Not going out for longer than usual was actually an excessive consideration.

As if begging to be killed, I placed the glass in a visible position for the woman and prolonged the time like that.

The water glass placed modestly on the table comes into view.

It was only natural for it to be prepared, as I always habitually drink it after washing up.

I placed it in front of the woman as if to show it off.

Since the woman met my uncle.

So that there would be no failure in the attempt due to not setting up the stage to kill me.

Like a madman begging to be killed.

Yet while facing the water, I had such thoughts.

That this woman was not capable of killing me.

Deep down, I hoped she would not go that far.

The one who laid out all the groundwork made such a ridiculous ‘expectation’.

But…

The logo engraved on the water glass is tilted diagonally.

As if mocking me.

What had been facing straight ahead when I entered was now slightly tilted.

Ah, of course, it might just be a coincidence.

However, next to it sits the woman, undeniably trembling as she looks at me.

They say when coincidences overlap, it becomes an incident.

How could she be so obvious about it.

Should I pretend not to notice and drink it anyway?

Yet the trembling in those emerald eyes that can’t be hidden, and the me reflected in them, is just laughable.

As if we were actors performing the final scene of Romeo and Juliet, so very dramatic.

Now all that’s left in this room is just a murderer and the victim to be killed.

Well, to this woman, I was exactly that kind of existence.

Just someone who could be discarded whenever the moment of choice came.

I wonder now if there was any hesitation in that process.

Ah, unfittingly, there must have been some hesitation.

This woman who always tries to maintain her conscience has been trying so hard to escape from me.

Because she’s someone who couldn’t make a single claim in front of Fiocel, who claims to be her fiancée.

So that small head of hers was filled only with thoughts of escape.

Yet how conscientious she looks, sitting there trembling.

Fine. I willingly raise the glass as desired.

The woman’s reflection in the glass ripples.

Suddenly, I’m curious.

If I were to drink this poison here and die, what expression would that woman make?

Would she shed even a single tear?

Or would she leave this place with that relieved face she had when she said she was leaving?

Would she leave this place and live on well, forgetting about someone like me as if I never existed?

At this moment, I’m curious about such useless and futile things.

What’s the point of knowing such things?

In the end, the woman’s decision was just to try to kill me.

The aimlessly trembling gaze reaching me in this situation is incomparably pure.

It’s a demeanor that doesn’t match at all with those deft hands that put poison in this glass.

You shouldn’t look at me with such eyes.

You should have expected this much when you put the poison in here.

With such a bitter smile, the glass tilted.

The worst-case scenario I had anticipated rushed towards its end.

Without slowing down.

The woman’s hand grasped me just before the liquid entered my mouth.

Splash—

The trembling transfers through the fingertips that dared to grasp my wrist.

What now?

Finding her actions amusing, I quietly turn my gaze to see the woman with her eyes tightly shut.

Why stop here?

I was going to drink it as you wanted.

As I smile and shake the glass, the woman looks at me with a pale face.

“D-Don’t drink it!”

Really… she really did put it in.

Even though I already knew, it’s even more dumbfounding.

And you stopping me now is even more dumbfounding.

Why stop me so obviously?

You’re the one who put this on the table, aren’t you? Of course, you must be the one who directly put the poison in.

“Why?”

“That’s…”

I gaze steadily at the woman’s lips, which have become a habit of biting whenever.

Unlike usual, the woman’s lips moved quickly.

“That, that…”

Trailing off and unable to continue properly, the woman soon turned pale.

The hand holding my arm is trembling like an aspen leaf as she sits.

Oh my. This is so obvious that even someone who doesn’t know would notice.

The man is looking at me with a smirk.

My reflection in the glass he’s holding is trembling pitifully.

I realized only when he picked up the glass.

That I couldn’t do anything to him.

Everything that had been fine even after imagining it thousands of times in my head turned to bubbles in an instant.

As soon as this man picked up the glass, an overwhelming fear as big as a house enveloped my entire body, as if it were a lie.

