She couldn’t tell him every little detail.

Although she had never been in a relationship before, Ophelia knew that this kind of relationship needed some tension.

Moreover, telling the recipient what you were going to give them was something only amateurs did.

But a little hint could also create anticipation, couldn’t it?

In that sense, it didn’t seem like a bad idea to leak a bit of information about what she was preparing.

She also didn’t want to see Idren looking anxious anymore.

Ophelia wanted to make him happy, not scare him.

But lately, what Idren seemed to be feeling was the opposite.

Having come to a conclusion, she looked up at him with eyes like stars in the deep night and said,

“You know what you asked me about before? I’m ready to answer that.”

To be honest, Idren didn’t understand her words right away.

He had asked Ophelia many things over time. To avoid offending her and to give the impression that he was safe, Idren had proceeded by asking her even about things that might seem trivial.

Idren was about to confess to the woman that he hadn’t understood well. Although he didn’t want to ruin the mood when looking at her blue eyes mixed with satisfaction and tension, it was better than having a misunderstanding between them, wasn’t it?

However, Ophelia turned her head away faster than he could respond.

As she usually did when feeling somewhat embarrassed, she looked somewhere other than at him and added,

“But not now, I’ll tell you later.”

“…When is later?”

The air had softened gently, so there was no need to pour cold water on it unnecessarily.

Instead of revealing that there had been an error in communication, Idren rationalized his behavior by asking a question that could gather information. He hadn’t had many opportunities to score points lately. He didn’t want to lose what little reputation he had for being considerate.

Fortunately, Ophelia was looking straight ahead and didn’t notice him trying to read the situation.

She said in a slightly smaller voice,

“It’s your birthday soon anyway, isn’t it?”

“…You remember?”

“Do you think I’m a fool?”

The question asked without looking back was quite curt. As he had no intention of disrespecting her, Idren added,

“That’s not it. But I didn’t particularly expect anything…”

It wasn’t even his real birthdate anyway, just an arbitrarily set date.

Idren had never placed much importance on his birthday throughout his life.

He also thought there was no need to celebrate it separately since it overlapped with the New Year.

Of course, something was done on a national level. That involved large-scale poverty relief or collecting wealth from neighboring countries under the pretext of gifts.

But he didn’t personally prepare anything or commemorate it in any special way. He didn’t have many close friends, and since it wasn’t even a real date, it didn’t feel significant to him either.

In his past life, Ophelia hadn’t shown much interest either, so he thought it would be the same this time.

However, he didn’t want to miss out on her wanting to celebrate it, so Idren carefully observed the woman’s demeanor. From what she said, it seemed she had planned something, and he was ready to accept whatever it might be.

Fortunately, Ophelia didn’t seem too upset. She grumbled a little,

“…You think I told you to return before the year changed for no reason when you went on the expedition?”

So, she had been thinking about his birthday since then.

Idren blinked at the unexpectedly thoughtful words.

“That’s touching.”

“…Isn’t it too easy when you haven’t even received anything yet?”

But there was nothing to gain by playing hard to get.

Flattery should be given in advance to be accepted, and completely submitting was more likely to get an extra glance than putting up a half-hearted wall.

And Idren suddenly realized that the anxiety he had when entering the room had disappeared.

Ophelia might not love him, but she seemed to like him more than others.

Hadn’t she been thinking about his birthday since summer?

Although it might not have meant much to her, it sounded lovely to his ears. In other words, it meant that she wouldn’t betray him in the way he was worried about, which made it even more so.

If she cared about him that much, she wouldn’t have forgotten to say goodbye before taking her life.

He was beginning to guess the reason why she had been settling her assets, which he had been thinking about all along. Seeing that she remembered his birthday, it seemed she was planning to do something related to it.

If that was the case, pretending not to know would make him a considerate husband.

Having come to this conclusion, Idren gently took her hand.

“Please go easy on me. That way I can probe lightly.”

“You have a really strange way of speaking. You know that?”

Even as she said this, Ophelia didn’t shake off his hand.

Idren didn’t point out the fact that the woman had a unique way of saying she liked something. If he could receive a lot of affection, and perhaps even love, he didn’t mind how he appeared in her eyes.

Ophelia started calling for the doctor again.

Still staying at Isily’s house, Netepel pondered how to use this.

He knew that Ophelia had been taking sleeping pills regularly. However, the consumption that had started after the war ended had been discontinued quite a while ago.

Because of this, Isily also no longer had reason to enter the castle, and he had been wondering how to extract information.

“She asked me to make the sedative she used to take before,” Isily answered when Ophelia asked why she had called.

Hearing this, Netepel had to suppress the corners of his mouth from rising involuntarily. Lately, Isily’s gaze towards him had been somewhat uncomfortable. Having had to be sensitive to others’ reactions since childhood, Netepel was keenly responsive to people’s gazes.

But just because Isily was reluctant, he couldn’t waste such a good opportunity.

Netepel thought about what plans he could execute without confiding in the man.

The easiest way was to tamper with the medicine going into the royal palace.

Because Bahamal was proficient in herbology, Netepel was familiar with various drugs. And among them were deadly poisons that could end a person’s life with just one sip.

But Netepel didn’t want to repay the emotions he had experienced in such a simple way.

Ophelia had to be held accountable for the more than ten years he had spent striving for her. Even if she couldn’t experience exactly the same years he had wasted because of her and the humiliation he had suffered, she should at least feel something similar.

Poisoning was too simple for that.

Moreover, the Grand Prince of Aglante didn’t seem like he would grieve that much either.

Of course, he wouldn’t be completely fine with his wife’s death.

But people who had someone to take revenge on didn’t despair.

Netepel wanted to bring despair to the man who pretended to be noble despite being no different from himself.

He was already displeased with him. And the fact that he had what Netepel couldn’t have made it impossible not to harbor malice.

So that man should lose Ophelia without being able to find anyone to resent.

But no method came to mind that could satisfy all these conditions.

It wasn’t difficult to bring despair to the Grand Prince of Aglante. After killing Ophelia, he could make it look like suicide. Although the detailed setup hadn’t been decided yet, Netepel had done this kind of thing to people several times before. It was using the tea that his stupid half-brother had told him to distribute.

The problem was Ophelia.

His feelings for her were too deep to just let her meet death.

Netepel wanted Ophelia to feel exactly the loneliness and sense of betrayal he had felt. It was similar to how he felt when she had Haslen Rakmata. Rather than seeing her happy while he was stuck in this mire, he wanted to drag her down to the same level.

Moreover, Ophelia was too precious to just let die.

One must give credit where it’s due.

Even knowing clearly that she had tried to kill him, Netepel still wanted to possess her. It wasn’t just because of the memories or personality she possessed.

The time he had spent desiring and worshiping her was too long to give up like this.

Of course, once he got her, she might be broken and not to his liking.

But that was something to think about when the time came. Even if he ended up discarding her as useless, he felt this desire would only subside after he had her at least once.

So Ophelia had to stay alive.

But how could one kill a person while keeping them alive?

Even after racking his brains over this conundrum for days, nothing suitable came to mind. Netepel sighed and ran his hand over his face.

It was then that a thought flashed through his mind.