6. The Deal

It was already my fourteenth day since entering the Riverton ducal family.

On that particularly warm afternoon, I had a meal with the Duke, my benefactor, after receiving an especially elaborate flower arrangement.

The news about this meeting had been urgently delivered to me the day before, and due to the sudden invitation, Annie and the other maids had to work quite hard to prepare my clothes.

“I apologize. I should have arranged this meal much earlier. Unfortunately, territorial matters became too busy, and I couldn’t find the time, so it was delayed.”

I was honestly a bit surprised to see the Empire’s only Duke speaking formally to me, a daughter of a comital family without a title, without looking down on me.

His personality seemed somewhat different from the stiff tone of the letter he had sent through the matchmaker.

He had blonde hair and blue eyes that matched the Western standard of aesthetic beauty. Despite being old enough to have a grown son like the young master, his appearance was quite handsome.

“N-no, Your Grace. I am truly grateful for being invited to this luncheon.”

I quickly answered with a slightly reddened face.

My eyes were drawn more to his beauty than to the meal with perfect ingredients and plating or the table decorations covered with flowers.

But I tried my best not to stare at him. I needed to be careful about my habit of gushing over beautiful and good things.

Though the table seemed to be filled with rare dishes I had never even seen at home, I couldn’t taste any of them.

Then suddenly, the Duke, who had been eating quietly, addressed me.

“How is it?”

“Pardon……?”

When I asked, the Duke looked into the distance and cleared his throat briefly.

“My son’s condition, I mean.”

Though it wasn’t a completely unexpected question, I fell into thought for a moment. In my mind, I recalled the young master’s appearance during our two encounters over the past fourteen days.

Both times he had looked very ill.

He constantly appeared to lack energy, and each time he coughed severely and shed tears. Comparing the first and second meetings, he didn’t seem to have improved at all.

“The young master……”

I thought being too optimistically dishonest might be disrespectful to the parent of an incurably ill patient. I wanted to convey the facts objectively without causing the Duke too much worry.

While I hesitated to answer, the Duke wiped his hands with a napkin and began speaking again.

“I mean your healing power. Has my child shown improvement since your arrival?”

My hand twitched at the rather sharp question. As he said, that healing power was the reason for my existence here.

It was the reason someone from a family completely mismatched with the Riverton ducal family could come here, and also why the ducal family had paid off all our family’s debts.

But during that long time, I hadn’t made the young master even slightly better.

I felt guilty for not fulfilling what I was supposed to do.

An awkward silence fell briefly.

I could feel the Duke’s piercing gaze directed at me.

I knew without looking.

How full of disappointment and displeasure his expression must be.

I decided that since things had come to this, I would speak honestly about the truth.

“The healing power passed down in the Brienne family isn’t actually anything special.”

I hadn’t lied about curing him completely from the beginning, and the proposal had been suggested by me first, so being honest now shouldn’t be such a great sin.

Of course, I felt a bit uneasy because I had demanded debt clearance using the life compensation as an excuse.

“At best, my ability is limited to healing very small wounds or stopping bleeding.”

After a brief silence, the Duke spoke again.

“I see.”

He seemed to accept the reality of my power much more calmly than I had expected.

His composed expression and slightly resigned smile pricked my conscience repeatedly.

“How do you use this healing power?”

The Duke drank some water from the glass in front of him, then asked me as if genuinely curious.

Hearing that question, I felt my face grow hot. The way I used my healing power was quite far from aristocratic methods. It wasn’t about giving elegant glances or making virtuous smiles.

“……”

I didn’t want to answer, but the Duke kept looking at me persistently.

“It involves holding hands……”

At that moment, the Duke changed his expression. It didn’t seem like he was surprised to learn something new. After a brief silence with an ambiguous expression, he spoke again.

“That will work, then.”

The Duke said very quietly, almost to himself.

“Pardon……?”

I asked in surprise.

“Hold his hand.”

You want me to hold the young master’s hand?

I recalled the young master’s appearance in my mind.

If I were to hold the young master’s fragile, pale hand that looked like it might break at any moment.

I shook my head inwardly.

If I grabbed him with my hand full of strength, the young master would probably break.

“Would 50,000 gold be enough for holding his hand once?”

He spoke like someone participating in an urgent auction. At his words, I reflexively raised my head.

The Duke’s blue eyes were already burning with obsession.

This person didn’t seem ordinary either.

Surprised by the unexpectedly enormous amount, I couldn’t answer immediately.

But contrary to my surprised emotions, the poverty occupying a corner of my mind was thoroughly calculating.

