The Terminally-Ill Duke Clings to Me Every Night (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 3
“Whew.”
Leah let out a deep sigh as she stepped out of the Duke’s bedroom, recalling the recent scene that had felt like outright rejection.
She’d only gone in to offer a simple examination along with her initial greeting—yet instead of treatment, she’d been chased out alongside the butler.
She’d heard the Duke was too ill to speak. Just before being expelled from the room, he’d handed her a note. Leah carefully unfolded the slip of paper clutched in her hand.
[“I don’t need any treatment. Don’t come bothering me again.”]“This is going to be a thorny path.”
Her grim future seemed all too clear. Leah could discern his condition at a glance without even performing an examination.
‘It’s far worse than I thought.’
From afar, she hadn’t noticed—but up close, the dark spots in the Duke’s bloodshot eyes stood out starkly.
‘And his eyes twitched heavily beneath them, too…’
Not to mention his dry, cracked lips and hair, and his noticeably pale skin.
All of it indicated he hadn’t even taken brief walks recently.
The Duke looked as if he might die at any moment. If he were to pass away during her tenure as his apothecary…
‘That would be dreadful.’
Leah bit her lip at the all-too-clear scenario playing out in her mind, even without witnessing it firsthand.
‘Ugh. This is driving me mad.’
If the Duke—a member of the imperial family—died, she, as his apothecary, would be as good as dead herself.
She’d reluctantly taken this job only because she lacked the fifty silver coins required as a breach penalty.
‘This doesn’t feel right.’
She’d experienced this ominous sensation countless times in her past life.
She might not know much, but she had an uncanny knack for sensing money—or danger. And this? It wasn’t just bad—it stank.
‘If things go south, I’ll just run.’
She could either pay the penalty or flee—either way, it was unpleasant but unavoidable. Resigned, Leah turned her steps toward the examination room.
But her expression darkened further upon arriving.
“Is this an examination room or a storage shed?”
Leah glanced around the room she stood in. Had the absence of a personal physician lasted this long?
The examination room felt lifeless, layered with old dust.
“…It’s even worse than I imagined. Is this really the Duke’s residence?”
Even a minor noble’s estate wouldn’t be in such disarray. The manor had felt oppressively gloomy from the moment she first arrived.
‘Isn’t he imperial royalty? This place feels utterly neglected.’
True to its age, the musty odor was pervasive, and rusted, unrepaired spots were everywhere.
Leah clicked her tongue as she surveyed the room, then shook her head.
“Never mind.”
She’d just do what she could and slip away quietly when the chance arose. Opening the window to air the room, she inspected the bookshelf.
Medical texts and herbs were haphazardly scattered about.
“What on earth?! How can they store herbs like this?!”
Fever-reducing herbs should always be kept cool and away from sunlight—it was basic knowledge. Yet here they lay, spread out right beside a sun-drenched windowsill.
“Even cleaning this place will be a chore.”
Treating patients here wouldn’t cure illness—it would only worsen it.
Rolling up her sleeves to tidy up, Leah began gathering the old herbs into one pile.
“This one’s probably unusable. And this one’s far too old…”
After cleaning for a while—
“Whew. Maybe this is good enough.”
Leah wiped away the sweat beading on her brow and brushed the dust from her hands.
“I’ll call it a day and handle the rest tomorrow… Huh?”
Just as she gathered an armful of herbs to discard and stepped toward the door, a heap of white flowers in the corner caught her eye.
“Lily of the valley? What’s it doing here?”
Fresh-cut flowers in an unoccupied room? Puzzled, Leah shrugged and returned the bouquet to its original spot.
Then, as if remembering her purpose for coming, she began rummaging through the desk drawer.
“It should be here somewhere… Ah, found it.”
Amid the drawer’s chaos—nearly as disordered as the room itself—she pulled out a bundle of old documents.
It was the medical history sheet documenting the Duke’s condition. But as Leah scanned it, wetting her finger to flip the pages, her expression hardened.
“Is this supposed to be a medical record?”
It was utter chaos.
It was so spotlessly blank it was embarrassing to even call it a treatment log—impossible to tell whether any care had been given at all.
In a situation demanding meticulous notes, the form looked like a fill-in-the-blank test with every space left empty.
“These past apothecaries might as well have been thieves—just without the knives.”
She could vividly picture how previous apothecaries had carried out their duties.
“So much work to do…”
A hypersensitive, guarded patient; a completely blank medical history; and a disastrously disorganized examination room.
She’d wanted to live honestly as a diligent apothecary this time—not as a fraud—but it already felt like everything had gone wrong from the start.
[This is the timeline separator]“I think I’ve gotten myself into something terrible.”
The manor had few servants for a Duke’s residence. Then there was the butler’s blatant rudeness toward the Duke, and the disastrous medical records.
Just from observing over the past few days, she’d reached one clear conclusion: the ailing Duke’s standing was far from secure.
Not only within the manor, but even within the empire—his position seemed precarious. He was, after all, the empire’s sole imperial prince.
Leah tossed and turned in bed late into the night. Though exhausted from her recent appointment as the manor’s apothecary, sleep wouldn’t come easily.
“Sigh.”
Fearing she’d stay awake all night lost in endless thoughts, Leah rose from bed. She stared blankly at the moonlight spilling through the wide window.
Deciding a short walk might help, she draped a light shawl over her shoulders and stepped outside. She hadn’t noticed during the day amid the bustle, but under the night sky, the Duke’s estate was quite picturesque.
