A lady hugging a child who looked about five years old and hurriedly approached us.
“My child loves Lord Magnus. Can you hug him?”
A boy jumped out of the crowd.
“I heard you helped Martin’s grandmother move home. My grandfather is having a hard time moving, could you help him as well?”
“I’ve heard that it’s easy to get in knighthood if I have a letter of recommendation from your family. I told you before that I wanted to be a knight, and you remember you said yes, right Lord Magnus?”
“I was swindled…
“I need your help, my lord…”
There was no such thing as a state of emergency*. They lined up and asked for requests to pay off debts, take revenge after being bullied, ask for a job, and even find a lost dog together.
(t/n: the term used here is ‘abigyuhwan’ [아비규환] meaning a situation when something bad happened and things cant go back to normal)
My head is throbbing. All I could do was hold on to the lantern Adele gave me in my arms.
I felt a flood of displeasure as people swarm around us. I couldn’t stand it anymore so whispered to Adele.
“Adele, you’ve got to be a little bit of a bad guy sometimes.”
It seems that he didn’t expect me to run so blindly. Adele said in a low voice, but with a clear intention.
“I can’t help any of you.”
The noisy crowd became quiet for a moment. And further confusion eroded the atmosphere.
“L-lord? “
“Why are you saying that?”
“You’ve given us anything we asked for!”
I really want to vomit blood on these people who’re pushing me around.
Then they finally shot arrows at me.
“Wait a minute, that person just whispered something to Lord Magnus.”
“You made the Lord stop helping us, didn’t you?”
“Ugh. Eup. “
Nausea started clawing on my throat once again. Adele pulled me in his arms.
“Get out of the way right now! If you don’t–“
But before Adele could even finish his words, the boy who had asked him to take his grandfather home spoke in a sarcastic tone.
“And what if we don’t? You’re not going to threaten us, weak commoners with your powers right?”
Then the lady holding the child burst into laughter.
“Ay, that sounds like a bluff. Say something that makes sense.”
Everyone responded with a consistent reaction.
“You’re not that kind of person.”
“The lord can’t do that,”
Adele’s hand around my shoulder became stiff. I let out a sigh. Adele did everything he could to help them, yet they looked down on him as if he were a mere centipede.
This is so annoying. What will they ask for next? To make him feed them or breathe for them?
At this rate, it would be a disaster if Adele used magic as his last resort.
I knew that Adele was extremely reluctant to use magic in front of an unspecified number of people.
First of all, his father didn’t allow it, and crowd psychology was bound to inflate even the smallest things. I couldn’t bear to burden him.
I pushed Adele away and stood up straight. Then took off my hat.
“!”
Everyone sucked a breath. There were several people whose faces turned red and hardened at once. Most of them turned very pale. With the beauty effect of the century, they were now fully focused on me.
I slowly opened my mouth and spoke in a subdued tone.
“I’m terminally ill…and it’s highly contagious…”
I was at my limit now. A hot lump of blood is threatening to spill out from my throat right now.
As soon as I finished talking, I vomited a great deal of blood.
“Euuueeeg”
After that, well, everything went crazy.
“Kyaaaa! “
“B-blood! “
“Step aside! “
“It could be contagious!”
“Damn it, it splashed on my face!”
People were busy running away, pushing and tripping and stepping on each other.
“What, that crazy woman?!”
Crazy woman? Where?
I wiped the blood off my mouth and made a happy expression.
Ah, that was refreshing. I think I’m going to live now.
It was good to kick people out, but I was on the verge of exhaustion. I’m afraid that if I let go of my mind even for a split second, I might faint. And I’m not sure when they would try to retaliate against me.
The commoners here had an infinite trust and biased image of Adele’s limitations.
It was because Adele was extremely noble and innocent when it was common for other aristocrats to use their power to trample other people with lower status than them.
He spoke respectfully to young children, psychos, and beggars. People who know that he’s like that treated him as a pushover.
Adele is indeed, too nice to people.
Even among his friends, he is often called a pushover, but Adele was always the one who gave away his umbrella in a pouring downpour.
Furthermore, Adele was still a minor, a very good-looking man. The people carried out all sorts of absurd delusions with Adele.
Some women had imaginary relationships with him, scammers were trying to break money from him and some people even dreamed of success by selling Adele’s name. Anyway, I was anxious because I couldn’t use it in any way.
But when this happened in the original work, Adele, who did not know the answer, was only consistent with a lukewarm response.
I expected it wouldn’t be much different even now.
(t/n: daang, I feel so bad about Adele)
I called out the frozen Adele.
“Adele, don’t stay still. You should take me away from here now.”
Adele blinked at my call.
“I’m sorry.”
He held me in his arms. It seems that he’s suppressing himself from crying in public, so I gently patted him on the hand.