With 50,000 gold, Theo could attend the elementary division of the academy, and Elaine could continue studying music she loved. It was even enough money to cover our family’s living expenses for ten years after paying for the children’s education.

“Is it not enough?”

I instinctively sensed that the Duke was about to raise the amount.

His blue eyes were burning with a desire to win.

“Five hundred million.”

At those words, genuine emotion burst from my hand that had been maintaining composure very well until now. The fork I was holding left my hand and fell down with a clang.

Ten thousand times. I hadn’t expected him to offer ten thousand times more. I had anticipated perhaps 1.5 times at most. At most, 2 times.

With 500 million gold, Theo would have no worries until he completely graduated from school. Not just worry-free, but he could live very abundantly, not envying children from other families with the same rank as ours.

It was a completely failed attitude for someone receiving a price offer, but I expressed with my whole body that I was tempted by his proposal.

“I’ll, I’ll hold it.”

I would need to control my strength to just lightly touch the young master’s hand so it wouldn’t break. But if I had to hold his hand, what excuse should I give him?

“Good. As soon as this meal ends, I’ll send the amount for one time to Brienne.”

So quickly?

This shocking spending behavior shown by the Duke was something I, as the eldest daughter of a ruined comital family, simply couldn’t keep up with.

“Ah, I will also make sure to ask Jace later if you held his hand.”

“Yes……”

At my answer, the Duke made a very satisfied expression and continued eating. He didn’t forget to gesture for me, whose soul had completely left my body, to eat as well.

I became even less able to taste what the food was than before.

❀❀❀

The moment I saw the young master’s harmless smile as he came out to the door to greet me again today, I instantly felt like a great sinner.

“Rosie!”

Dressed in a plain white shirt with minimal decoration and light gray pants, he looked like a young, innocent lamb.

“Is something wrong? Why aren’t you coming in……”

How should I deal with this pitiful soul who calls me with such a kind voice, knowing nothing?

He would never dream that I was receiving enormous compensation from his father and eyeing his hand at every opportunity.

It felt like my conscience was being pierced by a sharp thorn. Because of this, I couldn’t even dare to look at the side where the young master’s hand was.

I spoke stiffly, looking into the distance without meeting his eyes.

“What do you mean? I’ve been living without any worries since coming to the ducal family.”

“Well, that’s good, but……”

He kept turning back to look at me with worried eyes as I walked with a creaking gait.

Feeling like I was sitting on pins and needles, I was mentally absent throughout our walk along the long corridor, alternating between sunlight and shade.

The sunlight falling on my face contrasted sharply with my wickedness, seeming to announce my evil deeds to the world.

Just then, through the wide-open corridor window, something similar yet different from the sparkling sunlight briefly appeared.

That diagonal object wasn’t light, but it seemed to fall straight here from outside the window in a straight line.

Looking at it absently with a vacant gaze, I suddenly felt something was off.

‘That’s not sunlight……!’

A piano wire was crossing the corridor, falling diagonally from the ceiling to the floor. And countless glass fragments were densely embedded along it.

I grabbed the young master’s arm, who was walking slightly ahead of me, disregarding propriety.

The young master’s body, pulled irresistibly toward me without knowing why, spilled over to my side. Thanks to this, we both fell to the floor together.

I hit the cold floor first. It felt like being struck by a huge boulder all over my body.

Almost simultaneously, his seemingly fragile body overlapped on top of mine. He seemed quite heavy despite appearances.

With that thought, he raised his body by placing his hand on the floor beside me.

On his face as he lifted his head, I could see a blood mark where the piano wire I had discovered earlier had grazed past.

Without thinking of the consequences, I grabbed his hand firmly. At the same time, the small cuts that had stained his face with a rosy hue gradually disappeared.

At that moment, focus returned to his emerald eyes.

Looking down at me, he appeared somewhat surprised.

“Rosie…… Why are you crying?”

I silently gripped his hand more tightly.

It would be fine even if my strength was too much and his hand burst or broke. It just felt like I should. And of course, his hand didn’t break under my strength.

He lowered his body again from where he had been rising and leaned his face close to mine.

It felt strange to hear his always unstable breathing so close.

“I’m fine, so please stop crying now.”

“……”

He wiped the tears flowing from my eyes with his hand, his face suggesting it was nothing. I needed to respond quickly, but my throat was choked, and I couldn’t make a sound.

Just before, the piano wire visible in the corridor had been set exactly at his neck height.

As if hoping he would get caught and die while passing through there.