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Chapter 42
Since turning fifteen, there had been boys who tried to get her attention by doing foolish things in front of Damia.
Though they were often embarrassed by Cassian in the process.
If thirteen-year-old Damia had been just a doll-like child to her peers, fifteen-year-old Damia had become someone who made hearts flutter.
“You still think I’m a child?”
“Of course.”
“I’m fifteen now. You were pretending to be an adult when you were fifteen, Young Viscount!”
Cassian’s eyes narrowed in obvious displeasure.
“You and I are different.”
“What’s different?”
“Ha, Damia Fonti. You’re fifteen, yet you ask so many questions. Just understand it roughly.”
“See that? Can’t explain properly, so you just brush it off.”
“You…!”
“What? Did I say something wrong?”
Cassian roughly ran his hand through his hair. His temper seemed to boil, yet he didn’t appear to have any argument.
“And from now on, I’ll visit more often. Do you really think I’d let the chance to meet the Young Viscount slip by so easily?”
“I told you to give it up already. Don’t you ever get tired?”
“No. I’ll even bring medicine gradually so I can come more often!”
“I’m busy too. I’ll be going out soon today.”
“Really? Do you have some important engagement today?”
A very brief silence passed.
“You don’t need to know.”
“No, I’m curious.”
“…I have a promise.”
Ah…
Around seventeen-year-old Cassian Sarkis, there were plenty of girls who didn’t even care about his fiancée.
‘Even though his illness is so obvious, they don’t notice?’
Damia sighed, recalling the girls who whispered about his decadent beauty.
Why would someone with a terminal condition stir the hearts of all these young ladies?
Luckily, their contract had a clause forbidding interference in private matters.
If that clause didn’t exist, Damia might have been busy persuading these girls to come to their senses.
“You’re going to the Rosen Count’s residence, right? It’s Miss Vivian’s birthday soon.”
“…How did you know? I’m not really going there to celebrate her birthday.”
“Ah, you don’t have to pretend. Miss Rosen bragged about it where I could hear.”
Cassian’s lips twitched.
“What did Miss Rosen brag to you about?”
“You don’t need to hide it from me, Young Viscount. I’m really cheering for you.”
“Speak clearly, Damia.”
“Miss Vivian seems like a good person.”
The biggest difference from her previous life was Drury Soro’s behavior.
Originally, Drury would have monopolized everyone’s attention, but after the White Serpent incident, he had noticeably withdrawn.
Young noble ladies in the West began gathering around Vivian instead of Drury.
The Rosen family had been quite prestigious, connected to the maternal side of a former empress, and Vivian’s own striking appearance helped.
“Anyway, our temporary engagement lasts only until I become an adult.”
Of course, Cassian was more likely to die before that, but Damia deliberately ignored that fact.
“Even if it goes on, there’s only three years left. You should start thinking about your real marriage partner, Young Viscount.”
“Haha.”
Cassian rose quietly from his seat, his expression slightly annoyed.
“….”
As he approached, Damia found herself unintentionally tense.
Cassian had grown rapidly over the past two years, now towering even over many adult men.
“My fiancée really is kind, isn’t she.”
“Thank you for the compliment. I’m a rather good person, aren’t I? Even though I love you so much, Young Viscount, it’s not selfish. I respect your happiness…”
Perhaps because of her nervousness, she spoke more than necessary.
“That’s enough. And you’re not scheming about something else, are you?”
Cassian lifted one corner of his mouth. He seemed to see through her nervous rambling.
“Someone’s coming from afar to see you, isn’t it?”
“Excuse me? Ah… you mean Arsen?”
“Yes, that sly brat.”
“Why do you dislike Arsen so much when you’ve never even met him?”
“Do you think a guy who talks about the future to a girl with a fiancée is sane?”
“Don’t exaggerate, Young Viscount. Arsen and I are childhood friends.”
Cassian frowned, clearly displeased.
“You had no reason to be so confident, especially after snooping on my letters.”
“You deliberately left that part open for me to see, then walked away.”
Damia swallowed a bitter laugh. Two years ago, she couldn’t even remember when Cassian sulked over a letter.
He had even made them write a contract forbidding interference in private matters—it was quite a spectacle.
It wasn’t entirely incomprehensible that he had obsessive tendencies.
Because of his terminal condition, Cassian couldn’t open his heart to anyone.
Damia had been the only exception, so he had unconsciously formed an attachment.
“You always insist I’m a child, yet now you suddenly change your words at times like this.”
“……”
“Even if I had made some promise to Arsen, it was all just childish games. Arsen thinks so too.”
She hadn’t asked, but probably.
“Well… I’d bet my life that that dark-hearted brat wouldn’t think the same.”
“Why would you stake my friend’s life?”
“I can’t bet my life since I’m terminal.”
Damia shut her mouth tightly. Using his terminal condition as a shield—it was exasperating.
“You confessed you loved me at thirteen. So, at ten, it’s natural you might make future promises with him.”
“You really are unfair, changing things back and forth like this.”
“Anyway.”
Cassian stepped back. There was a very brief hesitation before he spoke again.
Damia could sense that this was the real matter at hand.
“If you’re not trying to preemptively claim that childhood friend of yours, then my story about a new fiancée is premature.”
“Why?”
“I’m not planning to enter a serious relationship with anyone yet. Lifting my curse comes first.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to meet several people first, to see who truly suits you?”
“You’ve always been oddly eager to push me off, haven’t you?”
“Th-That’s not true. I’m only preparing my heart so I can let you go whenever needed.”
“Ha, Damia Fonti.”
“Yes?”
Why does he make me nervous by using my full name?
“Give me your hand.”
As the Young Viscount slowly removed his gloves, Damia felt her heart drop.
Before she could question her ears, their hands met perfectly.
“If it were you, could you really marry a man whose heart races just from holding another woman’s hand?”
She couldn’t show any sign of being flustered. She bit her lip tightly.
Cassian really had no fear. What if Damia ended up using the medicine or physical contact as an excuse to bind him to her for life?
Before any dangerous impulse awakened, Damia shook her head slightly. She couldn’t repeat the mistakes of the previous life’s Count Pavron.
“Answer me.”
His red eyes stared at her insistently.
She had to think of an excuse to escape this situation.
“Young Viscount… I just thought of a new possibility.”
“What is it?”
“Um… it doesn’t have to be me, right? I think we’ve been thinking too narrowly until now.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“How about holding hands with another young lady?”
The moment the words left her mouth, Damia screamed silently inside.
‘Ah, this is the worst.’
Even as a temporary fiancée, this suggestion felt extreme.
“…Are you serious?”
“It might even be more effective for the curse. Why haven’t we thought to test it before?”
Now there was no going back. She decided to boldly push through to the end.
“You’re so cautious about touching others, Young Viscount. Maybe that’s why you’ve missed some precious opportunities.”
Cassian’s handsome face twisted into a mess.
