Chapter 8
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Save the Real Lady (1)
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Can you even call it happiness when unwanted happiness comes knocking?
Forced happiness.
It was imposed on Dia the moment Abera opened her door, made tangible through the medium of drugs.
With a creak, the door swung open. The room was horrific, but the one stepping inside was beautiful like a ray of light.
It was only natural. Abera de Menesil. She was a beautiful lady, after all.
However, the syringe in her hand was anything but. It contained the horrific drug called Sao.
For Dia, it was a somewhat familiar situation. Of course, the process of going through it was never familiar—that was the problem, if it was a problem.
Wanting to suppress her fear, Dia swallowed hard.
She hated herself for craving Sao even as she feared it. Despised herself, in fact.
"Dia."
"Yes."
The moment her name slipped from Abera's lips, Dia spat out her response.
Alone in the room, she knew well that delaying her answer would do her no good.
To outsiders, it would have been a baffling sight.
Why Abera was holding Sao, and why Dia wasn't smiling happily at the sight of it—both mysteries.
But Dia knew. If Abera had brought Sao, the situation was very different.
"Mr. Ganeghan prescribed sleeping pills instead of Sao today, didn't he?"
"Yes."
"So, were you extra unstable today because you didn't get the drug you wanted?"
Abera began striding toward Dia.
Her steps were still dignified, befitting a lady, but the aura she exuded was sharp, akin to a veiled killing intent.
Dia took a few steps back before the bed blocked her path. Confusion filled the face of the petite lady, far shorter than Abera.
Abera, closing the distance, suddenly seized Dia's chin, forcing their eyes to meet in midair.
Dia had no choice. Not even the choice to squeeze her eyes shut.
"...Do you know what you did wrong?"
Abera's alluring face pressed right up to Dia's.
Her beige hair, soft enough to make even spring sunlight shy away, but her tone was colder than ice.
Those jewel-like eyes reflected Dia sweating bullets. Dia's lips twitched, but she couldn't form coherent words.
Abera tightened her grip. Sharp nails pierced Dia's skin.
"Ah, ah! I, I ruined dinner..."
It was a pathetic response, like a mouse cornered by a cat, but Abera seemed quite pleased with the answer.
She wore a faint smile as she continued.
"You knew that, and you did it anyway?"
"N... No."
Dia averted her gaze slightly.
But of course, Abera wouldn't allow it. Her sharp heel ground down on Dia's instep.
"Ah, it hurts!"
Dia cried out pitifully, forced to meet her eyes, but Abera's lips only curved higher.
"Why did you do it?"
"I, I told you! That person bothers me, but they keep making us eat together..."
"Dia. If you hate him, that's no reason to do it. Because..."
Abera's hands, which had been gripping Dia's cheeks, slid down gently.
They stopped at Dia's throat. Abera squeezed hard. Dia let out a choked gasp, writhing in pain.
With a sigh, the mild expression vanished from Abera's face.
"...That was a steak laced with poison. You knew that best, didn't you?"
"Kkh, khk. I, I forgot... Kkh!"
Dia's excuse was cut short. Abera tightened her grip further.
"Hrk! S-Sister! Kkh!"
Dia looked up at Abera with pleading eyes, begging for her life. But Abera merely gazed down indifferently, like watering a plant.
"Dia. You like that doctor, don't you?"
"Gkh! S-Sister!"
As Dia stomped her feet, Abera finally released her.
The little lady collapsed to the floor, clutching her throat, coughing and gasping for breath.
Abera nudged Dia's head with her toe. Her shoes ended in sharp points, but she paid it no mind.
"Mr. Ganeghan is a good man. Definitely different from other doctors, right? I felt it too. His skills seem superior. He might even actually cure your addiction. But..."
Thud. Abera kicked Dia's stomach.
"Ugh!"
"...That's why I don't like him. He's dangerous. Don't you want to stay a drug addict forever? You only need Sao, don't you? So I tried to kill him, but why did you interfere?"
"S-Sister... It hurts..."
Dia was drenched in sweat from terror. Her already tight dress clung even more to her contours.
Dia desperately hoped it would end here, but of course, it wouldn't.
Abera asked softly.
In that same gentle voice from when she first entered.
"Alright, our Dia. Shall we stop with the pain now?"
"U... Uh... Please... Please..."
As if she'd been waiting for those words, Abera crouched down to meet Dia's eyes.
"Then chase him away yourself, Dia. That doctor. Make sure he never approaches you again."
Abera didn't see it, but Dia's eyes trembled faintly as she lay there.
Her breathing, which had just steadied, grew ragged again.
Dia's gaze went blank for a moment.
*
'All done. Goodbye.'
Doctor. That was the first thing Dia thought of when she heard the word. It was what doctors always said.
What kind of doctor are you? Just shoving drugs into me.
Taking money and casually injecting drugs into my arm without a care.
All doctors were the same. Entering with blank faces, jabbing her arm, bowing curtly, and leaving.
Then waiting pathetically for Abera to glance their way before taking their money bags.
Only then did they drop the blank expression for a sleazy grin.
Ugliness begets ugliness. I wish they'd all just die.
And so her thoughts drifted until Ganeghan popped into her head.
'I'm Ganeghan.'
A decent-looking doctor. Sharp jawline. Amid his tense, rigid posture, he somehow gave off a gentle impression.
There are no good doctors in this world.
Even if there were, they'd turn rotten soon enough.
'Left arm okay?'
'Miss, don't rip your clothes.'
Unnecessarily meddlesome. All an act. Made her want to vomit.
You're just like the rest—laughing sleazily behind my back while taking your money.
Yet that brazen doctor prescribed her sleeping pills. He even touched her body shamelessly to avoid giving her drugs.