I thought there was no place left to retreat, nor any reason to retreat anymore.

I thought I just needed to kill this man to shed the last burden and walk into hell.

The detestable heart that still remained stopped the man’s death.

Even though he was someone I hated so much, when I actually thought about this man dying, my head spun.

Neither good nor properly evil, ambiguously positioned in the center, I detestably couldn’t bring myself to kill him.

Whether it was because of my last conscience, or because of something else, I couldn’t even guess.

Since it’s my heart, yet my heart is so difficult.

But belated regret arose.

Because of facing the man’s smirking face.

Why can’t I even kill this man.

Feeling like tears might come, I held my breath.

Accordingly, the blurred vision soon cleared, and the smirking face of the man came into view.

My reflection filled his eyes, delicately sculpted like a statue.

“Tell me.”

His low voice gently wets my ears.

“Why shouldn’t I drink this?”

His curving eyes were terribly decadent.

The smile still on his lips was subtle yet sharp, as if testing me.

His hand holding me boasted a gentle strength, but it felt like it was constricting me like an iron chain.

Knowing he wasn’t a man to let anything pass easily, I felt suffocated.

Why. Why is this man looking at me with eyes that seem to know everything?

‘That can’t be…’

Trying to suppress the rising ominousness, I forcibly turned the flow of my stopped thoughts.

Only then did everything become clear through the hazy consciousness.

Now I think I understand. That I did something crazy.

If this man knows that I tried to kill him… I won’t be able to receive anything anymore.

Not even the medicine for my mother that the man was going to give me at the very end.

I won’t be able to fulfill even those remaining times.

Mother will no longer be able to extend her life.

Just thinking about it made it hard to breathe, and I gripped my dress so tightly it might tear, trying to hide it.

The end of the ribbon tore off with a thud, but I didn’t even notice.

The glass hanging on the edge of the table precariously came into view.

I had to make up some excuse.

No, it was already too late to make excuses…

Instinctively, my hand reached out towards it.

In an instant, the man picked it up and caught me as I lost my balance.

The man’s scent wafted from nearby.

The man with a sardonic smile on his lips twirled the glass he held in one hand.

After twirling the glass once, he poured it into his mouth.

Without any hesitation.

It happened before I could even stop him.

“No!”

I lunged at the man without knowing what I was doing, but the man’s grip strength was not something I could handle.

With one squeeze of his hand, all movement became an echo in the void.

Even in the midst of that, the empty glass came into view.

Not a single drop of water remained on the glass he had already downed.

Thinking of the man who would collapse and grow cold, my mind went blank.

“I told you not to!”

The pitiful screams poured out of my mouth without even knowing what I was saying.

My tear-filled eyes couldn’t see anything.

The only thought in my mind was that I needed to go out right now and bring a doctor to save him.

Even if it’s poison, there should still be time.

Yes, there’s still time.

Because there’s still strength in his hand holding me.

I pleaded to him as if screaming.

“We need to bring a doctor.”

I knelt down, shedding miserable tears, but he still wouldn’t let me go and just kept looking at me.

The unyielding strength holding my hand was too firm.

“Now’s not the time for this.”

“…”

“It’s not!”

“…”

“So please…”

The screams flying towards the void shattered.

For a long time, I poured out indescribable words while holding his face, which I wouldn’t have dared to dream of doing normally.

I don’t even remember what I poured out.

Only the fact that the poison I put in with my own hands would eventually kill him burned hotly in my mind.

Ah, how stupid I was.

To think this would be okay.

To think I would be fine.

No, actually I should be fine, but I’m like this.

Everything mixed together and pushed me into hell.

My vision, a mess from wailing, couldn’t see anything for a long time.

My mind was just as hazy.

As if someone had put fog in my head.

Because of that, I didn’t realize.

What the man’s gaze looking at me was like.

Why his strength was still intact.

I realized it only after a long time had passed.