The Terminally-Ill Duke Clings to Me Every Night (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 4
Leah’s heart plummeted at the icy gaze pinning her in place.
‘Surely not.’
She clenched her trembling hands, shaking like an aspen leaf. There was only one person she knew with those crimson eyes.
The one who, despite being called frail, had gripped her wrist with surprising strength—and the faint floral scent that had emanated from him.
“…Your Grace?”
Perhaps from sheer tension, she whispered hoarsely in a voice cracked and strained.
Yet those eyes fixed upon her offered no answer to her desperate question. They merely stared at her, cold as winter frost.
A heavy silence thickened between them. Just as she began to find even the pounding of her own heartbeat unnerving—
the shadow cloaked in darkness was fully revealed by moonlight spilling through a gap in the stone wall.
‘Ah.’
In that instant, her vague suspicion hardened into certainty. The man began slowly advancing toward Leah, who stood frozen.
– Thud. Thud.
It wasn’t slow, nor was it fast—but with every step he took, her heart tightened further.
Backing away as if flailing for survival, Leah’s back met the cold wall.
As though there were no escape left.
“You must be quite unlucky.”
Then a deep, resonant voice curled into Leah’s ear.
“Or perhaps you have a sharp intuition?”
Leah looked up at the man with trembling eyes.
“How did you know to come here?”
“I—I was just here by chance…”
“By chance.”
He let out a quiet chuckle, as if her answer amused him.
“Then I suppose you were simply unlucky.”
An alarm blared red in Leah’s mind, warning of danger.
“Why are you trembling so?”
Despite his calm question, Leah couldn’t stop her shoulders from shaking. After all, it was none other than Duke Haideorn speaking to her right now.
“H-how can you speak…?”
She had been told the Duke couldn’t speak and communicated only by writing on paper. Her hands, gripping the desk, trembled even more violently.
The oppressive weight was so suffocating she felt it might swallow her whole.
“Are you trembling because I can speak? Or…”
The man, now standing close enough to touch, reached toward Leah and gently swept aside her crimson hair, which cascaded down to her chest.
“Because of the medicine you’re holding?”
His eyes dropped to the vial clutched in Leah’s hand. Her grip tightened fiercely around it.
This medicine, laced with lily of the valley, was poison.
“Porarium.”
As if reading her thoughts, he continued with a languid smile.
“A poison made by blending lily of the valley with akapodium. In large doses, it’s lethal—but in small amounts, it saps your strength, making you weak as if struck by illness.”
The Duke, so sickly he could die at any moment. The ill-fated prince.
‘Was he frail from birth?’
No. Her doubt lasted only a moment. Suddenly, as if every puzzle piece clicked into place, Leah bit her lip. A numbness washed over her, as if someone had struck her from behind.
‘Your Grace took that poison…’
“I made it myself.”
He tilted one corner of his mouth upward as he went on.
“And I’ve been taking it myself.”
The Duke snatched the vial from Leah’s hand and, without a hint of hesitation, downed its contents in one gulp.
Leah could only gape, unable to close her slackened jaw.
Her mind filled with question marks at the Duke’s horrifying gesture—drinking poison as casually as if it were a health tonic.
‘Why? Why would he do such a thing…?’
Duke Haideorn had been deliberately weakening his own body by consuming this poison.
Though the dose was too small to kill, it was undeniably an act of forsaking his health.
Moreover, judging by the Duke’s condition, it was clear he hadn’t taken it for just a day or two—his pallor was far too severe. He must have been ingesting it for a very long time.
Why would the noblest man in the Empire go to such lengths…?
What could he possibly gain by doing this?
“You could die.”
“I know.”
“Then why…?”
Why would the Duke risk his life like this? Duke Haideorn leaned closer, his upper body bowing toward Leah.
His crimson eyes, staring directly into hers from mere inches away, glowed eerily red. After a long, silent gaze, he spoke.
“I see no reason to explain that much to you.”
His fingers, now near her face, brushed gently against Leah’s cheek.
“Because you’ll die here today.”
Damn it. Leah let out a short sigh.
Why did her ominous premonitions never fail to come true?
‘I should’ve run away back then.’
She’d uncovered a secret the Duke had hidden for over a decade—and in the most absurd way possible.
Leah swallowed hard under the sudden, chilling intent to kill that pierced her entire body.
At the same time, the hand that had been caressing her face began sliding downward—toward her throat, to cut off her breath.
‘If I stay like this, I’ll die.’
Her heart pounded wildly under the Duke’s murderous glare. When his ice-cold hand touched her neck, she squeezed her eyes shut.
She’d only just started her new role as an apothecary—was she really going to die here, at the hands of this sinister Duke?
‘No. Absolutely not.’
The man’s long fingers slowly closed around her throat.
Just as her breathing grew labored under his tightening grip, a memory flashed through her mind.
