
“No, my sister.”
“Ah, so you have a sister.”
Rian wasn’t interested in her family or personal life. After all, she’d be gone in a week—or at most a month.
But he couldn’t help noticing that her usually stoic, calm expression softened slightly when she mentioned her sister.
For the first time, Rian saw a small smile on Anasta’s face.
‘A bride sold to this place.’
Before Anasta arrived here, her mother had briefly spoken about a daughter of a count’s family thoroughly trained in etiquette and as a proper bride.
A woman with a beautiful face and graceful curves—surely, she would be to his liking.
Rian had thought it was just a fabricated story to persuade him, but objectively, Anasta Winterif was beautiful.
That didn’t impress Rian, though. Having interacted with many women before falling ill, he considered such beauty merely superficial.
But that smile was different. Curious about Anasta’s vulnerability, Rian asked, pretending to be interested.
“Of course.”
“And your mother and father?”
“… I was especially close to my sister.”
“Closer than your parents?”
“You seem to be suddenly very curious about me.”
Anasta looked slightly wary, and Rian just laughed.
“You’re curious, aren’t you? About how you long for your sister instead of your parents. Why… were your parents not like parents? Well, I suppose parents who marry their daughter off to a dying man aren’t exactly normal.”
“…”
“You… were abandoned.”
Rian said it harshly on purpose.
“So you’re saving money to live on your own? Ah, and you’ll take your precious sister with you.”
His words didn’t stop there.
“But you know what? While you’re struggling like hell, your parents will be enjoying the gold coins and land given to them by the Solter Duke… Or maybe because you’re too much of a pluckless, you don’t have the guts for that?”
“Young master.”
Hearing this, Anasta slowly approached Rian.
He thought she might be upset, but she wasn’t.
She smiled slightly, more like someone who had been complimented than insulted.
“Thank you for your concern.”
“Concern? From me?”
“Everything you said is true, young master. My parents weren’t like parents at all. Just thinking all that gold and treasures I brought would go to them makes me want to overturn everything.”
“Then do it.”
“But even so, I am a woman of loyalty. I won’t leave a sick young master behind.”
Was she sincere, or was it just flattery?
One thing was clear.
Rian’s deliberate attempt to wound her had not worked at all. Instead, it only twisted his own mood further.
Every night before going to sleep, Anasta wrote letters. The sender’s name was always firmly “Natasha,” but the address was uncertain.
For that reason, she sent letters to every possible residence of Natasha, hoping that one of them would be correct and that she might receive a reply.
Today, too, Anasta carefully checked that there were no objectionable sentences before tucking the letter neatly into her desk drawer.
“I accidentally spilled it,” she said.
Rian was leaning against the door with his arms crossed. He called it an accident, but it was obvious it had been done deliberately.
“I’ll need to get a mop,” Anasta said, her expression unchanged, and went to find the mop, which the maid must have left somewhere.
She went into Rian’s storage room at the end of the annex. She found a few dry towels. Carrying them in both hands, she returned to the room and saw a blanket lying there, soaked and damp from the water.
There was no doubt—it was Rian’s doing.
… How childish.
So this was how he tormented the maids to drive them away. She sighed, mopped the floor, and hung the blanket over the window.
Even after sleeping, Anasta’s hardships didn’t end.
The butler’s brief indistinct continued; as a member of the Solter family, she was at the very bottom and could not aim for her honor, so she should never presume to look up.
Anasta knew her place—and had no desire to overstep it. All she wanted was money.
The living expenses for maintaining her status, plus the sufficient fund her sister would receive once the arranged marriage was finished, were all she needed.
For that reason, she dutifully prepared Rian’s meals and made him take his medicine.
Seeing this, the butler told Rian to speak up if he had complaints. Rian answered as if he had been waiting for the opportunity.
“I want Anasta to serve me exclusively.”
“Excuse me?”
“Isn’t that why you brought her here in the first place? To attend to me?”
“She is to become your wife, young master.”
“Even if you say that, you’ve already had her serve me. That’s why you passed the hardest parts—the meal times and medicine times—onto her. Let her do the rest too.”
And so, Anasta ended up stationed in Rian’s room for twelve hours a day.
