Chapter 15: Mutual Trust

What was most important was that I didn’t die.
It was why I’d proposed the contract marriage to Theodore in the first place.

“Do you trust me?”

You were asking me that now? After we’d already spent several nights in the same bed?

“Someone once told me that if we didn’t have much trust between us, we wouldn’t have had a contract marriage to begin with.”

That was what you’d said. You.

After I replied, it seemed Theodore was lost in thought about something.
He soon sorted out his expression before rising from the chair.

“For the time being, Uncle will be staying at the residence.
The person who examined you earlier is my uncle, you see.”

“Sir Finneas? Is he staying here because of me? I feel like I’m being too much of an inconvenience to him…”

“Uncle himself said he wanted to do it.
He was fascinated after hearing the Lapileon family curse doesn’t work on you.
He wants to personally observe you.”

“Observe me?”

Nothing would really change from observing me, though.

“Uncle is the Lapileon family’s doctor.
To be exact, he became a doctor to find a cure for the curse—no, the poison.”

“A cure for the curse?”

“Since the curse is dependent on toxicity, it seems he thought he could find some kind of antidote.”

Theodore must have been tired, seeing as he rolled his neck before continuing to speak like the topic was unimportant.

“Unfortunately, he has yet to find a cure.”

They’d been trying various methods to cure the curse, then.

“He’s been researching poison for his entire life, so he’s superior even to the palace doctor in that area.
He’s also the person who will be able to monitor your condition the best.”

“If Sir Finneas is okay with it, I don’t mind.
It’s better for me if he stays here to examine me anyway, since I’ll be able to recover quicker.”

“If you’re in any pain, speak whenever.”

“Yes, of course.”

Knock knock.

While our conversation was wrapping up, I could hear the sound of knocking on the bedroom door.
Theodore walked over and opened it.
Through the open door, I could hear a familiar voice.

“Ah, I-I greet Your Excellency the Grand Duke.”

“What is it?”

“I-I heard that Her Highness the Grand Duchess woke up, so I came to greet her.”

It was Rebecca.
Well, Rebecca had been at the scene, so she must’ve been very surprised.

However, Theodore was standing in front of the door as if he was facing a trespasser.
Even though Rebecca had revealed why she was visiting me, he didn’t show any signs of moving aside.
I let out a low sigh at the situation.

“Can you let Rebecca in?”

I could hear Rebecca’s nerve-wracked breaths from behind Theodore’s wide back.
Despite my request, Theodore stayed put, staring at Rebecca for a long time.

Then, he slowly and ever-so-slightly moved his body so one person could just barely pass through.

“The Grand Duchess currently needs to rest.
Quickly state your business and leave.”

“Y-Yes, I-I will do so!”

Through the tiny crack between the door and Theodore, Rebecca managed to squeeze into the room.
She saw me and teared up as she ran to my side.

“Your Highness! H-How is your body? Are you still hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.
You were also very surprised, right, Rebecca?”

As I warmly caressed the back of her hand, Rebecca must have lost strength in her legs, for she sank to her knees next to the bed.

“I-I was so scared that something bad would happen to you…”

She must have remembered that moment, because she couldn’t control her emotions and started crying.
My heart felt weak seeing Rebecca, who had always smiled and been bright, crying.

“It’s fine.
I’m alive.
I didn’t die.”

The one who was going to die was that trash bastard who’d fed me poison.
Ugh, just wait until we catch you.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

Rebecca, without even wiping the tears that dripped down her cheeks, apologized as she tightly grasped my hand.

Did everyone who came into this residence catch the “this is all my fault” disease or something? Every single one of them, I swear.

“Rebecca, what is there for you to be sorry about? Were you going to ingest the poison instead of me or take my place and be in pain? There’s nothing you need to apologize about.
Don’t cry.”

I comforted Rebecca by patting her shoulders.
The girl who had been crying started bawling her eyes out.

“Wahhhhhh, I-I’ll attend to you betteeeeer, don’t be hurt.”

The one who should be receiving comfort is me, who’s sick, so why am I the one constantly comforting others?

Still caressing Rebecca’s shoulders, I was about to pass her a handkerchief when Theodore approached and wrenched us apart.

“W-What are you doing?”

As if protecting me, Theodore was standing with his back to me.
He didn’t respond to my flustered question.

“I remember telling you that the Grand Duchess needs to rest.
If you cry loudly next to her, the Grand Duchess might get a headache.
Leave.”

Theodore, who rattled on calmly, stared indifferently at Rebecca, who was bawling on her knees.
To dismiss her, he flicked his wrists like he was shooing away a chicken.

In the end, Rebecca—while mid-wail—couldn’t even wipe her tears before she was chased out of the bedroom, crying as if bidding me farewell.

