Chapter 58…. The Terms of the Deal
“This is confusing.”
“I understand.”
Chey hugged Bella a little tighter. The warmth of his body pressed against hers, and his low voice resonated from her skin all the way to her heart.
“I feel dizzy… and nauseous.”
“Do you want me to rub your back?”
Knowing that Chey’s offer was sincere, Bella hesitated and slowly slipped out of his embrace. Chey, in turn, did not hold her back and gently released her.
Bella kept rubbing her face with her hands, trying to organize her thoughts, but eventually, overwhelmed, she grabbed her hair in frustration.
“Ah, no… I mean, Chey is dead… or, no, is he really dead? Or since it’s a curse… it’s still been a hundred years—”
“Bella.”
“….”
Chey gently held Bella’s hand and let go of her innocent hair. He leaned slightly forward and met her gaze.
“I have a favor to ask. Help me find a way to break my curse.”
“….”
“If the curse is lifted, I’ll make sure to repay you—”
“Is there any guarantee you’ll even live if the curse is broken?”
Bella asked in a slightly cold tone, looking up at Chey. Her violet eyes, the whites clearly visible, gave off a strange atmosphere.
“Bella?”
“Even before I knew about the curse, someone was relentlessly trying to harm me. I nearly died.”
Bella laughed bitterly. Honestly, she was lucky that the intruders in the mansion had made her blood boil, otherwise, fear and anxiety would have overwhelmed her first.
Chey, observing her mood, whispered in a soft, subtle voice while gently holding her hand.
“That’s why we need to know more about the curse. We have to know who tried to harm us so we can deal with them, right?”
Bella looked at him with innocent eyes for a moment but soon twisted her lips and slapped his hand away.
“No.”
“Bella! Why—”
Chey stared at his empty hand in disbelief.
“The risk is too great. I do like you, Chey, but not enough to risk my life.”
Shaking her head, Bella brushed back her tangled hair irritably.
It was astonishing enough that someone who had lived an ordinary life suddenly saw a ghost. But to realize that this ghost wasn’t dead but cursed, wandering in spirit alone, and that the person behind the curse was someone of high status—it was more than her mind could process.
“Even if you pretend not to notice, staying in that mansion means the threats will continue.”
“The deal I made with Ridel was to protect the ghost, not to obey every command of the ghost.”
“A deal… you say.”
Bella’s words, which had carried affection, now sounded to Chey like she was merely keeping her part of a deal with a business partner.
“I’ve survived ten long years in the capital, afraid I might break down, with even my father gone.”
“Bella. But you did give me your name…”
Chey’s voice trembled pitifully. His fingertips, hesitant to reach her, shook slightly.
“Well, living people naturally give their names when introducing themselves!”
“….”
Living.
The line was clear.
Bella realized that what she had just said could deeply hurt Chey, but it was too late to take it back.
“It’s better if you think Chey is dead.”
“Bella!”
Chey called her name desperately, but Bella turned away coldly.
“Don’t follow me. That face you just made isn’t my type anyway.”
Whether it was a joke or a warning, Bella turned to leave the gravesite. But Chey’s voice caught her ankle.
“As you said, I am a noble… or rather, I used to be. That has to mean I can be of use.”
“What do you mean—”
Bella looked back at him, slightly confused.
Chey’s face was resigned. He expected neither her affection nor her forgiveness, nor did he have expectations for his own future.
A duke with power rivaling the king’s a hundred years ago was holding her hand with trembling eyes, a quivering voice, and shaking hands. Claiming he could still be of use.
“Make a deal with me, Bella. You help lift my curse, and I’ll help with your business.”
“How… exactly?”
“No one knows Prelroad better than I do. So whatever floral business or workshop you planned, I can assist. I know which flowers thrive, which are hard to cultivate, which years had poor yields, and when the rains came.”
“That was a hundred years ago.”
“Nature doesn’t change, no matter how much time passes.”
“….”
It made sense.
For Bella, trying to run a business in Prelroad, hearing advice from someone who had once been the Duke of Prelroad could reduce the chance of failure.
“Whether you dig into my curse or not, they won’t leave you alone. So this proposal won’t be a loss for you.”
“Ha, Chey.”
Seeing Chey shrink like a wet puppy stirred her heart. Bella let out a deep sigh and pressed her fist against her chest.
Trust might have been broken, but her feelings for him hadn’t. And as Chey said, he wasn’t in a position to wield her with power demanding trust.
Rationally, it made more sense to use Chey’s knowledge for her benefit.
Yet the thought that this was the reason to join hands with him didn’t feel right—it felt too sentimental. Bella couldn’t grasp her own heart.
“I’m saying I can be of use, just like that noble you trust.”
“What are you doing now?”
Chey lightly took Bella’s fingertips and pressed his forehead against the back of her hand. Surprised, she couldn’t pull away. Then, raising his gaze, he smiled warmly.
“Let’s call this courtship disguised as a deal.”
“…Courtship?”
Bella froze, eyes wide. Chey straightened, gently brushing her fingertips before letting go.
“Think it over. Without you, I’d be stuck in that mansion for hundreds, even thousands of years. The choice is yours.”
With that, Chey turned and walked away.
Bella stared blankly at his retreating figure, then looked down at the fingertips that had just been held.
They were warm.
She quietly opened and closed her hand several times, lost in thought. Only now did her suppressed feelings surface.
What mattered most wasn’t that he was a duke cursed for a hundred years.
“What matters most to me… isn’t that.”
She muttered in resignation, laughing hollowly.
What would happen if the curse were lifted?
Since assuming the possibility that Chey wasn’t dead but cursed, Bella had been curious. That curiosity gnawed at her.
Betrayal or change of heart would hurt her, but what scared her most was his disappearance. If the curse were probed incorrectly, he could vanish completely.
If he were a dead ghost, Bella could protect him, live her life, and eventually die with him still there—together for a thousand years.
But it was a curse.
That meant even if Bella died, he couldn’t remain in this world in the same form.
Chey must have considered this. That’s why he had made a life-altering decision.
Even if the curse’s end meant obliteration, his resolve to lift it—spoken with desperate eyes of love—was unwavering, his mind prepared for disappearance.
“….”
Bella lifted her gaze to the tomb of Baron Oshik.
Her father had warned her to be wary of the royal family. The cup offered by the royal family…
“Father, I’m sorry.”
It seemed she wouldn’t be able to keep that promise.
