TIPI 03

Chapter 3

A sharp command was suddenly hurled at the Duke, who was standing there blankly.

“Why are you standing around like that?! Do you want to watch your aide die?! Move, damn it, move!!”

Only then did the Duke hurriedly start running. Lionel slapped Kaylen’s cheeks repeatedly.

“Sir? Sir, wake up! Is there anything bothering you?”

“Hah… haaah… haaah…”

Kaylen’s breathing was abnormally fast. His pulse was rapid and weak.

The wound is… on the left side of his chest. There isn’t much bleeding, but…

Lionel pressed her ear against his chest and listened. There was almost no breath sound coming from the left side, and the movement of his chest was also noticeably decreasing. In contrast, the right side was expanding excessively.

It’s a tension pneumothorax.

Kaylen’s face was gradually turning pale blue.

Air was continuously entering through the hole in his lung, but it could not escape. It was obvious what would happen if he didn’t receive emergency treatment immediately.

Lionel gritted her teeth.

“THE BAG!!”

The Duke threw the bag at exactly the right moment, and Lionel immediately dumped its contents onto the floor. Alcohol swabs, a small scalpel, and bandages rolled out one after another, but what she was looking for wasn’t there.

Lionel asked desperately,

“Do you have a hollow, long metal rod? Something fairly long and made of a rigid material…”

As she said this, something flashed through Lionel’s mind.

The orange juice bottle Kaylen had brought her in the interview room.

“…A straw.”

“What?”

“A metal straw. Hurry! It’s in the guest room!”

This time, the Duke didn’t say a word and immediately ran off. While waiting for him, Lionel took out the blade of the scalpel.

“It’s going to hurt, but please endure it, Sir. It’s better than dying.”

Kaylen weakly nodded with his pale-blue face.

Lionel carefully turned the aide slightly onto his side. With her hand, she felt along the ribs following the anterior axillary line.

The fifth intercostal space.

Lionel wiped the area with an alcohol swab. After taking a short breath, she placed the tip of the scalpel against his skin.

“Urgh…”

There was no time to worry about his groan. After making an incision in the skin, Lionel pushed the metal straw she had been handed straight in.

The Duke shouted in shock when he saw what she was doing.

“What are you doing?!”

“Be quiet!! If you have nothing to do, at least hold his hand!”

At her sharp retort, the Duke immediately shut his mouth.

Just as Lionel was concentrating on her fingertips again—

“……!”

The Duke’s large hand covered Lionel’s hand.

Startled, she looked up.

She saw the Duke’s sharp profile, seemingly focused on holding her hand.

—You idiot, not my hand! The patient’s hand!!

Either way, every second mattered.

Lionel simply tightened her grip and pushed the straw in farther.

The straw passed through the muscle—

Thud.

She felt the sensation of piercing through the pleura.

At that very moment, air burst out explosively.

Psssssh—!!

A powerful rush of air shot out through the straw.

Kaylen’s chest rapidly collapsed. The movement of the excessively expanded right side of his chest also gradually decreased.

“Cough—!”

Kaylen exhaled a ragged breath.

His lips, which had turned deathly blue, regained some color.

Lionel, who had momentarily forgotten to breathe herself, finally let out a sigh of relief.

Once her pounding heart had calmed down, Lionel found herself face-to-face with the Duke.

When she saw his slightly trembling shoulders as their eyes met, a sense of camaraderie surged up from deep within her heart.

I thought he was completely heartless and cold-blooded, but he does have a human side after all.

Lionel steadied her breathing and straightened herself.

The immediate crisis had been dealt with, but it was still too soon to relax.

“…For now, shall we move the patient? He’ll need additional treatment as well.”

The violet eyes that had been staring intently at Lionel for quite some time finally closed, and the Duke nodded.

Only then did their hands, which had remained clasped together, separate.

“Let’s do that.”

“The treatment is finished.”

It was deep into the night.

Back in the same reception room where the interview had taken place, Lionel gave her report.

“It will take several days for all the air to drain through the newly inserted tube.”

I really wish I could give him just one shot of clindamycin…

Lionel desperately missed the antibiotics that had been commonplace in hospitals.

There were medical schools and hospitals in this world, but compared to modern medicine, medical care here was a complete mess. Naturally, there were no antibiotics, and most treatments amounted to little more than relieving symptoms as they arose.

Moreover, medicine itself was practically a privilege of the nobility, so countless people couldn’t receive treatment even when they sought help from hospitals.

She had cut and punctured him without any antibiotics, so she was worried about infection…

But for now, all Lionel could do was hope that Kaylen would pull through.

