The Terminally-Ill Duke Clings to Me Every Night - Chapter 21

Leah gradually awoke from her reminiscence. Raised in an orphanage, Leah began to have strange memories from the age of eight.

A world full of tall buildings and strange objects. It was the memory of Yoonji, her past life. At first, Leah thought she was strange for having such odd dreams.

But after realizing it was memories of a past life, many aspects of her life changed. Leah didn’t want to repeat the lonely life of her previous existence.

From then on, she was able to accept the orphanage members as family.

[Leah. I brought you in when you were just a newborn crying in front of the orphanage. You were just a tiny thing. There must have been some story behind it……]

[It seems I was abandoned right after birth. I wonder why?]

[I don’t know the reason. But your necklace was with you. It must be a very precious item, so keep it safe.]

And when she grew up a bit and heard the detailed story from the director. Even then, Leah was able to remain detached.

‘It wasn’t the first time I was abandoned by my parents.’

Leah fingered the necklace she felt inside her dress. The necklace with a red ruby was the only proof that she once had a family.

It would be a lie to say she didn’t resent the parents who abandoned her. The fact that she was a lone orphan even after reincarnation constantly tormented Leah.

However, Leah emptied even those painful feelings.

‘There must have been a reason.’

It was resentment she emptied in order to endure. As she let go of those feelings, Leah had more peace of mind than in her past life.

After all, family doesn’t have to be blood relations. The orphanage members were also precious family to Leah.

“I should send this first for now.”

There was no time to be lost in thought like this. Leah gathered the contract money from Rikel and the profits from selling nutritional supplements in one place.

It was quite a large sum, but not enough to cover the food expenses for the orphanage members and repair the facilities damaged by flooding.

‘And for the remaining amount……’

She couldn’t ask for an advance on her salary as she had just been appointed as a pharmacist, so there was no way to get money immediately.

‘I guess that’s the only way after all.’

Leah looked at her pocket with a troubled expression before standing up. Then she gathered the letter she had written to send and left the pharmacy.

Akkia was sitting at the table, looking at a note. This small note was a kind of report.

For him who didn’t come out of the bedroom, it contained all the big and small events happening in the mansion. As Akkia was reading the note as usual, his eyes stopped at one phrase.

[Next is about the pharmacist. In the afternoon, a letter arrived from her hometown, Tren. The sender’s name is ‘O’.]

‘O? What a strange name. If it’s a letter from her hometown, it must be from family or a friend. But she’s from an orphanage so it can’t be family, is it from the orphanage?’

As Akkia was pondering while looking at the note.

– Lord, it’s me, Leah.

Along with a knock, Leah’s voice was heard. The duke smirked and hid the note in his sleeve.

Though hidden by curtains, it was time for the sun to be setting.

‘She’s not here for a medical examination at this hour.’

He leaned back deeply in his chair as he watched Leah approach.

“What is it? It doesn’t seem like you’re here for an examination.”

“Well… I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor?”

The duke’s eyes narrowed as they fell on Leah. She was standing there with her hands clasped politely, as if she really had something to ask.

“Yes. I have an urgent matter and need to send money to my hometown. But I don’t have any emergency funds.”

“……”

“Is it possible to receive the contract money we agreed on now?”

Leah asked shamelessly as if she had deposited money. Akkia folded his arms at Leah’s bold request.

“I said I’d give you the contract money after seeing your work.”

“It’s really urgent. Couldn’t you give me even a part of it?”

“You, didn’t you earn quite a bit from selling nutritional supplements?”

Even with just the salary as a pharmacist and purchases from the mansion staff, it should be enough.

“That’s… not it. Please, I’m begging you.”

Leah, who was about to say something, bowed her head again. Looking at her, it seemed she really was in a hurry.

‘Where did she spend all that money, to ask for the contract money now?’

Akkia looked Leah up and down. The plain style dress she always wore, and the white pharmacist’s gown over it.

Seeing that she didn’t even have any accessories, she didn’t seem like the type to indulge in luxury. As Akkia lowered his gaze, he discovered a letter in her hand.

Seeing the letter, ‘O’ naturally came to mind.

“The contract money, are you trying to send it to the owner of that letter?”

“Letter?”

Leah followed Akkia’s gaze and looked down. Then she lifted the letter in her hand and smiled.

“That’s right! It’s from Theo. I was planning to mail the letter right after receiving the contract money.”

“Theo?”

Even at a glance, it was a male name, and a fine crack appeared between Akkia’s brows.

‘Don’t tell me the ‘O’ in the letter is a nickname taken from Theo’s ‘O’…?’

