Chapter 16

The bitter night wind of the north swept sharply across my skin. My hands, gripping the balcony railing, were already stiff and frozen crimson. Although I couldn’t see it, my face must have been just as red. After all, it had been over an hour since I came out onto the balcony. A white puff of steam followed each exhale of my breath.

‘It’s cold…’

Since I had made my plan, I had been coming out onto the balcony every night in just my pajamas and spending over an hour there. All to fulfill the most crucial condition.

‘The night sky is pretty.’

The servants had continued to steadily escalate their bullying. I didn’t even have to make an effort to draw them out. Now, my meals were not just shoddy, but made with rotten ingredients. At least they had the sense to do it only when Annie, not Laura, went to get the food. It was an outrage that even Annie, who had been briefed on my plan beforehand, was ready to get angry about, but I was rather pleased with the situation.

‘How convenient, they’re digging their own graves.’

It would have been more troublesome if they had gotten scared and laid low after I went to see Norman. I felt the chill seeping through my thin camisole and pulled the light shawl tighter. Thanks to the cold weather of the north, I had already developed a cold after just three nights of being out on the balcony.

“Achoo!”

I sniffled and stared at the night sky. I was originally born and raised in a place with four distinct seasons, as a central noble. Even the dead of winter in the central region was warm compared to this place, so it wasn’t easy to adapt to the weather in February, which was said to be the coldest month in the north.

Because of this, I would have had health problems even if I had just stayed in my room with the malfunctioning heating magic tools. However, it would have been slower than directly exposing myself to the cold wind, and it wouldn’t have made me severely ill. My plan required more than a mild body ache. That’s why I was going through the trouble of exposing myself to the cold wind on the balcony for an hour at a time…

‘And that will probably be enough for tonight.’

Based on my experience of often catching body aches in my previous life, if I went to sleep in this state, I would wake up in exactly the condition I needed.

“Hoo.”

I blew warm breath on my frozen fingertips, but the cold wind that soon blew scattered the white breath instantly. I had gotten somewhat used to the cold, so my body wasn’t trembling violently, but it was gradually getting heavy.

However, this time wasn’t entirely difficult. When I lifted my slightly dizzy head to look up at the sky, I saw a night sky studded with stars so dense they looked like they might fall. The bright stars and moon illuminated this dark hour, and my eyes, which had received their glimmer, shone with a faint light. The silent, snow-covered garden, the dark mountains in the distance, and the sky with its mixture of blue and purple hues were quite enchanting.

It was the only scenery in this Eclipse Ducal Castle, where hostile stares lay everywhere, that gave me peace. The silence without whispers, the space without gazes filled with questions and hostility. Even after this whole situation was resolved, it wouldn’t be bad to put on warm clothes and spend some time on the terrace.

As I stood there for a long time, I felt my body becoming more and more chilled and was about to go inside.

Click.

‘Huh…?’

That was, until I made eye contact with Nine, who was coming out onto the balcony of the next room.

“…”

“…”

A long silence followed. Nine seemed a little surprised as well, as if he hadn’t expected to run into me. It was a very small change, but it disappeared quickly. The only light illuminating him was the small starlight from the distant sky, but it was enough. He shone so vividly even in this darkness. I didn’t know if it was because my eyes and my heart were following him, but…

“…”

As we continued to stand in awkward silence, neither of us averting our gaze, Nine’s expression gradually soured. If he was going to make that kind of face, he could have just ignored me or gone back to his room. I tried my best to ignore the subtle ache in my heart.

In the end, I was the first to break the silence.

“Good evening, Your Grace.”

I deliberately used a formal greeting, one that a family or married couple could skip. After all, we were a couple in name only, and Nine, who had a misconception about me, wouldn’t like it if I pretended to be close to him just because I was his wife. And…

‘This is a good distance from Nine.’

For this plan, it was enough for Nine to just not pay attention to me as I stayed in the castle. I had told Norman about the situation, but since Nine had taken no action, there was no point in lowering his favorability towards me even more. On the contrary, raising his favorability?

‘Right now, nothing would work.’

Nine just gave a slight nod in response to my greeting and leaned against the balcony railing, looking outside. He didn’t seem to be cold, even though he was only wearing a shirt, perhaps because he had just been resting. The wind ruffled his black hair as if caressing him. His solid, sturdy figure, which couldn’t be hidden even in a simple shirt, truly suited him as the lord of the North.

I found my gaze helplessly stolen by his firm presence in the scenery that had been giving me peace. My body, red from the cold, wanted to go inside immediately, but my frozen feet stood firmly toward him. It was the first time I had seen Nine since I came to the North. And the Nine I saw after a long time looked a little tired.

