The Terminally-Ill Lord Desires Hospice Care

“It’s heavy…”
My body creaked heavily again. Day by day, my body grew heavier and stiffer, and I could feel my organs shifting out of place.
Thanks to our teacher’s training of feeding us poisons and antidotes daily, we were able to ingest most poisons like water. However, dragon venom was an exception.
Even that monstrous teacher had advised us to take euthanasia drugs and kill ourselves if we became addicted to dragon venom.
Until now, I had barely endured with medicine and painkillers, but these symptoms would only worsen going forward.

“Lord Raul, I’ve brought your breakfast again today!”
My kind maid Betty presented a breakfast of creamy pasta that looked quite heavy.
“Alas, I drank with Camilla last night.”
Unfortunately, drinking was the only entertainment in this rural village, so I had no choice but to join her drinking session.
“So I thought you’d be very hungry and made plenty!”
“…You eat it instead.”
I declined breakfast from the maid again today and left the mansion to head towards the adventurer’s guild where Cecilia was.
It was quite a nice day with warm sunlight and a cool breeze, but…it felt too cold for me.
So I quickened my pace while tightly wrapping my extra thick coat around myself.

As I opened the door to the adventurer’s guild, the air inside instantly froze.
“Oh, you’ve arrived, my lord…!”
“I did not ask for such a tense attitude.”
“I, is that so…?”
“I’ve simply come to see Cecilia as usual. You lot are not my purpose, so there’s no need to be so stiff.”
They had become afraid of me after I subdued those soldiers of the nobleman named Neil.
Even though it was just a hold that anyone could learn with some practice, they looked at me like I was a monster.
I had fled to avoid receiving such gazes.

“You’ve come?”
Upon hearing of my visit, Cecilia appeared with a rather welcoming expression.
“I didn’t expect you to come see me specifically. What is your purpose in visiting today? If it’s for a request…”
“Do you have any men you’re seeing?”
“Pardon…?!”
I had merely asked a question, but she was so startled that she nearly fell backwards.
“N, no, I don’t mean a man I’m seeing or anything like that…”
“I have no tact, so let me clarify to avoid misunderstanding – I don’t mean regular interactions. Rather, I’m asking if you have any special relationships or connections for physical pleasure or future marriage…”
“I know what you mean, you don’t need to explain!”
She suddenly became angry for some reason.
Since I couldn’t fathom why she was angry, I first blamed my own lack of tact.
“In any case, may I ask why you’re asking about that?”
“I wish to discuss my engagement.”
“Ah, isn’t it a bit too early for that? I mean, we haven’t even…! No, before that, we don’t even have that kind of relationship…!”
It seemed the adventurers in this village had a habit of stumbling over their words.
“I want to write an important letter to my fiancée, but unfortunately, I’ve lived a life far removed from romance.”
“You, you had a fiancée…?!”
“Well, it’s that kind of relationship, anyway.”
Of course, she would hate me more than anyone else. She was someone who hated me more than anyone, and had the right to kill me.

“If you’re asking me to help write a love letter, then I’ll have to refuse.”
“I’ll pay you five silvers. And unfortunately, it won’t be a love letter. Well, it may fall under that category at first, but…”
“Pardon…?”
I showed signs of discomfort from the gazes upon me from the surroundings.
It didn’t seem like the kind of conversation I should have in front of so many people, so I wanted to move locations.
“…This is rather uncomfortable.”
“Then would you like to come to my house?”
“If it’s not a bother, I appreciate it.”
Cecilia’s house was unexpectedly tidy, contrary to my preconception that most adventurers lived messily.
“Would you like some tea?”
“I’ll take you up on that.”
Since I was on an empty stomach, I wanted to have some tea to fill my hollow belly, even if just a little.
Back when training under my teacher, I had fought for four days without eating or drinking, but my body had grown weaker now, so that was no longer feasible.
Not only dragon venom, but we had all suffered no small injuries in the battle against the Demon Lord.

