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48.27% I DON'T WANT THE OBSESSION OF TWISTED ARCHDUKE / Chapter 42: CHAPTER 42 "MONTHLY BUDGET" (1)

章節 42: CHAPTER 42 "MONTHLY BUDGET" (1)

Kyle's shoulder wound was far more severe than I had anticipated. Previously, I had seen the injury only from afar and thus misjudged the severity. The sight that greeted me was horrific beyond words, to say the least. His shoulder bore a laceration that was both wide and deep, and I could see clearly into the flesh beneath. Fresh blood was still seeping from the wound, soaking his shirt.

How can I not be surprised after seeing something like this with my own eyes?

My stomach churned at the sight. I tried to calm myself down and focus on addressing the topic of his treatment.

"… The wound is deeper than I initially thought, so it will take a few days for me to heal it completely."

Of course, I was perfectly capable of healing it all at once, but his injury was quite serious, and everyone in the mansion was aware of that fact. Surely I would have drawn suspicion if his shoulder was suddenly better after my visit, so I decided to spread the healing process over three days. Besides, this would also allow me to be extra careful and ensure that I can restore his shoulder's full functionality.

"How many days will it take to heal?" Kyle asked.

"Hmm," I tapped my chin as I pondered for a moment, "it'll take about three days. Is that fine?"

Instead of answering me, he simply looked up at me with a soft expression which I interpreted as confirmation to proceed. I leaned over Kyle and began to reverse the damage using my divine strength.

Neither of us said a word to one another during the treatment, and we sat in awkward silence. Internally, I questioned why Kyle was staring at me so intently to the point where his stare was starting to suffocate me. I couldn't stand how heavy the atmosphere was between us, so I tried to initiate at least some conversation to ease the mood.

"Doesn't it hurt?" I paused to make sure he was alright.

"It doesn't hurt."

"Is it bothering you at all?"

"It isn't."

Is he only able to answer me with short answers?

Sometimes I felt like I was talking to a broken robot. Seeing as how my attempts at initiating conversation turned out to be rather fruitless, I again focused on his wound. The restoration process was going well, but the sight and smell of exposed flesh nauseated me. I wanted to pinch my nose to keep myself from gagging, but I managed to hold myself back and sped up the treatment. Once I stabilized the wound to a point I was satisfied with, I sighed and sat back.

"Now all I have to do is bandage it up."

Rummaging through the box of medicinal supplies Jean had left, I picked out a roll of gauze and proceeded to bind his shoulder. I made sure to wrap the wound tightly so it wouldn't be further aggravated by his work, but my hand brushed against Kyle's arm as I went to tie the ends of the bandage together.

It's cold.

The moment my skin touched his, Kyle hastily recoiled from me.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted angrily.

But that was what I had wanted to ask him.

What are you doing?

"… Why are you yelling?" I frowned. "Your skin only lightly grazed mine just now."

"…"

"Do you really hate it when I touch you?"

"… It's not like that."

"Then why are you so angry?"

"Don't you think about what will happen to your hands if you touch me?"

In my opinion, Kyle was overreacting. A brief touch like before would just feel a bit cold, hardly cause for any pain. The contact was so short that no frost had been able to form between us, anyway.

Even so, Kyle always acts like this.

"Excuse me, Archduke, were you perhaps worried about me?"

"Worried?"

"Worried that I'll get hurt from touching you."

"That's nonsense."

Kyle dismissively clicked his tongue at me. Clicking his tongue was a usual habit of his, but over the past few weeks, I also came to understand that it was his default answer whenever he didn't know what else to say.

Ah, I don't care if he answers me or not. I also think it's impossible that he honestly worries about me.

"It's alright if we touch for a brief moment," my tone was casual as I reassured him. "I only felt a little cold."

"…"

"But I wasn't scared at all. As long as the contact isn't concentrated in one spot for a long period of time, I won't be hurt. So, it's alright to touch me on other parts of my body. You don't have to worry."

What I said was the truth. As long as I don't touch him for too long, the worst that can happen is a thin layer of ice will form on my skin, but even that will melt away rather quickly. Unfortunately, not many people knew this fact and were under the impression that any contact with the cursed Archduke would result in imminent death. Hence, they were afraid of Kyle.

At that moment, his eyes flashed darkly and I looked back at him in confusion.

Is there something wrong with what I said before? But he doesn't seem angry, so what has gotten him so bothered?

Perhaps I should change the subject…

"Riddel."

Before I could respond to him, Kyle's fingers graced my chin and gently tugged me closer to him. When I tried to protest, he leaned his face toward mine.

Ah, he surprised me. Our lips are nearly touching.

He was too close for me to consider his actions a joke.

Only

Kyle stared at me with an immovably hot gaze that momentarily stunned me. Before long, I came to my senses and spoke up with some difficulty.

"Archduke, what are yo…?"

Before I could finish my sentence, Kyle pulled away from me.

"You said it was okay to touch you elsewhere."

What's wrong with him? Even though I said it was fine, he didn't have to be that close to me to do so.

"If you're finished with the treatment, you can go."

