After starting the fireworks and waving to the people of Lysenford, Peon came in after instructing to generously distribute meat and bread.

“Your Highness! Welcome!”

“Oh, I heard the new Grand Duchess couldn’t eat Perenko. So we persuaded her well and made her eat it! Hahaha!”

As soon as he heard that cursed Perenko, Peon looked up at Kaella, who was eating silently. It’s starting again as soon as he arrived.

She was chewing mechanically with a blank white face. Seeing them force-feeding the young Grand Duchess something that even the people here don’t eat much because it’s dry and tasteless made his blood boil.

“I see your plates are not empty yet. Does it not suit your taste either? Shall I clear it?”

The Grand Duke, who had been laughing it off, sarcastically passed by the huge dining table and went to the Grand Duchess’s side.

“Don’t force yourself to eat. Stop eating.”

Perenko. That damned Perenko. It’s Lysenford’s huge, tough, and tasteless deer dish. They say they only ate it when they were poor, but isn’t it not that bad now? Peon suddenly remembered why he despised Perenko so much.

The Grand Duchess originally disliked Perenko. She never ate a single bite or touched it. Yet now she gulped, chewing Perenko slowly and looked at him with a weak face. Then she whispered softly.

“It’s alright.”

Alright? What exactly is alright? Is it alright for a preciously raised princess to be forced to eat something she dislikes for the first time due to this barbaric pushiness?

“Don’t force yourself to eat. Stop eating, now.”

He said clearly once again. Disgust welled up.

Those nobles who insist on force-feeding this trivial food they themselves dislike to the young Grand Duchess, while disregarding important things like honor, faith, and loyalty, and the natives of this castle including the head maid, butler, and chef who should clearly serve the Grand Duchess but acted on their own – his disgust towards them all ultimately pierced himself.

He despised himself the most for subconsciously finding Kaella frustrating for not being tactful and just eating a few bites of deer meat, drawing more disapproving looks before the regression.

A princess who only ate soft and flavorful food isn’t even being extremely picky about food, she just dislikes one thing, Perenko. That can happen.

Seeing the head maid’s displeased expression towards him, he understood what had happened. Ah. Now he gets it.

It felt like the veil over his eyelids was completely removed and his dull mind awakened. And the reality he faced was far more miserable than he thought.

‘From the beginning…’

He said he would never repeat the same mistake and do well from the start, but he was still a stupid and pathetic person who made another mistake. He should have brought the Grand Duchess along even for the fireworks. First, he needs to replace the head maid.

“Don’t eat. It’s really alright.”

Peon sat next to her, quietly speaking, and thought about how to deal with these natives he was sick of. Come to think of it, Peon was also an outsider, so he couldn’t ignore those who had lived here for a long time.

As the Grand Duke, he had to govern them well, and it’s true that Kraine had ignored and mistreated them, so he had been considerate of many things. But that was no longer important.

If she didn’t like it, he could just say he didn’t like it and not eat it. If the Grand Duchess was treated as a pushover, the Grand Duke should be treated the same way. Those who change their attitude depending on the person were the first to be removed.

“Oh my. Grand Duchess. What’s wrong with your eyes?”

Just then, a sniggering voice laughed mockingly.

“They’re swollen as if stung by a bee. Are there bees in this weather? Look at her eyes. Oh my. What to do.”

A noblewoman who came with her loud husband from the sophisticated Kraine, determined to catch the wealthy new Grand Duchess from the start, pointed at Kaella’s face and laughed.

Her eyes are strange? Peon immediately turned to examine Kaella. She was sitting still. No, not still. Her whole body was too tense.

“Oh, that’s right. Your face is swollen, Grand Duchess.”

Peon reached out amidst the mocking voices. His heart sank and his blood ran cold.

“…Ugh…”

A pained groan escaped along with labored breathing.

“Kaella!”

In an instant, she fell backwards, her eyes too swollen to open properly.

“My lady!”

Mari screamed, and several people stood up abruptly. Her hands, which had been gripping the chair and table tightly to resist scratching her flushed skin and endure her quickening breath, fell limply.

A ringing sound pierced Peon’s ears. He forcibly held onto her as she collapsed too easily, or rather, his reason that was on the verge of panic. No. He couldn’t lose his mind here.

“Call a doctor!”

Peon shouted loudly and grabbed Kaella, who was barely conscious, forcing her to vomit.

“Kaella, stay conscious. Throw up, quickly.”

