If You're Going to Sell Yourself, Sell It to Me - Chapter 36

On a day when a typhoon suddenly hit, a high fever abruptly spiked. While playing with dolls by her parents’ side, Leona’s vision blurred, and she collapsed to the floor.

“Honey! Her body is burning up!”

At her mother’s scream, even her father, who came over to feel her forehead, wore a grave expression.

Since a doctor would usually come directly to their cabin for ailing passengers, there was no medicine prepared for a sick child in the cabin. The cold compress placed on her forehead quickly became hot.

The captain had ordered everyone to stay in their rooms because of the approaching typhoon, which was said to be quite large. As a result, the only option was to go and bring the doctor from the infirmary directly. The servants had been sent to guard the expensive and fragile luggage, leaving only Leona, her parents, and her nanny in the cabin.

Leona’s father stopped the nanny, who offered to go fetch the doctor, and went himself, judging that it was too dangerous to let anyone else go on the swaying ship. Before leaving, he came to her bed and pressed a light kiss to her feverish forehead.

“Leona, I’ll bring the doctor. Stay with your mother and wait just a little longer, okay?”

Perhaps because of the fever, her father’s face was blurry, but the gentle smile directed at her was clear as day.

“Be careful.”

Leona gave her father a small hug with her tiny hands.

In the meantime, the waves grew rougher, and the furniture that had been tied down began to shift. Several minutes passed, but her father still hadn’t returned.

Through her fever-clouded vision, she saw her mother pacing anxiously by the door. After grasping the doorknob several times, her mother seemed to make up her mind and came to the bed.

Leona weakly looked up at her mother.

“Leona, my baby. You’ll have to be alone for a little while.”

“Mom, are you going too?”

“I think I need to find your father.”

“Mom, aren’t you and Dad afraid of the waves?”

In response to Leona’s worried gaze, her mother raised the corners of her lips. “Not at all, darling. What’s frightening to Mom and Dad is our Leona being sick. We’ll bring the doctor back quickly, so hang in there just a little longer. Can you do that?”

“Yes, I can. I’m strong.”

Though her lips were dry and cracked, her mother smiled brightly at the cute voice of her child. Even in the dim light, her blonde hair and light green eyes sparkled.

To the child’s hazy eyes, her mother looked like a painting, as if she had stepped out of a masterpiece.

Her mother left a kiss on Leona’s chubby six-year-old cheeks and then departed from the cabin.

“My lady, both of them will be back soon. While we wait, how about I read you the picture book about the brave knight and the princess?”

The nanny took out Leona’s favorite picture book as she watched the child continue to stare at the door, even after her parents had left.

Leona quickly became engrossed in the story.

So much so that she didn’t notice the violent shaking of the ship or the soft prayers the nanny whispered as she turned the pages.

Just as they were down to the last two pages, the ship jolted violently, like an untamed horse. Leona’s body lifted off the bed, only to fall back down again.

All the items on the shelves tumbled to the floor, and the teacups her parents had been using crashed with a loud shattering sound.

“Mom! Dad!”

Leona’s scream mixed with the roaring storm outside.

“My lady, it’ll be all right. Everything will be okay soon.”

The nanny, holding her tightly, wiped the blood that trickled down her forehead, perhaps from hitting the shelf.

In the chaotic cabin, Leona sobbed in the nanny’s arms.

Creak, creak.

Even in the midst of this, the unsettling sound grew louder. It resembled the noise of a wooden doll being twisted. Just as Leona’s body shuddered with anxiety, the ship tilted severely to one side and then returned to an even keel.

Taking advantage of the brief calm, the nanny, still holding Leona, ran toward a large luggage trunk. It was the trunk where Leona’s dresses were stored.

The sturdy trunk had been designed to protect the clothes adorned with jewels and lace from getting wet, even in severe weather. Made with wooden resin applied meticulously, the trunk ensured that none of its contents would get wet in the storm.

The nanny opened the trunk wide and put Leona inside. Stroking the girl’s hair, who stared at her with wide eyes in confusion, the nanny spoke softly, “My lady, your fever is high, and you mustn’t get wet. Would you mind staying here for a little while?”

“No, it’s dark in here, and you can’t come in with me.”

“I’ll guard the front of the trunk. As soon as your parents arrive, I’ll take you out, so just hang in there for a bit. You’re the bravest little lady, aren’t you?”

“But still…”

“If you endure well, I’ll sneak you lots of strawberry candies. You like that, don’t you?”

