CH 50

I turned toward Duen, my mouth open as I’d never heard something like that before. He was talking to someone who seemed to be his friend.

“What do you think? Aren’t you curious?”

By now, Bella was standing next to me, her face grim.

I hesitated for a moment. Then, quickly, I shook my head.

“No.”

She looked at me wide-eyed, surprised by my adamant answer.

“If there really is a rule like you say, I don’t want to see it.”

“……Why?”

I heard her swallow dryly beside me.

“Because I don’t believe anyone is more handsome than Liel, and I don’t want to break my faith.”

I shook my head with a determined look on my face.

“……Uh, yeah…….”

I thought I’d explained it well enough, but Bella looked dumbfounded.

Still, I didn’t care.

It was just my stubbornness, I guess.

I made eye contact with Duen. Perhaps because our gaze was too blatant.

Bella waved at Duen with a frustrated look on her face. Duen waved back, confused, and returned Bella’s greeting.

Soon, he turned his attention to me, so I quickly bowed my head slightly to greet him. He followed suit and bowed as well.

The room seemed to have quieted down, so I took this opportunity to walk up to Duen and congratulate him on his graduation.

After saying goodbye to them, the graduation ceremony ended quickly.

Even though we weren’t saying goodbye to each other forever, it felt like our time together was too short.

⁂

A letter arrived from my grandmother. It said that she was feeling better after a few days of rest.

“A letter from your grandmother?”

Melissa, who was organizing class materials next to me, asked.

“Yeah, she was sick before I got here. Thankfully, she’s feeling better.”

I said, slipping the letter back into the envelope.

“Well, she’s a bit old already. Normally, she’d be stepping down and taking a break…….”

But she was delaying her retirement because I, the next in line, was too young.

Moreover, she wanted me to prioritize age-appropriate routines over early succession lessons.

I really admired and respected her education and affection, but I couldn’t help but feel even more sorry for her…….

“So if I want to put my grandmother to take a rest, I need to graduate as soon as possible and take over the family business.”

While I am not as good as Melissa, I have improved my grades since my freshman year.

Just as Liel had a goal of becoming a knight of our family, I had a goal of becoming someone my grandmother would not be ashamed of.

“You really like your grandmother, don’t you?”

Melissa said, handing me a portion of the material she was organizing. I casually accepted it and smiled brightly.

“Of course I do. I love my grandma the most in the world.”

She’s the only family I have left, and even putting that aside, she’s more than a parent to me.

I am who I am today because of her.

⁂

But not long after I received a letter from my grandmother wishing me well, I received a letter from Dioletta unnie. 

[Lucy, how are you? You may be wondering why I am writing to you a week after your return to the Academy, but I thought I should tell you. The Marquis has fallen ill again, and although Marquis Anise told me to never tell you…… in case you were worried, I thought it would be best to let you know, so here I am.]

My hand holding the letter trembled. In addition to my grandmother’s collapse, an unknown anxiety swirled through me.

I wrote back to unnie.

I wanted to know if she was okay, and I wanted her to describe her symptoms. If she was in need of assistance, I told her I would return to the Marquis as soon as she wrote back.

Two days later, my grandmother wrote back.

[Do you know how frightened I was that you were really going to skip class and come back? It’s happened before, and it’s nothing to worry about. It’s just that my age has reduced my stamina. Lucy, don’t worry about me, just focus on your studies. I love you.]

I’m sure she realizes that her age makes me worry more.

Even with her reply, my anxiety grew.

Three days later, another letter arrived, this time from Sarah.

[Miss, it’s Sarah. What do I do, Miss…… The Marquis is in critical condition……. The doctor just left, and he says she won’t last long…… Miss, what should I do, Miss…….]

Now there was no time to reply to her correspondence. I rushed out of the Academy that way, leaving classes and everything else behind.

In fact, I don’t even know what I was thinking when I got into the carriage. My mind was too full to let anyone know.

My legs were shaking the whole way to the Marquis’s house.

I was so scared.

I felt like my grandmother was really about to leave me like this, and I was going to be alone in the world.

⁂

As soon as I arrived at the marquis’s house, I ran straight to my grandmother’s room.

Along the way, servants looked at me with worried eyes and greeted me, but I didn’t even have time to return their greetings.

