Duke, Please Stop Because it Hurts

She took out a bottle of medicine while barely redressing her shaky vision, before swallowing its contents. As the bitter taste had crawled up through her throat, Molitia quickly gulped down some water. Even though it had already been diluted, it was still bitter. So, when the water had surfaced, she quickly popped the chocolate in.

As her tongue wriggled, the sweetness was thoroughly spread, making her wrinkled forehead gradually unfolded—albeit barely. As she had only just quenched that bitter water of sweetness, she staggered back to the bed before lying down softly.

Her body, which was already languid and all worn out, eventually brought her to sleep. Her legs were still dangling out of bed. She couldn’t even cover herself properly, but she just couldn’t resist the temptation to fall into slumber.

“…Madame, Madame!”

Molitia lifted her eyelids at the sound of someone waking her up. Pillen was the one who had been shaking her lightly.

“If you fall asleep just like this, your cold will definitely get worse.”

With a sensation of lifting her legs up, only then did Molitia realize that she was sleeping the way she was.

“Thanks, Pil…”

Molitia could no longer continue her words. For that moment, her murmurs immediately went silent.

“Madame?”

She felt like crying and that bitter tasting water was resurfacing yet again. It felt like a sharp blade was piercing her insides while scraping them because she could no longer take it. When Molitia arched her upper body all of a sudden, Pillen immediately became startled before going to her aid.

“Madame, are you alright? Shall I call a doctor for you?”

Molitia was about to shake her head, but she could only close her eyes tightly due to the white vertigo. The burning sensation from above had started to fill her throat completely.

Eventually, crimson blood soon poured out from her mouth as soon as she had taken her hand off.

“Madame!”

Pillen shouted in surprise, but Molitia couldn’t move at all. A sense of pressure seemed to weigh upon her.

Pillen’s voice, which was already calling for a doctor urgently, sounded far in the distance.

‘Raven’s going to be so worried.’

She tried hard not to close her eyes, but it was not enough at all. As if she had just gotten hit in the back of her head, she gradually closed her eyes while being engulfed in a total black darkness.

—————-

The news that she had just collapsed was immediately relayed to Raven, who was currently in Imperial City.

“……what?”

“Oh, well—well, she suddenly threw up blood and collapsed!”

Raven’s hand that was filling out the document, immediately stopped at the words of the messenger who had just arrived—panting heavily. The ink was then smudged from the pause of his pen.

“Now…”

Raven suddenly stopped while he was still talking. Collapsed? Who did?

There were very few people in the Duke’s family who could actually collapse. They had accepted the rugged knights before and that had a lot of resentment. Furthermore, very few news were truly directed straight to him.

He naturally thought of a character in his mind, but he immediately shook his head. She might have been sick, but it wasn’t enough to collapse at all. Plus, didn’t she just wish for him to work and come back home?

“What do you mean?”

“That’s… …”

“Who collapsed?”

“Well, Madame—the Duchess…”

Crunch. The pen had broken in his grasp without an ounce of mercy. A splash of debris had scratched his skin, creating a pool of red blood.

“My Lord!”

Terrance was surprised and stood up immediately, but Raven still didn’t spare a glance at all. His unblinking and now inorganic eyes were staring at the messenger.

“Speak straight. You’re telling me who has collapsed? Who was vomiting blood?”

“It’s—it’s…”

“Are you sure the Duchess you’re talking about right now is the Duchess of Linerio herself?”

The messenger, who could no longer stand Raven’s pressure, eventually sank to the floor. When the messenger had trembled like a leaf while still repeating the same thing, Lyndon, who could endure it no longer, stepped out immediately.

“My Lord! This is not the time! You have to head back to the Duchy now!”

Lyndon’s words had barely twirled in his black eyes. As his grim life had eventually subsided, the messenger’s heart slid right back down into his own chest.

As soon as he arose, he quickly stepped outside. Even though there were those who had encountered him in the hallway and tried to acknowledge him while giving their salutations, they just couldn’t utter a single sound at all amidst that brutal atmosphere. In fact, they all tried to hide themselves.

His feet began to gradually accelerate, starting with a couple of quick steps. As he entered the currently deserted hallway, it was evident to say that his steps were already akin to running.