Chapter 1: The Lady With Three Months to Live

“I beg your pardon?” Lariette asked for the second time in a soft voice. Her fingers latched around the physician’s collar and the elderly man struggled to breathe as her grip unintentionally choked him. The physician’s white eyelashes hung toward the ground in defeat, but Lariette did not feel any pity.

“You have my deepest apologies. It was a misdiagnosis.”

“A misdiagnosis?!”

“Yes, Lady Blanche. You are not terminally ill. You do not have to die!” he declared, confused as to why his patient wasn’t happy to know she would live.

Currently, Lariette Blanche was in a very miserable situation.

Thinking she only had three months left to live, Lariette had behaved in a way she would have never done had she known she wasn’t terminally ill. She made her fiancé extremely angry; her parents declared they would disown her; and most importantly, Duke Kandel, also known as the War Lord and the Empire’s Sharpest Blade, was after her.

“I will find you, no matter where you are. So don’t ever think you can run away from me, Lariette.”

Shivers ran down her spine as Lariette recalled the conversation she had with the duke on one sunny day. Showered with his affection and warmth, she had blindly thought he was just whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Now, having run away from him, Lariette realized too late that his words had been a discreet warning.

The very physician who had landed her in this predicament smiled sheepishly and gave her a warm pat on the back, saying he understood her shock.

I would rather you tell me that I am about to die! Lariette screamed inside, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.

***

It all began three months ago. Lariette had been in the same room, sitting across from the same physician, inside a remote building located on the outskirts of the capital city named the Esteemed Physician Zakascoff’s Clinic. She had been feeling ill and tired lately, which prompted her to visit the clinic while she was out. Assuming it wouldn’t be anything more than a passing cold, she only took one guard with her and told no one of the visit. Contrary to her expectations, upon listening to her symptoms, the elderly physician stroked his long white beard and began to study over her carefully with a grave look in his eyes.

“Hmmmm...”

“What... is it?”

“Oh, dear...”

Zakascoff, the self-proclaimed esteemed physician, had stroked his beard as he sighed again and again. Lariette tilted her head to one side, wondering what was taking him so long. After a series of muffled groans, the physician finally lifted his head and met the young lady’s puzzled gaze. Seeing the deep sympathy in his green eyes, Lariette realized something was amiss.

“You have been having trouble sleeping lately, yes?”

“Correct.”

“And you keep craving spicy food but eating it makes you feel bloated.”

“Yes,” she answered, nodding her head.

“Does your heart frequently feel like it’s racing quickly, to the point it feels as though you can hear your own heartbeats?”

“Yes, you’re right. How did you know that?”

“Just as I thought… Oh, my... I don’t know how I should break it to you...”

The physician dragged his hand down his face as if he was experiencing a headache. By now, Lariette was beginning to feel frustrated, but she waited patiently for his explanation in silence as she wondered why he was so hesitant to tell her she had the seasonal flu. To her utmost surprise, the situation turned out to be much graver than she had ever imagined.

“It is called the Roccadura disease, my lady. It’s a rare and incurable illness that occurs in a very small number of people born with excessive mana. It usually manifests before the patient reaches adulthood, and in your case Lady Blanche, it seems to have manifested a little later in life than normal.”

“An incurable disease? W-what do you mean?”

“The mortality rate of Roccadura disease is 98 percent.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry to tell you, Lady Blanche. You have three months to live,” he said bluntly, knocking down the first domino and beginning the series of events that would irrevocably change her life.

***

Lariette returned to the manor looking rather normal for someone who had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness. She felt numb and wasn’t sure what to do. It was too sudden, and it took her a few hours to wrap her head around the diagnosis of her imminent death.

How do people usually react when they’ve been told they only have a few months to live? she wondered blankly as a maid helped her change into an indoor dress. Am I supposed to cry? Maybe grab the physician by the collar and demand that he finds a way to save me?

After a moment of thought, Lariette concluded crying would be a waste of energy and the physician had done nothing wrong for her to assault him like that. Besides, the more she thought about it, the idea of death didn’t seem so terrible.

“My lady, you are quieter than usual today. Are you tired from your trip to the city?” Anne, her lady-in-waiting and personal maid, asked with a warm smile. She seemed puzzled by Lariette’s prolonged silence.

