Illness. Incurable. Richard.
Charlotte’s mind went blank. A single, vivid image flashed through her confused thoughts.
On her first day, Richard had been slumped in the armchair, pale as a lifeless bisque doll. Touching him felt as if he might shatter into pieces, making it difficult to even breathe.
“But… he doesn’t seem that way at all.”
Yes, that had been true only on the first day. Richard was physically fit and muscular, looking no different from an active-duty officer. Tilting his head slightly, Franz responded to Charlotte’s observation.
“That’s just the way it appears. There are quite a few incurable diseases out there that don’t show obvious symptoms. Hemophilia, for example.”
“So, is he undergoing treatment?”
The question came out trembling. Franz shook his head.
“No. We’re secretly researching medications, but it’s still in a hopeless stage. The disease is so rare that it doesn’t even have a proper name. I heard our poor great-grandfather ended it all at just thirty.”
“Ended it…”
“The typical ending is usually one of two—premature death or suicide due to madness.”
“That can’t be…”
Frozen in shock, Charlotte could only move her lips. Facing her pallid expression, Franz shrugged.
“That’s why Father dotes on my uncle, more than me, who is his own son. I’m a little resentful of that, but—Ah!”
His grumbling was cut short as Charlotte suddenly grabbed his shoulders, stammering.
“Wh-what are the symptoms? The cause…”
That’s when it happened.
Bang!
“Aaaaah!”
“Protect the young master!”
“Bring a gun!”
Gunshots rang from outside. All their attention was drawn in that direction. Franz rushed to the window, quickly pulling the curtains shut. Below the window, the household staff was gathered in a panic.
An ominous premonition enveloped Charlotte. As she staggered towards the window, a desperate voice cried out, piercing her ears.
“Sir Richard has been shot! Call the physician!”
Her mind went blank. Amidst the confusion, a man was brought in, struggling against those restraining him.
“Let go of me!”
The familiar voice from years ago. The auburn hair and pale skin, haunting her like a nightmare.
The assailant who fired the gun was none other than the young master of the household where Charlotte once worked.
More precisely, he was her first love.
***
A week had passed since the shocking incident.
“That guy sure is lucky,” Felix muttered, looking at his friend lying lifeless-like.
Memories of the recent events flooded back into his mind.
‘I’ll never forget this.’
‘…Kiara.’
‘Thanks for sticking by me till the end, Felix. I’ll miss you.’
Kiara dabbed at her reddened eyes with a handkerchief. It was a few days later that Duke Spencer, who had traveled to the duchy with his daughter, learned the full story.
‘How dare that man disgrace my daughter?’
Upon hearing the details, the enraged Duke Spencer had wanted to personally go and thrash the so-called noble. Felix had had to put in a great effort to calm down his hot-tempered uncle, who was determined to drag the man back to the duke’s mansion by any means.
“You have no idea how difficult it was to placate the one who was ready to use every resource to bring you back. And you go and solve it all in one fell swoop. You.”
There was hardly any good to come from butting heads with him.
The Spencer family had long held seats on various parliamentary standing committees, and they were a prestigious lineage not far removed from the queen’s own bloodline. The Kensingtons were no less than them. They had amassed a great fortune early on through shipping investments, and recently, their growing influence in the parliament could no longer be ignored due to the booming trade.
While Felix was stuck, unable to do anything as the two lions were about to collide, unexpected news arrived.
‘Lord Felix! Lord Richard has been shot!’
Hearing those words, his heart seemed to turn to stone. More than the shock of Richard being shot, it was the worry that his father might have lost control and caused trouble that worried him.
The reassurance that it was not at the Duke’s behest was brief, as a wave of self-loathing soon followed. No matter how much Richard had changed, he was still Richard—Felix’ close friend of over 20 years. Feeling relieved that his apprehensions were unfounded made him feel pathetic.
Looking at the motionless face, conflicting emotions surged within him.
“Well, it did work out in the end. …You didn’t do it on purpose, did you? No, not even you would go that far, as crazy as you are.”
“I appreciate you worrying about Richard’s mental state.”
Startled by the sudden voice, Felix whirled around.
“S-Sir?*1T/N: Felix used Seymour’s title here—Earl (백작), but it’s awkward to translate it directly as him saying “E-Earl?”, right? XD”
“As you said, that issue has been resolved, so you won’t have a headache about it later.”
Seymour, who had apparently been there for some time, glanced at the startled Felix and strode into the room, approaching the window.
“If you realize that a lawyer gets shot while on the job, you might just convince Kiara to give up, won’t you, Felix?”
