Second Month (5)

The aftermath of rejection was immense.

Alicia’s mood swung wildly from frustration to fury.

Negative thoughts kept surfacing in her mind.

She didn’t even know what exactly she was denying, but she kept shaking her head regardless.

Eventually, fragmented words started spilling out.

-What the hell.

-Then why did we get engaged?

-When did I ever say I’d marry you?

-Yesterday, you looked like you were about to cry asking me to hold your hand.

-Ugh, so awful.

-So he’s sick now, huh?

-Like I care if he’s sick or not.

-Should I take a castle from him every time I hold his hand!?

-If I’m a human painkiller, shouldn’t he at least kneel before me and make a fake confession saying he loves me madly?

-Didn’t he say holding my hand made all the pain vanish?

-Seriously annoying.

-Seriously detestable.

Alicia whispered with a voice weighed down with resentment.

“You bastard.”

The shock of being rejected—despite never even confessing—was massive.

So Alicia had been dumped.

And quite spectacularly at that.

She’d even held the hand of someone who had trespassed in her room in the middle of the night, and this was what she got in return.

‘Ungrateful wretch…’

Looking back, this wasn’t the first rejection.

She had proposed a deal to him once—and he had rejected her then too.

So Alicia had been dumped again.

She felt utterly miserable.

She decided to sleep it off and leave the room slowly.

But the more she tried, the angrier she got, and she couldn’t fall asleep.

As soon as morning came, diligent Daisy woke her.

Daisy, strict with rules, treated promises as sacred.

She gently urged the sluggish Alicia to get up.

Annie, who had come along, cheerfully and obliviously said that while the Grand Duke supposedly didn’t allow anyone near when he was sick, his receiving Alicia’s help meant he probably liked her.

Lise enthusiastically agreed, saying she thought so too.

No, he didn’t.

Alicia thought to herself as she let the three tend to her.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if you stayed by His Grace’s side for a while today?”

“If he accepts your help again today without complaint, everyone will be sure. Some might even say His Grace can’t handle being sick without you.”

Annie and Lise giggled joyfully to themselves.

It was not like that.

Alicia picked out a bonnet to match her dress.

“That rumor about the Grand Duke needing the young lady whenever he’s ill?”

Daisy said, looking displeased toward the other two.

“……”

Alicia, previously disinterested, turned her gaze slightly.

Those words had already become fact.

Reichardt Tessen truly couldn’t manage being sick without Alicia.

“We’re sorry, my lady.”

“We just thought you two looked close and wanted to see you grow closer.”

Annie and Lise joined their hands together apologetically.

Well, they’re not wrong.

Alicia extended her hand without a word.

Daisy swiftly took it and began assisting her.

Following Daisy’s signal, Annie and Lise brought the raincoat and umbrella.

It was raining again today.

The brief pause at dawn had given way to another thunderstorm by morning.

As Annie helped Alicia into the raincoat, she pouted slightly.

“I know I said it carelessly, but honestly… seeing His Grace drive everyone away when ill, and then let you care for him… I felt a little happy. What matters most is your relationship, of course. But the people in Tessen Castle saw you observe all the proper customs and seek out the Grand Duke so respectfully… and they’re all whispering now that you must like him far more.”

Annie said this with an expression of utmost injustice.

“They did…?”

Alicia spoke for the first time since waking.

“Don’t mind the words of those who know nothing,”

Daisy said softly as she adjusted the raincoat fasteners.

“Yesterday, the Baron and Baroness of Rens looked at you like you were an angel descended from the heavens. If you visit again today and stay just an hour, they might look at you like you’re a seraph.”

Lise whispered as she opened the front door, as if she too was dissatisfied.

“We’ll see.”

Alicia replied curtly.

Truthfully, she didn’t want to go visit the sick man at all.

And yet, part of her hoped the rumor that the Grand Duke couldn’t survive illness without her would spread far and wide.

Because that was just the truth in written form.

Though anyone who heard it would assume Reichardt was madly in love with her.

‘We’ll see.’

Alicia walked very slowly from the Tech House to the Breguet House.

The Grand Duke’s chambers were silent.

Henrik once again guided Alicia without making a sound.

She crossed the large room and entered deeper inside.

Her light, unhurried steps grew hurried as she neared the curtains by the bed.

From behind the drapes came the suppressed gasps of labored breathing.

“Your Grace…?”

Alicia pushed the curtain aside roughly and rushed to the bed.

Reichardt’s face, lying on the bed, was soaked in sweat.

His amber eyes, barely open, looked at Alicia but seemed unfocused.

Without thinking, Alicia grasped his trembling hand writhing in pain.

“Alicia.”

His cracked lips moved faintly.

Reichardt’s hand was ice-cold.

But his fevered face burned like fire.

Seeing him crushed by an unknown pain, Alicia forgot the feigned composure she had intended to maintain.

She took a handkerchief from her chest and wiped the sweat from his face and neck.

His spasming body soon calmed down, but while his limbs remained cold, the heat in his head had not subsided.

Alicia laid her hand over his burning forehead and sighed.

