Idrish turned to look at me, and I lowered my head.

“We don’t want to destroy everything we’ve built up to now. Don’t you feel the same, Idrish? This is all a misunderstanding. Let’s not do this.”

“No matter what you say now, I won’t believe you.”

“No, you will believe me. I can do it.”

I tightly held Idrish’s hand, hoping he would trust me, trust someone else.

Idrish just silently stared at my face.

I hoped desperately that it was a positive sign.

Idrish no longer stopped me.

I left him behind and approached Ternya. His face was still cold, but he seemed more confused than he did a while ago.

“If you don’t believe it, come with us to the sacred spring. I have changed the purification vessel. If there’s still poison, it will turn black as soon as it touches it.”

“But if that’s true, why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“Well, I’m a fugitive too. If we, who have no known status or identity, say we saw something like that, who would believe us? It would be suspicious, and we might be investigated.”

“But even if that’s the case…”

“So I tried to spread it as much as possible. Look at my hands. I accidentally spread the poison like this.”

I raised my hands to show the irritated skin.

Ternya’s expression became more serious.

It seemed like he was trying to gauge whether my words were lies or the truth.

“It’s true. We came here for something else. If you don’t really believe us, you can arrest us. But let’s save Lord first.”

I mimicked the act of putting on handcuffs and extended my hands to Terminus. He scrutinized my hand, then me, and finally Idrish.

Pain and anguish, which didn’t fit his usual demeanor, were clearly visible on his face.

Please.

I silently cried out inside.

After a brief hesitation, as if he had made up his mind, he sighed.

“Fine. But I haven’t completely erased my suspicions of you. Lord needs to wake up…”

“I understand. There’s no time for this.”

“The only antidote that can neutralize snake shifter poison is made in Serbien. But… It’s hard to obtain it unless it’s from the Serbien domain. How long would it take to travel by carriage from here?”

“It takes a minimum of 8 days by carriage. Plus, the time to obtain the antidote, it would take even longer.”
In the novel, it was mentioned that she would die in a week. There was no time to go there. I bit my lip.

“I can get it.”

Idrish suddenly stepped forward. I looked at him in surprise.

“How do you mean?”

Terminus’ tone became cautious again. It seemed like he thought Idrish would use the antidote as an excuse to escape.

“It’s much faster to run as a shifter than to take a carriage. Besides, I know where to get the antidote. I had something I needed to obtain as well.”

Needed something? Idrish probably didn’t even know that the snake venom incident would happen.

After a moment of thought, I could understand the reason. It was because of me.

When I met Perkop, he had promised to keep me safe. When I was scared of getting bitten by a venomous snake, he had said he could detoxify it.

“I received a letter from Mogus this noon saying that he got the antidote, so if we’re lucky, we might meet him on the way.”

He had been missing for a few days, and he was doing this kind of sneaky thing?

“But if you transform into Baekho, everyone will recognize you.”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

Idrish’s voice was resolute.

What did that mean? It was practically a statement that he wouldn’t hide his identity anymore. Why?

I wanted to know, but I didn’t ask for details. Idrish must have had his own thoughts and plans.

I trusted him.

“But you can’t go alone. Even if you’re in a different form, you’re still the prime suspect in this case.”

Terminus’ next words were unexpected.

“If you really want to go, go with me.”

I decided to leave it to ensure fast travel. Idrish seemed extremely uncomfortable with the idea of parting ways with me, but I couldn’t imagine him enduring the entire journey at top speed while I rode on him.

Instead, Terminus promised my safety.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

I whispered to Idrish.

Considering that I hadn’t properly lifted the curse after being submerged in water, I was worried. Moreover, I had used a lot of strength earlier, so by now, my chest was probably completely black.

It might hurt. In case something happened on the way, the curse could be a major obstacle.

“Don’t worry about your safety.”

“But…”

Now that it had come to this, there was no other choice.

I left Idrish behind and ran to Terminus for a moment.