Chapter 12

Translator and Editor: Maru and Aki

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Chapter 12

“Coldwater…Bring cold water and call the doctor. Now!”

“Pardon? Yes!”

I massaged Rere’s body that was lying helplessly on the bed. Rere’s body was so hot as if I touched a stove.

In the meantime, a cold wet towel was placed next to me.

“Oh my god, Rere. What’s wrong with you….”

The child’s last word stayed in my mind.

She begged me to become her mom because she does well.

In fact, it was my first time seeing Rere collapse, so I couldn’t do anything but wipe her body with a cold towel.

You pretended to be cool and ended up like this.

My heart ached because I felt sorry. If I had known this would happen, I would have told you earlier. I won’t leave you.

“Doctor! Doctor!”

“He’ll be here soon.”

“It doesn’t matter even if it’s emergency medicine. Isn’t there any medicine that the child used to take? Don’t you have anything like that?”

It was then.

“Mom…is worried…about Rere…”

“Rere, hang in there, will you?”

“Okay…”

Her small voice was exceptionally clear.

That little voice created the ultimate reason for me to protect the child.

What’s funny is that I was determined to escape from here day and night, but my determination broke down like a sandcastle at the words of the child.

The memory of myself being abused.

Perhaps because of the memory of my childhood, when no one cared about me, my heart shook more strongly.

‘That’s right. She’s not a bad kid. So maybe she can change.’

“I’ll change you. Your future…”

At that time,

The door opened with a loud thud.

“Did she fall down again?”

The doctor, who treated my wounded head a few days ago, rushed in with a ghastly pale face.

As if it was a familiar situation to him, he took out something from his bag and quickly mixed up this and that, then without hesitation, he put some of the medicine into Rere’s mouth.

“My goodness. I thought you were okay these days.”

“…Is she okay?”

The doctor, who was watching Rere for a long time, belatedly took out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat.

“I have no answer to your question. The princess’ body is not well. It’s just the same pattern, so I’m simply giving her a prescription of medicine to alleviate her fever.”

“Isn’t there anything like an emergency medicine?”

“I can’t give her emergency medicine because I have to examine it every time and manufacture it according to the circumstances. Because sometimes she has seizures, whereas sometimes she suffers from high fever…”

“If we give her the wrong medicine, it’ll be a big problem.”

Once I heard his explanation, I nodded my head.

Even though I knew Rebecca’s body was not in good health, at least I want to clutch onto hope.

It was when I was about to ask whether any method would have the same result, a person came in again through the open door.

The Duke, who entered the room with a pale face, quickly sat down in front of Rere.

His trembling hands were tidying up Rere’s disheveled hair.

“Aah…Rere!”

“She’s only sleeping. You don’t have to worry.”

“…Why did this happen? She was fine for a while!”

“I’m not sure. I’m also…”

At that time, the eyes of the two people turned to me.

“I don’t know, either. The child…”

“It’s not madam’s fault. Miss Rebecca did not get upset with madam!”

“That’s right. The miss was looking forward to seeing madam!”

“It’s definitely not madam’s fault.”

“It was none other than madam who was carrying the miss.”

One by one, the nanny and the maids were busy taking my side.

“I’ve seen the other stepmothers, but none of them was as caring as madam!”

But it irritated him more.

“…All of you. What do you expect me to do?”

At his words, the atmosphere became as cold as ice.

“Are you asking me to thank this woman just because I should be impressed with that fact?”

“…That’s not it….”

He’s not a black curtain, he’s just a villain.

A villain with a very twisted personality.

“Begone. I don’t want to see you.”

Only then did the chattering nanny and maids bowed their heads with sad eyes.

This bastard was irrevocable.

Rere was much better.

In the meantime, even the doctor, who was supposed to stay, decided to go out. Using the reason that Rere’s fever had gone down.

As a result, only the sound of the door closing was heard in the room.

“I need you to explain it. How did this happen? Or are you trying to hide behind their words?”

“I don’t want to do that. And they were right. There was no reason as to why Rere suddenly collapsed.”

“So there was no reason?”

He stood up from his seat and looked down at me.

“Because you were here. Rere has never been this sick except for that one time when her first stepmother left.”

He only glared at me with resentment.

“…So you blame me for this?”

“Yes. The nanny incident, too. Nothing went well because I trusted you.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Ha. So it’s my fault after all. If I hadn’t done that, the child would have still been abused by that monster woman!”