“I’m late. I’m sorry.”

She apologized to someone who might not even hear her.

‘I shouldn’t be petty to someone who’s sick.’

Reichardt, who she thought had fallen asleep, opened his eyes and looked at Alicia.

“You’re here.”

His face was disheveled with pain and sweat.

His unfocused gaze wandered in search of her.

Alicia waited for this pitiful prince-like man to say something.

-Why are you so late?

-Are you a sloth?

But there were no complaints or scolding.

Only breaths soaked in pain as he clutched Alicia’s hand desperately.

“You said you’d be fine for a while.”

“I was… for a while.”

The pain seemed to have lessened, and his voice responded more clearly.

“How does Your Grace’s pain begin?”

Alicia wet a handkerchief with water from the kettle.

Her hand moved unhesitatingly as she wiped his feverish face.

Reichardt calmly offered up his face.

Even while suffering, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

“Suddenly. It feels similar to being ambushed or falling off a horse.”

It seemed he became gentler when sick.

His low voice carried a trace of laughter.

“What exactly changes when I touch you? I believe I have every right to ask. Please answer honestly.”

“When your hand touches me, the most severe pain from that area disappears first.”

Alicia brought her hand back to Reichardt’s face, freshly wiped with the damp handkerchief.

“The most severe pain? So this helps the pain in your head subside?”

“Yes.”

“What other…”

Alicia was about to ask where else hurt but stopped herself.

The faint smile faded as his expression grew respectful and he murmured softly.

“Holding hands is enough.”

“Should I remove my hand from your forehead?”

As Alicia spoke, she started to lift her hand.

A large hand covered hers before she could pull away.

“Please don’t.”

The hoarseness had vanished from his deep voice as he spoke quickly.

Golden eyes looked up quietly at Alicia.

Reichardt seemed to have improved quite a bit in that short moment.

Alicia gazed down at him—one of his hands clutched hers desperately, and the other pressed hers against his forehead.

The thought of not taking advantage of a patient vanished quickly.

Seeing Reichardt cling to her so desperately felt like it had repaid the sting she’d felt earlier that morning.

She felt a little better.

She knew how childish she was being—but emotions weren’t logical.

“When the pain subsides while holding hands, how long does the effect last?”

“As long as we’re holding hands.”

“What if I let go?”

Alicia couldn’t take her eyes off the man clinging to her hand.

“If the hand is removed, the pain slowly returns. And if it’s been a while, the pain comes back all at once, like it did at the beginning.”

“So the pain returns the moment I let go?”

Alicia blurted the question out before realizing.

“Compared to the original pain, it’s still far more bearable.”

Reichardt replied meekly, perhaps because the long illness had worn him down.

Alicia nearly said, Are you insane?

“How long after I let go does the original pain come back?”

“It depends. Ten or fifteen minutes, perhaps?”

So basically, the pain started almost right after she let go.

Now she understood why he tried to stop her hand from leaving his forehead.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because I pity you.”

At Alicia’s blunt remark, Reichardt didn’t get angry or serious.

It was clear his temperament softened when he was sick.

The man, both a royal and a Grand Duke, smiled warmly at someone who dared pity him.

“Would you stay here… for the sake of poor me?”

Reichardt, smiling now that much of the pain had eased, spoke in a playful tone.

Perhaps this was his true personality.

The cold, expressionless face he usually wore might just be a façade maintained for his status as royalty and Grand Duke.

“I’m staying right now, aren’t I?”

“But the Tech House is far from here.”

Alicia wasn’t the type to leave someone in so much pain that they might collapse within ten minutes.

And on top of that, the man was her official fiancé and an important ally.

“What should we tell the Baron of Rens?”

Alicia replied as a small sulk rose in her heart.

She could already imagine the Grand Duke’s people thinking she adored him again, and it annoyed her.

“Here.”

Reichardt pulled a vintage key from his pocket and handed it to her.

It looked special at first glance.

“What is this, Your Grace?”

Alicia took the key and sat in the cushy chair beside the bed.

“It’s the key to the Duchess’s room. Show it to Henrik, and he’ll guide you. It’s at the end of the opposite corridor, but still closer than the Tech House.”

In Tessen Castle, there were the Duke’s chambers and the Duchess’s chambers.

The Duke’s room was currently Reichardt’s.

The Duchess’s chamber should have been the Grand Duchess’s, yet oddly, it still retained the name “Duchess’s room.”

According to Alicia’s memory and gathered information, Reichardt had never allowed any of his six wives to use the Duchess’s room.

This had made it even more infamous.

Some rumors claimed he had someone else in his heart and that’s why he never gave the room to his wives.

Looking at the key to the Duchess’s room, which she had only heard about in rumors, Alicia swallowed her swirling emotions.

The vintage key carried a weighty gravity in her palm.

“Rest now.”

Alicia lowered the hand she had placed on Reichardt’s forehead, covering his faintly fluttering eyes.

“Thank you.”

Reichardt whispered as he drifted off to sleep.

Soon, the sound of steady breathing filled the room.