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Chapter 27: As If I Had a Time Limit
In all honesty, Linzel was still lamenting the skin ship that didn’t happen in the garden.
A kiss from a handsome man.
How thrilling.
Hernan let out a chuckle.
For once, he seemed to know what she wanted.
She hoped he was not going to say something about her eyelashes like he did last time.
Soon his lips were lightly touching her cheek – soft, and warm. There wasn’t a dry or rough spot on his lips.
Linzel found it ironic that despite being a warrior by nature, the touch of his lips was supple and pleasant.
Her cheeks heated up. Linzel couldn’t believe she was blushing so much from a simple peck on the cheek.
Her heart pounded in her ears.
“Is this all I have to show for it?”
The truth was, it wasn’t enough, but like Hernan said, today was not the only day.
Just as Linzel was going to say it was enough. The moment she opened her lips to speak, she felt her airways narrow.
She frowned, unable to speak.
Her heart, which had been beating fast a moment ago, felt like a heavy stone had been placed on it.
It felt like her breathing was hindered. Her sickly body was refusing to breathe for no reason and without warning.
The lack of oxygen in her body caused her hands and feet to stop moving at will.
Paralysis. It was quite a shocking situation.
At that moment, a strange feeling of unease came over her: the fear of death.
Death, death, death.
Linzel couldn’t get the word out of her head.
She felt like she was about to die, even though it was clear that it wasn’t going to happen.
Hernan seemed to realize the gravity of the situation.
“Li, Linzel. Are you okay?”
She nodded slowly, then leaned her face against his chest.
‘I’m breathing frantically, but I’m not going to die right now.’
‘My breathing will return to normal soon.’
Linzel examined herself. But the uneasiness, which had no source, grew in intensity.
She really thought she was going to die.
In the original story, it was obviously Letty whose death was foretold…….
She wondered why she felt the unmistakably and overpowering fear of death. It was strange.
Something warm touched her cold hand.
It was Hernan’s hand that brought her out of her spiraling thoughts – the comforting warmth of his hand.
“Wouldn’t it be better to get a doctor?”
“Oh, no. Phew,” Linzel replied, rising to her feet. “No need, it’s simply from lack of oxygen.”
“If it was my kissing that was the problem…… I’ll refrain from doing it next time.”
He sounded sincere, like he was vowing.
“Who said that!” Linzel yelped, as if she’d never been sickly.
Her shortness of breath had nothing to do with Hernan’s kiss! It was just a kiss on the cheek!
She didn’t like Hernan’s unconventional conclusion.
“You really…….”
He let out a small sigh.
He let out a sigh, not because he wanted to berate her, but because he was worried about her.
Linzel huffed and puffed and rearranged her breathing erratically. As she breathed calmly, her breathing began to slowly return to normal.
As she calmed down, a thought flashed through her mind that she couldn’t wait to get into the imperial palace.
“I know it’s out of the blue, but I want to marry Your Highness as soon as possible. Even if it’s tomorrow.”
Of course, after achieving her goal, she wasn’t sure if she would stay with him or divorce him.
At this rate, it was likely that she would not divorce him. Linzel could live with Hernan the way he is now and be perfectly fine.
Anyway, the biggest problem for her right now was her health. At this rate, she might faint from actually kissing him.
In order to gain entry to the Imperial Archives, Linzel wanted to marry him as soon as possible.
“I don’t want a fancy wedding, just you and our family members.”
“Very well. I will do as you wish,” Hernan responded as he patted her regularly on the back. “I’ll speak to my family at the palace.”
“Thank you.”
“Since you don’t look well, why don’t we return to the ducal residence?”
“I’m fine now!”
Linzel really was fine. By the time she realized it, the shortness of breath was gone.
“Then why don’t we leave the…… cafe and walk somewhere else with me?”
She scratched her head, confused. “Where?”
Hernan’s face lit up meaningfully.
He looked like he could have walked across a battlefield, and then he said something unexpected.
“There’s an apothecary that Izekiel frequents.”
