The emperor pulled out a sword from the waist of a palace guard standing by the pillar and, without a moment’s hesitation, beheaded the servant who had brought the champagne.

“Kyaaaak-!”

The servant’s face, which had been bewildered and at a loss, was frozen in expression as it rolled on the floor.

The blood that spurted out like a fountain splattered all over Yuan and the people around her, as well as Clard, who was hastily carried on the back of another palace guard.

“How dare. For such a thing to happen in the presence of Igor Yufris.”

The temperature of the palace debutante, the dream of all Yufris girls, instantly plummeted to freezing point.

“How dare, in my palace. Whoever tried to poison my nephew shall not leave here alive today.”

As she left the party hall, following Clard who had lost consciousness while being carried on the back of a sturdy man, Yuan saw for the last time all the people in the hall prostrating themselves at the feet of the emperor who had drawn his sword.

By the time the atmosphere in the party hall had frozen over like thin ice.

Clard, lying in the guest room, was still unconscious and only sweating coldly.

It wasn’t long after Clard was laid down that the personal physician Hille, who had accompanied him in case of emergency, rushed in along with the court physician.

The court physician, familiar with poisonings, immediately inserted a silver needle into Clard’s mouth and clicked his tongue when he saw that the color didn’t change.

Yuan anxiously asked as she watched him push a red pill into Clard’s mouth.

“How is it? What kind of poison is it?”

“Please calm down, Your Highness. It’s not enough to be fatal.”

“How do you know that? Without even checking his pulse or using a stethoscope-.”

“The Yufris imperial family is educated to build resistance to poisons from a very young age. They don’t easily lose their lives to ordinary poisons. However, because of that, this is a place where more unusual, potent poisons come in-.”

“Then!”

“It seems His Highness immediately spat out the poisoned drink, and I’ve seen a similar reaction to this poison before, so treatment is possible. It’s fortunate. If it had been an extremely potent poison, or if he had drunk more, he would have died instantly, ignoring his resistance.”

The body that had been leaning against the bedpost slowly collapsed.

Hille was startled and supported her.

“If the progress is good, he may wake up this afternoon, and if it takes longer, he’ll wake up tomorrow, so it would be good for Your Highness to rest a bit too. Your complexion doesn’t look good.”

The court physician with a white beard paid his respects meticulously but spoke to her in an extremely distant tone, then handed over a pouch of medicine to the personal physician Hille with instructions to give this pill once every hour, and stood up.

Yuan stood blankly, listening to the voice of the court physician giving final precautions to Hille.

Yuan, who had been wiping the cold sweat from Clard’s straight forehead, suddenly lost strength in her legs and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning her forehead on his shoulder and swallowing her tears.

She should have insisted on not coming.

She shouldn’t have blankly taken the hand of this man who acted as if he would willingly become her partner, telling her to live like others.

Without even being able to carry out the plan to sound out Count Kompani or her uncle and find out what Boloniko’s intentions were.

‘I’m so helplessly just watching you cough up blood….’

As thoughts stained with endless regret and self-reflection swirled in her head.

Behind Yuan’s shoulder, strange mutterings poured out.

“Ha. Even in the imperial palace like this…”

It was a very small sigh that passed like the wind, but.

To Yuan’s ears, which had become as sensitive as they could be, it sounded like it was shouting right into her ear.

It could have been a passing remark.

It must have been a sigh about how such a thing could happen in the imperial palace.

But now it was different.

“…Even in the imperial palace?”

Hille flinched at Yuan’s eyes, which shot up with a pale face.

Yuan opened her bloodshot eyes wide and questioned Hille.

“‘Even’ in the imperial palace?”

Hille, who had turned pale, looked at her as if he had been slapped, unable to even open his mouth.

As soon as she saw Hille’s frozen face, Yuan stepped towards him with certainty.

“There were such incidents at the mansion too, weren’t there?”

“I, I-. That is, my words-!”

“Speak clearly!”

Hille, unfamiliar with Yuan’s shrill scream, remained frozen and unable to give any answer.

But he couldn’t avoid her eyes, captivated by the deep anger and inexplicable certainty flickering in Yuan’s black eyes.

Hille, bewildered by Yuan’s appearance, which seemed as if her personality had changed and was full of venom, barely blinked twice and answered with a face mixed with dismay.

“A, actually-.”

The personal physician of the black mansion.

Hille Hatarun was a country bumpkin who had come to study in the capital from the western desert region of the empire.

Although selected as a scholarship student, he was overwhelmed by the material offensive of wealthy students and was unable to receive scholarships for 2 out of the 6 years of his studies, and that debt was hanging right in front of him.

