Reus, who drank the same alcohol, was fine. The duke and duchess were also fine. However, Verodica, who had used a glass from the same tray, collapsed in her seat, vomiting dark red blood just like Roel.

The sound of breaking glasses and people’s screams of shock mingled everywhere.

The banquet hall instantly turned into chaos. But despite the unceasing commotion, the noise in Reus’s ears gradually faded until he could no longer hear anything.

Amidst all the scenes moving slowly, Roel, gasping for breath in his arms, caught his eye.

The unfocused aqua eyes began to cloud over. The speed at which the light of life was fading was too fast.

Something closer than comrades on battlefields rolled through for years. Something more familiar than an ordinary life like a midsummer night’s dream.

This was clearly the smell of death.

It was the thickest and clearest omen he had ever felt. No thoughts could properly connect in Reus’s mind. But his hands instinctively moved towards Roel’s heart.

He had relieved minor pains or healed wounds before, but he had never saved a dying person.

Nothing could be certain in this situation, but there was no time to hesitate. Just before Roel’s breath stopped, Reus poured out all the power he possessed.

But he felt nothing.

He couldn’t tell if he couldn’t feel anything because all his neural circuits were broken, or if he really hadn’t accomplished anything.

Just when he felt like he would suffocate from anxiety, a faint vibration was transmitted through his palm. Roel’s stopped heart had started beating again.

As soon as he realized this, all of Reus’s senses were pulled back to reality.

“Haa……”

The sounds of the chaotic banquet hall finally reached his ears. His trembling hands, his body drenched in cold sweat, everything was a mess. Reus remained frozen in that state for a moment.

Dwin, who had brought the grand duke’s knights, stopped nearby, unable to approach his ominous-looking master directly. Soon, Reus’s face contorted and a bitter smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

He had said he would rely on a woman’s affection just until Roel left? He had overestimated himself too much.

There were no words more despicable than that in the world.

Soon after carefully handing Roel over to Dwin and the knights, Reus approached one of the grand duke’s knights.

“The entrance control…”

“We, we’ve sealed off everything, sir.”

The tense knight answered, unable to look at his master and keeping his head facing forward.

Reus nodded slowly for a moment, then suddenly drew the knight’s longsword. The sound of the sword leaving its sheath was terribly chilling.

And that sword was immediately pointed at the neck of the duke, who was standing there dumbfounded.

“Duke Plona.”

That was all that was said, but Duke Plona began spewing words as if someone had suddenly struck him.

“Your Highness, I know nothing about this. I truly have no idea what this is all about… Ah, my daughter! Didn’t Your Highness see my daughter Verodica collapse as well! How could I even think of harming the Viscountess, Your Highness. Let alone putting my own daughter in danger…! I, I am, I, absolutely not!”

“No. That’s not what’s important right now.”

“I really am not, please believe me, Your Highness!”

Duke Plona knelt and begged, but there was no change in Reus’s expression. Soon, a thin red line was drawn across the duke’s neck following the movement of the sword.

“I, I…! I really am not! Your Highness, please…!”

Reus frowned irritably at the duke’s cries.

“Didn’t I say your innocence is not what’s important right now.”

“Pl-please spare me, Your Highness…”

The duke, his face turned pale blue with fear, unconsciously backed away. Then a sword pierced right behind the duke, blocking his retreat.

Reus slowly lowered his body and slowly gripped the duke’s collar.

“If you’re so wronged, then catch the culprit before my wife opens her eyes.”

“Yes… Yes! I will do that! I will certainly do th-, kuhek…”

As Reus yanked on his collar, the duke’s head naturally tilted downward.

“If not, you’ll be the first one here to vomit blood.”

A warning voice followed, as if telling him to never forget what had happened here and what might happen soon.

“My patience is not very long, so it would be best not to drag this out, Duke Plona.”

“That is… all I can say is that it’s a miracle she’s alive right now. I’m sorry, Your Highness…”

An unsatisfactory answer flowed from the lips of the ducal family’s doctor. Dwin gave the doctor a look, signaling him to leave the room. Dwin left the room with the doctor.

