“My lord!”

Albert’s face had gone beet red as he let out a shout. That’ll burst an eardrum. Noah winced slightly and dug a finger into his ear.

“What exactly is the problem? I’m not hurting Adeline, I’m not dragging the family name through the mud. It’s simply a matter of me falling ill.”

Noah’s plan was as follows.

One day, out of nowhere, Noah falls ill. With tephlue, no less, a disease notorious for being incurable. Given the high fatality rate, Adeline, not wanting to become a widow at a young age, would be horrified and break off the engagement herself.

Once he was free, Noah would drag things out with some halfhearted suffering, then make a miraculous recovery. Done.

“The vassals cannot find out about this lie, so they’ll need to be firmly sworn to silence. The same goes for the Villette ducal house. Throw them a plot of land, a mine, whatever they want. Have them sign a confidentiality agreement. Offer compensation too. I’m the one who kept her tied up and away from finding a good match, so I’ll need to make it worth their while. Only then will Duke Villette dissolve things without complaint.”

To the public, they would release a statement saying the two had parted ways due to irreconcilable differences.

“And you think… the Villette lady will accept that?”

“What choice does she have? She’s about to become a widow before she’s even married. She doesn’t love me. She just…”

The expression on Noah’s face darkened as he thought of Adeline. Several emotions passed through him. Among them seemed to be a bitterness he couldn’t quite account for.

“Torments me. Relentlessly.”

Only for a moment, of course.

“Haah… I cannot allow it. Even if Duke Miller has entrusted all affairs to you and gone off to convalesce with his wife. You must wait until the master returns.”

“I’ll take responsibility. You just do as you’re told.”

“This is madness. You’ll regret it later!”

“Regret?”

Noah let out a scoff and picked up the quill.

“I don’t do regret.”

His chest swelled with anticipation at the thought of finally being free.

And so he overlooked it entirely.

Just how unhinged Adeline was.

Why she had earned the nickname “leech” in the first place.

* * *

“Noah! One more point and I beat you! Start thinking about handing over that western land!”

“In your dreams. Go ahead and try.”

A friendly game of futsal was in full swing. Playing futsal in the summer heat was the sort of thing only lunatics did. Noah and the crowd he ran with were, without exception, out of their minds.

Noah actually enjoyed the sensation of his body burning hot. Working up a sweat until his head went hazy left him feeling refreshed rather than drained. The peak was the moment his breath climbed to his throat and his heart pounded like it might burst.

Thwack!

“Young Lord Miller scores another point!”

It was then.

“My lord! My looord!”

Noah, who had been drinking water brought by a servant, turned around. Gulp, gulp. As he tilted his head back, sweat and water streamed down pleasantly.

Unlike the composed Noah, Albert came sprinting over, gasping for breath, and braced himself with his hands on his knees.

“Albert. Get some exercise. You’re winded from running this short a distance?”

“It’s, hah, it’s an emergency!”

“An emergency?”

Albert, who had been trying to explain, urgently grabbed Noah’s wrist and pulled him toward the manor.

Albert was a man with a clear line between the professional and the personal. Noah felt more bewildered than angry at the unusual behavior of someone who had never once been impertinent.

Albert shoved Noah into the bedroom before finally letting out a ragged breath.

“The Vi, Vil, Vill…”

“Slow down. Is someone chasing you?”

Albert felt a surge of irritation at Noah’s composure as he calmly wiped away his sweat with a towel, oblivious to what was happening. The sweltering heat may have put his nerves even more on edge.

“The Villette lady is on her way here.”

“What? Who’s coming?”

“Your fiancée, Lady Adeline Villette!”

“When.”

“Right now…”

Before Albert could say another word,

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

Hurried footsteps, hasty enough to seem almost undignified, came climbing up the stairs. Then they stopped just outside the door.

“My lord. It is the butler. The Villette lady has arrived at the manor. Shall I show her to the drawing room?”

At that moment, Noah’s brow crumpled hard.

“What is that woman doing here?”

* * *

The corridors of the Miller ducal house were quiet. Adeline stepped onto the carpet, familiar in a way that felt strange.

It’s been a while since I’ve been here.

The last time she had seen Noah was when she was sixteen, which made this her first visit in nearly four years. A reunion with a fiancé who had come of age might have warranted excitement, but what wrapped itself around Adeline was a heavy, pressing unease.

“Excuse me.”

Adeline parted her lips slightly as she followed the butler.

“Yes?!”

Apparently not expecting to be addressed, the butler’s shoulders gave a startled jolt. When Adeline’s eyes went wide, the butler, seeming embarrassed by the overreaction, scratched his cheek.

“Ah. My apologies. I’ve been rather scattered lately. How rude of me.”

“Understandably so. It’s quite all right.”

Adeline offered a gentle smile. The man who would become the head of the household had fallen gravely ill. How could the staff possibly remain calm? They must be beside themselves with worry for the young lord’s wellbeing.

“Before I see the young lord, I’d like to hear a little about his condition.”

“Ah… his condition.”

The butler’s pupils wavered visibly. He turned his head away shortly after, and his evasive manner only deepened Adeline’s concern.

He must be very unwell.

She had expected as much. The letter Noah had sent had been quite grave.

Dear Lady Villette.

My lady. I find myself having to deliver unfortunate news. Even now, as I write this letter, I do not know how to say it in a way that might bring you even a small measure of comfort.

I will come to the point.

I have fallen ill.

Are you familiar with a disease called tephlue? I have contracted that dreadful illness, known for its extremely high fatality rate. I have been told that there is currently no cure in the kingdom, and that most who contract it do not survive, and I have been spending my days in a troubled state of mind.

Please forgive me for not telling you sooner.

Upon receiving your letter, it seemed no longer right to delay, and so I have tried to convey my feelings through this letter.

As you said, we are past the age for marriage, and I have fallen ill. To conceal my illness and proceed with the wedding would be to drag you into misery.

And so I am asking that we dissolve our engagement.

I sincerely implore you to forget your ailing fiancé and begin a new life for yourself.

Noah Miller

Simply recalling the letter again made her heart lurch.

“I think it would be best for you to see for yourself, my lady.”

The butler resumed leading the way. A journey that would normally take a week, she had covered in just three days. Worry had driven her forward.

Adeline, who had wanted even a small moment to prepare herself, walked on in silence. His condition must be so poor that even speaking of it is too painful.

“It is the butler. I have brought the Villette lady. May we enter?”

No answer came.

A moment later, the door swung open.

“He says to come in.”

Albert, Noah’s aide, stepped aside. Adeline, not having expected anyone else to be present, startled slightly, but quickly gripped her handbag firmly and stepped forward.

The sound of her shoes against the marble floor rang out in an unsteady rhythm.

“Cough, cough…”

Her steps halted at the sudden sound of coughing.

Noah had just pushed himself upright in bed, his back turned to her. His broad back had grown far more than she remembered, but his chest rising and falling in sharp, labored movements looked uncomfortable.

Thud.

Thud, thud.

Her heart began to pound with an uneasy beat.

“Young Lord Miller.”

Adeline kept herself composed with effort as she stood beside the bed. She called to him carefully, and Noah turned his head.

The Noah who had come of age was remarkably changed.

The boyish look had left his face, which was now sharp, like something precisely carved. Beneath his lifted lids, eyes that called to mind a clear lake came into view.

The moment their gazes met, Noah’s eyes widened slightly.

“Adeline?”

It was not only Noah who had changed.

The girl who had seemed like a runny-nosed child now stood before him as a fully grown woman. The face that had shed its round, chubby cheeks was more mature than he had imagined. Her delicate features had taken on quite a womanly air.

‘Was her face always like that?’

It was a modest dress that covered every inch of skin, yet rather than feeling stifling, the buttons fastened all the way to the throat somehow drew the eye.

As Noah stood frozen, caught off guard by his changed fiancée.

‘Blood…’

Only one thing entered Adeline’s sight.

The bloodstained handkerchief in Noah’s hand. The one he had pressed to his mouth when he coughed just moments ago.