The Only Way to Break the Curse is Through Contact with You - Chapter 41
‘Something is wrong!’
There must be something. Otherwise, it can’t be like this.
I was sure as I watched Lily, who had already covered her mouth for the fifteenth time, and dashed out of the room. For the past few days, it was clear that something had happened during the days I had lost consciousness due to the curse.
At first I thought I was overthinking it, but I wasn’t.
Initially, it was difficult for me to step outside the room because Lily grabbed my legs and sobbed, saying that I absolutely couldn’t go out. Whenever I tried to go out to the garden to catch some fresh air, Lily would appear from somewhere and insist that I must wear a winter coat in the middle of summer. She had always taken good care of me, but recently her behavior had become excessively overprotective.
Even when I managed to escape from Lily and step out of the room, I felt uneasy. Whenever someone saw me, their eyes would become moist.
Yesterday, Annie, who was cleaning the railing, dropped the cloth she was holding as soon as she saw me and hurriedly ran up to support me. Even though I said it was fine,
‘What if you slip on the stairs?’
she said and escorted me all the way down the stairs. I wondered why she was fussing over me falling on the stairs when I was already of a certain age, but Annie trembled her lips as if she was about to burst into tears and I had no choice but to accept her kind escort without understanding a word she said.
She wasn’t the only one. When I went to the kitchen to ask for a lunchbox to take to the training ground, the chef who was peeling potatoes suddenly poked his eyes with his thumb and index finger and started saying nonsense like his eyes were irritated and tears were coming out.
In the garden, the gardener handed me a daisy flower with a mournful expression and said, ‘I will pray for you.’
The training field, which was usually filled with heat and enthusiasm, had a gloomy atmosphere. Looking around curiously, I spotted knights sitting in a circle. I didn’t know what was going on, but they looked extremely serious. Milto, who discovered me, rushed over panting.
“M-Madam!”
After that, the knights rushed towards me like a pack of wolves. I unknowingly stepped back, feeling overwhelmed. They surrounded me and bombarded me with questions like how could I come here alone, how could I carry this heavy thing alone, and if my body was alright.
There had been a similar incident before, but the difference this time was that their pupils were moist.
“What happened? Why are your eyes so red?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
“I ran 100 laps around the training field earlier.”
“Since we’re all healthy men, don’t worry about us… Hic!”
Alex quickly interjected with an excuse and covered his mouth with his hand in a sudden expression of realization. The knights turned their heads abruptly. Although I couldn’t see it, I felt like I knew what kind of gaze they were giving Alex. Alex looked at me with an instantly pale expression.
Why are you so attentive to me? I wondered, feeling puzzled, but Milto, who had been silently pursing her lips, couldn’t stand it any longer. He abruptly closed his mouth as if he couldn’t bear it anymore and rushed off somewhere.
His back looked just like Lily’s, and I seemed to be experiencing déjà vu as I stared blankly at his fading form. The knights blocked my path and started making excuses.
‘It’s no big deal.’
‘That brat ate something wrong earlier!’
‘Yes! He’s going to the restroom because of an upset stomach!’
But the faint murmurs I could barely hear seemed to have a different reason.
‘That crazy idiot, I told him not to give it away!’
‘What are we going to do if Madam notices?’
‘I’ll make that bastard run 100 laps around the training ground later.’
What the hell is it that I shouldn’t notice?
Just as I was about to ask, Lily called me from afar and came running in a huff, putting on the coat she was holding and looking around, so I missed the timing.
* * *
“There must be something going on that I don’t know about.”
“Could it be because of what happened at the banquet?”
Leticia put down the teacup she was holding and spoke as she looked at me.
“I was also so surprised that day. And I’ve been so worried when I heard that you haven’t woken up for days.”
Leticia had asked for permission to visit the mansion many times after I collapsed, but she couldn’t come due to Diart’s refusal. Today was finally the day she could visit.
“I couldn’t have a peaceful day until I heard the news that you woke up. So you can’t blame the servants who take care of you closely for their feelings.”
Leticia wiped her tears with a handkerchief.
Of course, it was natural for the servants to worry if the mistress collapsed again. But their behavior was not so easily explained by that reason alone.
No, if it was just the servants or the knights acting strange, I would have understood…
“!”
As I took a sip of sweet milk tea, a force hit my back, making me stiffen my shoulders. Swallowing my saliva, I slowly turned my head and met a pair of golden eyes from the terrace.
‘Not again, not again!
He’s looking at me like that again!
“Oh, look, Duke Wheaton is over there.”
Leticia said with a cheerful voice, following my gaze.
‘I am not at all pleased to see him.’
Recently, the man who has been causing me the most concern is him. Since I left my room, Diart’s attitude towards me has noticeably changed.
The man who only knew the training grounds and the office started appearing from all directions. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but when he even found his way to my room where he never set foot, I became certain.
‘Is he following me now?’
It’s not the first time I’ve seen a man out of the corner of my eye. What’s more, he didn’t seem to have any particular business with me.
He just watched me silently. Observed me. Stared at me. That’s all he did.
Why would a man who looked at me like he was looking at a cow or a chicken suddenly act like this? Frankly, if it were any other man, I would think he had an interest in me, but he was Diart. He was the male lead in this world. He was destined to be connected to Lady Adelia, and as an example of that, their fateful first meeting took place at the imperial banquet…
‘Come to think of it, what happened between those two?’
Distracted by the changed attitudes of people around me, I had forgotten about Adelia. The last memory I had before collapsing was when Diart stood next to me while I was dumbfounded by Adelia’s ambiguous appearance. In what must have seemed like an act of aggression, Diart left Adelia alone and turned to me first.
“Are you okay?”
I blinked my eyes. If there is anyone who’s fated to hear those words, it should have been Diart’s destined partner, Adelia.
“Leticia, after I collapsed that day, nothing happened, right?”
“Well… I wasn’t there either… Oh!”
Leticia made a mischievous expression as if something came to her mind. I waited for her to continue.
“It was quite chaotic.”
“What happened?”
“Duke Wheaton carried the unconscious Roeni in his arms and left the banquet hall.”
“…What?”
Diart did that? He didn’t stay with Adelia at the banquet?
“It was a very romantic scene. We were all surprised to see that the Duke had such a tender side.”
Leticia blushed and smiled as if she was still excited even thinking about it. That Diart, who never paid any attention to anyone, held me in his arms. It was enough to surprise even someone like me.
‘Why does it keep deviating from the original?’
Come to think of it, it was strange from the beginning. In the original, the two fell in love at first sight and began their relationship by dancing with each other. But at the important moment when Adelia is introduced, Diart was not there.
I don’t like the fact that their first meeting was brought forward, and that Adelia was not the lovely female protagonist I had imagined, and that their meeting was different from the original.
Knowing the original was my biggest strength in living in this world. There is nothing more unsettling than having a future you knew for sure become uncertain.
‘Well, he’s still my husband and he took care of me, so I don’t feel bad.’
I hid the corner of my mouth that was curling up behind my teacup.
“Oh my.”
Leticia stared back at me, her eyes wide with surprise. I was about to turn away at her exclamation.
“Are you okay?”
A low voice sounded pleasingly above my head. As I raised my head, I met eyes with Diart, who was looking down at me while gripping the back of the chair.