Chapter 6

“Ugh.”

A dry heave came up once more. I instinctively lowered my head and covered my mouth with both hands. I had been feeling a constant indigestion for a few days, and it finally hit me at the worst possible time.

I had been living as a noble lady for over ten years since transmigrating at age seven. This meant I was now accustomed enough to my noble identity to think of throwing up in front of others as a disgrace.

‘Ugh, how embarrassing!’

I cautiously raised my head to look at Nine and his aide, Norman.

When a person has such a physiological reaction, the proper noble etiquette for others is to pretend they didn’t see it. However, I figured these two, who likely felt contempt rather than goodwill toward me, might be frowning in disgust.

But…

‘What’s wrong with them?’

The aide’s mouth was agape, and he was staring at the ceiling. His face was pale as a sheet, and his eyes were unfocused, as if he had lost the world. Nine’s face remained expressionless, but a closer look revealed that the hand holding his teacup was subtly trembling.

‘What is it? Is my dry heaving that shocking?’

As I stared at them, bewildered, Nine placed his teacup down with a thud. The gesture was a bit rough, not at all what I’d expect from the usually poised Nine.

‘Gah!’

And in that moment, a sudden realization struck me like lightning. I understood why they were reacting like this.

‘Nine thinks I spent the night with him because of the love potion!’

And if that person suddenly starts dry heaving…

The misunderstanding they would come to was obvious.

“O-oh no.”

I set my teacup down, flustered, and opened my mouth to explain.

But then a startled voice cut me off.

“My Lady! Are you alright?”

Why hadn’t I dismissed Annie beforehand? It was too late to regret it now.

“Oh, your face is so pale!”

Annie approached me with a worried expression, fussily checking my complexion. She had a tendency to overreact when it came to me, and my heart pounded with every word she spoke.

“You’ve been feeling indigestion every day, haven’t you?”

“I-I’m fine, Annie. I’m just a little nervous…”

“What do you have to be nervous about? You’ve been heaving even while resting comfortably in your room. I told you your body wasn’t well, didn’t I?”

‘Ugh!’

I forgot all my noble manners and frantically clamped my hand over Annie’s mouth. But everything that needed to be said had already been said.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…?”

Only Annie looked at me with a bewildered expression. I didn’t have the courage to look at the other two.

Pressing down my fear, I finally managed to turn my head. In their expressions, a clear conviction had taken root.

The aide buried his face in his hands, and Nine closed his eyes, letting out a deep sigh.

‘No! That’s not it!’

“A!”

The moment I urgently spat out a single letter.

“I will take responsibility.”

“What?”

“…We’ll marry.”

Nine cut me off and grumbled a low, absurd statement.

“…What?”

What are we doing? The shock left me speechless.

‘What did I just hear?’

But Nine didn’t care about my reaction. It was as if he had no interest in my thoughts or answers at all.

“The Eclipse family will handle all the wedding preparations.”

“Yes, sir.”

The one who answered his curt command was the aide standing behind him.

“Huu…”

Nine, who stood up at the aide’s response, rubbed his forehead as if I was giving him a headache, gritting his teeth. The words he spoke were barely audible, but every syllable was filled with anger.

“Unless you want to test my patience, you’d better behave yourself until the wedding.”

After that chilling warning, Nine and his aide left with a gust of cold air blowing in their wake.

‘What in the world just happened…’

My mind was blank. After staring at the door he’d just left through for a long time, my gaze fell to the document envelope I had so carefully prepared—with a plan for what to say and when to say it.

“…”

The evidence I had worked so hard to collect for three days remained untouched. Not only had I failed to use my evidence, but I had only deepened the misunderstanding.

“Oh, no…”

“My Lady. Did the Duke just propose to you?”

Next to me, as my sanity crumbled, the clueless Annie asked, her eyes shining.

“No. Who proposes like that? I thought he was delivering a letter of murder.”

“…It was pretty much a letter of murder.”

Because my heart just broke.

Annie laughed, thinking I was joking.

“Oh, come on, My Lady. But it’s Duke Eclipse! And besides, when did you two start dating behind my back?”

My indignation at his unromantic proposal was short-lived. Annie’s face flushed with excitement, and she started pestering my dazed self with questions.

“How long have you two been seeing each other? Given that marriage is already on the table, it must have been for a while, right?”

“Ha, ha ha.”

I never wanted to learn that people laugh when they feel utterly hopeless, but here I was! All my energy suddenly vanished. I leaned back and lay down on the couch, burying my face in my hands.

Annie was too excited to notice my despair, mistaking my expression for shyness.

“But, My Lady.”

“Yeah…”

“Are those rumors all true?”

I froze.

If Annie was asking so carefully, the rumors were obvious. The sinister rumors that had been born after Nine helped me in my first year.

“I mean, he’s so handsome, but there are rumors he becomes a bloodthirsty maniac when he’s in a bad mood, right? That he cuts people down like monsters.”

“…”

“And that he’s a cold-blooded man who uses his power and money to ruin people he doesn’t like…”

The rumors had grown over the years and had become even more chilling. Annie looked worried. “There’s no way those rumors would just start for no reason,” she mumbled, cautiously looking at me.

“The rumors are exaggerated, right? Even if his words are harsh, he’s a kind man to you, isn’t he?”

“…”

I knew better than anyone that the rumors about Nine weren’t true. They had, after all, started because he helped me.

Even knowing that, my heart sank at Annie’s words. The rumors were definitely exaggerated.

‘But if she were to ask if there was any truth to the core of them…’

The rumor that he was a bloodthirsty maniac was obviously ridiculous for a man who protected the Empire’s people from monsters. But the rumor about him using his power and money wasn’t something I could simply brush aside.

Nine had a history of manipulating things behind the scenes to stop Deville from acting out. It meant that if Nine put his mind to it, doing something like that would be no trouble at all. And in front of the Eclipse family’s power, the Blueberry Count family would be nothing but a reed in the wind.

“…”

I recalled the look on Nine’s face just now. His undisguised contempt. His seething, angry eyes. Nine was a kind person, but he was also a person who could become infinitely cold when he held hostility toward someone.

‘If I mess this up, I could die.’

And it wouldn’t end with just my life; the entire Blueberry Count family might not make it out unscathed.

Goosebumps prickled all over me.

‘This is no time to be lying around!’

I shot up to my feet.

‘Think. What am I going to do now?’

I paced around the room, contemplating a solution, and my eyes met Annie’s bewildered expression. Now, I needed Annie’s help.

“Annie. I’ll explain everything later, but for now, don’t ask anything… Can you keep Nine’s visit a secret?”

The urgency mixed with desperation in my voice made me sound quite pathetic.

Annie looked at me, nodded with a solemn expression, and held my now cold hands tightly.

“Don’t worry, My Lady. I would never do anything you don’t want me to!”

Having a reliable person on my side gave me great comfort. A warm, fuzzy feeling blossomed in my hardened heart.

Everyone in the Blueberry family, including Annie, was precious to me. For their sake, I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

‘Okay. Let’s do this.’

I took a sheet of paper from the desk.

My next steps were decided. All I needed now was a strong will and a bit of luck.

‘I hope I can get through this.’

I once again skimmed the contents of the letter and sealed it carefully. I had made up my mind to execute the plan, but my pounding heart wouldn’t calm down easily.

“Phew.”

I took a deep breath.

“Annie.”

“Yes, My Lady!”

I handed the letter to the approaching Annie.

“Send this as quickly as possible. It’s very important.”

The recipient was Nella Blake.

If she helped me, I might be able to survive even if the situation spiraled to its worst.