Peon didn’t just command when countless injured soldiers appeared on the battlefield against the evil dragon Gassalante. Earl Wilberk and Earl Renard rushed over, and the maids shielded Kaella.

“You need to throw up, Kaella.”

Dying is painful. It’s sufficiently painful and hurts to die. Kaella knew this better because she had lived her past life pouring out all her strength and withering away.

So she didn’t want to live by forcibly vomiting the Perenko she had forced herself to eat enough to be sufficiently painful. In this place where kind people are suppressed by loud people, and nothing works no matter how hard you try, she had to die quickly.

But a strong hand firmly pressed down on her swollen tongue and poked her throat. Kaella vomited everything she ate. Tears welled up along with the cramps squeezing her abdomen.

“Well done. Don’t lose consciousness. Look at me.”

Her blurry vision was a mess. Even trying to see, she couldn’t. Kaella surrendered herself to the darkness that approached joyfully.

“Open your eyes, Kaella!”

*

The newly wedded Grand Duchess’s face was swollen and she lost consciousness. This happened at the welcoming banquet on her first day arriving in Lysenford.

“My, she must be rather weak.”

After the Grand Duchess who had forcibly vomited was carried out unconscious, someone tactlessly muttered. It was a serious matter, but only to that extent.

“Why?”

The noble who had been muttering asked back, seeing the glaring expression of another noble. It was someone who was usually tight-lipped and hadn’t said a word today either.

“Are you that unaware of the current situation? What do you think Kraine will say when the Grand Duchess who just arrived today collapses?”

“What would they say…”

What would they say? What use is it if those Kraine bastards who don’t know how to fight and only have fat on their bellies say something vile?

Among those blinking their eyes, those with quick wits and political sense, though few in number and keeping their mouths shut, had already turned pale and were squeezing their eyes shut.

“Everyone, be quiet! Please be seated!”

At that moment, the knights under the Grand Duke blocked the banquet hall entrance and shouted.

“Please remain seated until the situation stabilizes. Do not touch the table either.”

“Why not the table?”

The knight answered coldly.

“By order of His Grace the Grand Duke, an investigation will be conducted as the food has caused issues with Her Grace the Grand Duchess’s well-being.”

As soon as the words fell, several knights dragged out the head maid and butler. The chef was also dragged out from the kitchen in the back.

The Grand Duke grabbed the collars of the nobles who were thinking lightly of the situation and turned everything upside down. He carried the collapsed Kaella and laid her in his bedroom.

“You say it’s because of Tur berries? But Tur berries aren’t toxic?”

The doctor who was called in and spoke such nonsense was immediately chased out. The next doctor was called.

“She ate food that didn’t agree with her body. It was no different from poison to Her Grace the Grand Duchess.”

The doctor who made an accurate diagnosis as soon as she saw her was allowed to continue treating the Grand Duchess. But she shook her head, saying the Grand Duchess was in a very critical condition.

“Perenko is a dish made with Tur berry sauce poured over it. Even consuming a small amount is quite dangerous, but she consumed too much. Did Her Grace the Grand Duchess not know because it was her first time encountering Tur berries?”

How could that be? Peon, who had grasped the situation that Kaella had clearly said several times that it made her itchy and hard to breathe, that it ‘hurt’, shook his head heavily. Kaella knew. She knew and still ate it.

“Then are you saying she ate it voluntarily?”

The doctor looked at Peon in shock. Peon, his face dark as death, had nothing to say.

Why did Kaella do that? Did she eat a bite or two unable to resist the nobles’ insistence and end up like this? No, her plate was cleaned empty. She chewed thoroughly and swallowed it all.

Then perhaps, did she try to die out of despair for marrying him, a bastard?

The doctor looked around fearfully, and after confirming once again that there was no one listening, carefully said,

“I’ve done all the treatment I can, but I can’t guarantee anything. She can’t even breathe properly right now…”

The nobles say they won’t even look at a ‘female’ apothecary of low status, but following the Grand Duke’s order to bring anyone skilled regardless of who they are, the stable keeper recommended her saying there was a famous doctor.

She said she was on her way home after caring for a woman who had just given birth until late, when she met the Grand Duke’s knights and came here. Having never dealt with such high-ranking people before, the doctor trembled before the Grand Duke with his piercing gaze.

“Speak whatever needs to be said without holding back.”

“I’m sorry, Your Grace. Right now, whether Her Grace the Grand Duchess has the will to live or not is most important.”