“Lady Lionel Prencia.”

Why was he suddenly using her full name?

As Lionel nervously watched him, the Duke slightly lowered his head.

“I would like to express my gratitude for saving my aide’s life.”

“What? Ah, no, it’s nothing. I merely did what anyone should have done. And I’m the one who should be grateful that you followed my instructions so well, Your Grace.”

“I see. Then, since it seems we have finished everything that needed to be done…”

The Duke raised his head and leaned back against the sofa.

The atmosphere changed in an instant, and he spoke coldly.

“Shall we begin the interview anew?”

“…Ah.”

Now that the adrenaline that had been coursing wildly through her veins was beginning to subside, her sense of reality slowly returned.

The Duke was still sitting there with his bloodstained shirt open.

There wasn’t even a scar on his chest.

…I’m screwed.

Lionel suddenly remembered the plot of the novel The Unfading Flower.

Long ago, the male protagonist had become immortal because of a curse. He repeatedly changed his place of residence and identity until eventually obtaining the position of a duke and settling down in one place.

Then he met the female protagonist, who was like sunshine, and entered into a contractual marriage with her.

Like the male leads in all those dark and tragic romance novels, the Duke became obsessed with her, the heroine went insane, the Duke locked her up, and she went even more insane…

In the end, it seemed as though the heroine would break the Duke’s curse and they would have a happy ending, but instead, the story concluded with an ending where everyone died together.

Haaah… I shouldn’t have been happy just because I got a patient who was easy to deal with.

The Duke in the novel was an absolutely ruthless man.

Aside from his closest confidants, he killed everyone who knew his secret. And even among his closest confidants, anyone who revealed the secret was killed without exception.

No wonder he had earned nicknames like “Death-Obsessed Bastard” and “The Madman Who Can’t Even Die.”

And on top of that, I bossed that Death-Obsessed Bastard around like he was some subordinate, telling him to do this and that…

Lionel gathered up whatever acting ability she had left and answered calmly.

“Are you going to kill me? I’m the person who saved your aide’s life. Surely you could take that into consideration, at least a little?”

“Lady, have you ever wondered where all the servants of this mansion have gone? Even though all this commotion happened, not a single one of them has appeared.”

She had been too preoccupied to notice, but now that he mentioned it, it really was strange.

The Duke kindly explained the situation.

“Uninvited guests frequently visit this mansion. Whenever that happens, the servants evacuate to the basement and wait until the situation settles down. The knights remain on standby in their respective positions. But my aide came running out specifically to save you.”

“Then… if I hadn’t been here, there wouldn’t have been any reason for your aide to get hurt?”

“I’m not trying to blame you, but you could certainly look at it that way.”

—You’re very obviously blaming me!

Lionel swallowed the complaint that had risen all the way to her throat.

Instead, she quickly racked her brain, desperately trying to think of a way to survive.

“Your Grace. I’m truly sorry that your aide was seriously injured because of me. But since things have turned out this way anyway, why don’t you hire me?”

That’s right.

If you’re going to kill an ordinary person who knows your secret, then I’ll become someone close to you who knows your secret.

Just as she had done during her interview at the hospital, Lionel began her self-promotion.

“First in my class when I entered the Imperial Medical Academy, first in my class when I graduated! And I was the youngest! I also have experience working at a general hospital, as well as experience as a personal physician. Please hire me!”

Of course, I got fired from all of those positions, but if you’ll just hire me here, I won’t try to form some kind of labor union or anything. I’ll play the role of the subordinate to perfection!

She decided not to say that last part, since it would probably have the opposite effect.

Lionel anxiously waited for the Duke’s answer.

The Duke pressed his lips into a straight line and merely stared at Lionel without saying a word.

Even though the situation was extremely serious, his face was so ridiculously handsome that Lionel momentarily forgot about reality.

“Whether I kill you or not, I’ll decide tomorrow. So go in and get some rest for now.”

“…What? No, I can’t do that. I need to take care of your aide.”

“I’ll take care of my aide.”

The Duke stood up without giving her any further opportunity to argue.

Lionel cautiously followed behind him.

When they reached the guest room, he personally opened the door for her.

As Lionel stepped inside, she repeatedly reminded him,

“Please call me if he develops a fever. And if he has trouble breathing, or if the tube comes out, or—”

“Lock the door.”

Bang.

The door slammed shut.

Lionel stood there blankly, listening to the Duke’s footsteps gradually fade into the distance.

“…Am I really going to die tomorrow?”