Even at this moment, her heart swayed helplessly for him. The inability to control her own heart was resentful.
Don't forget. That man is Dane Schmaichel.
‘I decided not to love him.’
Rose repeated it over and over again. Thanks to that, she was able to stop the tears that had been constantly flowing.
Until she lay down right next to the bed where Dane was sleeping, Rose made the resolution.
‘Don't forget, this is a contract.’
A contract without love, made to achieve each other's goals. She had to stay true to it. To survive in this castle, emotions were a luxury.
Even in the final moments of drifting off to sleep, Rose repeated that single phrase over and over.
“Rose!”
Then, she opened her eyes at the low voice calling her.
“Are you alright?”
Dane's face was right in front of her nose. His slightly disheveled hair, suggesting he had just woken up, and his voice, lower than usual.
And beneath that, through the parted opening of his robe...
“Gasp!”
Startled, Rose tried to bolt upright,
Thump.
She was blocked by something thick and came to a halt.
“Madam.”
Dane was blocking her forehead with his large hand. His hot body temperature radiated from the skin that touched hers.
“I asked if you were alright.”
“Pardon? Me?”
“Yes. You seemed to be having a nightmare earlier.”
Dane tilted his head slightly in puzzlement.
“You were thrashing about quite a bit. Are you okay?”
“Well, I'm fine...”
Rose struggled to control her gaze, which kept instinctively wanting to drift downward.
Thump.
However, looking at Dane's face right in front of her wasn't good for her heart either.
Thump, thump.
The face she had liked since she first saw it was close by. She couldn't stop her cheeks from blazing up.
“Ugh...”
“You seem to have a fever.”
Saying that with a serious face, Dane stood up from his spot. He pulled the bell rope to call the servants, and until the physician, Joel, was called for.
Thump, thump, thump.
Rose's heart showed no signs of calming down at all.
‘What do I do?’
Rose squeezed her eyes shut. It felt like the first day of her contract marriage was going to be rough from the very start.
**
The room was quiet.
The servants had changed the bedding and scurried away in a flash. Only Bill and Selma remained, standing far away from the bed.
Sitting on the bed, Rose's face was still flushed red. Joel held her wrist, focusing on taking her pulse.
I swallowed a sigh as I watched them.
‘This is truly infuriating.’
This situation itself. The fact that there was something wrong with Rose's body, and that Joel was examining her.
Before the regression, Joel was the one who took Rose's life. In other words, Rose was being examined by the very person who killed her.
I had asked Rose several times before Joel came in.
‘Madam, are you certain there is nothing wrong with your body?’
‘Your Grace, I am truly fine. It is not that I am sick, but...’
Rose had hurriedly waved her hands and tried to refuse,
‘Madam, it would be best for you to undergo an examination. What do you think?’
At Selma's persuasion, we eventually had to call for Joel.
Selma suddenly stepping forward was a little suspicious, but I let it slide for now. The immediate situation of Joel examining Rose was more important.
I really didn't like it, but since there was no other doctor in the castle, it couldn't be helped.
“......”
Rose couldn't lift her bright red face. Seeing her blush so fiercely, it seemed her fever was severe.
‘She must have overexerted herself yesterday.’
I was flustered since this hadn't happened in the original work, but thinking about it slightly, it was fully plausible. Yesterday must have been an incredibly busy, hectic, and overwhelming day for Rose.
For someone who had to accomplish great things in the future to fall ill from the start. It bothered me, as it felt like my own blunder.
“Madam, may I ask you a few questions?”
I stared at the back of Joel's head as he asked Rose, caught in conflicting desires. Should I leave him be, the only attending physician who could examine Rose, or...
‘Should I just kill him?’
Should I slit his throat?
It was an urge that kept surging up ever since I learned of my future and discovered he was a traitor.
‘How dare he.’
His betrayal, having served the Schmaichel family since my father's time, cut deep.
The fact that I found out so late, the dwindling number of trustworthy people, and the reality that I would have to constantly doubt and verify him from now on.
Everything was fucked up.
‘Damn it.’
What angered me more than that was myself. Not knowing such a covert and致命 enemy was right by my side.
I felt utterly pathetic and painfully miserable about myself.
Wriggle.
My fingers twitched, wanting to twist Joel's neck right then and there. I barely suppressed the thick murderous intent boiling up inside me.
The reason I didn't kill Joel immediately was that keeping him alive a little longer was advantageous for me. Reprimanding him now would be useless anyway.
‘It's not time yet.’
I needed to prepare. A preparation to completely corner Joel and the 'man' giving orders behind him.
So I postponed interrogating him. The plan was to keep pretending to trust him and lure him into letting his guard down.