As soon as she left the room, Theodore resolutely closed the bedroom door.
After that, he came to my side while I watched all of this with a vacant expression.

“Until you fully recover, and until we catch the criminal, it would be best to be cautious of people who aren’t me.”

Just what was he saying?

Avoiding my bewildered expression, he laid down on the sofa.
It seemed he was planning on sleeping there tonight.

* * *

“You’re finally eating today.”

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this day.”

After I finished preparing myself, I left the bedroom.
Nothing much had changed in the past few days.

If there was one thing that changed, it was that Theodore told me to use the wide bed for myself since I was sick, forced his body to fit on the sofa, and slept there.

As a result, I was able to sleep restfully and comfortably.

Because of Finneas’ opinion that I shouldn’t eat anything that could upset my stomach for one week, I wasn’t able to have anything I could chew—I’d only eaten soup.

However, today was the day I could finally eat normal food.

“Did His Excellency go to the dining room first?”

“Yeah, he woke up at dawn and went to the office to work.
He’ll probably come from there to eat.”

“His Excellency works so much.”

“It hasn’t been long since the war ended, so there’s a lot he has to take care of.”

After responding lightly to Rebecca’s words, I had just started going down the stairs when I crossed paths with the butler.

“I greet Her Highness the Grand Duchess.
Are you on your way to eat?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I was on my way to give you an invitation that arrived for Your Highness.
Should I leave it in your bedroom?”

An invitation, all of a sudden?

“Who sent it?”

The butler formed an awkward expression in response to my question, before replying with a smile.

“It’s an invitation from Princess Dahlia.”

Surprised at his words, I gasped loudly.
I heard something I shouldn’t hear in the morning.

Dahlia? Why would Dahlia send an invitation to me?

No, it was obvious even if I didn’t read what it said.
She’d invited me earlier in front of the Academy, but since I didn’t go, she’d sent it again!

I stared silently at the invitation in the butler’s outstretched hand.

I was afraid that if I took it, I would really end up meeting Dahlia.

“B-Burn it.”

“…Pardon?”

“Burn the invitation.”

“Your Highness, you can’t carelessly burn an invitation from the royal family.”

Theodore had told me he’d burned it, saying there was no way they’d know, so why couldn’t I?!

“I didn’t see it, then.
Say it got lost on the way.”

“Princess Dahlia’s exclusive knight gave it and left, so we can’t say it got lost, Your Highness.”

Why was she so thorough?

Staring at the outreached invitation for a long time, I shook my head.

“Then tell them I’m sick.
Tell them I’ll be sick for life because of the poison I consumed a while ago.”

After babbling on a bit, I hastened my steps as if I was escaping from Dahlia’s invitation.
To think I’d hear Dahlia’s name so early on in the day…

‘I should be careful today.’

Rebecca yelled while hurriedly following after me.

“Please go slowly, Your Highness! You’ll fall.”

“There’s no stones or anything, so if I fall, I’m just an idiot, Rebe—ah.”

Stupidly enough, as I was laughing in Rebecca’s direction, I almost fell.
Luckily, thick arms wrapped around my waist—otherwise, I would have fallen face-first onto the marble floor.

“Yeah.
There’s no stones or anything, so you’re just an idiot since you fell.”

“I-I tripped.”

At this point, I would’ve known it was Theodore even if I hadn’t heard his voice.
He lightly set me down to my original position and looked around with a suspicious gaze.

“You weren’t dizzy because your body hasn’t fully recovered yet, were you?”

I shook my head rapidly.
I shook it using my hands, feet, and everything I had.

“If you’re sick, you don’t need to push yourself.
We can send up some soup to the bedr—”

“I really almost fell just because I tripped!”

Was he crazy, asking me to eat soup again? My tongue refused!

“To be honest, I received another invitation from Princess Dahlia.
That’s why I almost fell while escaping.”

“Did you burn it?”

“I asked him to burn it, but the butler said I can’t.”

I spoke like I was telling on the butler for his atrocious act.
Since Theodore naturally assumed the position of my escort, Rebecca left us.

“I’ll burn it.”

“Blaze it up so not even a trace remains, please.”

While speaking with a strong will, I calmly entered the dining room with Theodore.
The entire family was waiting for us.
Finneas lightly greeted us.

“Your Highness, good morning.
How’s your body?”

“Good morning, Sir Finn.
Thanks to your daily care, I’m truly fine now.
I even walked in the garden with Rebecca yesterday, and my body was completely fine.”

“Still, don’t push yourself.
There’s nothing wrong with always being careful.”

After nodding toward Finneas, I stared at the brunch in front of me.
I couldn’t help myself from salivating.

As soon as Theodore sat down at his spot with a displeased expression, the maids started filling his personal plate with food.

‘Looks yummy.’

I almost drooled.
Once I composed myself, I held up a fork.
It’d been so long since I’d last felt the touch of a fork.

