The Terminally-Ill Duke Clings to Me Every Night - Chapter 9

Leah, who came out of the Duke’s bedroom, let out a deep sigh.

‘Bring jujube seeds?’

Jujube seeds were fruits that grew in the East or warm southern regions.

There’s no way such things would be in the western Haidern estate…

Leah’s head had been throbbing since her encounter with the Duke.

It’s strange that the Duke’s jujube tea ran out in the first place. With a fundamental suspicion, Leah sought out the head maid.

“Jujube seeds? We should have some since he drinks it regularly. Check the warehouse.”

The head maid answered in a disinterested voice, as if refusing any further questions because she was busy. In the end, Leah found herself at the warehouse.

It was embarrassingly empty for a ducal warehouse. Since it’s classified as an herb, it should be with the medicinal ingredients.

‘Is it here?’

Not long after, she discovered medicinal ingredients placed on the innermost shelf of the warehouse. Leah’s eyes widened as she scanned the shelves.

“There are quite a few ingredients, more than I expected.”

She thought the apothecary’s storage was everything, but the warehouse had quite a collection of useful herbs.

It seemed they bought in bulk and then moved small amounts to the apothecary’s storage.

As she examined the herbs, she spotted a pile of dark red seeds in one corner.

“What! It’s here.”

Seeing the pile of well-dried jujube seeds, a feeling of exasperation washed over her.

Of course, it wasn’t a large amount.

For something he supposedly consumed often, it was enough to drink as tea for about two months at most. Still, it wasn’t so little that it needed to be procured by tonight.

“As I thought…”

The Duke had been smiling slyly at her the whole time he was speaking. He must have known the jujube seeds were here.

Leah pressed her forehead, lost in thought.

Since she confirmed through the head maid that there were jujube seeds, this fact would have been relayed to the Duke.

If it weren’t for the market day a few days ago, she would have gone to the town’s herbalist to get some.

‘Buying it isn’t easy either.’

It takes a long time since it needs to be imported from other regions.

‘No.’

The Duke didn’t originally order her to bring jujube seeds. Feeling tension seep deep into her spine, Leah tightly gripped the hem of her skirt.

‘He’s watching to see how I’ll act.’

The Duke’s true self, hidden behind his sickly appearance that could lead to death at any moment. He was testing whether Leah could be placed under him.

This is a problem without a correct answer anyway. Leah swallowed a bitter smile.

“What can I do? If this is a test, I should gladly comply.”

After all, my life depends on it. Besides, she couldn’t stop here with that huge sum of gold coins at stake.

.

.

.

In the late evening as dusk fell, Leah headed to the mountains.

Although she knew jujube seeds wouldn’t be in the mountains. She intended to find herbs good for insomnia at least.

But as luck would have it.

“Why is it suddenly raining so hard?”

The rain that started falling in the late evening poured down fiercely as the sun set. The mud, wet and slippery from the rain, made her steps heavy.

‘What? All the jujube seeds are gone?’

Yet they were neatly stored in the warehouse. Leah snorted, thinking it was still absurd.

“I have no choice but to do as I’m told.”

Leah let out a deep sigh. Before leaving the mansion, she found that some rare herbs grow in the mountains of the Haidern estate.

Among them, Leah was looking for Alpharadia. She recalled the Duke mentioning he was exposed to poison.

[Ah. As you said, there was often poison in it.] [That’s why I don’t eat the food served in this house.]

She had heard from the maids that the Duke hardly ate any meals. She thought it was to appear sickly, but was it because of poison?

Though she didn’t know the details, in any case. When combined with Alpharadia, it creates immunity to poison for about three months.

‘An antidote that lasts for three months.’

As a Duke constantly exposed to danger, he couldn’t dislike it.

Leah thought that if possible, she would bring Alpharadia instead of jujube seeds to prove her worth. However.

“It’s raining cats and dogs.”

Three hours into searching the mountains like this. Leah’s clothes were soaked through from the thick raindrops obscuring her vision.

Does Alpharadia really exist in these deep mountains?

“Really… Where on earth are these herbs… Aaah!”

Due to her obscured vision in the darkness, Leah didn’t see the ledge and slipped, tumbling down.

A groan escaped Leah’s lips as she barely caught herself on a large tree.

“Ugh.”

Her whole body ached as if it had been beaten. Leah’s vision spun as she barely managed to open her eyes.

At this rate, she felt she might die before earning the Duke’s trust. Moreover, there was no way such a precious herb would be in these mountains.

