“Your Grace! Are you conscious?”

“Are you alright, Your Excellency!”

Sir Oliver also spoke joyfully towards the duke. The duke pressed one hand to his forehead and slowly raised his upper body. Toth restrained the duke and said:

“Please lie down a bit longer, Your Grace. I have only just managed to lower your fever with magic, but your body is not fully healed yet. If you move recklessly, you will collapse again.”

“…I remember suddenly blacking out while conversing with the young lady of the marquis. It seems I must have collapsed then.”

“Yes, that’s what I heard. They say you suddenly squeezed your eyes shut and lost consciousness. Have you recently overexerted yourself using mana from your heart?”

When Toth asked, the duke shook his head and replied:

“Nothing of the sort. I only conducted knight training as usual.”

“Then have you felt any unusual physical symptoms recently?”

“Not particularly. …I occasionally felt a dull pain as if my heart was being tightly squeezed, but I dismissed it as it wasn’t severe pain.”

“…Hmm.”

“From that reaction, it seems you’ve figured something out! Then please explain clearly, Sir Toth! What on earth is the cause of His Excellency’s collapse?”

Toth let out a long sigh at Oliver’s urging, then looked at the duke and said:

“It seems Your Grace has fallen victim to a poison made from ‘witch’s blood’.”

“…Witch’s blood?”

“Yes. Unlike magicians who accumulate mana and use magic by harnessing the power of spirits and nature, witches make contracts with gods or demons that feed on intense human emotions like grudges or hatred, and borrow their power to use magic. In other words, while both magicians and witches use magic, their sources are different. They are entirely different races.”

“…So? What does that have to do with my collapse?”

The duke asked with furrowed brows. Toth opened his mouth again.

“Your Grace is a Sword Master, correct? To become a Sword Master, one must not only learn swordsmanship through arduous training, but also accumulate a large amount of mana in the heart to freely use aura. In other words, Your Grace has essentially acquired mana in the same way as magicians. But what would happen if ‘witch’s power’ with the opposite source were to mix into Your Grace’s heart, where that pure mana circulates?”

“…!”

“Probably every time Your Grace used mana, it would clash with the witch’s power that entered your body, putting great strain on your heart. The stronger the aura you cast, the more strongly that witch’s power permeating your blood would have resisted to maintain dominance… If such frequent clashes between the two powers continued, eventually your heart would have been unable to withstand the overload imposed on it and simply stopped.”

At those words, Oliver’s eyes widened in shock. I asked Toth with a pale face:

“…How on earth did that poison enter the duke’s body?”

Instead of answering my question, Toth asked the duke:

“Your Grace, have you recently been served any food or tea by a suspicious person?”

The duke answered with a pensive expression:

“I haven’t put anything in my mouth outside the mansion. …Except for the tea served at the afternoon tea party hosted by His Majesty recently.”

“Then wasn’t there a problem with that tea?”

Oliver asked with furrowed brows. The duke shook his head and said:

“But I wasn’t the only one who drank that tea. The princess, prince, and princess consort all drank tea poured from the same teapot. If such a poison had been in the tea, wouldn’t those three people have experienced the same symptoms?”

Then Toth spoke in a decisive voice:

“That’s not the case, Your Grace. Poison made from witch’s blood does no harm to those without mana.”

“…What?”

“So those three who drank the same tea as you would not have felt any symptoms. Moreover, this poison is the type that causes more severe damage the more mana a person possesses. If the young lady of the marquis hadn’t called me, and Your Grace had used mana as usual without knowing this fact, an irreversible situation would have occurred within a week at the latest.”

At those words, I felt goosebumps all over my body. I felt an indescribably great terror at the fact that I had nearly lost the duke so meaninglessly without even knowing the reason. Oliver seemed to share the same sentiment; his complexion had turned pale blue as he clenched his teeth. The butler let out a soft sigh.

The duke himself, the person in question, remained calm. He asked Toth in a brusque manner:

“Is there no way to detoxify this poison?”