“I’m saying this in case you’re worried, but from now on, everything you eat will be tasted by the maids beforehand.
All purchased ingredients will be personally examined by the butler and the Grand Master of the Lapileon Duchy.
It was the same for the soup you ate this week.
The food you eat will never have poison in it again, rest assured.”

Look at this verdant salad.
If I put it in my mouth and chewed it, it would be crunchy, right? It would taste very fresh and healthy.
My gosh, look at that juicy meat! If I put it in my mouth, the juice would explode with a bang and start a party, right?

“Eat slowly so you don’t get indigestion.”

Theodore was apparently speaking in front of me, but there was no way I would hear it.
Nodding offhandedly, I lifted the seasonal fruit salad to my lips.

And right when I was about to put it in my mouth…

“Sasha!”

I heard a familiar voice.
When I turned my head, I saw Sercia, whose face had become a teary mess.

“S-Seci?”

“Sercia.”

Not only I, but Theodore, Selphius, and Finneas were all surprised by her sudden appearance.

Sercia took a step closer to me after everyone reacted.

“I heard you ingested poison.
Are you okay now? I wanted to run here right away, but the ships weren’t sailing, so I was late.
I’m sorry.”

“I-I’m fine now, Seci.”

“Where’s the criminal who fed you poison? In the torture room? Prison? The execution grounds?”

“Ah, that…”

“Theo, tell me.
Where are they? They’re not dead yet, right? If not, I’ll go and step on their face with my sh—”

“We haven’t caught them yet.”

Theodore, wiping the corner of his lips with a napkin, looked down and responded quietly.

A sudden silence fell.
Sercia’s cold voice spoke lowly, overshadowing the silence.

“You haven’t what yet?”

Her voice was so murderous that I could feel goosebumps running through my entire body.

“You didn’t catch them yet? You still haven’t caught the criminal who dared to try killing the Grand Duchess of Lapileon?”

As if she was about to kill Theodore on the spot, Sercia picked up the tableware off of the table.
Selphius casually took another bite of the food, like he was used to this, before standing up.

Giving me a hand movement telling me to keep eating, he dragged Sercia out of the dining room.

“Come here, Sercia.
I’ll explain everything.”

“Selphi, what Aunt doesn’t understand is… Is this something you should have to explain? Isn’t this something we should resolve with fists instead of words? No?”

Sercia’s voice slowly faded away.
I was greatly relieved and let out a large sigh in surprise.
Looking at me, Theodore furrowed his brows before getting up from his spot right away.

“There’s nothing to be surprised about.
I’ll deal with Sercia, so you just finish eating.”

“D-Deal with?”

Just what kind of dealing was he going to do? If he left right now, I thought he was going to get stabbed.

My pupils shook as if an earthquake had occurred while watching Theodore’s back get further away from me.
Staring at the place the three people had disappeared, Finneas spoke in a calming tone.

“Don’t worry.
They won’t actually kill.”

“Pardon?”

Who won’t kill who? Sercia won’t kill Theodore? Or Theodore won’t kill Sercia?

I stared dazedly at Finneas, who continued eating nonchalantly as if this kind of situation was normal to him.

“Plus, I’m here if it seems like they’re going to die, so it’s fine.
Hurry and eat before the food cools down.
You have to eat well to heal.”

I bent my head to look at the food on the plate in front of me.
It was too beautiful to ignore.

‘They’ll worry, so let’s just eat one bite before following them.’

Thinking that, I took a big bite, but the taste was much better than I expected.
To think chewing food would be such a happy thing.

‘Just one more.’

It was so good.
As expected, humans needed to eat.

‘Okay, last one.’

Not eating such a tasty thing was a sin, a sin.

‘Well, there’s a very talented doctor right here, and there’s no way siblings would actually kill each other, right?’

Since it had come to this, I fixed my posture and focused on eating.
When my stomach was sufficiently filled, I could feel Finneas’ gaze staring at me from across the table.

“I have something I want to ask you, Your Highness.”

“Yes?”

“Does the family curse really not work on you?”

It must have been difficult to believe since everyone who met me seemed to ask me this question.
Well, it wasn’t easy to believe.

“Yes, we confirmed it with Theodore and Selphi’s blood.
All three times I came back to life and didn’t die.”

With a fairly serious expression, Finneas nodded his head.

“To be honest, I became a doctor to try and cure the family curse.
However, in addition to being unable to find a good cure, I couldn’t even find a way to get rid of the occasional pain.”

The occasional pain? Not only did the poisonous blood flow through their body, but they also went through pain?

“I don’t know how this may sound, but…”

Finneas stopped speaking and caught his breath.
He was probably searching for the right words to express his thoughts.

“It’s okay, speak.”

“Your existence alone is hope to me right now, Your Highness.”