Dirty Heart - Chapter 2

Lionel Erhardt, the Young Duke, was a man who had suffered from congenital heart disease since birth.

By all rights, he was fated to quietly die without even making it past his second birthday.

But who was he, really? The heir of the Erhardt Ducal House, which boasted the greatest power in the empire, and no less than the male lead of this very story.

Duke Erhardt mobilized all of his wealth and authority to prolong his son’s life, and as a result, achieved the unprecedented feat of successfully performing the world’s first heart transplant surgery.

The duke was overjoyed, believing he had finally found a way to save his son, but he soon ran into yet another obstacle.

For a heart transplant, a donor who met numerous conditions was absolutely necessary, and not only were the criteria exceedingly strict, but there were hardly any people willing to donate in the first place.

However, no parent with a sick child would simply sit back and do nothing.

Duke Erhardt scoured the entire continent, drawing blood from countless children, and at the end of that relentless obsession, he finally discovered a single candidate.

That candidate’s name was Courtney Balkan.

Her origins, her status, even her appearance were so insignificant that she never once drew anyone’s attention, yet astonishingly, the results of the first blood test showed an almost perfectly compatible engraftment rate with Lionel.

Upon hearing the news, the duke made his decision without hesitation.

Courtney Balkan. The girl whose very name had been unfamiliar was hired as a maid of the ducal house.

On the surface, it was packaged as a noble’s goodwill, bestowing charity upon a pitiable orphan, but in truth, it was no different from a turtle’s insidious greed as it eyed a rabbit’s liver.

Completely unaware of these circumstances, Courtney was so moved by the excessive treatment she received from the Erhardts that she even shed tears of gratitude.

All the while, she never realized that in the not-too-distant future, her heart would be extracted by the man she loved, and even her corpse would be burned together with the trash.

After Courtney safely entered the ducal house, the duke summoned his son and issued him a new order.

An order to thoroughly capture the heart of that lowly maid, and furthermore, to share a bed with her every single night.

“Son. This is solely to save your life. That child is the last chance you’ve been given, a blessing from God.”

“…I would rather die as fate intended than share a bed with such a lowly maid.”

“Don’t make a mockery of this father’s efforts, who wandered the entire empire for the sake of saving you.”

As his son vehemently refused, the duke casually held out a report.

The document, stamped with the seals of the empire’s most renowned physicians, clearly stated the following conclusion.

『According to clinical trial results, the success rate of heart transplantation is shown to increase significantly when accompanied by emotional bonds and continuous sexual intercourse between the donor and the recipient.』

“Lionel, there’s nothing difficult about this. It’s merely a medical procedure.”

In other words, the more sincerely the donor’s heart reacted toward the recipient, the higher the success rate of the surgery.

At first, Lionel tried to refuse the operation to the very end, but perhaps because he’d grown sick of his own condition, collapsing like a weakling at the slightest provocation even after reaching adulthood, he eventually changed his mind.

Naturally, the beginning was clumsy. Every word he said to that lowly maid felt unbearably awkward, dripping with pretense.

But perhaps thanks to the male lead buff, he adapted quickly.

“Courtney, you’re truly special.”

“I don’t know what to do; it’s my first time feeling this way toward a maid.”

“I love you, Courtney.”

At some point, flirting slipped out naturally even when he was just breathing, and he immersed himself more and more into his role, to the point that even sex with the maid he’d despised so much became something he could do with skill.

After that, the story was obvious. Courtney, unable to doubt Lionel’s feelings even one bit, eventually offers up her heart and meets a miserable death.

Having obtained a new heart through a woman’s sacrifice, Lionel regains his health and strides proudly onto the battlefield. There, he falls into true love with a young lady from an enemy nation, and it’s a happy ending.

‘No matter how I think about it, he’s a real fucking piece of trash.’

Recalling the novel again snapped her mind fully awake.

Courtney might’ve been duped in her innocence, but the person inside her body now was Lee Haerin, a reader who’d devoured countless dumpster fire 19+ romance fantasies.