The medical department, which was chosen as a ‘hobby’ by the third or fourth sons of prestigious families, or as an honorary position by wealthy commoners, had quite diverse career paths.

The job that was somewhat recognized by the nobility was the path of a medical scholar who gave up on making money.

Since family support was essential to open a private clinic, Hille’s choice was naturally the path to the national medical institute run by the country or to become a court physician.

Despite graduating at the top of his class, Hille, who had been rejected from becoming a court physician for some reason, had no choice but to apply to the national medical institute in the western desert region.

He had to give up in advance because there were many wealthy commoners among the applicants for the livable capital, east, or south.

‘Damn it. Is this a country?’

The top graduate of the academy becoming an ordinary doctor at the western desert region’s national medical institute.

It was going back to his hometown, but the taste was bitter.

He had no face to see his parents and younger siblings who had been desperately hoping for their son to become a court physician.

The only thing left was to try to at least get the director’s position.

Anyway, after working hard to endure the dreadful desert wind with gritted teeth.

He rose to the position of deputy director at the youngest age and was eyeing the director’s position.

“Hille Hatarun. Do you want to become a court physician?”

“A court physician? Huh, if I could have, I would have when I graduated top of the academy.”

“What if it’s not too late even now?”

He thought the aging and mild-mannered director was suddenly wary of him.

But the director, revealing the light in his eyes that had been hidden behind drooping eyelids, casually showed Hille the offer that had come to him from the imperial family.

“You know about His Highness the deposed crown prince.”

“Of course I do. There was such a commotion 10 years ago, I’d be a spy if I didn’t know.”

“It’s about becoming his personal physician.”

“Ah, that rumored terrifying black mansion? No thanks. No matter how desperate I am, I’m not going there to die. Is everyone who serves the imperial family a court physician?”

“The stories about people dying there are all false. At least the personal physicians, that is.”

The director fumbled his gaze through the air and suddenly looked at Hille strongly.

“What the imperial family needs is not a physician but a monitor. Who could cure his illness? It’s just pretending. You know well that becoming a court physician is not just about skill. I too was once a talent who dominated the academy, but look at me now. Suffering like this in the middle of the desert until I die of old age.”

The director spread his arms wide as if his appearance was Hille’s future.

When Hille’s face became serious at once, the director smiled as if to reassure him.

“I’m old and decrepit now, living day to day, but you still have a bright future ahead. It’s hard to marry off your string of younger siblings and build your own respectable family here. You already have quite a debt, don’t you?”

He was in a state of massive debt to support his recently deceased parents.

Seeing Hille’s eyes shake strongly, the director signed a recommendation letter he had already written and handed it to him.

Hille felt the texture of the stiff and expensive paper with his hand and soon carefully put it in his bosom.

“You monitored His Highness. And me too. You reported all the various stories I told you trusting you to the imperial family.”

“To be precise, not to the imperial family but to Prince Boloniko.”

Hille lowered his gaze at Yuan’s somewhat sharp voice.

He, who had somehow knelt down on both knees, sobbed with a face soaked in remorse.

“When I came to the capital with the recommendation letter, a man called Count Kompani was waiting for me. My task was just to give proper medical care and monitor the trends of the mansion. Madam’s stories… I never, ever told anyone.”

“What stories of mine?”

“Information like Madam’s genius talent or that Madam was the owner of the cleaning potion. I only praised that Madam was the very embodiment of a virtuous mistress and that you were intelligent.”

“What about His Highness?”

Hille tightly grasped both his knees and dropped tears to the floor.

“That His Highness had become much… brighter since Madam came. And that he went out more often… I thought it would be okay because it was ordinary content… But it seems it wasn’t.”

“Keep talking.”

“As soon as I mentioned about going out… orders to poison His Highness came several times. There were no such orders before.”

“!”

Yuan, frozen with a surprised expression, just kept staring down at the crown of the man kneeling before her.

She felt as if her blood was cooling down and pouring out of her body.

“I’m not the only spy in the mansion. As you may have noticed, from the guard at the main gate, there are people sent by the imperial family, so there must be more spies among them.”

“You speak as if you’re proud.”

“I know it will sound like an excuse. But I mixed antidote into His Highness’s painkillers every time. When I first examined the poison in the leftover food, I thought my heart would drop. Fortunately, since His Highness is of the imperial family, he has a basic resistance to poison and took the antidote, so he has been fine until now… But I didn’t know they would act so boldly in the imperial palace.”