After finishing my goodbyes, I found myself at the front gate of the Graham Duke’s residence. For some reason, the Graham Duke’s carriage was waiting at the front gate.
Seeing my wide eyes, the coachman greeted me politely with a smile.
“Good day, Viscountess Marves. The master has ordered us to take you home by carriage on your way back.”
It was an unexpected kindness from my grandfather.
I hesitated for a moment, then climbed into the Graham Duke’s carriage.
It had been a long time since I experienced such a smooth ride, despite having ridden in carriages frequently recently. I thought it would be difficult to wait for a commercial carriage, so it was indeed a fortunate thing.
* * *
“Madam, Dr. Watt is here.”
As soon as I arrived at the mansion and entered the bedroom, a maid came to inform me.
Rivet had told another servant to bring Dr. Watt as I got off the carriage, but I didn’t expect him to arrive this early.
“Let him in.”
I gave my permission while sitting on the edge of the bed. Soon, the door opened, and Dr. Watt entered with his medical bag.
“Good day, Madam. I came because the Duke Graham called for me.”
“Ah, Grandfather…”
I felt a small smile as I sensed that Grandfather was genuinely worried about me.
“I heard you coughed up blood. May I examine you?”
“Yes, please.”
Dr. Watt took out the tools he used last time to diagnose the Trintz disease from his medical bag.
“Could you hold this?”
As I held the tool he handed me, light leaked out like last time. However, there were some murky lights mixed in.
Dr. Watt observed this phenomenon closely and nodded.
“The Trintz disease has been cured, but as I mentioned before, these are the aftereffects caused by the collision between the forcibly activated mana and the energy in your body.”
“I see.”
“If you rest well, you will recover soon. However, since we don’t know when or how it might recur, you should always have a sedative with you. The sedative will help calm the mana.”
“Understood.”
As I returned the tool to Dr. Watt, he began to pack his medical bag again.
“By the way, is the sedative only made from the Tieria flower? Is there any way to prevent it with a mana stone or other methods?”
If these aftereffects were to last a lifetime, I wouldn’t know how much sedative I would need.
The Tieria flower was not only expensive but also hard to obtain. It would be troublesome if I needed a continuous supply of sedatives made from the Tieria flower.
Dr. Watt frowned, contemplating his answer.
“A mana stone, like before, would help to some extent. But it’s only to a certain degree. Unlike when you had the Trintz disease, the mana isn’t contracting and hardening. It’s quite the opposite. Ah, perhaps…”
“Perhaps?”
“How about learning magic? If you learn magic and how to tame mana, you could calm the mana yourself without medicine. But this is only possible if you know how to handle mana…”
I was quite disappointed by Dr. Watt’s words.
Magic was the exclusive domain of a very few people. Even if you had money, you couldn’t learn magic without talent, and that talent usually bloomed in childhood.
That meant if you didn’t show any remarkable talent in childhood, the chances of learning and using magic as an adult were extremely slim.
Of course, I had never shown any talent for magic, so it was a hopeless suggestion.
As I sighed in disappointment, Dr. Watt hesitated and spoke again.
“Or, getting help from a mage or someone who can use mana might be a good way.”
“…Thank you. If I need more help, I’ll call you again.”
“Yes, Madam.”
Dr. Watt took off his hat and bowed to me.
Watching him leave, I lay down on the bed.
I thought suffering from the aftereffects was better than dying from the Trintz disease, but experiencing the aftereffects was also burdensome and difficult.
Why did I have to contract such a terrible disease…
All I could do was blame my sick body.
Just then, there was another knock on the door.
“Who is it?”
“Viscountess Marves, it’s me. Rachel Lorette.”
The voice beyond the door was Rachel’s.
“Come in.”
I sat up in bed to greet Rachel. But for some reason, Rachel had a troubled look on her face.
“Is something wrong?”
“Well…”
Rachel, who rarely hesitated to speak, finally opened her mouth with difficulty.
“They said there was no medicine bottle in the dining room.”
“What?”
I blinked, not understanding the meaning of Rachel’s words.
“It should be there since I dropped it in the dining room.”
“We searched as thoroughly as possible… but we couldn’t find it.”
“Could someone have picked it up?”
“We checked with the maids, but there was no such indication.”
I raised my hand to my forehead.
I didn’t think any of the maids would know the value of the ingredients in that medicine.
It was known to only a few that I had the Trintz disease. The other members of the Graham Duke’s household merely thought I was frail.
In such a situation, it was unlikely that someone would steal the medicine to sell it.
Then who, and why?
My head throbbed. I felt a slight fever.
“For now, search once more and if you still can’t find it, let me know.”
“Yes, Viscountess Marves.”
Rachel answered, bowing deeply.
* * *
Late at night, inside the study of the Graham Duke’s residence, Ains Graham was sitting at his desk, flipping through documents. However, despite his eyes being on the papers, the words did not register in his mind.
It was because of what had happened during dinner.
He had heard from a servant that Cecilia had visited the Graham residence to see the ailing former Duke, Damon Graham, and that she had left after dinner.
At first, Ains had no intention of attending the dinner.
He found their relationship awkward, and he disliked the idea of his grandfather, Damon Graham, bringing up uncomfortable topics during the meal.
However, he eventually remembered the report on Cadia Moldovan that his aide Jackson had compiled earlier, and he couldn’t stay seated.
He was worried that Cecilia might be swayed by a scoundrel like Cadia Moldovan, who seduced noblewomen to swindle their money.
Ains knew very well that the million gold alimony he had given Cecilia was all she had after their divorce.
The Marves Viscountess family, to which Cecilia originally belonged, was not wealthy, and Cecilia, who had lived like a delicate flower in the Graham Duke’s greenhouse, surely had no other assets besides the alimony.
Ains did not want to see Cecilia, who had been the Duchess of Graham, reduced to poverty and misery by handing over her wealth to Cadia Moldovan.
After all, even though she was no longer the Duchess, it would still reflect poorly on his own reputation if she ended up destitute.
So, he decided to attend the dinner to hand over the report detailing the true nature of Cadia Moldovan to Cecilia, who had defended him as a friend.
But what he saw there was Cecilia coughing up blood.
Her face was pale, her lips were colorless, her eyes were moist with tears, and her shoulders trembled weakly. Ains couldn’t help but take in every detail of Cecilia’s labored breathing as she coughed up blood.
She looked like someone suffering from a severe illness, and Ains couldn’t take his eyes off her. He tried to rationalize it by telling himself that it was only natural to be concerned.
But forgetting that image was not easy.
Cecilia reminded him too much of his mother, who had died of illness when he was a child—fragile and delicate.
What kind of illness could cause her to cough up blood?
Ains fell into thought for a moment, then turned his gaze to his desk drawer. He reached out and opened it.
Inside was the medicine bottle that Cecilia had dropped on the dining room floor.
Ains picked up the bottle containing the sedative. Inside the transparent bottle were brown pills.
Just by looking at it, he couldn’t determine what illness the medicine was for.
Ains frowned and gripped the bottle tightly.
He examined the bottle with a troubled heart, then placed it on the desk.
He needed to find out what illness Cecilia was suffering from.
“Jacob.”
Ains called for his aide. Jacob, who had been waiting, entered the study.
“You called for me?”
“Bring Dr. Watt. I need to confirm something.”