Come to think of it, she seemed to have mentioned the contract money after receiving the letter. Akkia’s expression hardened at the fact that she had been sending all the money she earned so far to a man.

He suddenly felt stifled, as if his whole body was blocked.

“You’re going to send the contract money, which isn’t a small amount?”

He remembered Leah who had been chasing him around to the point of annoyance, singing about the contract money.

He thought she just had a bit stronger survival instinct than others. But to think it was all for this Theo guy.

“He must be a very important person?”

“Theo? Of course he’s important. He’s someone I can’t live without.”

Leah answered without a moment’s hesitation, with a bright smile. It was a radiant smile that could light up the surroundings, one he had never seen before.

‘Someone she can’t live without? What, are they engaged or something?’

As his thoughts reached that point, Akkia’s face darkened in an instant.

To think she had been sending money earned using his things in his mansion to a ‘man’.

He felt an inexplicable irritation surge up.

“So you’ll give me the contract money, right?”

Leah asked, urging him, oblivious to Akkia’s feelings.

‘For whose benefit.’

Imagining this Theo guy, whose face he couldn’t even picture, smirking as he received the money, his mood plummeted.

His stomach, which had been fine until now, also twisted along with his mood.

“No. As I said before, I’ll pay the contract money when you show adequate results.”

“……”

“So if you want to receive money, work.”

Akkia’s lips twisted as he flatly rejected Leah’s request.

“What? But……”

She was already working hard, how much more work did he want her to do? But Akkia left his seat as if he had no intention of listening to Leah any further.

– Thud.

Leah, who had been staring blankly at where Akkia had been, let out a heavy sigh. Judging by his reaction, it was clear she had somehow made the duke uncomfortable again.

“Why is he acting like this again?”

They say people become sensitive when they have problems with sexual function.

For the sake of her smooth working environment, she needed to cure the duke’s unspeakable illness as soon as possible.

‘I should research a treatment for ‘that area’ along with making the antidote.’

But for now, the urgent matter was resolving the money to send to the orphanage. Almost everyone in the mansion who would buy nutritional supplements had already purchased them.

“Come to think of it, isn’t there a market in the village next week?”

Since it wasn’t a frequently held market, most of the villagers would be out in the square. As her thoughts reached this point, Leah’s eyes sparkled.

‘I should sell nutritional supplements in the square that day.’

Not only people from Haidern territory, but also from nearby villages would all gather in the square that day, so it was perfect for selling nutritional supplements.

“Great! Then I need to make and sell as many nutritional supplements as possible!”

Leah was more confident than anyone in sales.

Word of mouth about the quality of her nutritional supplements was gradually spreading, so she could sell out quickly if she offered them at a discounted price.

Leah, with a triumphant smile, began to move busily again. And so, Leah spent several nights making nutritional supplements.

“Late again today.”

The duke let out a hollow laugh as he watched the clock’s second hand moving indifferently. Just how many times has this been.

For the past few days, Leah had started being a little late for her scheduled meetings with the duke.

At first, she was five or ten minutes late. Now, thirty minutes had passed and not a single strand of her hair was in sight.

Still, she had never been late on regular examination days. But today, she was finally late even on an examination day.

“Just where is she and what is she doing?”

From what he heard, she had been cooped up in the pharmacy all day making nutritional supplements.

Judging by the fact that she had submitted a vacation request to coincide with the upcoming market day in the village, it seemed she planned to sell nutritional supplements that day.

‘Tsk. Where did she meet such a pathetic man?’

Her salary wasn’t small, so if she needed to send a large sum, he must be a good-for-nothing who gambles. A pitiful guy who relies on a woman.

Somehow, it left a bitter taste in his mouth to see Leah working day and night for such a guy.

‘She has no eye for men.’

Akkia, irritated for no reason, stood up from his seat.

It seemed Leah wouldn’t come even if he waited here quietly.

Akkia headed to the pharmacy.

He had turned a blind eye to her lateness, feeling somewhat guilty for not giving her the contract money. But he couldn’t overlook it anymore.

Thinking this, Akkia opened the pharmacy door. With a creaking sound, he entered to find Leah slumped over the desk.

“I knew it.”

The duke approached her, twisting one corner of his mouth. He could hear the woman’s small, labored breaths.

“If you’re going to sleep anyway, you should at least sleep comfortably.”

Looking at the cluttered desk, he felt like he could see traces of her desperate struggle to earn money.

And then something caught his eye on the desk.

“This is.”

He began to read the letter without hesitation. And gradually, his expression hardened.