Dirty Heart - Chapter 45

In the depths of darkness, Courtney drifted endlessly. It felt like an eternal fall, or perhaps just a fleeting instant.

‘Is this… what death is?’

She had already experienced it once in her previous life, so it wasn’t particularly surprising, but this time she was certain she had come closer to death than ever.

She recalled the moment the cold blade pierced her side. The searing pain, the blood that poured out endlessly. And… Lionel’s voice.

“Courtney… don’t die, please.”

It was obvious he was acting like that because he was afraid the heart he needed for the transplant would become unusable, yet the way he begged her not to die was so desperate that she almost misunderstood it as him truly loving her.

‘Yeah, maybe it’s better to just die like this.’

If she was fated to die either way, it felt better to disappear quietly like this rather than be laid on an operating table and have her heart painfully carved out. At least, it was definitely a better choice than dying only to benefit someone else.

Having finally made up her mind, she chose to accept death. Just as her drifting body was about to sink deeper into the darkness,

“What do you mean by that?”

From somewhere, a clear voice was heard, and little by little the darkness lifted and a faint light seeped through her eyelids.

“So you’re saying, right now, I don’t have to receive Courtney’s heart transplant, is that it?”

“Yes, Young Duke. For the first time in the Empire, it has become possible to receive a pig’s heart transplant.”

Thanks to the fairly hopeful exchange, her consciousness also gradually became clearer.

‘I don’t have to give up my heart? Really?’

At the same time, pain flared all over her body. In particular, the side where she had been stabbed throbbed so intensely that a groan slipped out.

“Ugh….”

Seeing that the pain felt this vivid, she thought she probably wasn’t dead after all, and slowly lifted her eyelids, heavy as lead.

As her blurred vision gradually cleared, the first thing she saw was a pale face and bright blue eyes.

“Courtney?”

Lionel’s voice, looking down at Courtney, trembled unlike him.

“You woke up!”

Facing Lionel’s face, lit up as if he had gained the whole world, Courtney barely parted her lips.

“Um… am I alive?”

“Don’t worry. You’re safe.”

Lionel stroked her hair and let out a sigh of relief. But Courtney’s face twisted mercilessly as if she had bitten into something foul.

“…For fuck’s sake.”

Really, it was a damned, stubborn connection.

***

Around sunset. The Duke looked at his son, who had come to see him for the first time in a long while, with displeasure.

“Right, the girl woke up, I hear?”

“Yes.”

“How is her condition?”

“She is resting.”

Even the curt answers displeased him, but the Duke forced a kind smile.

“As you must have heard from the attending physician, a new hope has arisen for you. Of course, do not overlook that this too came from your father’s blood and sweat.”

The Duke pointed to the documents spread densely across the desk. Reports on pig heart transplants and various newspaper articles were scattered everywhere.

『First in the Empire! Pig heart transplant success imminent.』

『House of Erhardt to lead a medical revolution?』

Lionel looked at the bold headlines with suspicion.

“Do you think it was easy for me to kill the woman my son loves? In any case, what’s good is good, so this turned out well.”

The Duke’s voice was gentle, but Lionel’s expression remained stiff. Until just a few days ago, he had been making a fuss asking whether Courtney’s heart was safe, and now to say that all this tragedy could be resolved with a pig’s heart. It was hard to believe.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Lionel asked quietly.

“Because the clinical trial results were not certain. I was concerned it might give you false hope.”

The Duke answered plausibly.

“But now I can be certain. This surgery has been proven safe.”

“….”

“Do you still not trust me? How long will you take your father’s efforts lightly?”

The Duke let out a sigh.

“And above all, didn’t you say it yourself. That you would never give your heart to a maid. I have believed those words all this time.”

Lionel’s lips pressed tightly together. He too, until just a few days ago, had been certain he would receive Courtney’s heart.

But the Duke, as if he understood this as well, spoke in a kindly voice to placate Lionel.

“Of course, I’m not trying to blame you. A person’s heart is something one cannot control, after all.”

Pretending to reasonably accept his son’s actions, the Duke was doing everything he could to ease Lionel’s wariness.

“If anything, you know very well that receiving the maid’s heart is the best option. But if you truly don’t want it, what can I do? We’ll have to find another way.”

“….”

“Do you still not trust me?”

When his son didn’t give in easily despite all the sweet talk, irritation gradually seeped into the Duke’s face.

“Fine. If you still doubt it, then we can conduct an unofficial experiment.”

“An unofficial experiment…?”

“If we transplant a pig’s heart into Alex Lanchester, won’t you understand as well? The safety of this surgery.”

“…What? Does that even make sense?”

At the mention of Alex’s name coming from his father’s mouth, Lionel’s eyes shook violently.

“Your loyal knight volunteered for his lord without hesitation. Do not let his loyalty go to waste.”

The Duke, who had been organizing the documents with an indifferent expression, finally looked straight at Lionel.

“Didn’t you want to save Courtney? All you have to do is confirm that Alex can live just fine even with a pig’s heart, isn’t that right?”

“But if something happens to Alex—”

“My son.”

The Duke cut Lionel off coldly, then continued in a chilling voice.

“To obtain what you want, you must also learn to give something else up.”

***

“How long until the Young Duke’s birthday?”

Leaning against the headboard, Courtney asked her roommate Bailey.

The very first thing she requested from Lionel after regaining consciousness was to have Bailey assigned as her caretaker.

That was how terrible Lionel’s nursing was. First of all, the way he stared at her nonstop was burdensome, and thanks to his clumsy care, it felt like her condition might even worsen.

“It’s in fifteen days, isn’t it? Because of that, the servants are in total chaos these days. Cooking, cleaning, they say it’s absolute hell.”

Blowing on the hot porridge, Bailey brought a spoonful to Courtney’s lips. Compared to Lionel, her nursing was far more skillful.

“Well, I’m living comfortably here thanks to you.”

“Damn it. It’s already that close?”

Hearing that the Young Duke’s birthday was only two weeks away, her expression naturally twisted. While she was unconscious, she had completely wasted time.

She felt she couldn’t just sit still like this, but with not a single part of her body in good condition, even escaping was difficult. The stab wound at her side still throbbed, and her body was far weaker than before.

“By the way, you must be really worried about the Young Duke. The surgery is coming up soon, right?”

“Worried, my ass. Wait. Surgery? How do you know that?”

“Huh? Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”

Bailey quickly grabbed the newspaper from the table and held it out to Courtney.

“What is this? A pig heart transplant?”

The contents spread across the front page were nothing but unbelievable claims. It stated that a groundbreaking surgical method had been developed to transplant a pig’s heart into a human for the first time in the Empire, and that the first beneficiary of this new technology would be none other than the Young Duke of Erhardt.

‘Don’t tell me what I heard while I was unconscious was real?’

Courtney reread the article over and over in disbelief. She vaguely remembered hearing something about being able to receive a pig’s heart, but it sounded so absurd that she assumed it was just a dream.

“Well, sure, a pig heart is kind of unsettling, but you’ve got to survive first, right?”

Bailey shrugged as she looked at Courtney with innocent eyes.