I Will Disappear, Grand Duke

 

After coughing up blood, Julia immediately lost consciousness.

It had been several months since she had been here, but during that time, Julia had never collapsed like this before.

She had occasionally mentioned feeling her heart pounding or experiencing pain, but this was the first time she had vomited blood with such intense agony.

Julia remained unconscious for an entire day before finally opening her eyes the next day.

“…Julia, are you alright?”

Julia’s vacant gaze turned towards Cedric, who was sitting beside her.

Cedric, who had kept vigil by her side all night, had a face shrouded in guilt.

Julia slowly opened and closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly instead of answering.

“I’m sorry. I should have been more attentive… I didn’t even realize your condition had become this serious…”

Cedric lowered his gaze, his expression ashamed. Struggling, Julia managed to speak.

“…Don’t say that. I’m fine…”

But the moment she spoke, her heart started pounding and throbbing painfully again.

Julia took a ragged breath, biting her lips and trembling.

‘I was really able to endure it all this time, so why suddenly…’

Amid the excruciating pain she was bearing, a long-forgotten warning from Mateus suddenly came to Julia’s mind.

He had said that using her powers randomly would be more than her body could handle.

Of course, she knew this well, but because there hadn’t been any major problems so far, she had thought she would be fine.

In her complacency, her body had been gradually deteriorating.

“…I’ll try to find a cure somehow.”

“……”

“If I go to the temple and search through all the old records, I’m sure I can find out something about your condition.”

Cedric spoke up resolutely, as if trying to reassure her. But the expression on his face was not confident.

Julia weakly nodded her head, having no energy to respond. Cedric looked at her worriedly, seeing how weary she seemed.

“Julia, sleep a little more. I’ll stay by your side.”

As he spoke softly, Julia slowly closed her eyes.

Her whole body felt heavy, like it was waterlogged, and she quickly fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

Cedric left the monastery as planned.

In the meantime, Julia’s condition had improved somewhat, but it was still too much for her to return to her daily routine.

So her schedule at the monastery became more relaxed than before.

She moved within her physical limits, and afterwards took lengthy rest periods.

One bright morning, Julia opened the window and sat down at the woodworking table.

On the table were colorful flower branches and a half-finished flower crown.

A wedding was scheduled to be held at the monastery in a few days, and she was in the midst of making a flower crown and bouquet for the bride.

“Julia, why don’t you take a break and have a snack?”

Gabriel, who had come to her room, placed a tray on the table.

“Ah, thank you.”

Julia paused from her work and looked up.

With her hair loosely tied, her radiant smile was the most at ease she had looked in recent times, though she appeared slightly thinner than before.

Gabriel pushed a plate of madeleines towards her with a worried expression.

“Don’t overdo it if you’re feeling unwell. I’m always worried you’ll collapse again.”

“I’m fine. This is just a sedentary task.”

Julia replied firmly, then stopped her work to start nibbling on the madeleines.

Gabriel watched her with a pitying gaze.

While Julia herself was calm, it was the others who seemed more anxious about her condition.

Leaving Gabriel’s concerns behind, Julia, whose appetite had returned after a long time, ate more than half the madeleines.

The sweet, soft texture enveloped her mouth, lifting her mood considerably.

“I’m relieved to see you eating well.”

Gabriel let out a small sigh. Julia looked at her intently and gave a slight smile.

“It’s thanks to you cooking so well.”

“You, really. I’ll bring you more, so eat slowly.”

Eventually, Gabriel joined her in laughter. It was around then that a sweet little voice interrupted their conversation.

“Julia!”

Julia widened her eyes and turned her head. Through the slightly opened door, a small figure could be seen standing there.

“Ah, it’s Rose.”

Rose, with her braided pigtails, was blinking her large eyes.

Julia quickly went to open the door. Behind Rose, Theo was also peeking out.

“You see, Theo wanted to see Julia, so I came! And me too!”

As Rose spoke loudly, Theo behind her frantically shook his head.

“No, no! I just followed Rose…”

Blushing and mumbling, Theo abruptly bowed his head.

Amused by his cute behavior, Julia bent down to be at eye level with the children.

She had purposely avoided meeting the children these past few days.

She was worried that if she suddenly collapsed again, it would shock them.

But seeing these children who had come rushing over just because she hadn’t played with them for a few days, Julia couldn’t hold back her smile.

As Julia took the children’s hands and seated them at the wooden table, Gabriel left the room to bring more snacks.

“Julia, are you all better now?”

Theo, hesitating, looked at Julia with his small mouth quivering.

Julia affectionately ruffled the boy’s hair.

“Yes, I’m all better now. I’m completely healed.”

Whenever she was with the children, her mind would become peaceful.

In a way, it was because of the children that she had come to love this small village so quickly.

The children had sought her affection, and she had given them just as much in return.

By exchanging unconditional love in this place, Julia was able to heal the wounds of her past.

“Alright, children. Come and eat.”

Soon after, Gabriel returned with a tray full of snacks.

As she spent time with these precious ones, the worries that had filled one corner of Julia’s heart gradually faded away.

* * *

Fernan was still obsessively immersed in the search, tirelessly scouring the entire continent, but still found no trace of Julia.

His appearance was like that of a corpse – he was acting like a person whose emotions and thoughts had been completely severed.

In his empty gaze lay only the repeated despair.

Just as time was passing by uselessly, he surprisingly managed to uncover one clue about Julia.

[A witness report has surfaced, stating that a woman resembling the missing Countess was seen in the Ilemion territory.]

The messenger who sent this was a knight in charge of the search in other regions. The Ilemion territory was a small lordship bordering the Dukedom.

Ironically, the clue had been right next door, but he had fruitlessly searched in distant foreign lands.

[About half a year ago, a young woman unfamiliar to the village was found collapsed on the outskirts. The nearby physician cared for the unconscious woman for about a month.]

And when she finally awoke, she immediately requested to be taken to a certain monastery.

Fernan immediately went to that monastery.

After interrogating all the priests there, it was revealed that they had briefly housed a woman they suspected to be Julia.

The description and timing matched the point when Julia had disappeared.

The priests refused to say more, but it wasn’t difficult to force them to reveal the information.

As a result, Fernan now knew that someone had taken that woman to another country.

Mateus, who had given Julia the pendant, was not involved.

He had been in the imperial palace at the time Julia went missing, so there was evidence of his whereabouts.

This meant there was a third party involved.

As he made this deduction, something suddenly came to Fernan’s mind.

It was the report from the knight who had gone to the imperial palace to monitor Julia.

‘It doesn’t seem to be a major concern, but the Countess was accompanied by two priests on her walks – one was a young priest, and the other was a middle-aged one.’

The priests who had visited the imperial palace were all from the Temple of Ilion. Fernan immediately compiled a list of all the priests from the temple.

There were many young priests, but none that could be considered “young.” However, upon delving deeper, he discovered that there was a priest who could alter his outward appearance through his powers.

This priest, named Cedric…

“He has been away from the Temple of Ilion since last winter,” they had said.

All the circumstances were aligning perfectly.

“Your Highness, it will be in a week’s time. On the day the Prime Minister makes his rounds, that priest will surely appear as well.”

Fernan’s expression darkened at the report.

“Inform the knights to be on high alert that day. We must capture that priest alive no matter what.”

The messenger nodded and quickly left the room. Fernan stared into the distance, his gaze fierce.

“I will find you, Julia. Even if I have to turn the whole world upside down.”

His determination burned like a raging fire. He would track down the one who had taken Julia away, no matter how far he had to go.