The Terminally-Ill Duke Clings to Me Every Night - Chapter 15

‘Why is the Duke suddenly acting like this?’

While mixing various herbs to develop a cure, Leah glanced back.

It had been an hour since she came to the annex with the Duke. He was just staring into space without saying a word.

Was he lost in deep thought? Or did she make some mistake in the room earlier?

The Duke’s words had decreased drastically since before coming to the annex. Because of this, Leah, who was unnecessarily concerned about the Duke, could hardly focus on developing the antidote.

‘If I make a mistake in developing the cure, it would be a big problem.’

In the end, Leah shook her head as if to stop.

‘Let’s focus on making the antidote.’

Even if that man had concerns, he wasn’t the type to confide in her. So Leah once again immersed herself in developing the antidote.

A moment later, Leah shook the medicine bottle after creating a plausible antidote. The unique yellow color extracted from evening primrose sparkled in the glass bottle.

‘Should I try this mixture for now?’

To check the effectiveness of the medicine, she headed to the shelf to find the poralium.

“Huh? I’m sure I put it here……”

There were a total of five bottles of poralium made for the experiment. But only four bottles were on the shelf.

‘What’s this? Did I make a mistake?’

Wondering if she had miscounted due to being distracted, she tilted her head. Since the annex was a secret space known only to the Duke and herself, there was no way someone else could have taken it.

‘Could it be the Duke?’

Leah, who had briefly suspected the Duke, shook her head.

‘No way.’

For what reason would the Duke take the poralium? He was the person who should be avoiding that medicine the most right now.

It was clearly just her miscounting.

Thinking this, Leah was about to return to the desk with a bottle of poralium when her elbow bumped the wooden shelf with a thud.

Perhaps because the shelf was old. Despite the small impact, the medicine bottles on the display rack wobbled precariously.

“Oh!”

And by the time she noticed the medicine bottle tilting towards the floor, it was already too late. As Leah squeezed her eyes shut watching the bottles fall to the floor.

– Thump!

“Eek!”

Along with the sound of something cutting through the air, a different pain than expected arrived. Leah, who had fallen to the floor, rubbed her bottom where the impact had been made.

Then she turned around to assess the situation.

The medicine bottles that should have been on the shelf were scattered everywhere in shattered pieces. And she saw the Duke looking down at her with an indifferent expression.

“Your Grace, don’t tell me……”

Leah stared at his right foot slightly raised in the air.

“……Did you just kick me?!”

“Ah.”

He spoke nonchalantly as if there was no problem.

My goodness. A man kicking a woman in danger!

“You’re so careless. You could have cracked your head open.”

He muttered while pushing the glass shards on the floor with his foot.

If the Duke hadn’t pushed Leah away with his foot, she might have not only cracked her head but also suffered serious injuries from the chemicals.

Watching the man click his tongue as if scolding her, Leah pouted her lips. She didn’t even expect him to heroically throw himself to save her.

But kicking her?

Leah felt grateful to him but also somewhat upset. As if reading her disgruntled feelings, the Duke tilted his head.

“How impudent. Instead of thanking your lifesaver, you make such a displeased face.”

“No matter what, kicking me?!”

“Then I should have just ignored you whether your head cracked or not.”

Tsk. No matter what I say.

But unable to express her dissatisfaction to him, Leah conveyed her thanks.

“Thank you.”

What could she do? Though she didn’t like the process, he did end up saving her. Akkia nodded at her words and prepared to leave the annex.

“Clean all of this up. You don’t need to come to the annex for a while.”

“Pardon?”

Leah, who had been grumbling inwardly, raised her head at the Duke’s words.

“Why so suddenly?”

After a moment of silence at her question, Akkia answered.

“I have my reasons.”

It was a few days later that Leah learned the meaning behind the Duke’s words.

After that, Leah continued her busy daily routine as usual.

Following the Duke’s wishes, she didn’t go to the annex, but continued her research on the antidote in the pharmacy room during her spare time.

“Oh? Has so much time passed already?”

Suddenly raising her head, she realized lunchtime had long passed.

No wonder she felt hungry.

It seemed she had been so absorbed in her work that she’d forgotten to eat. Thinking she should at least grab a quick snack, Leah left the pharmacy room.

Walking down the long corridor to the kitchen, she saw maids bustling about. They were heading to the third floor where the Duke resided.

Did something happen to His Grace? Curious, Leah called out to one of the maids passing by.

“Has something happened to His Grace?”

“Ah, no. We received a letter saying guests from the Imperial Palace will arrive soon.”

“So it’s today.”

They had been doing a thorough cleaning because doctors from the Imperial Palace were coming, and now it seemed they were tidying the Duke’s bedroom.

Leah nodded, and the maid hurried away. Once the Imperial Palace people arrived, they would immediately check on the Duke’s health.