It didn't take long to realize the injection was a sedative. She woke with no new wounds. No headache either.
Why? No, why?
Incomprehensible. And because it was incomprehensible, her feelings were mixed.
So she'd wandered the halls, intending to confront him. To find Ganeghan.
It didn't take long to find him. Thin door to Abera's room. Voices leaked out—Abera and Ganeghan's.
"Honestly, she's a bit... embarrassing as a sister."
"Please don't think that way. Once treatment's done, she'll be as splendid as you, Miss Abera. I'll do my utmost so she never becomes an embarrassing sister."
Abera chuckled. A fake smile.
"I should raise your pay, then. Can't win with words, so money will have to convey my feelings. Even if treatment fails, don't worry. You'll get the full promised reward."
"I'm not doing this for pay. And..."
Ganeghan added,
"...I'll definitely cure Miss Dia. Because she's precious. I won't fail."
...Why?
What do you know about me to say that?
You, a mere doctor. Why?
"Let's eat together. You too, Mr. Ganeghan."
Dia snapped out of her daze when those words left Abera's mouth.
Abera never invited others to eat first. Dia knew that all too well.
'...Did Ganeghan's response irk Sister?'
Probably. No, definitely.
Abera wouldn't look kindly on a doctor who thought well of her thorn-in-the-side Dia.
Sure enough, Alfred beside Dia wore a strange expression.
'Dangerous.'
Exactly. Dangerous.
Just like the other 'unimportant guests' before him, Ganeghan would surely eat poison disguised as food and die.
'The Curse of Dia de Menesil.'
Packaged as some nonsense rumor, tales of Ganeghan succumbing to the curse would circulate a few times and fade.
'I'll definitely cure Miss Dia. Because she's precious.'
Ganeghan's words lingered in Dia's mind.
...Obviously a lie, an act.
Why?
Why? I hate it.
She clenched her fists tightly. Without realizing, Dia thought it.
She hoped the doctor wouldn't die at this meal.
It was curiosity, surely.
Curiosity.
Definitely.
*
"No answer?"
"Ah, ahk!"
Abera's shoe ground down on Dia's back without mercy.
The intense pain shattered Dia's brief reverie in an instant.
"O-Okay! I got it!"
Tears welled in her eyes as she cried out.
Chasing him from the mansion so he wouldn't die. That was the best Dia could do for the doctor.
Meanwhile, the moment Dia answered, Abera roughly seized one of her arms.
Then.
"Right. That's how you should answer. It's your specialty, isn't it? Stabbing people with blades without a care and driving them away. Suits you perfectly..."
"U... Uh..."
"Oh, should I give the reward first?"
She mercilessly plunged the Sao-filled syringe into Dia's body. Without giving a moment to adjust the roughly jabbed needle, Abera pressed down hard.
"Sl-Slowly! Ah, it hurts! Sister!"
"Have a good time. I'll call Mr. Ganeghan soon."
"Ah, uuu... Uu..."
That was Abera's answer.
Click-clack. She strode out of the room. Though her sister began convulsing, she never looked back.
The teddy bear strewn carelessly on the floor. Dia slumped just like it. Still, Abera never looked back.
She simply opened the door and exited.
The lady's face, as she left the room, bloomed with a smile as radiant as sunlight.
'Come to think of it, that man was unnecessarily competent.'
Abera, walking away, suddenly thought of Ganeghan.
...He might even resolve this situation.
No. Can't have that. No.
Muttering to herself, Abera turned back and walked toward Dia again.
"Eut... Uh! Uh, ah! Uuu..."
Sao was fast and potent. Dia was already drooling and convulsing, crawling on the floor.
Like wringing a chicken's neck, Abera grabbed Dia's hair roughly and yanked her head up. Dia's pale nape was exposed defenselessly.
"My little sister. Today must be the happiest day of your life."
Muttering that, she mercilessly jabbed another Sao-filled needle into Dia's nape.
"Ah, u, uu! Aah! Aaaaaaah!!!!"
Dia's sharp scream echoed through the room for a long while after.
Abera merely pressed the syringe to its limit.
**
Back in my room, I still couldn't sleep.
I wasn't even lying in bed. Standing, I paced the room, lost in thought.
Why had Abera gone into Dia's room with Sao? If she had it in her own hands, why hire me as personal physician in the first place?
Lost in such thoughts, someone pounded urgently on my door.
"Who is it?"
Hearing the frantic knocks made my heart race. I hurried to the door and opened it.
"Ah, Mr. Ganeghan!"
"...Miss Abera?"
In the pre-dawn hours when even stars slumbered, it was Abera at my door. My head tilted naturally.
"Oh no, it's terrible! Mr. Ganeghan! What do we do!"
Tears brimmed in the lady's doe-like eyes. She'd run here so frantically her clothes were disheveled, cleavage blatantly exposed.
"Calm down first. What happened?"
"Dia... Dia!"
"Miss Dia?"
Abera wiped tears with a sniffle and nodded quietly.
Suddenly, she grabbed both my hands.
"She must've had drugs hidden! She injected herself... Sniff, what do we do! She's gone berserk... I can't get near her! I don't know who to tell..."
She pleaded desperately.
No, you had the Sao in your hand.
As she pressed my hands with her arms, her breasts gathered prettily. Seemed calculated, so I couldn't just admire it.
Thinking even the tears were fake made my stomach churn. Still, I hurriedly gathered my equipment. I was worried about Dia.
"Stay here, Miss Abera."
"I-Is that okay?! You might get badly hurt too, Mr. Ganeghan! That girl does anything when she's on drugs!"
Almost like she was hoping something would happen.
Skilled, I slung my coat over my shoulders and murmured softly.
"Yes. It'll be fine."
Now I understood.
Which one was the real lady.