I Have A Terminally Ill Duke As My Husband - Chapter 30

Knock knock.

“My lady, a letter has arrived.”

Charles entered with the letter and brought it to Mercian.

“Thank you.”

“Oh? Are you choosing curtains?”

“Yes, I was thinking of going with a brighter, warmer color this year. Would that be alright?”

“Of course. I like everything you do, my lady.”

“Charles, you’ve always followed me unconditionally from the beginning, and you still do. Anyway, thank you. I was able to adapt well to the duke’s household all thanks to you.”

“My lady, why are you talking as if you’re about to leave?”

“Well, it’s true that I’ll be leaving soon, with only about a month and a half left.”

“If the master leaves and you leave too, the duke’s household will be so lonely. Can’t you stay, my lady?”

“That’s not possible. As everyone knows, I’m only a duchess for 6 months.”

Are you really planning to return to the viscount’s household when the contract ends?

Charles said with a regretful expression.

“But I like you, my lady.”

“Thank you, Charles. For liking me…”

Charles stood up as if about to cry, bowed to Mercian, and left the room.

Sigh.

It was strange. Clearly, she was leaving to live the life she had dreamed of, but as the time approached, her heart felt heavy and melancholic thoughts arose.

Why am I feeling this way?

I didn’t feel like this when I came from the viscount’s household to the duke’s.

Well, when Ruan leaves and I leave, aunt will come to the duke’s household as before.

Yes, I shouldn’t worry about what happens after I leave.

Mercian tried to act nonchalant as she took out the letter Charles had left.

[To the dear Duchess,

A suitable house has become available in the place you mentioned. Please visit at your convenience.]

Oh? Is this referring to Yoteri Village I mentioned then?

I’m sure they said it would take about 3 days to get there. Will I be able to go?

It seems like it would take at least 6 days round trip…

What should I do?

Of course, I know Ruan would let me go if I told him, but I wanted to go without him knowing.

If I say I’m going on a short trip. Would he believe that?

Is there a way I can go and come back without hearing much from Ruan?

Mercian tapped the letter with her finger, lost in thought.

I should go to the real estate agency in town first.

Mercian folded the letter and tucked it deep into her vanity drawer before getting up and leaving the room.

In the afternoon, five or six curtain makers and bedding makers visited and explained their most popular products.

Mercian asked questions about some of the things she had seen and carefully looked at the samples they brought again before making her decision.

“Clea, I’m not sure if I made the right decision.”

“Not at all, my lady. Both the curtains and bedding you chose are bright colors, so I think it will make the duke’s household look brighter overall.”

“Really? That’s a relief. I was quite worried.”

“Oh my lady, we would have liked whatever you chose.”

They were really strange people.

When she was at the viscount’s household, she had never received praise or positive responses for anything she did.

Only criticism and blame came back.

As if she was a person of no use.

But it was so different at the duke’s household.

Ruan, aunt, and all the other servants of the duke’s household said they liked whatever she did.

They accepted Mercian as she was, said it was okay, and no one criticized her.

Maybe that’s why. Why the people of the duke’s household felt more like family than Lucienne and Penelope, whom she had lived with for nearly 20 years.

Mercian said to Clea, who was organizing the booklets while drinking tea.

“Clea, thank you.”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“Thank you so much for taking my side when my sister spoke harshly to me at the wedding. And thank you for being consistently good to me throughout my stay at the duke’s household.”

Clea smiled and replied to Mercian’s words.

“My lady, everyone in the duke’s household likes you. In fact, we all hope that you will continue to stay even after the master leaves. But we don’t want to force you. We just want you to know that if you leave the duke’s household, we will all miss you and be really sad.”

Mercian’s heart warmed at Clea’s words.

“Thank you. For treating me so warmly. For becoming my new family. And lastly, thank you… for saying you’ll miss me.”

As Mercian sincerely expressed her gratitude, Clea seemed to choke up and immediately left the room with her head bowed.

A few days later.

A major project to change the curtains and bedding began at the duke’s household.

“Today, we plan to change all the curtains and bedding in the master and lady’s room.”

“Oh, then I’ll go out today.”

“Go out?”

“Yes, I have some things to buy in the village.”

“Then please go with Charles, my lady.”

“Ah. Yes, I’ll do that.”

Thinking she should stop by the real estate agency briefly, Mercian took a carriage to the village with Charles.

“My lady, where shall we go first?”

“First, shall we go to the dessert shop for a moment?”

“Yes!”

Mercian went to the dessert shop with Charles, chose desserts and drinks to share with the workers and people of the duke’s household, then said to Charles.

“Charles? I’ll be at the bookstore over there, so take these to the duke’s household and come back.”

“What? But if the master finds out I left you alone, he’ll get angry.”

Mercian smiled at Charles, who looked worried, and said.

“Charles, desserts don’t taste good if they melt. So go now. It takes about 30 minutes to go to the duke’s household and come back, so I’ll be at the bookstore until then. Don’t worry. Nothing will happen.”

At Mercian’s words, Charles said with a slightly anxious expression.

