Count Alton di Fiolo.

Although he was the second son of the Blanchet family and did not receive the Blanchet title due to the succession procedure favoring the eldest son Devirion, he was undoubtedly a blood descendant of Blanchet with the blood of the divine flowing through him.

Following the history of the Blanchet family where no one failed to achieve merit, he earned the title of count for his achievements in the Fiolo war.

The gray-haired man boasted a sturdy physique that made him appear to be in his middle age.

His innate physical condition was nothing short of a symbol of the Blanchets.

Of course, compared to Cassian, he had a smaller frame, but that was only because the other was Cassian. The man had a robust and solid build befitting a Blanchet descendant.

His gaze unpleasantly scanned me from head to toe.

The faint smile that settled at the end of it somehow felt ominous.

“You seem to know who I am.”

Feeling uncomfortable about pretending to know, I just silently pressed my lips together.

Anyone with Blanchet blood flowing through them only made me feel unpleasant and anxious.

The man turned and walked away as if telling me to follow, his movements showing no hesitation.

As I hesitated and stood still, the man turned his head as if wondering why I wasn’t following.

“Don’t you need a sponsor?”

A sponsor? Is this man here to volunteer as a sponsor for the project now?

But why would this person… me?

If he was going to volunteer as a sponsor for that project, it would have been more appropriate to seek out my supervisor, not me.

Yet, coming to find me specifically and telling me to follow him somewhere was extremely suspicious.

I had a bad feeling, but I had no choice but to follow the man.

As the man’s steps led into what looked like an abandoned building, an unpleasant throbbing rose from deep within my heart.

I knew better than anyone that there’s no such thing as free kindness in this world.

I had known it since far away in Alphonse, and after coming to the capital and meeting that man, I felt it even more acutely that such things didn’t exist.

However, steps that would have once been full of hesitation and calculation now held no weight.

Because it didn’t seem like any situation could be worse than this.

Count Alton stopped in front of a statue at the center of the abandoned building.

In the center of this building, once used as a temple long ago but now in ruins after the temple had moved, stood a statue of a god that seemed abandoned.

On top of a tall, erect pillar, a statue of a goddess with a long crack across her waist looked down at me.

I tried hard to avoid her gaze due to the eerie feeling, but I couldn’t shake the sensation that she was watching me.

Seemingly unconcerned about such things, Count Alton, with a nonchalant expression, looked around once and then fixed his gaze on me.

There was a glimmer of interest in his eyes.

As if looking at some amusing object.

“I wondered who had bewitched our flawless nephew…”

This man’s nephew. Cassian di Blanchet.

So, does this count also know about the fact that that man and I are meeting?

“Indeed, you have the looks to bewitch a man.”

As the count’s gaze flowed over my body, saliva painfully slid down my throat.

“Why… did you call for me?”

A voice like scratched sandpaper flowed miserably out through my esophagus.

Count Alton placed a luxurious square metal case on a broken stone slab with a thud and opened the lock.

A large metal box opened before my eyes, revealing its contents.

It was an enormous amount of Imperial currency.

Even at a glance, the quantity of bills filling the box was tremendous.

Enough to solve the sponsorship problem for the tracking device project.

With that money, there would be no need to find a new sponsor, and the magic tower would surely complete the research.

‘Is he giving this to me?’

‘But why would Count Alton?’

Numerous thoughts flashed and rippled through my mind.

As I stood still, wondering what this was about, the man took something out and waved it in front of my eyes.

“Ah, this is just a bonus.”

The transparent liquid in the glass vial that the man placed on the table rolled slightly.

Instinctively, I found myself checking how much of that medicine was in there.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I counted the last pill.

With just that, mother would… and I could be free from everything.

I could achieve the liberation I’ve been dreaming of and live in escape with newfound freedom.

I wouldn’t need to commit any more sins against Lady Fiocel, I could solve my supervisor’s problem, and I could run away from that man as soon as possible.

It meant I could open the door of this wretched cage and break free.

But there’s no kindness in this world without conditions.

“Why are you showing this to me?”

An uncontrollable tremor was engraved in my voice.

Looking at the scene with satisfaction, Count Alton closed the chain of the box with a click.

I barely managed to tear my gaze away from the case in his hands to look at him, and the man put on a benevolent smile.

I found myself staring, mesmerized, at the incongruous smile that didn’t match his demands at all.

“You’ll have to choose wisely. Whether you receive this or not will be determined by your choice.”

Count Alton, tapping the box, walked towards the statue of the goddess.