‘He definitely had chest pain…’
The image overlapped with her first encounter in the Duke’s bedroom—him clutching his chest in discomfort. It hadn’t been feigned.
“Y-you’re suffering from side effects, aren’t you?!”
“What?”
They say even in a tiger’s den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you. Leah barely managed to recall the side effects of Porarium.
And as if her guess had struck true, the Duke’s brow twitched. The pressure of his hand, which had seemed ready to crush her windpipe, weakened slightly.
‘Just as I thought.’
“Y-you haven’t been taking this medicine for just a year or two—surely at least seven years. You’ve been using it long-term, haven’t you?”
Only then did a flicker of interest appear in the Duke’s previously chilling eyes.
“The first symptoms are eye tremors and frequent chest pain. When I first came to see you, you clutched your chest in obvious distress.”
“…So?”
He shot her a sidelong glance, urging her to continue.
“It starts with chest pain, but over time, the accumulating toxins in your body can cause cardiac arrest. You could drop dead at any moment, and no one would be surprised.”
“So you’re saying that if left as I am, I might die suddenly and painfully?”
Her words weren’t a lie concocted just to save herself. If the side effects had already begun, he could suffer sudden death within a year or two.
“Yes. Your Grace must already feel it—your body isn’t what it used to be.”
Whether he believed her or not, the Duke’s hand loosened from around Leah’s neck.
‘Got him.’
Seeing the Duke’s gaze darken like a fish taking the bait, Leah was certain—he believed her.
“I’ll make it. A cure to eliminate your side effects.”
“…”
“I don’t know the full details, but you’ll likely need to keep taking the medicine… so you’ll need the antidote, won’t you? Am I wrong?”
– Thump. Thump. Thump.
While waiting for the Duke’s reply, Leah felt her heart might burst from her chest.
Please, please just believe me this once.
That brief moment awaiting the Duke’s permission stretched endlessly, as if fractured into dozens of fragments.
Finally, the Duke, who had been silently watching Leah, exhaled sharply.
“How long until you can make it?”
‘Yes!’
A cure for a poison she’d never even attempted to create before.
She had no idea how long it would truly take, but she had no time left to hesitate.
“About six months should be enough…”
“Three months.”
“…What?”
The Duke spoke, his lips relaxed yet firm.
“Bring it to me within three months.”
‘Is he out of his mind?’
Developing a new medicine typically took a full year. She’d already pushed herself by claiming six months, sensing the Duke wouldn’t wait a full year.
‘Three months? There’s no way that’s possible!’
Yet, as if unaware of her inner turmoil, he murmured softly,
“See that you succeed. I’d rather not see blood.”
There would be no compromise. This man truly intended to kill her.
Leah’s throat went dry.
“You’d best not show your face here again.”
Turning away as if his business were concluded, the Duke stepped back from her.
“Unless you wish to die before those three months are up.”
He added the chilling warning before leaving.
[This is the timeline separator]Leah didn’t even remember how she made it back to her room. By the time she came to her senses, she’d already locked the door behind her.
She placed a hand over her chest, which felt ready to burst. Even alone, her heart still raced madly.
“Ha… what am I going to do?”
She’d only said those things to escape that moment’s danger. Now, regret washed over her.
Was it even possible to create a cure in just three months?
No matter how she thought about it, it was impossible.
‘I’m no genius—how am I supposed to develop a new medicine in three months!’
Besides, she’d only just become an apothecary. Leah felt so hopeless she thought dying might be preferable.
She dragged her dry, weary hands across her face.
“What should I do? Should I run away now?”
The moment she considered fleeing, the Duke’s fiercely glowing red eyes flashed in her mind. That cold hand on her neck.
Though the hand choking her was long gone, it still felt as if an invisible grip clutched her throat.
How was this any different from a three-month death sentence? After pondering for a long while—
“Fine. If I’m going to die anyway…”
Whether I die later or flee and get caught and die—either way, I’ll escape the Duke’s estate first.
With that resolve, Leah abruptly rose from her seat. Her grass-green eyes gleamed with determination.
When the male lead is punished by carrying the female lead’s child and having periods like a woman
“I’ve given birth to two children for you, yet you still think about him.
Was I nothing but his substitute to you from beginning to end?”
Synopsis:
Meng Huan, a scumbag who has dated countless girlfriends, transmigrates to a female-dominated country.
Day 1: Whether it’s female dominance or not doesn’t matter. The beauties here are passionate and amorous. Isn’t it easier to date them than in modern times?
Day 2: After a night, Meng Huan discovers the differences in the female-dominated world. Men here actually have chastity locks and menstrual cycles. This hinders his ability to perform, damn it!
Day 3: What’s wrong with sleeping around? I don’t want you to marry me. I’m meant to be a playboy. I don’t care about male virtues… What? You want to drown me in a pig cage? Marry, I’ll marry!
Day N: Meng Huan inexplicably vomits and receives the shocking news of his life… He’s pregnant.
_____
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