Because Bianca didn’t die and headed north, he had lost the beast right before his eyes.
Thanks to that, all the things that were scraping the ‘imperial assassination’ shackles on that neck flew away.
According to Count Franz’s report, there were dozens of mines spread across the northern jurisdiction.
Most of them were gold and magical stones, with mining periods as short as 30 years and some so magnificent they were beyond estimation.
If the negotiations with Izar did not go well, Jeremy planned to fill the compensation money by mining it from the north.
But because Bianca didn’t die as a princess, everything got twisted.
Each one was sorely missed, but the most painful thing was that he had to pay the compensation to Izar in raw form.
She shouldn’t have been born, and she doesn’t even die.
Jeremy was genuinely distressed.
“I planned to levy the northern territory’s mines for its life value. But that thing is alive, so this method is gone, and I need ten boxes of gold right away. Count, what should we do about this?”
“Yo, Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”
“I had only trusted the information the Count sent, so this is not a trivial loss.”
“Ah…”
“You’ve put me in trouble. So, isn’t this treason?”
Count Franz despaired at the Crown Prince’s appearance, interrogating him with an instantly chilled expression.
The replacement sacrifice for Princess Bianca, who did not die, seemed to be himself.
“Pl, please spare me.”
Count Franz begged with his hands together.
It was the exact posture Bianca had used as a child when she begged Jeremy for mercy.
[Star Icon] [Star Icon] [Star Icon]
Gillian kept mumbling like a spell.
“Bianca.”
People die easily.
Even the given lifespan was fleeting, and it was people who couldn’t even fill that much.
Gillian knew well how easily life faded.
With Bianca, whose body had gone cold and almost ceased to function, the doctor diagnosed her with hypothermia.
There was no need to ask ‘why.’
This place was frozen all year round.
The appalling chill spewed from the ice wall froze everything.
The dangerous crisis was over.
The doctor said that Bianca was in a deep sleep, but Gillian’s mind was not at ease.
The body that once trembled lightly at his fingertips.
The skin that had gone cold.
Gillian knew the one who had died, leaving him alone.
‘I will die soon.’
‘I won’t see you again.’
The moment she calmly said goodbye, her faint smile was etched, unknowingly.
Unknowingly, he was left alone and became a coward.
Gillian exhaled deeply, clutching his head.
He should not have been left alone.
The only comfort for him, overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of selfreproach, was a faint but regular breathing sound that rang in his ears.
“Bianca.”
Gillian muttered once more.
That’s when it happened.
“……Yes?”
At the feeble voice that seemed ready to die out at any moment, Gillian sprang up and approached Bianca.
“Bianca.”
Bianca only blinked slowly, as if not yet fully conscious.
In her wideopen black pupils, Gillian felt a chilling sensation in his chest, but he acted calmly.
“Madam, are you conscious?”
“I must have been in a deep sleep.”
I didn’t hear you coming back.
Bianca, blinking her eyes, murmured faintly.
“Deeply……”
At the calm words, Gillian felt a bitter taste in his mouth, but he soon whispered affectionately.
“Sleep more. Morning is still far away.”
Gillian, who had been impatiently hoping for Bianca to open her eyes, now wore a smile and looked seemingly at ease.
But Gillian’s hand, as he brushed a strand of hair from Bianca’s cheek, was trembling slightly.
“Sleep more. Why did you get up?”
“A bit hot.”
At Bianca’s words, Gillian recalled the hot water bags filled to the brim surrounding her.
It was a prescription to raise her body temperature.
“It’s an unusually cold day today.”
“It’s really hot.”
It feels suffocating.
At the gently soothing words, Bianca made a sad face and reached out to clutch him lightly.
Her thin and pale fingers were hot.
“I feel like my body is burning.”
The panting breath sounded very pitiable.
He wanted to remove the hot water bags right away, but Gillian was not sure if he should.
Calling the doctor would be the surest thing, but then…
‘She will suspect.’
Certainly.
Gillian knew well what Bianca thought of herself.
Since the moment she realized that she had been abandoned by the palace, she seemed to have given up on herself, and it was impossible not to care.
‘A sacrifice.’
If she were to find out that there had been a commotion in such a situation…
“Please.”
But he could not withstand that voice.
This was irresistible.
At the pleading voice of Bianca, Gillian let out a small sigh and quickly removed the hot water bags.
One from the armpit.
One from the nape.
Thump, thump.
The heavy hot water bags were piled at his feet.
With each one removed, Bianca looked like she was coming back to life.
But as soon as all the stifling hot water bags were gone and Gillian lay beside her, Bianca looked as if she were choking.
“Are the hot water bags better?”
Gillian naturally tucked her into his arms, putting his arm behind her neck.
Pretending not to notice her stiff body, he pressed himself close to her
“Sleep now. It’s still dawn.”
With a tender voice, coaxing her, Gillian gently stroked Bianca’s thin back.
Her tender body, warmed by the hot water bags, was hot.
Could that be why, for some reason, he also felt himself becoming flushed.
In the heating sensation, Gillian took a moment to catch his breath and suddenly recalled something Bianca had said.
‘My body feels like it’s burning.’
Ah…
Yes.
It felt like a fire in his chest.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