“Really?”

Leona nodded her head at the promise of receiving a lot of candy, something she only got once or twice a week because it was bad for her teeth.

“You have to keep that promise!”

“Of course.”

Hearing the nanny’s firm response, Leona obediently curled up inside the trunk. The empty spaces around her were filled with soft cushions. Soon after, the lid of the trunk closed, leaving only a small crack for air.

“I’ll open it from the outside, so stay put until then.”

“Okay. But you have to give me the candy.”

“I will, my lady…”

Perhaps because of the rain, the nanny’s voice sounded wetter than usual.

Just as Leona was about to count numbers out of boredom in the dark trunk, a sound like the floorboards splitting echoed, and the ship plunged downward.

Tossed around inside the trunk, Leona lost consciousness at some point.

***

“Mom! Dad! Nanny!”

Georgiana screamed as she woke from the nightmare. Her face was drenched with tears, evidence of how much she’d been crying.

As she came to her senses, the dream slowly began to fade.

Georgiana kept revisiting it, certain that it was an important memory she mustn’t forget. Even though the names and appearances of her parents in the dream were completely different from reality, the sensation of being held by them and the rocking of the ship felt so vivid, as if it had really happened.

Even the feeling of lying inside the trunk felt too real. She was convinced the child in the dream was her.

It was strange enough to recall something from her forgotten childhood, but what puzzled her even more was how different her dream parents were from the ones she knew. Her mother’s hair and eyes were almost identical to her own present appearance, completely unlike Marianne’s.

Was it simply a dream of something she had wished for?

Could it be that because the storm was raging outside, she had dreamed of being caught in a typhoon as well?

If that were true, how could she explain the agonizing pain in her chest, as though her heart was being torn apart?

Even thinking about the dream made her tear up.

What kind of memory was this?

Everything was so confusing.

Creak.

At that moment, the ship swayed.

It was a weak shake, nowhere near as violent as in the nightmare, but having just woken from the terrifying dream of a shipwreck, she couldn’t stop her body from trembling.

As she told herself to pull it together now that she was awake, she opened her eyes—only to quickly shut them again when a soft voice came from above her.

“Shh, it’s okay. It’ll be better soon.”

The familiar, gentle voice was comforting her.

Lo… Lockwood? Why?

Peeking through slightly opened eyes, she was startled to find herself not on the sofa where she’d last sat but in a bed—specifically, on Lockwood’s lap.

Apparently, Lockwood, who must have been exhausted from the night, was half-asleep, his eyes closed as he gently patted Georgiana’s back.

It dawned on her that the reason she hadn’t felt the ship’s shaking was because she had been cradled in his arms this whole time.

I-I must be losing my mind.

She was about to jump off his lap when a sudden thought made her stop, and she decided to pretend to be asleep.

If she woke him now and made eye contact, the rest of the time in the cabin with no way to escape would be unbearably awkward.

If I keep pretending to be asleep, he’ll eventually leave. And then I can act like I didn’t know anything had happened.

Georgiana couldn’t help but feel conflicted. While part of her wanted to blame him for this situation, there was a gentle kindness in his touch that reminded her of the father in her dream. Her heart wouldn’t stop fluttering.

It was strange to see such tenderness from a man who usually seemed so cold. He had been kind when they watched the fireworks, but he had quickly reverted to his usual aloofness.

And yet here he was, cradling her in his arms, soothing her like a child frightened of the storm. The unfamiliarity of it made her heart race.

She sneaked a glance at his face, eyes still closed. Though he looked a bit rough around the edges from exhaustion, Lockwood, in her eyes, always shone brilliantly.

Hadn’t I just told myself not to think too much about him, not to get my hopes up?

But despite her resolution, she found herself drawn to him, unable to resist the pull.

‘It’s not my fault. Lockwood’s the one making this difficult. If he’d just keep his distance, everything would be fine.’

She tried to put all the blame on him, but the real problem was that her body was starting to tense up more and more with every passing second.

Biting her lip in an attempt to keep herself calm, she couldn’t help but notice the firm object pressing against her from below each time the ship rocked. She knew it couldn’t be a weapon, and there was no denying what it was.

Heat rushed to her face.

She tried to subtly shift her hips, but whatever it was, it was too large to avoid without fully getting up. In fact, as she tried to lift herself slightly, the ship’s movement caused her to land directly on top of it.

“Stop moving.”

His voice, groggy from sleep, startled her.

She had woken him up after all.