“Pfft!”
Linzel burst out laughing at the sound of Izekiel’s name, as if she hadn’t been sick before. Hernan didn’t seem to mind.
“Let’s go there. I need to see if they have any herbs that might help you.”
Linzel giggled, forgetting she was out of breath, because she found Hernan, his brother’s copycat, to be hilarious and adorable.
Not only does he copy his clothes, but now he follows him to the apothecary?
How much more would Hernan copy Izekiel?
“Linzel. Ever since I met you…….”
“…….”
“I can’t stop coveting what’s Izekiel’s.”
His words were tinged with self-pity. It was a confession that seemed to read exactly what she was thinking.
“Puh-ha-ha.”
Linzel ended up laughing out loud. The fear of death, the fear of the unknown, was gone.
* * *
Izekiel mentioned that he, too, often bumps into things.
The apothecary that he frequents. Perhaps that was where he often went to purchase medicines for his bruises?
Linzel was more intrigued by the fact that Hernan knew about it than anything else.
What a perfect copycat of his brother.
Luckily, the apothecary was near the cafĂŠ. We started a leisurely walk there.
“Aren’t you out of breath?”
Walking hand in hand with her, Hernan constantly checked her condition.
“Nope, nope.”
“And your legs don’t hurt?”
“I feel like I could run.”
“Are you thirsty?”
“My thirst is all quenched just by looking at Your Highness Hernan’s face. A handsome face is a cure for everything.”
Hernan gave an amused chuckle. He seemed to be amused by Linzel’s quippy answer.
“Here we are.”
She looked ahead and saw a classy-looking building. That must be the apothecary.
“Let’s go in……”
It was the moment she was about to say let’s go in.
She saw a familiar face coming out of the apothecary’s door. It was very, very familiar.
“Letty……?” Linzel blurted out her name.
She wasn’t alone. Someone had come out after her.
As soon as Linzel recognized the person, her eyes widened.
“Eh?” She exclaimed in surprise.
The person who surprised her was neither Izekiel nor the duke. It was a tall, well-built man. Dressed in something close to a knight’s uniform.
He was also clearly recognizable from a distance. Though nothing compared to Hernan’s beauty, of course.
Linzel muttered the man’s name in a low voice.
“Sir Handsome…….” The man who had given her, or rather, the original Linzel, a taste for handsome men.
Sir Handsome was actually a man whom the real Linzel had dated in the past.
And now he was with Letty.
It was strange.
Even if they’d just happened to visit the apothecary around the same time, it was still strange.
Because…….
“…….”
Linzel squinted her eyes.
Through her narrowed vision, she could see Letty and Sir Handsome conversing.
They looked so intimate. As if this was not the first time they had met.
That was why Linzel felt strange.
The two of them. Were they always that close?
“So that’s the apothecary where Lady Letty goes, too. Do you know her company?”
Hernan asked, unaware of my previous relationship with Sir Handsome.
“……. Yes. A little. How about we stop by the apothecary after Letty leaves?”
“That would be fine.”
Hernan and Linzel hid on the side of the street and watched as Letty and Sir Handsome disappeared.
The two of them walked straight down the street together, never splitting up.
Linzel watched Letty’s every step with new interest.
There was no hesitation in her stride. She walked with a straight back and exuded dignity.
It was a far cry from the way Linzel had been staggering all the way here.
Bubbling in her chest, Linzel felt a strange and unfamiliar emotion at that realization.
‘Letty is dying, but she looks so healthy.’
And Linzel, who is ‘not dying’, has felt close to death many times.
Something was wrong with this.
Of course, Linzel didn’t want Letty to be sick.
No one wanted Letty to be healthy and happy more than her own sister did.
Linzel liked her well enough to choose to marry a man she’d never met, even a supposed murderer, in her place.
And since Letty only had a bad “heart,” Linzel had brushed things off – it was no wonder Letty looked healthier than she did.
But even so, an unexplained feeling of uneasiness washed over her.
As if something was going wrong.
As if she had become the one with a time limit.
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