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Chapter 41
It was a situation that naturally made me curse, even though I hardly ever did.
‘This can’t be real. I just thought I’d possessed the body of a slightly frail supporting duchess.’
Me, the tragic heroine? And with a terminal illness?!
There hadn’t been the slightest hint of that until now!
“Cough… hack… wheeze!”
As I tried to deny the unbelievable truth, a cough erupted as if on cue.
To make matters worse, it wasn’t just a cough.
Splash.
Red blood poured over the pristine white nightgown I was wearing.
All of it had come from my own mouth.
“Ughhh!”
Before I knew it, I screamed at the blood-soaked front of my gown.
I vomited blood the moment I realized I was terminally ill?
‘What kind of timing is this? Are you joking with me right now?!’
I clutched my head and wailed.
My vision instantly blurred, and the world spun before my eyes.
Crash!
“Milady!”
Through the suddenly opened door, the last thing I saw was Betty’s horrified face before I lost consciousness again.
A few days earlier, after an argument with René,
Xenos had stormed out and was riding alone toward the pier.
He probably realized he had gone too far and wanted to apologize first.
He also didn’t want to act childish in front of René anymore.
But what awaited him was an unexpected chaos.
“Good heavens! Our Milady fell into the water! Help!”
The maid who had previously reported all of René’s actions to Xenos was stomping her feet in panic.
Everyone else was too stunned to know what to do.
Xenos ran straight to the riverbank and immediately leapt from his horse.
“René!”
And he plunged into the river.
His status as a duke, the political conflicts with the Blanche family—
even the icy cold water—
nothing could stop him at this moment.
Only the instinct to save René drove every movement of his body.
Diving beneath the surface, Xenos quickly located René.
Under the boat, he saw her pale face with her eyes closed.
Her slender ankles were tangled in weeds.
‘Damn it!’
Xenos ripped the weeds free and headed toward the surface.
“Puh!”
Placing his cheek against hers above the water, he felt the faintest breath.
‘She’s alive.’
The relief was overwhelming.
Even a couple who had no affection for each other seemed tied by something—maybe just being married.
Swallowing an untimely self-mockery, Xenos looked around.
Next, he scooped up the unconscious Katarina, who was holding onto the boat.
Carrying both women on his shoulders wasn’t difficult for him.
“Your Grace!”
He laid them gently on the grass, and the startled maids rushed over.
Xenos raised a hand to hold them back briefly and pressed his ear to René’s chest.
‘Her heartbeat is too slow… and weak.’
Her body was dangerously cold.
At this rate, she could freeze to death on this spring day.
“Wrap the Duchess in blankets! Anything if there are no cloths—hurry!”
“Yes, yes!”
“Sniff… Milady!”
René’s maids quickly wrapped aprons or whatever they had around her.
Her skin, already pale, had turned bluish.
Her cherry-red lips, always smooth and glossy, were now purplish—the state was serious.
“Your Grace!”
In the distance, Kal and several attendants were approaching with alarmed faces.
Thanks to Garnet, the maid who quickly ran back to the castle to report the incident.
“Our Milady… what should we do…?”
“She’ll be fine. She’s strong. Let’s get her to the Duke’s castle first.”
“Sniff… Milady…”
“Don’t cry! This isn’t the time! Let’s get back to the castle and show her to His Grace, the chief physician!”
“Uh… yes, you’re right.”
‘This side is under control.’
Watching René’s maids discuss what to do next despite their tears, Xenos took hesitant steps forward.
Something felt off.
He couldn’t dismiss it as just imagination.
Xenos’s sharp instincts flared.
‘Something’s going on.’
And the direction of that instinct was clear.
Xenos’s gaze shifted to the other side.
There were the maids of Katarina, frozen in white panic unlike René’s crying maids.
Katarina herself remained in the exact position he had placed her on the grass.
No one dared touch her body.
“We’re in big trouble now…”
“What if someone yells at us for standing idle? But I can’t swim…”
Or rather, no one was touching her because they were worried more about their own safety than their mistress.
Sigh…
Xenos exhaled deeply and stepped past them toward Katarina.
Her slightly flushed face indicated she wasn’t in immediate danger.
The Duke immediately gave orders to the maids.
“Move Katarina Hugo to the Duke’s castle. She just fainted from shock and should wake soon.”
“Yes, yes!”
Still, no one stepped forward willingly.
“Your Grace, I will carry her.”
Finally, an attendant from the Duke’s castle lifted Katarina.
Seeing this, Xenos coldly addressed the remaining hesitant maids.
“Are these all the witnesses present?”
“Eh? Witnesses… what do you mean?”
“Were you all witnesses to how the boat capsized?”
Confused, the maids glanced at each other.
“Well… um…”
Once again, they hesitated, looking at each other.
Why were they all so intimidated by Katarina that no one dared act?
At that frustrating moment,
“Your Grace!”
Kal’s voice reached him from afar.
Behind the elderly man, young ladies with pale, terrified faces approached cautiously.
“They were nearby for a tea party. We brought them just in case they saw something.”
“Well done.”
“Y-Your Grace…”
Perhaps sensing the gravity of the situation, the young ladies lowered their heads and trembled as they offered polite greetings.
But they were clearly overly frightened…
‘This is strange.’
Xenos narrowed his eyes.
“Are you sure you have nothing to report to me?”
This wasn’t a question.
It was an intimidation.
Everyone was too intimidated to move.
“Y-Your Grace… there’s something urgent to report!”
Finally, a hesitant maid spoke up with shocking news.
“Katarina pushed the Duchess! I saw it clearly!”
“!”
“Oh my heavens!”
Everyone was stunned by her words.
Xenos’s gaze darkened.
“Is that true?”
He turned to the three young ladies and asked coldly.
“Eh? Why are you asking us…?”
“You are also witnesses, are you not?”
His rough, unpolished voice reflected his current state of mind.
Indeed, Xenos’s chest was filled with urgency.
He wanted to ride immediately to take René to the chief physician himself.
But as the overall commander of the Celeste territory, it was his duty to handle the situation.
‘I should’ve trained a competent aide… why now of all times…’
He had never regretted not having an aide before, but now he did.
It was only natural that the unfamiliar faces irritated him.
“No, Your Grace! We weren’t even at the scene. We were just returning from a tea party…”
“Why were you young ladies even in the Celeste territory?”
“Because—”
Their rushed excuses made him increasingly uneasy.
“Excuse me, Your Grace.”
A soft voice interrupted from behind.
“I am Lilian Siern, second daughter of the Siern family in the adjacent territory to Celeste. I have something to report regarding today’s incident.”
Her eyes trembled nervously.
A crooked smile tugged at the Duke’s lips.
As expected, this was no simple accident.
