Karina’s Last Days

Chapter 9

Once Fang left, Karina locked the door and took off her robe with a sigh—the garment she had worn for two months was dustier than dust itself. After filling the tub with hot water, she took out a simple dress from her fabric bag and placed it on the bed along with her last clean pair of underwear.

She counted the money she had left—she hadn’t brought any gold coins so she only had a handful of silver and bronze coins. Seventeen silver coins and eight bronze pennies. She had never bothered to learn the price of clothing and didn’t really know what the average price was. Maybe I can buy a couple of dresses?

She didn’t need expensive dresses. She wasn’t going to attend banquets or tea parties so she didn’t care about what others may think of her attire. All she wanted were a few dresses to wear when she was out, a new robe, and a few pairs of underwear.

“Let’s wash up first.”

Karina wrapped up her dirty clothes in the robe and threw them out, then stepped into the bathtub. The warm water relaxed her body. She could not remember how long it had been since she had had a proper bath.

I have three pills left. She was afraid of what she’d look like after she ran out of medication. She thought of the note the doctor had given her, the content of which she had learned by heart.

I put enough medicine to last your trip inside. Stop taking the medicine if you only have three pills left. You’ll have a severe fever three days after quitting the medicine. Your condition will worsen like a dam breached by water.

The small handwriting looked cramped on the piece of paper. This told her that he had chosen his words carefully and made sure to fit everything in.

When a high fever strikes, take one pill every two days. The fever will subside in about a week, and taking medicine once every two days will relieve some of the pain.

As instructed, Karina set the three pills aside. Now, she had to wait. Since she purposefully took the pills at night, she’d also start feeling sick at night. With no more pills to take, she was going to start feeling the effects soon.

P.S. Don’t fight the sleep when you get sleepy! There are fools who would do anything not to fall asleep. But sleep helps your body’s attempts to heal. So, the better you sleep, the better you’ll feel. Don’t sleep more than 10 hours, though, that’s poison. If that happens, try to walk or get some fresh air even if you don’t feel like it.

Karina had often pulled out the note to read it when she was sad or lonely, wondering if her grandfather would write to her like that. This had happened so often that fellow travelers had asked her if it was a letter from her lover.

“I ended up memorizing it all,” she said to herself.

Relaxed, Karina smiled as she finished her short bath. The trip had been arduous but so enjoyable. She had also sketched several drawings, although she hadn’t been able to paint them.

Let’s do what I want to do.

Wiping herself dry with a towel, she smiled. She only had a year left but it was still precious time to do the things she wanted to do. She put her clothes on by herself and slowly headed for the door. Outside, she found Fang waiting for her.

“Please take me to my lord,” said Karina.

Following the butler’s guidance, she entered Millian’s office, which was filled with the smell of paper and ink. It held only the bare necessities and no vases or ornaments adorned its walls—it looked bleak.

Karina, who was not particularly interested in decorating, sighed when she took it all in. The room was painted in a drab gray shade that she thought would make anyone working there depressed.

Maybe that’s why...

In fact, if the duke’s rudeness stemmed from such gloom, she could understand. As Karina approached him, Milian raised his head. She hadn’t noticed before but now she could see how tired he was. It made sense that he was rude.

“Should I prepare some tea, my lord?” asked the butler.

“Yes.” Milian put down his pen and sat on the sofa in the middle of the room. “So let’s hear the reason why you came all the way here. Why did you leave your home?”

“Do I have to explain?” Karina asked cautiously, looking at Milian’s face.

“Shouldn’t you be ready to persuade the owner of the house where you’re planning on staying for a while?”

She tried to think really hard of a reason but she didn’t have a good refute to his direct question.

“Did you have an argument with your family?” he asked.

“Something like that.”

“Then what is it? I can tell your determination is strong, since you persisted for two months to come here. How bad was the argument?”

It seemed that Milian was convinced that she had a big fallout with her family, but that was only half of the truth and there had been no big argument. She needed a peaceful place to prepare for the end of her life, away from her family. She was also guilty of wanting her family to feel sorry after she died. She didn’t want to say those things out loud.

It’s quite petty of me. She felt that she was being childish and rude. When she was objective about her emotions, she felt bad. So what if she was childish and petty? Those emotions were also part of her. Karina had decided to embrace her feelings.

“Everyone needs time to cool off.”

“The timing is bad. My estate is at its busiest during the winter. I won’t have time to look after you, My Lady.”

Karina’s eyes lit up when she heard the answer she was looking for. “That’s perfect!”

His arms crossed, Milian stifled a smirk. What in the world was this little girl muttering about? He pressed his temple with his fingers to relieve his throbbing headache. “What did you just say?”

“That it’s perfect. Speaking of, would it be possible for me to live in the annex? Your butler led me to the room next to your own, but I think it would be uncomfortable if we ran into each other.”

“The annex?” Milian seemed to warm up to Karina’s suggestions—he responded more accommodatingly than before. “It’s been a while since it’s been used. We’ll need to get it ready for you.”

“When you say the place isn’t ready, does it mean the place is dirty?”

“No, we keep it neat and dusted, but we need to designate employees to work over there and stock it up. It’s an old place, so it’s missing amenities and needs a general makeover.”

Listening to Millian’s words, Karina pondered. She didn’t want to be seen by anyone or to be a burden when was going to be sick for a week.

“That sounds perfect. I will be here for only half a year, so there’s no need for decorating. I just need a room with fire and warm water. I don’t need maids either. I’m quite independent.” Karina’s voice was filled with excitement in anticipation of getting what she wanted. Milian’s look of annoyance didn’t even make her uncomfortable.

“This is the most enthusiastic I’ve ever seen you.”

“It’s amazing to hear such a compliment from my lord, considering the first thing you called me was a ‘spineless jellyfish.’”

“You still remember that?”

How petty of her. Reading his gaze, Karina understood his thoughts. She blinked. What kind of man is so rude? She understood that he was tired but she was starting to feel frustrated with him.

She smiled brightly as she replied. “The choice of language was so noble that it really left an impression.”

Milian shut his mouth. He wondered if the woman in front of him was the same one he had met at his engagement announcement—everything about her was different.

She didn’t look like she had any kind of will back then. He has been so annoyed at how she had smiled politely while speaking scripted words. Not that he liked seeing her behave like this either. However, this behavior suited her better than her old one.

Milian kept his arms crossed and nodded. “If that is fine with you, so be it. You can use the building right away. I’ll let Fang know. You can go to the building any time you please.”

“Thank you.”

“But don’t think of going outside the estate without permission. The estate is safe because it’s under my protection.”

“Yes, my lord.” She let out a long sigh and leaned into the sofa. Seeing her more relaxed, Milian sipped some of his lukewarm tea.

As the conversation was coming to a close, he wanted to express his criticism of her actions. “I don’t understand how you even thought of coming up here now. How reckless!”

Karina's face contorted. “Is winter such a big problem?”

Milian gave her a disgusted look. “Don’t tell me you don’t know?!”

He was looking at her like he couldn’t believe her ignorance. His straightforward gaze stunned her. Was it okay for a duke to not be able to hide his emotions like this? She had heard that the nobles in the north were not so concerned with appearances, but it was still unexpected. She was ready to take offense.