“…To remove the poison that has already spread throughout Your Grace’s body, a magician of 8th circle or higher would need to cast a purification spell, but I’m sorry to say that is beyond my abilities.”

“…”

“The only prescription I can currently offer is that Your Grace must not use mana. You must not use even simple magic that sword users employ as naturally as breathing.”

Toth told the duke in a distressed voice. The duke smiled bitterly and said self-mockingly:

“You’re telling me not to even touch a sword.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Toth said with a sigh so heavy it made his beard flutter. Oliver and the butler let out great sighs. I bit my lower lip hard and lowered my head.

The duke nodded slightly and then said to him:

“…Thank you for letting me know.”

“Not at all, Your Grace. I’m only sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

The elderly magician bowed deeply with a gloomy face. The duke turned to the butler and said:

“Butler, escort Sir Toth to his carriage.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

Soon the butler took Toth and left the reception room.

Even after their footsteps could no longer be heard, none of us opened our mouths. I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my palms and gritted my teeth.

‘The only person who would do such a thing is Duke Yusten.’

I should have noticed when Danae and Duke Yusten went out without me. They must have met Princess Consort Meredith then and planned this. I recalled the image of the duke muttering a few days ago that the duke should have died instead of the princess.

‘I won’t let things go your way, Uncle.’

This incident gave me one more reason to recruit Sorcerer Emlyn. I will definitely get my hands on the seed of Clepiade for him.

I swore to myself over and over again.

* * *

The duke, Oliver, and I remained silent, each lost in our own thoughts.

It was Oliver who broke the long silence. He spoke to the duke in a voice that clearly revealed his complicated feelings:

“…In this situation, Your Grace will have no choice but to remain at the mansion. I will go to the Saint’s Forest in your stead.”

“No, that’s not necessary. The plan will proceed as scheduled.”

The duke responded brusquely. Oliver exclaimed in shock:

“That won’t do! You heard what Sir Toth said just now!”

“So, are you telling me to lie helplessly in bed like a man awaiting death, earnestly praying to God for the safe return of the young lady of the marquis and you all? If that’s the case, I’d rather die after going wild to my heart’s content.”

“Your Grace!”

“I will decide where I die. If I’m going to die no matter what, I’ll die fighting to the end.”

The duke spoke decisively, looking at Oliver with a cold gaze. Oliver opened his mouth to refute his words again.

I raised my hand to stop his action, then spoke to the duke:

“Don’t worry. You won’t die. I absolutely won’t let that happen.”

“…Young lady of the marquis.”

“Recall what Sir Toth said earlier. He said that to remove the poison, a magician of 8th circle or higher needs to cast a purification spell. As it happens, the magician we’re trying to recruit, Sorcerer Emlyn, is an 8th circle magician.”

The duke’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. Oliver let out a short exclamation and then cried out joyfully:

“Ah, that’s right!”

“So finding the seed of Clepiade is our priority. Punishing the culprit who poisoned you comes after that.”

“You speak as if you know who the culprit is.”

The duke laughed deflatively and said. I responded to his words with one corner of my mouth twisted upward:

“Don’t you also have someone in mind who you suspect is the culprit, Your Grace? It’s the same for me. …There’s only one person who would do such a thing.”

I said this with a cold smile. The duke had probably taken the lives of my father and Princess Liz in a similar manner. In fact, through this incident, he had essentially thrown me a clue about the crimes he committed in the past.

I fixed my gaze on the duke and continued speaking:

“You won’t listen no matter how Oliver and I try to stop you anyway. So I won’t tell you to stay out of this matter.”

“I appreciate your understanding my feelings, young lady of the marquis.”

“But there’s a condition. Whether it’s when searching for the seed of Clepiade, or when your life is in danger unless you absolutely must use a sword. Don’t draw your sword unless it’s absolutely necessary. Just promise me that.”

The duke let out a soft laugh and said:

“Then who will protect you?”

“…What did you say?”

I asked him back in disbelief. Perhaps because it was such an unexpected question, my cheeks flushed hot with embarrassment. Unlike me, the duke calmly countered: