A Story of a Noble Lady Who Was Ravaged by an Incurable Disease and Covered in Bandages All Over Her Broken Body; After Healing Her, She Turned Into a Stunning Beauty and Started Desperately Courting Me - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: I Had a Dream (Alicia’s Perspective)

This happened just a little while ago… a very recent memory…

“Alicia… how are you feeling today? Does your body hurt…?”

“Cough, cough… hehe, I’m fine, Father… Today I feel really good and full of energy… cough, cough…”

“Alicia…”

I said that while forcing a smile toward my sad-looking father. Of course I wasn’t actually feeling well. But I pretended to be strong so Father wouldn’t feel even sadder.

For about three years now, I had been suffering from a mysterious illness with no known cause. At first it was just slight fatigue and a cough that wouldn’t stop, so I thought it was only a cold.

But it wasn’t… My illness was far from a simple cold…

The coughing never stopped, and gradually my whole body started to feel hot, as though burning from the inside. Then, burn-like marks began appearing all over my skin — even though I had never gone near fire.

And those burn-like marks kept growing larger. Little by little my entire body turned a dark reddish-black color, and the skin started to rot and break down.

Perhaps because of the rotting skin — I’m not sure — every single day I was tormented by an unbelievably intense heat and pain, as though my skin were being pressed against a hot iron plate.

Because of that relentless burning pain day after day, I eventually became unable to move properly and had no choice but to spend my life lying in bed.

“P-please… Healer… I beg you, please… save my daughter… please save Alicia…!”

That’s why Father called countless healers from all over the royal capital to our mansion, desperately trying to save me from such a terrible illness.

But even after being examined by many of the capital’s finest healers, everyone diagnosed it as “cause unknown,” and even when they cast recovery magic on me, there was absolutely no improvement…

As more time passed, the dark discoloration of my skin grew even more horrifying, and the rotting grew far worse.

When the many healers who came to the mansion saw my terribly discolored and rotting body…

“Ugh…”

“Uwaa…”

“Urp…”

“Ughh…”

More and more of them started making those choked, nauseated sounds.

And it didn’t stop there…

“Honestly, I don’t want to say this since we already took the advance payment… but being asked to examine such a disgusting body is really unpleasant.”

“Having to look at something that ugly… I almost threw up by accident… it’s genuinely repulsive.”

“I don’t even understand how she’s still alive looking like that… to be honest, it’s creepy.”

I could hear such conversations coming from the hallway right outside my room.

Of course people would say things like that — anyone could see that my body was becoming more and more grotesque and repulsive by the day.

And then…

“Ugh… w-what the hell is this body…!?”

“Please, I beg you…! Please save my daughter… please help my daughter…!”

“N-no, I’m sorry… If I catch whatever freakish disease that is, I’m done for! I can’t accept a request this awful! Sorry, but you’ll have to find someone else!”

There were even some healers who not only whispered bad things about me behind my back, but who looked straight at my body and flatly refused.

The number of healers who looked at me as though I were some kind of filth kept increasing. Being stared at with such disgust every day was truly painful.

Still, at that time there were still quite a few healers who — even while clearly making disgusted or creeped-out faces — reluctantly agreed to examine me. So every day I received their examinations while feeling deeply grateful toward them.

But then, after a while… something happened.

“…Lord Gilbert. Regarding Lady Alicia’s illness… there are now rumors spreading that it might be some kind of contagious disease. Therefore, I’m very sorry, but from now on we must respectfully decline to examine Lady Alicia…”

“N-no… even you are saying such a thing…!? If even you say that, then I’m in real trouble…! You’ve been the one constantly examining and treating Alicia until now! And now even you refuse… then who in the world is going to look after her body…! P-please… won’t you reconsider and examine Alicia once more…?”

“…I’m truly sorry. I have a family of my own. When I think about the possibility that I might catch the same terrifying disease as Lady Alicia… I’m very sorry, but please allow me to end my examinations here.”

“N-no way…”

After that, rumors began spreading among the healers that my illness might be contagious. The reputation I had before — “a girl with an ugly, repulsive body” — changed into “an ugly girl carrying a contagious disease.”

Because of that, the number of healers willing to examine or treat my body dropped sharply. Even those who had been examining me from the very beginning all stopped coming one after another.

In the end, not a single healer was left who would examine or treat me… and so I ended up spending every day lying in bed, suffering, without receiving any treatment at all.

“…I’m sorry, Alicia… Even though every day is so painful for you… I never imagined the day would come when no one would be willing to examine your body for such a long time…”

“Cough, cough… No, it can’t be helped… My illness has no known cause, after all. I understand why the healers hesitate to examine me… If my disease really were contagious… that would be terrible for them too… cough, cough…”

“Alicia… but still, seeing you suffer so much and not being able to get any help…”

“Cough, cough… hehe. It’s okay, Father. I’m actually much more energetic than I look… so please don’t make that face… cough, cough…”

I said that to Father while forcing a smile. And I never once complained or resented the healers for refusing to examine me.

Because it couldn’t be helped. Everyone said it was an unknown disease, and no one could completely deny the possibility that it might be contagious. If there was even the slightest chance it could spread, then of course they would refuse. That was only natural.

And if such a painful illness were to spread to someone else… that would be far too cruel… I’d rather be the only one who has to feel this kind of pain…

But…

(…It hurts…)

That’s what I whispered in my heart every single day. I kept pretending in front of Father that I wasn’t suffering at all, but the truth was my body hurt terribly every day. It felt like I was being scorched by the blazing sun over and over.

Also, being looked at with contempt by so many healers was incredibly painful. I didn’t choose to get this sick… yet so many people looked at me with disgust and contempt… it really hurt. Still…

— squeeze…!

“…Lady Alicia, you are not ugly at all. Quite the opposite. You are a very beautiful person.”

“…Huh?”

The one who said that… Setsuna-sama… gently but firmly took my hand in his. I was surprised — it had been so long since anyone besides family had held my hand. But more than that, when I heard such kind words… a warm, cozy feeling spread all through my chest.

Because no matter how anyone looked at it, my appearance was horribly ugly. I had been stared at with contempt by countless healers. Yet Setsuna-sama…

“…My body looks terribly ugly to anyone who sees it… so you don’t have to say such polite lies, Setsuna-sama…”

“No. I’m saying it from the bottom of my heart. Lady Alicia is not ugly at all. You are someone whose heart is more beautiful and kinder than anyone else — truly a wonderful person.”

Even so, Setsuna-sama looked straight past my appearance and saw my inner self… and then gave me such gentle words.

He really… truly was an incredibly kind person…

◇◇◇◇

— chirp chirp…

“Huh…? Morning…?”

When I opened my eyes, it was already morning. I sat up in bed. It had been years since I’d slept for such a long time.

Normally I would wake up many times in the middle of the night coughing, but today… I hadn’t coughed even once. I had slept deeply the whole night through.

“Ahh… I really… really have been healed…”

While saying that, I looked down at my own hand. Just yesterday it had been dark reddish-black and rotting, but now it was pure white, smooth, and healthy.

As I stared quietly at my clean white hand, suddenly a warm, gentle feeling spread all through my chest.

Of course I knew why I felt so warm. It was because I remembered how, yesterday, Setsuna-sama had tightly held my hand.

The memory came back clearly — after saying those kind words, he gently squeezed my hand. He truly was a gentle person. To think there could be such a kind-hearted, wonderful boy…

“…hehe. He really… really was a very kind and wonderful boy, wasn’t he…”

While gazing at my now clean white hand, I once again pictured Setsuna-sama in my mind… and while feeling joy that my illness had finally been healed, I slowly spent the gentle morning time in a way I hadn’t been able to for so long.