Kyle walked back to his desk without giving me time to reply. I found it hard to move my body because I was still in shock, trying to process what just happened between us. Though his touch had been chilly, I wondered why I hadn't really noticed the cold.

Do I have a fever?


章節 43: CHAPTER 43 MONTHLY BUDGET (2)

A week later, I was finished with Kyle's treatment and his shoulder was restored to its former state. The servants were all amazed that I had been able to get close enough to treat him when he refused help from even Jean and Elvin. Not only that, but his shoulder also looked to be as strong as ever. As a result, they gave me a new nickname.

"I heard Your Highness is the one that healed the Archduke!"

"It's incredible that Her Highness was able to take care of the master's wound by herself! As expected from our Archduchess!"

"Your Highness is really Romani's pride and miracle!"

From then on, I became known as "His Highness' Miracle".

Oh my God. I just want to dig a hole and bury my face in it from how embarrassed that title made me feel. When I asked Marina about who had instigated such a ridiculous name, she told me that a certain head butler had been the one to come up with the nickname and spread it among the rest of the servants.

I didn't know that Jean was also capable of controlling the workers from behind the scenes.

You're evil, Jean.

However, there was at least one good thing that resulted from my nickname: no one thought anything odd about me visiting his office coinciding with his shoulder's amazing healing progress.

Maybe it's also because I purposely slowed the treatment process to make sure things didn't seem too unnatural.

Everyone had convinced themselves that I was just using conventional first aid methods and doing what any other normal person would do to jumpstart the healing process. In addition to the bandages and the ointments, they believed that Kyle owed most of his speedy recovery to his monstrous physical strength, which was luckily a suitable enough explanation to prevent people from suspecting me.

Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was almost noon and time for the midday meal. I made my way to the dining room where a veritable spread of freshly prepared foods was already waiting for me. There was a hefty, grilled turkey that looked extremely appetizing and a tureen of soup full of seasonal vegetables from the mansion's gardens. Next to those were a steaming dish of pasta with foraged mushrooms and a plate of crisp and vibrant salad.

I'm sure the dessert after this will also be delicious.

However, despite the delicious assortment of food in front of me, I had no appetite. I couldn't even muster up the energy to appear to be as excited about the meal as I normally was.

This is all because of Kyle.

"Your Highness, is there something you're concerned about?" Jean worried over my despondent expression.

"There's nothing, Jean," I replied. "Maybe it's because I ate a lot for breakfast, so I still haven't digested all of it."

Jean noticed that I was weaker than usual, but he accepted my explanation with a smile. Then, he quickly opened his mouth as if he had thought of something important.

"Ah! Come to think of it, I haven't told you yet about this yet, Your Highness. Please let me know if you would like us to purchase anything you may need. The Archduke has already prepared a budget for you."

Money. I can't refuse money.

Since I failed my first attempt to break Kyle's curse by thawing the frozen rose, I had more time to spend in this world now and resolved to visit places outside the mansion more often. Besides, I was sure there was a lot of money I needed to spend, anyway, else it would remain in the Romani coffers and go to waste.

I can use that money to raise a workforce. Maybe I can buy a servant from the slave market or something.

My mind wandered to the various ventures I could look into with my budget. Come to think of it, I wasn't sure how much money had been allocated to me or how freely I could spend it. I knew that the Romani family had a vast fortune, but I wasn't sure exactly to what extent their wealth encompassed. Besides, there was also the possibility that Kyle could have elected to give me a small budget in case he did not yet trust me with the finances.

"Jean, how much is in my monthly budget?"

What if he says something like one hundred million?

I surreptitiously laughed silently to myself as I mused on the idea of such a ridiculous amount of money. The value of the currency of this world was modeled similarly to Korean currency since that was the only monetary system I knew of as a child. One hundred million came to mind because that was the amount I always dreamed of receiving, despite knowing I could never attain such riches in my lifetime.

"You have ten billion gold."

Only

I stopped laughing. For a second, I could hardly believe the amount that Jean had told me. It was way more than one hundred million. Even one hundred million was already an impossible amount for me to fathom spending, but ten billion… per month…!

"… Is ten billion gold too little for one month?"

I smiled awkwardly at Jean's question and politely shook my head.

"Oh, by the way," he added, "you don't have to report every penny you spend because the Archduke indicated that it's entirely yours. Please feel free to spend as much as you need to obtain whatever it is you desire."

Wah, that kind of eases my worries about my financial situation.

If I had to think of a problem with being given so much gold, then it would be the temptation to end up spending it on luxurious or extravagant goods just to have something to do with it. I knew I couldn't do that, though.

However, given this arrangement, I was confused about why the original Riddel Spencer's story played out the way it did. I was definitely sure that when Kyle died, he had left her a great inheritance. So, why couldn't she save her life with all that money? No matter how much Doman used and betrayed her, there must have been a lot of resources left that she could have used to hire investigators to clear her name.

It's all my younger self's fault for writing a novel with such poorly thought out, inexplicable rationale. I think I'll have to look at the ledgers again soon.


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