She passed through the moonlit green garden and strolled along the winding cobblestone path.
“The night view is rather lovely.”
Unlike the eerie manor, the night sky above was stunning. Perhaps because the estate lay far from the capital in a remote region, the stars seemed ready to pour from the heavens.
After gazing at the sky for a while, she ambled leisurely down the path. The empty night road was perfect for a walk—no one around to watch her.
The crisp night breeze sharpened her thoughts.
“If only fifty silver coins would just drop from the sky…”
Leah adjusted her shawl, lost in such a fanciful thought—until she suddenly sensed the atmosphere grow unnervingly cold and stopped in her tracks.
“Wait… Where am I?”
Lost in thought, she’d wandered far beyond the Duke’s garden without realizing.
The neatly landscaped garden had vanished, replaced by a field thick with wildflowers and weeds.
She must have crossed the boundary between the manor and the surrounding forest and meadow. Just as she turned to head back—
“Oh! Oh!”
A strong gust of wind snatched the shawl from her shoulders.
She reached out to catch it, but it slipped just beyond her grasp and disappeared over a nearby wall.
“That was precious to me.”
The shawl had been a gift from her hometown friends on the day she became an apothecary—a congratulatory present.
It wasn’t expensive, but as an orphan with no family, Leah cherished it deeply. Determined to retrieve it, she followed the wall.
‘But what is this wall?’
She muttered to herself, eyeing the stone barrier taller than she was. As she walked with her hand resting on the wall, she discovered a tiny, nearly invisible entrance where a faint breeze slipped through.
Hidden behind thick overgrowth, the opening was impossible to spot unless one was feeling along the wall—so concealed she’d never have found it otherwise.
Leah hesitated just before pushing through the bushes.
Was it wise to enter such a place alone on a pitch-black night? Her hand trembled as it rested on the foliage.
“Whew.”
But the image of her shawl flashed before her eyes—she couldn’t just turn back.
‘It’s still within the estate. Surely nothing bad could happen?’
Leah squeezed her eyes shut and pushed through the bushes. Slowly, she opened her eyes to a fresh lemon scent tickling her nose.
Wildflowers filled a space about the size of a small garden. Lily of the valley climbed the walls, blooming brilliantly under the moonlight.
‘This scent…’
The lily of the valley exuded an even more alluring, sensual fragrance beneath the moon—and the familiar floral note teasing her nose felt oddly recognizable.
“Where have I smelled this before?”
Leah pondered briefly, then shook her head.
‘Well, it’s a common flower.’
Finding her shawl mattered more right now—and it was about time to head back anyway.
She carefully felt her way toward the wall where the shawl had likely fallen.
“Found it!”
There, caught on a distant bush, was her shawl. Just as she reached for it with a relieved smile—
“It’s a bit messy, but washing it should fix it…”
She felt a draft passing through the bushes she’d assumed were just an ordinary wall.
“What’s this?”
Why would there be wind here…?
Could it be more than just a wall? As if entranced, Leah slowly began pushing against it.
—Creeeak.
With a chilling, grating sound, a rusted iron door yielded under her pressure and swung open.
For a moment, Leah stood frozen, mouth agape at the unbelievable sight before her.
“What on earth is this place?”
She briefly considered turning back—but knowing herself, once she’d discovered it, she’d surely return again.
After all, she could never resist her curiosity.
“Whew.”
Leah exhaled deeply to calm her nerves and cautiously stepped inside.
The darkness was unnervingly thick.
Visibility was poor, but she spotted a candle and matches near the door and lit them.
In the dim light, a blurry shape came into view.
“Herbs?”
The cluttered table bore clear signs of recent use—herbs lay scattered as if someone had been compounding medicine there.
What kind of medicine were they making? Leah moved closer to inspect the herbs—and her face hardened instantly.
“Why is this here…?”
Mixed among the herbs was lily of the valley—the same flower she’d seen in the examination room. Feeling uneasy, Leah began rummaging through the table.
There, she found a small vial filled with a white liquid and a journal detailing an unknown medicinal formula.
Hoping against hope, she quickly skimmed the journal—and let out a sigh.
“Good heavens.”
She re-examined each herb one by one, but nothing changed.
‘Ugh.’
Leah barely managed to keep from collapsing as her legs weakened. She stared at the vial beside her.
A single medicine bottle, tinted with the distinctive hue of lily of the valley. It was poison.
“Who on earth made this?”
Individually, the herbs here seemed harmless—but in herbalism, combinations were everything.
When mixed with the lily of the valley present here, the blend became indistinguishable from poison.
If carefully dosed, it would merely weaken the body over time.
‘Wait—poison that induces frailty and deepens illness?’
Suddenly, an absurd hypothesis struck her.
‘Surely not.’
A quiet gulp echoed in her throat. It felt like she’d stumbled upon something she shouldn’t have seen—a deeply ominous sensation.
‘I need to leave. Now.’
Her instincts screamed at her to flee immediately. Just as she tightened her grip on the vial—
The moonlight that had faintly traced the doorway vanished.
At the same moment, sensing someone’s presence, she turned—and locked eyes with two gleaming orbs in the pitch-black darkness.
Eyes glowing red like blood.
The person bearing that chillingly cold gaze was—
“…Your Grace?”
It was Duke Haideorn.
And instead of answering her question—
—Click.
He locked the door—trapping her inside.
Male lead says he’s pregnant — and it’s female lead’s child
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
__________
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