“G, Grandma……!”

I opened the door with a bang. The first thing I saw when I opened the door was my grandmother lying on the bed, breathing raggedly.

“Ah…….”

A sigh escaped my lips.

I didn’t know how I’d gotten here, and it was difficult to put one foot in front of the other.

I knew I had to go up to her and hold her hand, but I was afraid to see her condition up close.

“Ah, miss…….”

At the side of the bed where Grandma was lying, Sarah put down the towel she was using and came over to me.

“Why is she…… in such a condition? Surely during the break…….”

I asked, clutching my head with one hand. My vision narrowed. Then it widened again.

“In fact, she’s been complaining a lot lately that she’s been feeling tired…… but the Marquis says it’s nothing, but she’s been falling down so often lately that I called the doctor just in case, and, uh, the doctor said…….. He said that at Marquis’ age, it can’t be helped…….”

“W, what can’t be helped?”

The muscles in my face refused to listen. Sarah’s stuttering didn’t make her feel better, and it was just enough to make her expression even more uncontrollable.

“They say she’s overworked her body …… and that’s why she has a combination of diseases…… and now that she’s older, it’s more difficult for her to take medication, so, so…….”

The doctor didn’t prescribe anything other than painkillers.

Sarah’s last words made my eyes glaze over.

I remembered what the average life expectancy was for humans here. I tried to remember what I’d read in the book, but stopped.

Even if she had reached the lifespan they said she had, I wouldn’t be able to accept her end.

My legs were about to give out.

I stumbled backwards, looking for a place to lean my wobbly body, and my back fell against the wall.

For a brief moment, I thought about staying put.

“Lucy…….”

But I didn’t, because the soothing voice of my grandmother calling out to me sustained my body.

I looked up at her, unable to hide the tears in my eyes.

“I told you it was nothing, and I’m sorry I scared you.”

My grandmother’s voice was raspy.

I wondered if she’d be more comfortable talking to me if I moved closer.

It wasn’t until my thoughts reached that point that I forced myself to move closer to her.

I knelt down, fumbled for her hand, and squeezed it.

“Why don’t you sit here?”

There was still affection in her eyes as she scolded me.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

I couldn’t bring myself to sit on the bed where she was lying.

“I, I thought I was stronger than other old people, but I guess I’m not.”

Cough, cough.

A lingering cough escaped from grandmother’s mouth as she finished speaking. The longer she coughed, the stronger my grip on her hand became.

I could feel the wrinkles in her hands.

“Miss, have a seat here…….”

Sarah set the chair down next to me and wiped her tears away. I sat down in the chair she brought, as if hypnotized.

I held my grandmother’s hand, but my shoulders kept slumping. My whole body felt weak.

A tear rolled down my cheek and onto the seat.

“Lucy, don’t cry.”

I shook my head in response.

My grandmother looked at me in confusion and muttered.

“This is so……. I don’t have a hand to wipe your tears, but I want…….”

You don’t have to wipe my tears, because I’m going to keep holding your hand.

I just wanted to keep holding her hand.

⁂

I didn’t go back to the academy, but stayed by her side. She often said she was sorry for me.

When I asked her what she was sorry for, she said that she was sorry because she was so grateful and proud of me for sticking by her side, but she felt that holding me back because of that.

When I heard that, I cried hard on the spot. My grandmother looked at me with tears in her eyes.

One day, she suddenly started talking about old stories, and I wanted to tell her to stop because it felt like she was reminiscing about her life before she died.

But I couldn’t.

I wanted to listen to everything she had to say while she was still alive.

“You know, Lucy, you were so much smarter than your peers from a very young age.”

“……T, that’s because I’m my grandmother’s granddaughter, that’s why I seem that way.”

My grandmother has the unfortunate tendency to praise me too much. I shook my head, revealing the full extent of my embarrassment.

Then a smile broke across my grandmother’s face.

“It’s not unreasonable to believe that you don’t…….”

“You’re so smart…….”

“Really, it’s so bright…… that it’s like watching my childhood…….”

Grandma was still smiling. But her eyes looked strangely wistful.

“……so I didn’t want you to end up like me.”

I don’t know what she’s talking about.

I always wanted to be a cool adult like my grandmother.