“Anne, listen. What if—”

“My lady, haven’t we already had a conversation about your what-ifs?” Anne asked, shaking her head as if she was sick and tired of hearing her lady ask this question. Admittedly, being the curious soul she was, Lariette would often push countless “what ifs” onto Anne and urge her to come up with answers for absurd hypothetical situations.

“Hear me out this time, Anne. How would you feel if you found out you would be dying soon?”

“Soon? I’m too young to think about death, my lady.”

“That’s why I said if.”

“I’m not sure...” Anne mumbled as she gently brushed Lariette’s hair. There was not much time left until dinner, so she had to work without pause. Lariette’s rosy hair was dazzling, but it was long and curly, which made it difficult to manage at times and the difficult task of maintaining it was the responsibility of her maids.

“I think I would be very sad, my lady. I would also feel sorry for those I leave behind and regret all the things I didn’t have the chance to do.”

“Things you didn’t have the chance to do, you say?”

“That’s right. If it was me, I would draft up a bucket list and complete as many things as I can before I die.”

“A bucket list? What’s that?”

“It’s a list of everything you want to do before your life ends, my lady. For example, one of mine is buying every single kind of cake and only taking a bite from each,” Anne said with a dreamy look on her face as she imagined the glistening sweet confections from her favorite dessert shop.

A bucket list… Lariette repeated the unfamiliar term a few times under her breath.

“But then again, I could never die and leave you all alone, my lady. Who would comb your hair if I’m not here?” Anne exclaimed, giggling playfully. Lariette was about to grumble she could brush her own hair, only to fall silent when she realized she wasn’t so confident that the outcome would look nice.

Anne and the other maids quickly finished adorning her, and in a blink of an eye, a beautifully dressed Lady Blanche was ready to head down to dinner. Her pink hair curled softly at the ends and swayed around her waist. Her flawless cheeks were as supple as fresh dough and had a subtle apricot flush that brought life to her complexion. Beneath her long eyelashes, her purple eyes glittered like beautiful glass beads and her plump lips glistened like morning dew on rose petals.

“Goodness, my lady! Your makeup is flawless today, don’t you think?”

“It’s really my face doing all the work, isn’t it?”

“Please don’t say that to anyone else, my lady. Humility is a virtue!” Anne exclaimed with an exaggerated gasp. Lariette giggled at the playful banter as she walked out of her chambers.

On her way to the dining room, she mulled over Anne’s answer to her earlier question. Unlike Anne, Lariette didn’t feel particularly sad about dying. She also had no reason to feel sorry since there was no one other than Anne who would grieve her death. But she did agree with her maid on the last part. Just as Anne had said, it felt rather unfair that there were so many things she wouldn’t have a chance to experience, especially because Lariette had lived her whole life snuffing out her own desires.

A bucket list… What kinds of things would I like to do?

She tried to think of the things she had always wanted to try, but nothing came to mind. For years, Lariette had never let herself want anything because she believed the desire for things she could never have only led to disappointment and misery.

When Lariette arrived at the dining hall, the servants waiting outside opened the doors for her. All the rooms within the manor were luxurious and grand, befitting of the reputation of the ducal family that had existed since the founding of the empire.

Though that’s all a bygone era, Lariette thought cynically, a faint smirk rising to her face. It was time to become Lady Blanche and hide the person she was when she was with Anne. Elegantly grabbing her dress, Lariette entered the dining hall and was greeted by the cold voices of Duke and Duchess Blanche.

“You are late. Sit down.”

“What were you thinking, arriving later than your parents?”

“I apologize, Father, Mother,” she answered politely as she took a seat. She had arrived before the scheduled dinner time, but nothing good would come from her pointing that out.

“Ahem. How are you getting along well with Marquess Segrev these days?” the duke asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Lariette forced her lips into the smile of a good daughter and answered, “Great, Father.”

“You must do your best to please him. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumor he will be buying the family mine soon, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Remember, marrying him is the only way to prove your worth. It’s for the family.”

I already know, Lariette thought, sighing inwardly as she sipped her cup of tea with grace.

Marquess Segrev was fourteen years older than Lariette, who was twenty-two and had already married twice. He was also famous for chasing women’s skirts and had an ugly heart. But their soon-to-be son-in-law’s questionable character wasn’t something of concern to the Duke and Duchess Blanche. What was most important was that Segrev had many assets up his sleeve and was willing to pay a large sum in exchange for Lariette’s hand in marriage.