“No.”
Rose answered resolutely.
She had seemed to hesitate for a moment when she first saw Joel, but soon calmly received the examination. Seeing her act without being swayed by her past experiences was quite commendable.
Moreover, she had started acting like a 'Duchess' since yesterday. It was an agreeable change.
“Are you perhaps dizzy?”
“No.”
“Then, is your stomach churning or are you feeling nauseous?”
“No.”
“Hmm.”
Joel wore an even more serious expression. Seeing that, my stomach burned even more.
“How is she?”
“Your Grace.”
Joel bowed his head politely to me and hesitated.
“This is...”
“This is?”
In the meantime, Joel's gaze briefly rested on Selma. Selma, receiving the look, nodded her head.
“This is, well.”
Joel cleared his throat with a cough and spoke.
“I am sorry to say this, but... I suspect that you, Your Grace, may have pushed yourself a bit too hard.”
“Me?”
For a moment, I didn't understand Joel's words. I pushed myself too hard? Not Rose?
“What do you mean by that?”
“Hmm.”
Joel made a troubled face as if he couldn't bear to say it.
Was that all.
“...Ugh.”
Rose turned her face the other way, avoiding my gaze.
“Ahem.”
Even Bill coughed awkwardly, as if embarrassed, and
“Oh my.”
Selma covered her mouth.
I no longer understood the situation. Everyone except me was sharing the same emotion—that is, they were all deeply embarrassed.
“What exactly do you mean? Speak plainly.”
“Your Grace, that is...”
“Did she perhaps contract some severe illness that is hard to speak of?”
I should have guessed from her frail wrists and waist. It was clearly because she hadn't been able to eat properly at the Vikander estate.
My anger toward the Vikander family was growing day by day.
“I don't care how much it costs, you must cure my wife. Understand?”
“It is not a matter of cost, Your Grace.”
“Then what?”
Joel only smiled with a deeply troubled face. Just as I was getting frustrated and about to press him,
“Y-Your Grace!”
Rose hurriedly called out to me. Her voice sounded as if she were squeezing something out.
“Your Grace. Please...”
“Speak.”
“P-Please...”
Rose squeezed her eyes shut and spat out the words she had been holding back.
“Could you please just leave me be?”
“?”
Funnily enough, the next moment I found myself kicked out of the room along with Bill and Joel.
“Your Grace, the Madam needs her rest.”
By a brightly smiling Selma.
Slam.
The door to Rose's bedroom closed right in front of my nose. Leaving only Rose and Selma inside.
‘What is this?’
Why did only the women need to talk? And why was the attending physician, who needed to treat her, also kicked out?
As I stood unable to leave the front of the room with a furrowed brow,
“Your Grace.”
Joel approached carefully.
“I hesitated to tell you earlier because the Madam was present.”
“Then you can speak now.”
“Yes. As you know, the Madam is small and fragile in stature. But you, Your Grace, are very robust.”
Joel blinked as if asking, *Do you understand now?* But I only stared blankly at Joel stating the obvious.
Seeing my expression, Joel let out a dry chuckle.
“It is embarrassing to speak so directly. Ahem, is it not the Madam's... first time?”
“...Ah.”
“I surmise that the night with Your Grace may have been a bit too harsh for the Madam. From the looks of it, she seemed to be feeling severe fatigue.”
Only then did I realize why Joel had been hesitant to speak and why everyone had been acting so cautiously. But I was left even more bewildered.
‘But we didn't do anything?’
We just slept together. Did just that make Rose's body feel exhausted? What a frail body.
There were some questionable parts, but the result didn't seem bad. The rumor that Rose was loved by me would probably spread quite noisily.
‘Well, I guess it turned out well.’
Seeing me roughly nod in understanding, Joel smiled faintly.
“A day like this has finally come for you as well, Your Grace. I am glad.”
A gentle voice and a good-natured smile. I used to feel my mother's kindness from him.
Until just yesterday.
“You spout nonsense.”
Now, Joel's smile felt repulsive.
“You may leave. Prescribe some medicine that will be good for my wife's body.”
I ordered with a nonchalant face.
‘I thought I was used to hiding my emotions.’
It wasn't easy when it came to the affairs of my confidant. Still, my trained facial muscles succeeded in feigning indifference.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
As Joel, still wearing a smile, stepped back,
“Your Grace.”
Bill approached.
“Sir Matthias is waiting for you.”
“Did he not return to the mine yesterday?”
“Yes. He insisted that he must accompany you.”
“Is that so.”
With Bill's assistance, I finished donning my armor completely.
“Your Grace, do you perhaps need a new attending physician?”
Bill, who was fastening the last buckle of the armor, asked.