“…”
The rhetorical question was accompanied by Seymour sharply pulling open the previously tightly drawn curtains. Blinded by the sudden influx of sunlight, Felix instinctively shielded his eyes.
“In fact, even if that old man had declared an all-out war, it wouldn’t have really mattered.”
“Haha…”
Felix realized Seymour was not just joking around. The usually amiable Earl was exceptionally ruthless when it came to matters involving his own brother. Forcing a chuckle to hide his chilling discomfort, Felix stood up from his seat.
“I think I’ve stayed too long, so I’ll be on my way now.”
“Alright then. Thank you for coming. Sorry I couldn’t give you a proper reception in a situation like this.”
“Not at all. I’ll come by again.”
“Janice will see you out.”
As Felix stepped out, Janice, a long-serving employee, led the way to the foyer. Since they were familiar with each other, it wasn’t too awkward.
“It’s fortunate the bullet only grazed his shoulder. There’s no life-threatening injury.”
“God was watching over him. But I worry he may not wake up soon, since he hit his head when he fell.”
“He’ll be up and about soon. Dani has been through wars, so he’ll shake this off quickly.”
The conversation flowed naturally, until Janice suddenly paused.
“Ma’am?”
“…Nothing. It’s just been a while since I’ve heard that name.”
Only then did Felix realize the implications of his earlier words.
“Ah, I see.”
It had been the childhood nickname they used to call Richard. Not just Felix, but the Earl and his wife as well. At some point, they had stopped using it, and after Richard returned from his service, the name had been forgotten.
“I do miss those carefree days sometimes. We used to race each other on horseback.”
Nodding in agreement, Janice shared the sentiment.
“I was there too, and I know how close you two were, then and now.”
“Well…We were,” Felix replied, a tinge of melancholy in his voice.
Felix shrugged, brushing off the response in the past tense. As he looked around, feeling a bit awkward, someone came into his line of sight—a young Richard? For a moment, Felix almost couldn’t believe his eyes. The startled youth quickly changed his expression and approached, greeting him with a bright smile.
“How’ve you been, Felix?”
“…Franz?”
“It’s been so long!”
Felix, still surprised, asked on impulse, “Are you supposed to be on vacation?”
“Well… this is a special vacation I got for the excellent grades I received! Haha. Don’t you know that, even as a graduate?”
There was an unspoken pressure in his gaze, as if asking Felix to play along. Intrigued, Felix decided to go with it.
“Ah, right…I must have forgotten. It’s been a while since I graduated.”
“I understand. Memory does start to decline as you get older, after all.”
“What? Hey, that’s not quite—”
“Janice!”
Cutting off Felix’ indignant retort, Franz turned to the person beside them.
“I’d like to chat with Felix for a bit. Could you please tell Charlotte to bring us some tea?”
***
As soon as the drawing room’s door closed, Franz heaved a sigh of relief.
“Thanks for going along with my lie earlier, Felix.”
“It was nothing, really.”
Plopping down on the couch, Felix rested his arm on the armrest. Shortly after, Franz, sitting across from him, spoke up again.
“Were you visiting my uncle?”
“Yeah. I was so surprised. I heard the culprit was some nobleman’s third son?”
“That’s right. You probably don’t even know his name. He’s from some backwater village, and his family’s nothing special.”
“How did someone like that manage to find his way here and do such a thing?”
“Well…”
As the question flowed naturally, Franz instinctively started to respond, but quickly covered his mouth with both hands. Seeing his suspicious behavior, Felix narrowed his eyes and probed in a subtle tone.
“What’s wrong?”
“Uh, you heard, didn’t you? He lost the case in court.”
It was just another one of the dozens of petty lawsuits heard in local courts every day—a dispute over tenant farmer rents between landowners and their tenants. Such minor district court trials were often handled by country gentry lawyers or young, inexperienced attorneys.
The sudden surge of spectators at the trial was due to the rumors that the lawyer representing the tenant farmers was none other than Richard Kensington.
“So why did he take on such a trivial case? And for free, no less.”
“Well… Maybe it was some kind of volunteer work? A chance to take a break and do some good…”
The lame excuse prompted Felix to burst out laughing.
“Let’s be honest—is your uncle really the type of person to do that?”
“Well, it’s just that…”
“It’s just that?”
“…Not anymore, at least.”
As the responses kept getting worse, Felix wore a smug smile, causing Franz to bite his lower lip. If he kept losing ground like this, Felix might not let it go. A chill ran down his spine. Sensing an opportunity to counterattack, Felix unleashed his barrage.
“Richard getting shot… was it intentional?”
🍉🍉🍉