As if mocking her, he finished saying something like ‘Please do not forgive me’ and made the sign of the cross.

Only then did his gaze pierce me once again.

He took something out of his breast pocket and placed it on top of a luxurious case.

“Put this in Cassian’s glass.”

The transparent liquid in the glass vial had a pure color, but it was easy enough to guess that the count’s intentions were impure.

Being dragged into such a shady place and shown this separately could only be interpreted that way.

“What… is that?”

“It’d be dangerous if you knew.”

As I silently bit my lip, the count opened his mouth with a nonchalant expression.

“Poison.”

The word, understood a beat late, made my head ache.

‘Poison. How could it be poison…’

“Then if he drinks it, he will…”

“That’s why I said it’d be dangerous if you knew.”

The count, winking one eye, spoke in an almost flippant tone.

“If you put this in his glass, I’ll give you all of this.”

“…”

“It should be an easy request. Our nephew is completely smitten with you, after all.”

“…”

“Of course, the choice should be easy too. That man won’t give you everything like I will. Because you’re just a toy to him.”

I felt a belated chill at the benign expression of the man who had just instigated murder.

To think that someone who was supposed to be an uncle would instigate the murder of his nephew.

Of course, I’ve heard about it.

That in noble families with much to inherit and protect, sibling strife is an everyday occurrence.

Money and honor create bloody wars between family members, and humans can never be free from that desire.

Even I, who criticized them, would be just another human in the eyes of the goddess before us.

No. If anything, she might think I’m worse, never less.

Anyway, to think that Count Alton would instigate his death.

Hadn’t Duke Devirion shown exceptional courtesy to his brother, Count Alton, entrusting him with many of the Blanchet duchy’s affairs and vassal meetings?

Even so, long ago in that war where Count Alton earned his title of Count of Fiolo, he betrayed his older brother Devirion.

More accurately, he was suspected of betraying him.

It was presumed that Count Alton had poisoned the glass that left Devirion fighting for his life for a month.

When I saw the article in the newspaper once, I wondered if Count Alton would really do such a thing, but…

Now I see that he was more than capable of it.

He attends the Blanchet vassal meetings thanks to Duke Devirion’s consideration, always wearing a kind face while using the Blanchet duchy as his backing, yet behind the scenes, he’s this brazen.

Who would have imagined that he would go around plotting to kill his own nephew like this?

“You’re not hesitating, are you?”

Count Alton curled up one corner of his mouth as if mocking me and began to slowly circle around the statue of the goddess.

“To think that a mere commoner wench would be trapped in the delusion of receiving our nephew’s love.”

With each circle the count’s heavy footsteps made, a terrible tearing sound echoed through the space.

“Our noble nephew is not someone capable of something like love.”

Love. Yes, as this count says, he is not someone capable of something like love.

Those eyes that were always indifferent when looking at me and that sneering mouth were vivid in my mind.

Overlaid on top of that was the image of that man telling me he would get engaged.

“That lofty fellow is the type who could never dare to mix commoner blood into the Blanchet bloodline.”

That man will abandon me after marriage.

As foretold.

I too, as foretold, will abandon him, and all of this will meet its predicted tragic ending.

Lady Fiocel will destroy everything of my supervisor, the tracking device project will be scrapped, and Baroness Baorbin will remain collapsed as she is now.

All of that will become the ruins I leave behind.

However, if I kill him as Count Alton says…

The victim will be solely that man, just one person.

Ah, of course, I might be caught for murder. But at this point, even that seemed like nothing.

I had been prepared from the start to receive all punishment.

“Ah, of course, you won’t be caught for murder. That poison won’t leave a trace.”

“…”

“Our nephew will simply be seen as having succumbed to his terminal illness resurfacing for unknown reasons.”

Ah…

I don’t even have to be prepared for what I had prepared for.

How sweet and thrilling this proposal is.

Nevertheless, my lips wouldn’t move carelessly. That man ripples through my mind, followed by the word death being repeated.

Count Alton, seemingly displeased with my hesitation, added:

“If you’re dreaming some Cinderella story based on those popular female fantasies, I advise you to give it up.”

As Count Alton says, that man will abandon me when I’m no longer useful.

I’m just such a toy, after all.

“Has such a thing ever happened even once before?”

The count seems to believe without a doubt that I love that man.

Of course, despite that, he also seemed firmly convinced that I would ultimately choose to poison him.

“I’ll leave this here.”

The transparent poison left by Count Alton rippled in my vision.