At those words that came out in one breath, the man who had been sitting like a rock at his newly wedded wife’s bedside froze.

Nothing had changed, but the doctor noticed that the Grand Duke had forgotten to breathe for a moment. And above all, the atmosphere revolving around him, which was already harsh, had now progressed to the brink of explosion.

“Usually, they consider that ‘will’ when there’s nothing more that can be done.”

The doctor bowed her head deeply.

“Yes, Your Grace. She consumed an amount that even a sturdy man would find hard to endure.”

Moreover, the patient lying there in a miserable state was not a sturdy man, but a young princess who was often ill and very susceptible to cold.

The treatment usually given to the wounded on the battlefield was being done to Kaella. With her face a mess of swelling and redness, covered in medicinal herbs, praying desperately for it to subside, the doctor was already speaking of the worst-case scenario.

“I’ve done my best.”

Peon closed his eyes tightly. Kaella, her mouth forcibly held wide open and tongue pressed down to secure her airway, was hovering between life and death, breathing rough breaths.

“It seems difficult for her to survive through tonight.”

The doctor spoke the truth at the risk of her life. And that truth broke the Grand Duke once more. An indelible black sin was surging at his feet.

“…Is there no way? No way to save her somehow?”

They said the Grand Duke from Kraine was fair and unwavering, unlike those cunning and cowardly Kraine bastards.

It’s a story even the children playing on the streets of Lysenford know. The doctor witnessed the man said to be unshakeable being shaken miserably.

“I can employ any means and methods. Is there really no way for her to live?”

He couldn’t lose her so futilely. His desperate questioning voice trembled. The doctor bowed her head.

“…We can only rely on legend, Your Grace. The panacea said to be in His Majesty the Emperor’s treasure vault…”

Even the people of Lysenford knew that was close to just a legend. So, at the look demanding she speak of something more realistic, reason was gradually disappearing.

“There is a medicine called Retilin that instantly alleviates these symptoms, but that… according to my master, it is in the dragon’s domain. I apologize, Your Grace.”

Everyone in Lysenford knew that if the Grand Duke, who protects Lysenford, went to find medicine in the evil dragon Gassalante’s domain across the border, it would immediately mean another battle. It would be too great a loss.

One must not provoke the evil dragon. The crops they’ve worked so hard to grow must not turn to ash in the hellish flames the evil dragon breathes, and the fearsome forest dwellers and underground beings said to be the dragon’s subordinates must not appear beyond the castle walls again.

How painful was last autumn? Strangely, there was no more friction as winter turned to spring, but one never knows when something might happen again.

The people of Lysenford were always on high alert. In such circumstances, it’s nonsensical for people to go to the dragon’s domain.

“Not an herb, but medicine?”

“Yes. I heard it’s a medicine created by the spirits the evil dragon commands. It’s a very old story.”

In Lysenford, where people would have a fit at the mention of the evil dragon Gassalante, it’s best to stay as far away from the dragon as possible. So the doctor drew a line, saying it was an old story.

“…Keep that information to yourself. Don’t tell anyone.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Take care of my wife. If you can keep her breathing until sunrise, I’ll give you a great reward.”

After speaking curtly, Peon finally rose and left the bedroom.

“Wilberk, Renard. Guard the bedroom. Don’t let anyone in except the doctor and the Grand Duchess’s maids. Don’t follow me, protect the Grand Duchess. Trust no one.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

The few knights the Grand Duke trusted bowed their heads. The Grand Duke, donning a black cloak and pulling the hood low, quietly mounted a black horse and left the castle. He quickly passed through the castle gates, and once outside, he increased his speed even more.

While the nobles were confined in the banquet hall, the powerful warhorse that had left Lysenford ran and ran until white foam formed at its mouth.

The warhorse gradually entered into increasingly rugged mountains. Snow had not yet melted, and it went along a path where cold winds blew. Though it was a very wide road, no person dared to come near this area.

It seemed as if ominous presences were whispering among the black branches. The sensitive horse, feeling the fearful gazes watching it, occasionally tried to veer off the path. If not for its master’s reassuring hand, it would have long since fled.

After riding far and deep, even deeper, the horse finally reared up in great fright. In the darkness, darkness gathered to form a shape.

“Calm down.”

The Grand Duke, tightly gripping the reins, soothed the horse while staring directly at the shape.

“I need Retilin.”

The one who dared to intrude into the dragon’s domain spoke with great boldness.