‘Just you wait. I’m not letting you take it, not ever.’

She carved her resolve deep into her bones. No matter what it took, she’d protect her heart and survive.

“Courtney. What are you thinking so hard about?”

At the worried voice, she lifted her head, and Lionel, who’d already come right up to her, placed a hand against her forehead.

“No fever.”

It was a careful touch as if he were dealing with a lover, and a voice gentle beyond measure, but she only furrowed her brow and ground her teeth inwardly.

‘Disgusting bastard.’

Did he think she wouldn’t know all this tenderness was solely to steal her heart?

Haerin, no, Courtney narrowed her eyes and forced the corners of her mouth up.

“Young Duke. Could we talk for a moment?”

“Sure.”

Lionel nodded readily and kissed the back of her small hand.

“I like talking with you most of all, Courtney. Should we go somewhere just the two of us?”

Without wavering even a little under that affectionate gaze, she said quietly, “Let’s break up.”

It was a short, clear declaration.

“Courtney… what are you saying?”

In an instant, Lionel’s expression collapsed. Unless he was an idiot, he would’ve noticed at once. The way Courtney was looking at him was so cold, unlike usual.

“From the start, we don’t make sense.”

With a faint thrill, Courtney continued her persuasion in a calm, measured voice, “I’m a lowly maid, and you’re someone who’ll lead the duchy someday. I… I don’t want to become a mistress.”

“Who’s making you a mistress? I’ll never marry any woman other than you, Courtney.”

He had no intention of marrying Courtney in the first place, yet he lied so smoothly.

So she struck the decisive blow. The final decisive blow to cut this pathetic organ thief off in one stroke.

“…I have someone I like now.”

At those words, Lionel’s clear blue eyes widened in shock.

“A man who’s so healthy and looks like he’ll live long, you can’t even compare him to you, Young Duke.”

“…A man who looks like he’ll live long?”

“Yes. Didn’t I tell you? My ideal type is a man who looks like he’ll live a long life.”

That was the moment.

A fine crack formed on Lionel’s beautiful face.

‘That bastard’s pissed.’

Well, no matter how you looked at him, this sickly handsome in front of her didn’t give the impression he’d live long.

A pale complexion, veins that looked like they might burst at any moment, and that unknown medicinal stench clinging to his entire body. He was a man who’d lived his whole life with death’s shadow hanging at his back, so Courtney’s remark was bound to bruise his pride.

“Thank you for everything, Young Duke.”

Regardless, Courtney lowered her head in a final farewell and quickly turned away.

Tap, tap. Just as her light footsteps seemed about to leave the washroom.

“Wait, Courtney!”

Lionel stretched out his long arm to stop Courtney and turn her back, but it was useless.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

A short groan spilled from between his red lips. Clutching at his chest with both hands, he crumpled down helplessly.

“W-what’s wrong with you all of a sudden? Don’t scare me. Huh?”

“Courtney… don’t go.”

“…Ah, fuck.”

Turning back at that sick, suffering sound was a mistake. No matter how vicious an organ thief he was, seeing someone collapse right in front of her still made her mind go blank.

In the end, without even a moment to think, she went to Lionel, propped up his fallen upper body, and shouted urgently.

“Get a grip…!”

Soon after, his tightly shut eyelids slowly lifted. Eyes like a clear sea barely managed to focus on her.

“Courtney, don’t go to that man….”

“Stop talking! You can barely breathe, what are you even…!”

“I’ll… do better. So please, don’t throw me away.”

At how pitifully, weakly he clung to her, Courtney was left speechless.

Lionel Erhardt. He was definitely trash, Satan, and a vicious organ thief.

From Courtney’s standpoint, he was a male lead beyond saving, a man who deserved absolutely no sympathy.

And yet… this kind of trashy thought surfaced.

Ah, sickly male leads really are delicious. [t/n: meaning she’s very weak to this type]