Instead of My Stepsister, I Have Become Engaged to the Son of a Marquis, Who Is Said to Only Have a Year Left to Live - Chapter 12

Chapter 12
Peaceful time

　Edith sat down in a chair so that her eyes were at eye level with Lionel, who had raised his upper body from the bed. Looking at his gentle, violet-blue eyes from up close, Edith thought they were beautiful. Feeling his gaze on her from so close, she felt a little embarrassed, but she spoke.

“Now that I’m thinking about talking to you again, I’m not sure where to begin. I’m not sure if Lionel, a Marquis, would be interested in hearing about my past as a commoner…”

　Lionel smiled warmly at Edith’s words.

“I’d like to know everything about you. You are different from any other young lady I’ve ever met. And I mean that in a good way. That’s why I’d like to hear stories about your life as a commoner…Of course, the reason I’m interested in you isn’t simply a matter of your past social status, whether commoner or noble, but rather your own personal charm. So please feel free to tell me anything about yourself.”

　Edith smiled at his words, feeling the blood rise to her cheeks.

“So, let me start by telling you how I came to be adopted by the Oak Ridge Earl family.”

　Edith briefly explained how, after her parents died in an accident, her grandfather came to pick her up, and she learned that her father was from an Earl’s family, and how she was taken in by the Oak Ridge Earl family and adopted by her uncle. Lionel nodded and listened quietly to Edith’s story.
　Edith continued, remembering her parents fondly.

“When I was living in a rural town with my parents, I never would have imagined that my father was from an aristocratic family and had practically eloped from his family’s Earl home. He had completely integrated into the life of a commoner. He loved my mother very much, and we were a normal, close-knit family.”
“When I’m with you, I can naturally sense that you were raised with love in a warm home. It must have been very difficult when you lost your parents… Your father must have loved your mother very much, since he chose to run away and leave home to be with her.”

　Edith let out a smile at Lionel’s words.

“My father told me that the two of them first met when my mother helped him when he fell ill with a high fever while traveling. He made a full recovery thanks to the medicine my mother made and her dedicated nursing care, and he apparently fell in love with her.”

　Lionel also narrowed his eyes at what Edith said.

“That’s good news… I thought for sure that your father, who was from the Oak Ridge Earl family, was knowledgeable about medicine, but it seems your mother was knowledgeable about medicine as well.”
“Yes. My father was knowledgeable about medicine, but I had the impression that my mother was more skilled at making medicines. I learned a lot from my mother about how to boil herbs to make medicine and how to compound them.”
“Did you use that knowledge to help out the Oak Ridge family with their medicine business? I remember you were helping out with the family business as well.”

　Edith nodded at his words, surprised that Lionel had remembered the words she had spoken to her stepmother.

“Yes, to a certain extent. However, when I started helping out the Oak Ridge Earl family’s pharmaceutical business when my grandfather was still alive, it was strictly related to the same types of medicines that they had always sold wholesale. When I was helping out at my parents’ pharmacy, we compounded medicines according to the symptoms of each individual patient, so it was a bit different. The pharmacy my parents ran was small, but the medicines they sold were very effective, so many people came to buy them.”

　Edith remembered how, in their small rural town, recovered patients would come to thank her parents with smiles on their faces, bringing them home-made gifts of vegetables, fruit, honey, and cheese. Edith’s parents would always look on with joy at the sight of their recovered patients.

　Lionel looked at Edith and smiled.

“I can kind of imagine. I’m sure he was loved by the local people.”
“Although the herbs used in making medicines were often not that rare, my mother often told me that the trick was to listen carefully to the patient’s symptoms and compound the medicine while praying for their recovery.”

　Edith remembered her mother as a kind woman with a constant smile, and as her mother had taught her, whenever she prepared a medicine, she would always put her hopes into it for the wellbeing of the person who would take it.

“…The medicine you made seems to be working well, maybe because you wished for my body to recover.”
“Fufu, that may be true. I do have my heart set on helping Lord Lionel get better.”

　Lionel and Edith exchanged smiles and continued their casual conversation for a while. Lionel was not pretentious, despite being a high-ranking aristocrat, and was very easy to talk to, even for Edith.
　Edith got so engrossed in her conversation with Lionel that she suddenly noticed the sun shining through the window had gotten much higher in the sky. She suddenly asked Lionel,

“Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. It’s almost lunchtime. Lord Lionel, aren’t you tired? And are you hungry?”

　Lionel, who seemed to have become completely at ease with Edith, looked at her with bright, happy eyes.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a good time; I’ve lost track of time. It’s already lunchtime. I don’t feel tired at all. I don’t usually have much of an appetite, but today I’m feeling a little hungry. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this good.”

　Seeing Lionel’s expression become so lively, Edith felt her heart slowly warm with joy.