‘This much effort to show sincerity should be enough, right?’

What apothecary would search through pouring rain like this? Just as she was thinking she should go back, about to get up using her hands for support, that moment.

“Huh?”

A single flower blooming with a noble light in the deep darkness.

“Alpharadia…?”

As if by a lie, the Alpharadia she had been searching for was right before her eyes.

Leah rubbed her eyes as she saw the flower petals with the mysterious purple hue, just like in the book.

Surely this can’t be a dream?

‘Goodness, to think Alpharadia really exists in these mountains.’

When she opened her eyes again, the Alpharadia shone even more clearly in the rain.

“I found it…”

What started as stubbornness at first, now Leah smiled faintly as she looked at the herb in her hand.

She had been half in doubt because it was a rare herb, but she never expected to actually find it like this.

‘What is this crazy luck?’

Did the goddess of fortune pay a visit? Leah’s heart pounded and raced. Yes. This herb is even more valuable than jujube seeds.

Imagining the Duke’s surprised face when he received this herb, Leah turned back. Excited by the thought of returning quickly to deliver it to the Duke.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Duke recalled Leah as he gazed at the endlessly falling rain.

This new apothecary was peculiar. Boldly demanding a deal with him, fearlessly visiting his room at night.

Hiding gold coins in such a place without shame.

‘An unpredictable, peculiar woman.’

That was Akkia’s conclusion about Leah. He had a pathological aversion to being placed in unpredictable situations.

So Akkia meticulously kept everything under his own plans. The maid who brought him food, the butler Bayern.

Like chess pieces on a chessboard, all their actions never deviated from his expectations.

And of course, the new apothecary should also be a chess piece that moved according to his will.

However, the new apothecary was far from a chess piece that moved according to his will, more like a ball that could bounce in any direction.

A ball that was kicked towards the goal but rolled in a completely different direction from his intention. That was one of the things Akkia hated the most.

‘How annoying.’

As if he didn’t already have a mountain of things to worry about, this woman was a new headache for him.

As Akkia was thinking about Leah like that, he soon shook his head, dismissing it as a useless thought. Then, as he was shifting his gaze to the book he was reading.

– Knock knock.

A knocking sound was heard.

“Duke, it’s me, Leah.”

It was that apothecary who had just been irritating him.

What on earth is this woman up to? As he put down the book he was holding with half curiosity, half wariness, the door opened.

The Duke’s questioning gaze fell on Leah, who visited his bedroom late at night. Leah entered the room with quite confident steps and held out medicine to the Duke.

“Duke, it’s jujube seeds.”

“Jujube seeds?”

The Duke’s eyes slowly grew larger then smaller repeatedly.

But only for a moment, he recalled ordering her to go to the mountains to get jujube seeds. There’s no way she actually went up the mountain on a rainy day like today.

‘She must have brought what was in the warehouse.’

Recalling that a small amount of jujube seeds were stored in the warehouse, Akkia smiled coldly.

‘Just taking out what was in the warehouse, yet coming to find me at this hour?’

Feeling the woman’s actions were impudent, Akkia furrowed his brow.

Thinking he should say something sharp, he raised his gaze. That’s when Leah’s hands, full of scratches, entered his view.

‘Why are her hands…’

Only then did Akkia realize something was strange about the apothecary’s condition and looked Leah up and down.

“…What happened to you?”

“Oh, I did fall and roll while going to the mountain. But it’s nothing.”

As if those words weren’t a lie. Not just her hands, but small scratches were visible here and there on her face, and her hair was soaked as if she had just taken a shower.

‘Did she really go to the mountain for jujube seeds?’

The wounds all over and the faint traces of dirt on her fingertips bothered him, making it hard to call it a lie. But.

‘Why on earth?’

He really couldn’t understand.

Why did she go up the mountain when there were jujube seeds in the warehouse? And on a day with pouring rain like this.

‘Is she perhaps not very smart?’

Not smart enough to think of the simple lie of saying she picked herbs from the warehouse?

Originally, this wasn’t the reaction Akkia had expected from Leah. He had imagined her trying to deceive him cunningly.

And he was planning to pretend to fall for such lies while thinking of ways to tease the apothecary more. But the apothecary’s unexpected behavior left him speechless.

‘I thought she was a strange woman, but…’

The level of strangeness surpassed even his imagination. Enough to make even him feel dumbfounded.

