Dirty Heart - Chapter 25

After Lionel’s public confession, the world stirred once again. The servants who had witnessed the scene eagerly spread the story of the two of them everywhere.

『The pure devotion of Young Duke Erhardt! The true man of pure love of this era who even embraced the greatest nymphomaniac of all time!』

『Young Duke Lionel, “Courtney is my everything”』

『A Young Duke who loves a lewd maid.』

On a bright morning, Alex leaned by the window and skimmed through the newspaper, the corner of his lips twitching. While Courtney had fallen overnight into the image of a promiscuous woman, Lionel’s reputation was becoming endlessly noble, making the whole thing look utterly ridiculous.

“A meeting between the Empire’s greatest nymphomaniac and a man of pure love…. It’s pretty entertaining.”

“Entertaining?”

“Ah, shit, you scared me! When did you get there?”

“A while ago.”

In an instant, Lionel snatched the newspaper from Alex’s hands and frowned.

“This is absurd.”

“Right? Even you think it’s ridiculous, Young Duke? ‘The true man of pure love of this era.’ A passing dog would laugh at that.”

“Why did they draw Courtney so ugly?”

However, what actually caught Lionel’s attention was the illustration of Courtney printed on one side of the newspaper. At a glance, it looked somewhat similar, but to Lionel, it was a poor attempt that didn’t even capture a fraction of her real appearance.

Only then did Alex check the illustration and nod.

“Hmm, you’re right. There’s no way something like that could capture Miss Courtney’s unique charm.”

“What?”

Lionel’s gaze sharpened instantly as he looked at Alex.

“How would you know that?”

“Huh…? Know what?”

“How do you know Courtney is charming?”

Realizing he had slipped up at Lionel’s dangerous reaction, Alex broke into a cold sweat. But it was too late.

“I mean… you can just tell at a glance, right? Haha.”

“At a glance? Sounds like you’ve been watching her pretty closely.”

The more he tried to explain, the deeper he felt himself sinking. Alex hurriedly waved his hands.

“Come on, don’t say something so dangerous… What I meant was—”

At that moment, the butler came running over in a rush and immediately delivered news about Courtney.

“Young Duke! You’re here. Miss Courtney has collapsed. A physician is currently examining her.”

Before the butler even finished speaking, both Lionel and Alex’s expressions froze.

“Where is Courtney right now?”

“She’s resting in the servants’ quarters.”

As if there was nothing more to hear, Lionel immediately turned and headed toward the servants’ quarters.

“Y-Young Duke! Wait for me!”

Alex hurried after him without hesitation.

***

In a darkness like a tunnel, Courtney came face to face with an unexpected existence.

“You are….”

A figure standing there with the exact same face as her own. It was Courtney Balkan, the original owner of the body.

-Please, save Liam and Lionel.

At her desperate plea, a hollow laugh slipped out. Liam was one thing, but asking to save Lionel too. The sheer devotion made her tongue click.

“If Lionel lives, both you and I are finished! Don’t you still get it? What he’s after is the heart. One wrong move and we’ll be stripped for organs and die!”

-It doesn’t matter what happens to me. As long as he lives…!

“Are you insane? Then what about me? What am I supposed to do!”

Her voice snapped sharply. Hearing someone ask her to save Lionel while she was already walking on thin ice every day stirred up an unreasonable surge of anger.

“Do you even know what kind of state I’m in, barely holding on like this? I don’t know when I’ll die. I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown!”

Would it have killed them to reincarnate me as a princess or a rich heiress like everyone else? Out of all the countless characters, why did I end up in the body of some miserable extra like this? The unfairness that rose to her throat nearly suffocated her.

-Please. I feel so sorry for Lionel.

Her pleading grew more and more absurd. Who was supposed to feel sorry for whom? She couldn’t understand it at all.

“That bastard, no. What’s so pitiful about that man? I’m the one who’s the most pitiful here.”

-Sob, sniff…. You don’t know anything.

At last, the real Courtney began to sob for real. For a moment, her pitiful appearance softened her heart, but the more that happened, the more she had to steel herself. Feeling sorry for someone didn’t mean she could die in their place.

“No matter how much you cry, what can’t be done can’t be done.”