‘…’

I was surprised at myself, worrying about who. It was ridiculous that his one expression of fatigue was enough to distract me.

‘Get a grip. My future is a bigger concern right now.’

But I took in his back and the northern night sky, which I thought I wouldn’t see again so soon, for a little longer.

“…I’ll be going in now.”

I didn’t know if he turned around. Even though I knew what my relationship with Nine was, I didn’t want to see how he reacted, so I quickly went into my room. I listened to my heart pounding, gripped the curtain tightly, and then headed to my bed. I didn’t know if this relentless pounding was because of the revenge drama that was about to unfold or because of Nine, whom I had just met on the balcony. I took a deep breath, got into bed, and pulled the blanket all the way over my head.

‘Come to think of it, Nine’s room isn’t next to mine.’

To be thinking about Nine even when I was lying down. I quickly shook my head to clear my thoughts and closed my eyes. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to sleep with the relentless pounding, but fortunately, my consciousness sank deep down quickly. It was a peaceful night.

***

My consciousness was forcefully dragged up from a deep sleep.

“Haa…”

It was hard to breathe, and my throat was sore. Cold sweat was making my pajamas and pillow damp, and the blanket I had pulled over me felt stuffy, but my body was as heavy as a lead weight, so I couldn’t move. My head ached as if someone was kneading my brain, and with each hot breath I exhaled, I could clearly feel my throat. I barely managed to open my eyes and thought,

‘Perfect.’

I was exactly as sick as I wanted to be. The fact that I was happy despite being so sick that I couldn’t move made me let out a hollow laugh.

Knock, knock.

“Lady Chacha.”

Just then, Annie came into my room. It seemed I had overslept, and she had come to wake me up. As Annie came closer with hurried steps, she was startled to see me burning with a high fever.

“Lady Chacha!”

The fact that she was so surprised meant that I must look pretty serious to an outsider.

“Annie… can you… get me some water…?”

Annie quickly poured a cup of water and helped me drink it. I had hinted at my plan to Annie beforehand, but since it didn’t include me getting sick, she seemed genuinely surprised.

‘I didn’t tell her about this part on purpose because I knew she would worry this much.’

Annie only knew that I was going to let the servants’ bullying escalate and then, when it got to a point where I couldn’t ignore it, I would use the evidence to report them.

“The physician, I’ll go call the physician!”

“Wait, cough.”

I stopped Annie who was about to leave and said,

“You have to get Tully, no matter what.”

Annie looked back at me with a bewildered expression. She didn’t seem to understand what I was saying. I coughed a couple of times and then firmly instructed her in a hoarse voice.

“If it’s not Tully, the secret might be exposed… *cough*. It has to be Tully.”

“Oh, ah! Yes, Lady Chacha!”

If my fake pregnancy was exposed while I was trying to clean up this situation, I could be the one who gets cleaned up instead.

As Annie left, Laura came in right away, as if she had been waiting outside. Laura brought a new bottle of water and a wet towel and sat next to me to nurse me.

“Lady Chacha… are you okay? The physician will be here soon.”

“Yes, cough… I’m okay.”

I answered with a faint smile in a choked voice. It was my own voice, but it sounded like I was very sick. Laura took the wet towel with a worried expression and gently wiped my face. I closed my eyes and mentally checked off the steps of my plan one by one.

‘It’s going smoothly.’

Laura being here with me was, of course, a part of my plan. Unlike Annie, who came from the Blueberry family, Laura was someone who could report news about me to Nine.

‘Nine shouldn’t know yet.’

If he were to intervene too early, this whole incident would be taken out of my hands. Even if he were to punish the servants, that wouldn’t be enough for me now.

‘Just stay still. Until the commotion gets so big it’s irreversible.’

“Cough, cough…”

“Lady Chacha…”

“Cough!”

“Ah! Lady Chacha!”

“Ah, it’s okay…”

I calmed down the startled Laura with my raspy voice. I was coughing a bit violently and had some phlegm coming up, but since I knew it was just a cold, I was relaxed despite the pain.

But Laura’s expression didn’t relax.

‘…?’

Not only did it not relax, but it grew paler and paler.

“You’re… you’re coughing up blood!”

“Huh?”

I looked down at my hand, and just as Laura said, there was blood on it.

“Huh?”

“Oh, what do we do?!”

Laura frantically laid me down and went to get a towel. The room, with just the two of us, suddenly became chaotic.

‘Huh?’

I… I guess I’m sicker than I planned.