Predicting that this uproar would soon turn into anger towards me, Adele quickly took me away to escaped the mess. The face that was fresher than the freshly faded sprout was hardened.
Adele said nothing until we got into the carriage. The guilty look on his face is making my heartache.
I comforted Adele in a gentle voice.
“You know it’s not your fault, right?”
“Anastasia, your face is pale. Please refrain from talking.”
Even at the moment of the carriage’s departure, Adele did not relax.
He took down the curtain on the window so that no one can see us inside, then sat next to me, not opposite me, so he could support me.
I leaned my head slightly against Adele’s shoulder.
“You smell good.”
Normally, he would have recited some sort of courtesy by now, but Adele seemed unaware that he was close to me.
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
It was a voice that seemed to cry at any moment. No, it would be nice if he cries right now. Then I could comfort him more openly.
I straightened my neck to speak as fine as I could.
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“It’s all because of me.”
“Adele, are you going to keep making me talk? “
I raised my head and glanced playfully at Adele and only then did he stopped apologizing.
We were trapped in a moment of silence. The carriage raced on the way to the Count’s residence.
I almost got motion sickness, but there was nothing left to vomit, so I just let the carriage run wild.
I concentrated on maintaining my spirit and swallowing my groaning occasionally. I was really in bad shape.
When the carriage finally stopped, I jumped out of it with cheers. But more hardships were waiting for me.
“Miss! “
Irina looked at me with a pale face.
“What’s going on! Why did you come back bloody?”
I took a glance at my outfit following Irina. I didn’t know because I wasn’t in a hurry, but the dress was shiny with blood. The same was true of the hand that wiped the blood around his mouth.
But Adele spoke up for me before I could even try to make excuses.
“I’ll take Anastasia to her bedroom.”.
Isn’t Adele hugging me too much today? It would have been nice to have only a little gold to spare one’s mind. Now the excitement was gone.
Adele put me in bed and closed the door as he went out. I wanted to hold onto him and comfort him even more, but right now, my hand feels like a rock that couldn’t be moved.
Irina, who followed me with a nervous face, was tearful.
“Oh, my lady, what do we do….”
“Don’t cry, Irina.”
But it seems that my words made Irina worst.
Tears fell from Irina’s’ eyes.
“I’ll… I’ll give you medicine. I’m going to clean you up.”
Irina quickly wiped away her tears and said,
Irina helped me take my medicine with a very careful touch. First, she fed me the white potion, then the opaque, viscous liquid.
I felt much better after a while. While I was catching my breath, Irina cleaned my bloody palms carefully.
I said she could call another maid, but she repeatedly refused, saying that she had to do it herself.
Irina, who changed my clothes so that I wouldn’t have to stand up, took out a fluffy blanket and covered me with it before she went out.
“I’ll get hot water.”
Irina who went out for a while with an empty bottle of water came back. She had a much darker complexion than before.
“Miss, Lord Magnus is still outside the mansion. “
She paused for a moment.
“I think it’s been two hours already.”
“That guy…he’s still blaming himself.”
“Everyone seems to be embarrassed because he won’t even raise his head in front of the maids.”
This fool is really… I forced myself up.
“Tell him to come in.”
Irina nodded briefly and delivered my order to another maid who was guarding the corridor.
But even after time, Adele did not come in. Only the maid who had gone to pick him up came back alone and whispered at Irina in a small voice.
I could easily guess what it was. Irina read my mind and delivered the news.
“The……… Young Lord looks dead.”
(t/n: the literal translation was ‘the lord is dead lols but that’s what it probably imply since he’s not dead)
Irina bit her lips and added.
“He said to let you rest and to tell you that he’s sorry.”
“You don’t have to worry….”
It was only a pity that I had no energy to catch Adele. Irina nervously laid me out looking out the window.
“Miss, take a nap. I’ll be by your side all night.”
A warm feeling came from the blanket that was covered to the end of the neck.
“You’re too professional, aren’t you?”
” I’m just worried about you!”
Just when I thought she was calm… I shut my ears with my hands.
“Irina, my eardrums sting.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
I pointed my chin at the sofa.
“Sit on the couch, not there. The chair is hard, so if you sit for a long time, your butt will hurt.”
“No. I’m gonna sit here and protect you.”
“How stubborn.”
“I need to see if you’re breathing regularly, and what posture and angle make you most comfortable when you’re asleep.”
Irina opened her eyes and made up her mind.
“Y-yes. Good work.”
Indeed, Irina looked after me all night long, keeping her eyes open.
I couldn’t sleep well even though I was very tired.
The thought of Adele lingered in my mind. I’ve told him more than a hundred times that it’s not his fault but he won’t listen.
You always blame yourself for everything. Because you’re that kind of person.