She shook her head firmly and spoke coldly to the woman sobbing in front of her.

“I want to live no matter what it takes. Why should I die for Lionel?”

-He loves you.

“Love, my ass! You’re being deceived by Lionel. That guy is worse than the devil!”

-No! Don’t insult him!

The expression of the other woman, who had been sobbing endlessly, changed instantly. The eyes that had looked pure and pitiful just moments ago flipped in an instant, now completely filled with malice.

-I only called you out here to save Lionel!

She rushed forward and grabbed Courtney’s throat violently. Her hand, cold as ice, dug into her neck and tightened her airway in an instant.

“Cough! W-what are you doing…!”

-If you can’t save Lionel, then give it back. Give me back my body…!

“S-Save… me.”

In that moment, the surrounding scenery warped chaotically, the world shaking as everything twisted into something unreal.

“…Gasp!”

Courtney shot upright, gasping for breath. Her entire body was drenched in cold sweat, and her heart was pounding wildly.

“Courtney. Are you alright?”

A familiar voice reached her, and when she looked up, she saw Lionel gazing down at her with concern. Meeting the worry reflected in his clear blue eyes, Courtney’s lips parted.

“Where… am I….”

“You fainted.”

“Ha….”

A deep sigh escaped her lips. The sensation of the woman’s hands strangling her felt so vivid that it made her skin crawl. It still felt like that cold grip lingered around her neck.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

At the sound of another voice, Courtney turned her head. There stood Alex, wearing an equally worried expression.

“Sir Lanchester…?”

“Oh! You recognize me?”

As Courtney slowly nodded, relief spread across Alex’s face. Meanwhile, Lionel shot him a glare as if he’d bitten into something unpleasant.

“Why don’t you step out for a moment?”

“Pardon? No, why? She just woke up, we should stay and watch her a bit more—”

“I said leave.”

At the firm dismissal, Alex had no choice but to leave the room, his face full of regret.

“Liam….”

As her mind gradually cleared, Liam was the first to come to mind. She had to confirm whether the small finger inside the box truly belonged to him.

“I saw the package too. There was no sender listed, so we’ll have to investigate, but….”

Lionel trailed off at the end of his sentence. If he hadn’t pushed Liam away in the first place, none of this would have happened. Worried Courtney’s resentment might reach him, he watched her carefully, unlike his usual self.

“Well, actually, I was going to bring Liam back. I wanted to surprise you, but things turned out like this. Anyway, what I mean is—”

Courtney called out to the rambling Lionel in a small voice.

“…Young Duke.”

“Yeah.”

She lowered her gaze for a moment, then clenched her teeth. The desperate plea of the woman who had begged her to save Liam and Lionel lingered in her mind.

She still couldn’t agree with the idea that Lionel should live, but at least Liam….

“Young Duke, you said you still love me, right?”

“….”

After a brief silence, he slowly nodded.

“Then please bring Liam to me… I’m begging you.”

“Alright.”

The answer came far too readily, but Courtney’s expression remained completely blank.

Soon after, she began unfastening the buttons of her dress one by one. She believed Lionel would naturally demand sex in return for granting her request.

“What are you doing right now?”

But Lionel, instead, reacted with clear displeasure and stopped her. Only then did confusion cross Courtney’s face.

“…We’re not doing it?”

“I don’t have a habit of pouncing on a woman who just woke up after fainting.”

“But you do have a habit of pouncing on a woman locked in a prison?”

“…First, button up your clothes. You’ll catch a cold.”

He quickly covered Courtney’s half-exposed chest and hurriedly changed the subject.

“As for Liam, we’ll head to the orphanage first thing tomorrow, so you don’t need to worry.”

“You’re going there… yourself?”

Lionel nodded, then seemed to fall into thought for a moment before speaking again in a gentle voice.

“It’s a request from the woman I love. I’m sorry for being stubborn before.”

“…!”

As if he had decided to play the role of a devoted lover, he gently pressed his lips to the back of her pale hand.

Normally, she would have found a man’s cheap tricks like that nothing but repulsive, but for some reason, a faint current spread through her entire body, making her face flush red on its own.

-He loves you.

Of all times, the voice of Courtney from the dream surged back like a wave.