“Then, my lady, I’ll be back quickly, so please don’t go anywhere else.”

As Charles left in the carriage, Mercian hurried her steps towards the real estate agency.

***

“Oh my, welcome. Madam, I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I received your letter. But while I’d like to see what the place is like, it’s too far.”

“Don’t worry about that. We’ve already captured the house using a video orb.”

“Oh? Really?”

The red-haired woman smiled and placed a video orb on the table, then turned it on to show a small and pretty house.

“Is this the house?”

“Yes, it is. Madam, look at this. Here’s the entrance, and there’s a separate bedroom inside. And the most attractive feature of this house is the spacious kitchen. I heard you like cooking, and the yard is quite large too.”

“Ah. Yes. It looks really nice. But how much does this house cost?”

“It’s 150 gold coins.”

“150 gold coins? That’s not a very expensive house, is it?”

In the empire, you’d need about 300 gold coins to buy a decent house, so that price for such a house wouldn’t be expensive.

“Alright, let’s make the contract.”

“Oh my, shall we? Then I’ll ask the owner to come the day after tomorrow, and we’ll draw up the contract here.”

“Good, but I have one more condition.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll pay the balance after I see the house in person. And if I go there and it’s not the house I saw in this video, you’ll pay me 10 times the amount as a penalty. Let’s include that in the contract.”

At Mercian’s words, the woman smiled awkwardly and replied.

“Hohoho, don’t worry about that at all. It’s really a good house, I tell you.”

“…”

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

As the woman nodded as if she had no choice, Mercian smiled with satisfaction and said.

“Then, I’ll see you the day after tomorrow.”

Mercian hurriedly left the real estate agency and headed to the bookstore where she was supposed to meet Charles.

“Oh? Charles isn’t here yet, so I guess I’m not late.”

Confirming that Charles wasn’t in the bookstore, Mercian went to the novel section and looked at the books.

As she was tiptoeing to reach a book from a bookshelf taller than herself, suddenly a hand reached out from behind and pulled out the book Mercian wanted.

“Oh?”

“Is this the book you wanted, young lady?”

Seeing the man wearing a cloak with his face half-covered, Mercian unconsciously took a step back, and the man stepped forward, saying.

“Wasn’t it this book?”

“Ah, no. Then.”

Instinctively feeling danger, Mercian unconsciously took another step back to leave the bookstore, but the man blocked her way.

“Young lady, where are you hurrying to?”

At the polite but cold and somehow unpleasant voice, Mercian felt goosebumps all over her body and her legs trembled, but she tried not to show it and said with her head bowed.

“Young sir. I’m sorry, but could you please step aside?”

“Young lady, but haven’t we met somewhere before?”

At the man’s words, Mercian looked up, and the man took off his cloak’s hood.

Flowing, glossy blonde hair, white skin, and tall stature.

Mercian instinctively guessed who the man was and took a step back, bowing her head and greeting him.

“Mercian of the Canoloup Duke’s household greets His Highness the Crown Prince.”

At Mercian’s greeting, Daemond smiled brightly and looked at Mercian as if he really had no idea who she was, saying.

“Oh, so you’re the famous Duchess Canoloup. I’ve really wanted to meet you, and now we finally meet like this.”

What? She’s just an ordinary-looking woman?

Daemond quietly observed Mercian, who was looking at him straight and politely greeting him.

At the wedding, Daemond had never really seen Mercian properly because he was looking at Ruan, who appeared sickly, and Lucienne.

He had only roughly imagined Mercian based on Lucienne’s disparaging remarks, thinking she was very fat, unattractive, selfish, and only cared about herself…

But the Mercian he saw in person was neither as fat nor as unattractive as Lucienne had said.

She was a bit plumper than ordinary young ladies, but not to an unsightly degree, and her face, while not as strikingly beautiful as her sister Lucienne’s, wasn’t unpleasant to look at either.

Her round, fair face couldn’t be called pretty, but it looked somewhat cute in its own way.

The only difference from other young ladies was that her eyes looking at him weren’t filled with admiration and envy like those of ordinary young ladies, but with wariness?

“Madam, I’ve heard a lot about you from your sister. Could we talk for a moment?”

Lucy talked about me? What did she say?

And he wants to talk with me.

Mercian had never participated in social activities in her life, and the only nobles she knew were at most two or three noble ladies who were friends of Penelope.

What could he want to talk about with me, who has no acquaintances in high society and no connections to the royal family?

Mercian, thinking that whatever he wanted to say, she shouldn’t hear it, put on the most apologetic expression she could muster and bowed her head, saying.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness the Crown Prince, but I have nothing in particular to discuss. And unfortunately, as I recently cut ties with my family, I no longer have a mother or sister…”

Daemond looked with interest at Mercian, who politely declined his offer.

Ah, that’s right, that viscount’s daughter came and said so. That she abandoned her family because of the duke.

Anyway, a refusal. You dare to refuse when I offer to talk?

No one in the empire had ever refused his offer.

Especially young ladies, who try so hard to even make eye contact with him.

Does she think the duke is better than me now?