The Blanche family had maintained a venerable position as one of the founding families of the empire. However, their financial situation had taken a turn for the worse when Lariette’s father, the fifth Duke of Blanche, drove family businesses into the ground. Knowing the family’s glum situation, Lariette had no choice but to accept the horrible engagement to Marquess Segrev. She thought it was what any perfect lady would do.

For the family... The words echoed despondently inside Lariette’s empty heart. Suddenly, a loud clang from across the room jolted her out of her musings.

Slam!

The sound of someone violently swinging the door open and barging into the dining room filled her ears. It was the kind of manners that a demon would teach at an etiquette lesson in hell, but the duke and his wife raised their beaming faces toward the intruder as if they were greeting an angel. They had never looked at Lariette with one-tenth of the warmth that currently exuded from their faces.

“Ryan! My son, you are early today. You must be hungry!”

“Bring out new dishes at once. My son deserves much better than cold food!”

“Ugh, why did you insist on a family dinner again? This is rather tiresome.”

Ryan, the only son and heir of Duke Blanche and Lariette’s older brother, sauntered towards him as he vigorously scratched the red hair he had inherited from his father. His face and clothes were disheveled and unkempt, but his attitude was one of endless confidence. He took his usual place across Lariette, and his face twisted into a disgusted grimace. The line between his brows deepened as he raised his chin haughtily and met his sister’s purple eyes.

“What’s this? What are you doing here?”

“I don’t need your permission to be here,” Lariette answered indifferently, cutting into the white fish and kohlrabi with perfect posture.

Irritated by her arrogance, Ryan shot his sister a glare. “You’re so bold because you know you’re to be sold off soon, aren’t you? Since when did you start attending family dinners anyway?”

“Why don’t you pay more attention to your successor lessons in the time you have to get angry over silly things? Sir Joel looked unbelievably worn out when I last saw him,” Lariette said, her eyebrows arching elegantly. A subtle sneer spread across her lips.

Sir Joel was the Blanche family’s private wizard who oversaw Ryan’s education. He had once been Lariette’s teacher as well, but because of her mother’s insistence that girls didn’t need to learn magic, Ryan was now his only pupil.

The Blanches were known as the family blessed with magic. The greatest wizards in the empire’s history all carried the Blanche name. Duke and Duchess Blanche had high expectations for Ryan, but unfortunately, their heir had failed to inherit the family gift.

Realizing his sister was making fun of his lack of talent, Ryan’s face flushed with rage, and he immediately grabbed the first thing he saw.

Splash!

Lariette stiffened like a block of ice as she felt something sticky pouring down from above her head. When she looked down, she saw the sauce from the dish she had just been cutting up dying her hair and beige dress red.

Plop.

The fish head that had adorned her plate fell from her head and landed on her lap, its hollow eyes staring up at her mockingly.

“Ryan! What kind of manners is this at the dinner table?”

“Mother, I will refuse to eat if she continues to be here. That unpleasant face makes me completely lose my appetite.”

Lariette picked up a napkin and wiped her wet hair. Her slender fingers clutching the napkin trembled against her will but there was no one to console her.

“Yes, he’s right. Lariette, why did you have to speak to your brother that way? Return to your chambers immediately.”

“Mother...” Lariette whispered desperately, but all she received in return was a cold glare. It was no different when she turned to look at her father.

The Duke and Duchess Blanche’s hearts and minds were full of their son, leaving no room for Lariette. She had always tried to earn her parents’ love; she had obeyed their every word and familiarized herself with aristocratic etiquette as if her life depended on it. But no matter what she did, Ryan was always the only beneficiary of their love and attention. He didn’t even need to work for it.

There was no happiness for Lariette here.

I am going to die in three months.

Her lips parted slightly to speak, but all that came out were breaths of air.

But you people probably don’t care.

Lariette stood up and brushed off the fish head and sauce from her lap. The duchess frowned when the sticky sauce splattered onto the expensive carpet, but Lariette chose to ignore her mother’s pointed glare and walked out of the dining room.

Red sauce dripped down her pale cheeks like blood as she strolled confidently down the corridor. She may look like a miserable mess, but inside, she was over the moon. Lariette had finally found something she wished to do.

“I will not die like this,” Lariette declared with conviction. There was nothing for her to fear in the face of—what she mistakenly believed to be—impending death.