But he didn’t listen to me.

“I don’t need that. Yes, what the nanny said before leaving was right.”

“What did she say? What did she say about me?”

“You don’t need to know. She’s the woman who knew the child better than anyone else.”

Seriously. If there was one thing I wish to do so badly right now, it would be to hit that bastard’s narrow-minded head so hard.

“You’re really the worst.”

“…I don’t care what criticism I get from you. I’m trying to watch your behavior, but now, there’s no need for me to watch. I thought you were a little different when I saw that you didn’t get angry at the child last time, but I don’t need someone who’s giving my child a hard time.”

Even in the novel, I knew well that he cared a lot for his daughter, Rere, but this was too much.

“Last time you made my child cry, I don’t like it. So leave.”

“What?”

“You’re going to make me talk twice?”

What was the point of being handsome? What was so great about the black curtain?

When you’re that unlucky.

And I’m in a position to get out of this place in the words of that bastard.

All I could do now was to ask for a little bit of time.

“I understand. For the reason that you are the father of the child and the owner of this dukedom, I’ll heed your order. Instead, let me part ways with the child properly.”

“Sure.”

It’s not that I didn’t understand his feelings.

For Duke Ian, I’m the one who made his child sick. The same goes for the nanny incident. But still, this wasn’t right.

I’m so angry, but I couldn’t do anything other than clench my fist.

“Okay. I’ll leave first then.” There was no answer.

As I came out of the room where Rebecca was lying sick, I looked back mindlessly and lowered my head.

‘You decided to leave already, so let’s not worry about it.’

Hundreds of curses popped out from my mind, but I tried hard to pull myself together and went back to my room.

***

A few more days passed.

Rere woke up, but she couldn’t get out of bed easily because of the after effects.

Due to that, I had a little time extension, but I knew that there was not much time left.

He twisted his face like a madman every time he faced me.

Ignoring him, I sat in front of Rere today.

“Rere. Is there anything you want to eat?”

“No. I don’t want to eat anything!”

“You’re not going to eat?”

“…It’s not delicious!”

“…You can’t say such a thing easily. If you do that, the chef will change.”

“It’s none of my business!”

She still had her nasty temper. I’m not angry at all though.

“Are you sure? You’re not going to eat?”

“Yeah.”

“Mom, what are you doing?”

Rere, who was lying on the bed and sulking, hurriedly got up from her seat.

“What are you doing?”

“This is a chocolate fondant. You haven’t tried it yet, right?”

“Are you really giving it to me?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not…going to thank you!”

“Sure. You don’t have to thank me. Just eat it deliciously.”

Rere, who would normally refute what I said, looked down at the bowl on her lap without saying a word.

“…Are you not saying anything because I was sick?”

Perhaps because of her memory of being thrown out by somebody else, Rere was still suspicious.

“No. Just…because I was sorry.”

“Sorry? Why?”

“Just because. Although you eat so deliciously like this now, it does not change the fact that I was so mean towards you and didn’t let you eat.”

“It’s awwright! As long as you do it from now on, Rere will forgive you!”

It was when I was about to nod my head at the child who smiled shyly…

As if he didn’t know courtesy, the Duke entered the room with a sharp voice.

“You haven’t gone out yet?”

As soon as the duke came in, he dug right between us.

“Not yet.”

“Worthless thing.”

As if trying to get rid of the child’s good memories, the Duke took the bowl with the chocolate fondant on it.

“Do you want to stay by doing stuff like this now?”

“Daddy? What’s wrong? Why take it away! It’s mine!”

“Rere. This person will leave. She said that she will leave herself.”

He was trying to paint me into a bad person.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m doing this for your sake, Rere.”

“No. Mom won’t do that….!”

“I didn’t like her from the start. You didn’t like her either, right? Rere?”

“No. No. I don’t hate her anymore. Mom is my mom! It’s Rere’s mom!”

But the Duke acted decisively. As if that was not enough, he was blocking Rere’s way.

“Leave, right now.”

“Mom, don’t go. Mom, are you abandoning me, too?”

“Yes. She’s abandoning you, too. So don’t think about her. Instead, this mother will love you….”

“Are you going to throw me away…? You said you’re going to be my mom! Mom said you’re going to stay!”

“Stop it, Rere. I brought your real mother. Come in.”

As if she had waited for this occasion, a woman entered with a bright smile.

“Hello, Rere. Starting today, I’m going to be Rere’s mom.”

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