As Akkia silently stared at Leah’s hands, Leah, observing the Duke’s hardened face, was inwardly smiling with satisfaction.

‘As expected, he’s flustered.’

As per her plan, the Duke seemed quite taken aback. He had a face that showed he didn’t think she would really go to the mountains to get jujube seeds.

‘Everything’s going according to plan.’

Leah barely managed to suppress the corners of her mouth that were trying to rise on their own, maintaining her composure.

In fact, all of this was Leah’s plan to fluster Akkia.

Seeing how the mansion staff treated the Duke, she realized there were no true allies of the Duke here.

And she knew that someone so lonely and isolated would be all the more wary of others.

‘I need to prepare for the situation where I can’t make the cure within the time limit.’

Without great luck, it was impossible to complete the antidote within 3 months.

So Leah planned to ease the Duke’s wariness and gain his trust to prepare for any possible situation.

The strategy she came up with was dubbed.

‘Even if others don’t, I’m the one thinking of you, Operation!’

Her plan was to pretend to be his loyal servant by fulfilling the Duke’s unreasonable requests that others would ignore.

Though her reflection in the mirror looked quite a mess, she was quite satisfied seeing the Duke’s flustered face.

But what she had prepared wasn’t over yet.

“Drink it while it’s warm.”

Leah placed a teacup down with a raised smile. His wavering gaze fell on the steaming teacup.

“…What is this?”

Next to the steaming teacup on the table, there was something like a clumped pill.

“As it happens, there was Alpharadia there.”

“…Alpharadia?”

Alpharadia was one of the herbs excellent for detoxification.

Recalling the Duke’s previous mention of poison often being mixed in his meals, she made a pill using Alpharadia.

‘The Duke mentioned it in passing, but I didn’t forget and prepared a gift.’

This should soften even an iron-clad heart a little.

“Yes. You mentioned that poison has been mixed in your meals before. In case you’ve been consistently consuming poison, I made an antidote. Since Alpharadia has such a strong bitter taste, I deliberately made it into a pill.”

‘Ah, isn’t this just the perfect way to win the Duke’s favor?’

Not only bringing jujube seeds through this rain from the mountains, but also making an Alpharadia pill for the Duke.

Leah’s voice was bright, as if proud.

“You probably know how to take it, but eating one of these will be effective for about three months. Unfortunately, I only gathered enough to make one. In three months, I’ll go back to the mountain…”

“…You’re doing unnecessary things.”

However, contrary to his negative words, the Duke’s voice was much more relaxed than before.

‘He’s probably bewildered by this whole situation.’

He might be perplexed by the goodwill so different from the mansion staff. But such unfamiliar emotions would soon fade, gradually lowering his guard against her.

‘Just need to keep going like this.’

Hiding her satisfied expression, Leah asked as if puzzled.

“…Is there a problem?”

“I didn’t know you cared about me this much.”

“Well, I am your apothecary after all.”

“You’re doing all this just because you’re my apothecary?”

“Yes.”

‘Now, let’s drive the point home.’

Looking at the Duke as if wondering what the problem was, Leah continued.

“From now on, I’ll brew jujube tea and bring it to you every morning at breakfast.”

“…Every morning at breakfast?”

“Yes. Jujube is more effective when taken on an empty stomach.”

The Duke frowned at Leah’s answer.

That’s because to properly see the effects of jujube, you need to simmer the herbs in a teapot for over 4 hours, like traditional medicine.

But she’s saying she’ll bring it every morning before breakfast.

He was curious about what was going on in this apothecary’s head. With a strange feeling that he shouldn’t allow this, Akkia refused. Or rather, tried to refuse.

“There’s no need for that. Just bring the jujube seeds before dinner…”

“No.”

But before the Duke could finish speaking, Leah answered.

“Please allow me to bring jujube tea every morning. You know that’s better, don’t you, Duke?”

With an innocent smile.

“You’ll allow it, right?”

Faced with the woman’s sparkling green eyes asking for permission, Akkia finally turned his head.

“…Do as you wish.”

At that answer, Leah smiled more brightly than ever before.

“Thank you, Duke.”

Looking at Leah like this, Akkia came to a conclusion.

That the newly arrived apothecary was the strangest and most foolish human he had ever seen.

In the room after Leah had left. Contrary to his harsh assessment of the apothecary, he stared at the teacup she had brewed for a long time.

*

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One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.

Synopsis:

Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.

But this is still far from enough.

He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.

_____

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