“Here you go.”
After savoring the fragrant tea and simple snacks she prepared, I explained my purpose.
“What I want to send her isn’t some lukewarm love letter. It’s closer to the opposite, in fact.”
“So you’re saying…”
“I intend to demand the breaking of our engagement.”
That way, I would be the one breaking the contract, so she wouldn’t have to pay any penalties.
And even if I were to die in the future, it would have no impact on her as an unmarried woman.

“However, she tends to ignore most of my letters, so I would like your assistance. I lack tact, you see.”
“If your lack of tact is that severe…then I think I’ll have to help you.”
She brought out paper, a quill pen, and ink, then began writing seriously as if co-authoring.
It was the first time I had seen her look so serious, and I was a bit surprised.

“But what’s the problem that you feel the need to break the engagement? Don’t you like her looks or something?”
That wasn’t the case.
There were many reasons, but appearances couldn’t be a cause for me to end a relationship.
Even if the other person was the ugliest woman, as long as she could guide me, I could love her.
Though it was laughable for me, with so little time left to live, to speak of loving someone.

“…Shall I show you a portrait?”
I took out her portrait that I carefully kept in my wallet and showed it to her.
“It’s just a rough sketch, but…”
“…She is indeed a beauty.”
“Well, it’s only natural with her bloodline.”
She was the sister of the most beautifully radiant woman in the world, so of course she would be beautiful too.

“But why do you want to break the engagement? Most men would prostrate themselves to accept a woman like that.”
“…I don’t think either of us would be happy even if we married.”
To her, I was merely the enemy who killed her sister. And to me, she was simply her sister’s sibling.
It was clear that love would never blossom between us.
And if a child were to be born from us, that child would surely live an unhappy life.

“Did you perhaps have a big fight over your love affair? I noticed you seemed close with that blue-haired woman.”
“…No, it’s not that.”
She was not the kind of woman who would get angry over such matters.
“She simply hates me. A petty hatred, not even replying to my letters, ignoring requests to meet and clear up misunderstandings, and occasionally sabotaging my work to the point of causing me overwork.”

There was a time when she sabotaged my household’s business, forcing me to work for five straight days and nights to resolve it until I collapsed from overwork.
Thanks to that, I was able to recover from the damage and can now speak of it casually, but at the time, I had coughed up blood from the excessive fatigue.

“Come to think of it, she even sent assassins after me. I suppose she didn’t have enough money to send ones capable of killing me.”
“What kind of life did you live for your fiancée to hate you that much?”
“I’ve lived a rather ordinary life. And I’ve never really been hurt by her actions.”
Since she had the right to kill me, I could accept any of her actions as justified.

“…Ah, but there was one time I was slightly hurt. When she sent a dead body for my birthday, I felt a bit gloomy.”
When she sent thirty boxes of a dead raccoon corpse on my birthday, I did feel a bit hurt.
I had a hard time stopping the Emperor and Camilla from raging about tearing off her limbs.

“…What a woman.”
Cecilia started getting angry, her expression showing her temper rising.
“But why did you get engaged to a woman like that in the first place? You don’t seem to lack in looks or ability…”
“…There were complicated circumstances behind it.”
“Haa…Alright, I’ll write up a draft for you first. Take a look at that, then go home and write the actual letter yourself, and bring it to me for review.”
She wrote densely until the two sheets of paper were filled.
It was a bit surprising since most adventurers I knew were far removed from intellectual pursuits.

“Here, take a look at the draft.”
Upon reading her draft, I was amazed.
For a rustic adventurer like her to have better writing skills than most nobles was quite impressive.
In terms of literary prowess alone, one could say she was more capable than Rizehl.

“…Thank you.”
I placed five silver coins on the table and stood up.
“If this works out, I’ll provide additional recompense next time.”
Now, if I send a proper letter of disengagement, I should be able to sever this superficial engagement.
My fiancée had sufficiently grown, and I had fulfilled my duty.

By cutting off all the things that bound me, I would be able to breathe freely.
“This should do it.”
And I had been the worst fiancé as well.
For the one I loved was not my fiancée, but her sister.
Her sister was my other half, the woman who could embrace my soul.