‘I suppose I should be there too, since I’m the pharmacist.’

Contemplating how to report the Duke’s health condition, Leah ultimately turned her steps around.

The Duke’s chief physician couldn’t be eating in the dining room while the Imperial Palace doctor was examining him.

Leah headed towards the Duke’s bedroom with a short sigh.

“Your Grace, it’s Leah.”

She knocked and announced her arrival, but the Duke gave no answer. Usually, he would at least drop something.

After a moment’s hesitation, Leah grasped the doorknob and turned it.

“I’m coming in.”

The thought that something was strange lasted only a moment as Leah carefully stepped into the bedroom. Fortunately, it seemed the maids had finished tidying the Duke’s bedroom.

Leah walked past the neatly arranged bedroom towards the bed.

The blackout curtains, always drawn gloomily, were now brightly opened and tied back nicely. The room was so bright it hardly seemed like the Duke’s bedroom, feeling strangely unfamiliar.

‘How nice it would be if he always kept it like this.’

Vitamin D is so important.

Leah soon stopped at the bed where the Duke lay.

“Your Grace, are you sleeping?”

It was unusual for him to sleep in this late, past noon.

“The doctors from the Imperial Palace seem to have almost arrived. We should prepare for your examination…”

As Leah bent towards the Duke, she saw his golden hair, damp with what might be cold sweat or some other moisture.

“…Your Grace?”

As she drew closer, she felt intense heat radiating from Akkia. Leah hurriedly raised her hand to touch the Duke’s forehead.

The hot sensation transmitted through her fingertips. It was so hot that even the brief touch made Leah’s fingertips burn.

“Your Grace!”

Only then did she notice the Duke’s irregular, labored breathing. Perhaps due to the high fever, the Duke seemed unconscious.

‘Why is he suddenly like this?!’

It was strange.

Just last night when they met in the annex, he showed no signs of discomfort.

Leah shook the Duke to wake him, but he didn’t move at all.

All this time, he had been drinking the evening primrose detox tea, gradually expelling the accumulated poralium poison from his body.

As if to prove its effectiveness, the Duke’s complexion had been improving day by day.

‘But to suddenly become so critically ill like this?’

The thought that something was strange lasted only a moment. Just as she was about to take the towel from the bedside table to wipe away the Duke’s cold sweat.

– Thud.

Something caught on Leah’s foot.

“What’s this?”

Leah picked up an empty medicine bottle from under the bed. At the bottom of the clear bottle was a white liquid residue that hadn’t been fully consumed.

Suddenly, last night’s events flashed through Leah’s mind. The poralium display rack that seemed to be missing one bottle.

‘No way.’

Please. Let it not be.

Leah’s heart was already pounding uncontrollably.

With trembling hands, Leah opened the cap and smelled it. A familiar scent brushed her nose. It was poralium.

‘Damn it!’

The whole situation became clear at once with this one fallen bottle.

The Duke had drunk the poralium poison again. And this, less than a month after the last time he drank it.

At that moment, as if regaining consciousness, Akkia slowly opened his eyes.

“You…… What are you……”

Then, seeing the empty poralium bottle in Leah’s hand.

“Put that away quickly….. People will be coming.”

Leah let out a sigh. Was this empty bottle important when he was so ill he could barely maintain consciousness?

“Why on earth did you do this?! Your Grace, you’ve drunk two bottles of concentrated poison just this month!”

Leah questioned the Duke in a suppressed voice.

Was he so desperate to die? Otherwise, how could he drink this poison again!

Leah’s hand holding the bottle trembled violently.

“It’s not…… your concern.”

“How can it not be my concern? I’m Your Grace’s chief physician.”

‘My life depends on your life!’

Leah cried out, sounding quite aggrieved. Akkia, who had been staring at her intently, exhaled a labored breath and closed his eyes.

“Lower your voice, it’s ringing in my head.”

“Ah…!”

“Hurry and put away…… the bottle.”

Akkia, answering in a strained voice, twisted his body as if in pain. If it was going to be this painful. Leah stood up, feeling this wouldn’t do.

“Please wait a moment. I’ll go get some medicine now……”

“No need……”

Between Akkia’s half-closed eyelids, his intense red eyes were staring at her. Leah was utterly confused right now.

She couldn’t understand why the Duke would go this far.

And just as Leah was about to move her lips to say something. From beyond the bedroom door came the scattered sound of people’s footsteps.

– Your Grace, the guests from the Imperial Palace have arrived.

With a knock, the bedroom door opened.

Male lead is a Divorced Husband

She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”

Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.

After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.

She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.

But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…

Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!

――

This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!

The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.

That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”

Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”

The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”

That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”

Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”

The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.

Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.

“She was originally a ‘she’!”

At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.

The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”

[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]