Terminus resisted, but he couldn’t hold out for long, and the knife fell to the ground.

The sound of the knife hitting the pavement was loud. Idrish kicked it away with his foot.

Now Ternya was unarmed, and Idrish remained free. He could harm Terminus at any moment.

But that… couldn’t happen.

Because if that happened, it would only turn Roberto into an enemy. Our effort to clear up the misunderstanding would be in vain.

If we left after harming Ternya, the fact that the wicked Idrish was alive would spread throughout the kingdom. And they would try to get rid of Idrish again!

I mustered every bit of my strength and opened my mouth. Everything felt surreal, as if I had entered a vacuum world.

“I-Idr… no… can’t.”

Idrish’s gaze descended upon me.

In an instant, life grew dim. My body relaxed, and Idrish pulled me into his arms without hesitation.

I leaned on Idrish’s body, taking a desperate breath. Ternya staggered and managed to stand on his own.

Ternya’s chin trembled. There was no trace of his once gentle and kind face.

A chilling omen enveloped us.

As he raised his sword, knights appeared from both sides of the alley.

They all pointed their swords at Idrish simultaneously. Idrish held me closer.

“You’ve shown yourself. Idrish Atygra. Should I thank you for sparing me the trouble?”

But Terminus’s face didn’t look thankful at all. It was far more intimidating than when he had confronted me moments ago.

He was literally radiating hostility toward Idrish.

“Do you know what you’ve done to Sila right now?”

“I regret it as well. But what can I say? We’re allies now… I can’t forgive her either. Can you just stand by after what she did?”

“What she did?”

Idrish’s face contorted.

I felt the same.

What did she do?

Ternya frowned at Idrish’s unpleasant question, as if he couldn’t stand it.

“Don’t tell me that your appearance and Lord’s collapse were just a coincidence. I don’t know what you did, but I won’t forgive her either. After doing such a thing and being fooled like a fool.”

“Such a thing?”

Idrish’s face wrinkled.

I was the same.

What did she do?

Ternya seemed to be thrown off by my reaction.
But I didn’t have time to worry about that.

No, it couldn’t be. Surely, no one would be foolish enough to drink from the spring that had been made to look so suspicious, especially at a time much earlier than the point mentioned in the novel.

Of course, in the novel, it was Lord who drank from the spring first. But I had significantly diluted the poison. That’s why his hands were in such a mess.

“Did Lord happen to drink the sacred spring water?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m asking if he did! Someone mentioned that poison was added to it!”

Ternya’s expression changed briefly. He quickly gestured to the man behind him.

“Yes, as soon as the festival started, he received the sacred spring water.”

“No!”

“Sila, even if you come here now to deceive and manipulate me again, it won’t work.”

“I’m not deceiving!”

In frustration, I paced back and forth in the alley.

“You mean to tell me that he drank that after all the trouble I went through yesterday? All the plants around were dead. The water source was poisoned! What about the purification ritual? Where did that go?”

“…Lord uses his own vessel because of the risk of poison.”

When his subordinate answered, Ternya relented.

“Why use your own vessel? If you’re so cautious about poison, why didn’t anyone suspect the spring water?”

As I pressed him in frustration, a look of confusion crossed Ternya’s eyes.

“Sila, you pretend not to know after doing all this…”

“Is there any way I would do such a thing? And if I did, I wouldn’t just stand here like this. Haven’t I been trying to find out why Lord collapsed until now?”

In the novel, it was only after everyone in Lord’s domain, including Lord himself, had drunk the water that we found out the truth.

“…”

“Look. You can’t even speak. You didn’t find out, did you? My words are right.”

As I explained, I also hurriedly organized my thoughts.

The fact that he had ingested the poison was a past event that couldn’t be reversed. So, what should we do now?

Lord was getting older, so we needed to treat him quickly. I had worked hard to dilute the poison, but the time he consumed it was much earlier than expected.

I couldn’t predict if the poison would be more or less toxic than in the novel.

If Lord were to die like this… Naturally, we would be the prime suspects.

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

“If you don’t believe it, what should we do? Lord is dying, and you’ll just keep chasing after the wrong culprit? Right now, the priority is to save Lord! We need to detoxify quickly.”

“Detoxify?”

“Yes, I saw it. It’s snake venom. The snake shapeshifter spat venom into the spring last night for a long time.”

“Oh, Sila. Don’t use lowly and high-handed tactics. I don’t want to be disappointed in you any further.”

“Don’t speak to Sila like that.”
Idrish approached Terminus with determination. The spark between them reignited. I grabbed Idrish’s clothes firmly.