As soon as the sound of the door closing behind them was heard, Reus’s expression, which had been trying to remain calm, crumbled, revealing a bare face full of anguish.

It was all his fault.

Forming a connection with the Plona ducal family was never for their sake. It was only to slowly bleed them to death.

He had intended to destroy the Plona ducal family ever since he learned that Verodica had been tormenting Roel for a long time.

However, he didn’t want to reveal his true intentions to the woman who trembled at his slightest movement and voice. Especially about how he had been broken and how he had survived.

So he had planned to quietly bring them down one by one, disguising it as coincidence.

But to put Roel in danger just to pretend…

If he had known this would happen, he would have thoroughly crushed them from the beginning so they couldn’t climb up at all.

“Roel…”

Reus gently stroked the pale white face devoid of any color. He could barely feel any warmth.

The doctor said that Roel might not open her eyes for a very long time, even after a considerable period.

Although he had reacted disapprovingly to those words, Reus knew better than anyone that it was a miracle Roel was alive at all.

No matter how powerful the healing power was, that power could not change a person’s inherent constitution. Even if it were possible, it would take a very long time and effort.

Roel was particularly weak. Partly due to the years of oppression she endured in the count’s family, but considering her frequent illnesses, it couldn’t be said that she originally had a strong body.

Her already weak body had been directly exposed to poison, so the impact must have been much greater than for ordinary people.

Reus had merely forcibly held onto a life that was almost gone. So from now on, it was up to Roel alone to overcome the crisis.

Today, Roel’s face looked particularly peaceful. As if she would leave him forever. As if she had no lingering attachments to this place from the beginning.

“Roel.”

Of course, there was no answer.

Reus grasped Roel’s hand and buried his forehead on it. Then he infused an enormous amount of power, enough to strain his body.

It was okay even if he collapsed from overexertion. He didn’t care even if his own life was endangered. As long as Roel could open her eyes somehow, Reus was prepared to sacrifice both his pride and his life.

“Roel… I’m sorry.”

He might have to face the motionless woman for a very long time.

Probably every moment of just looking at her would return as a wound.

Knowing this fact, Reus still couldn’t leave Roel’s side as she slept deeply. He just repeatedly crumbled, blamed himself, and got hurt every moment, trapped in the nightmare he had barely escaped.

Two days later, at dawn. Teron came to see Reus.

Once, she was a woman he thought it didn’t matter whether she lived or died. But seeing Roel lying on the bed with an expression that seemed like she would never return, his heart felt very heavy.

‘The world won’t leave us alone…’

Teron finally tore his gaze away from Roel and handed a bottle to Reus.

“It’s an extremely potent poison.”

The brown bottle was labeled ‘Areia’.

Areia was a poison that could lead to immediate death even with a tiny amount, and it was not easy to handle, often causing even those who manufactured it to die in vain.

For this reason, it was a drug very strictly regulated at the national level and not easily obtainable even in back alleys.

So where on earth was it distributed from?

It didn’t make sense that Teron, who knew the back alley situation best, couldn’t figure out the route.

In other words, this was orchestrated by someone who could give such orders more secretly than anyone else. Someone who could easily obtain prohibited drugs.

As far as Teron and Reus knew, there was only one such person.

It was Den, the Emperor of the Asilite Empire.

“They said the duke’s daughter is alive.”

Two people had ingested the extreme poison, but one was still fighting for her life, while the other had already opened her eyes and was recovering.

“It seems she also received the antidote… The shadows must have secretly delivered it so as not to raise suspicion.”

Reus let out a long sigh. The breath mixed with mockery clearly conveyed a sense of bloodlust.

I should have just killed them.

Because of those creatures not even worth being called insects, the number of people he had to kill troublesomely only increased.

Even if the Emperor had no intention of finding out whether Reus had regained his power, his hand had been revealed from the moment Roel didn’t die.

This meant there was no longer any reason to act like a pathetic dog, nor any reason to keep watching the shadows lurking around.

“Capture the shadow.”

“…He’ll die anyway even if we leave him alone. You know his way. He’ll die soon since he’s become useless.”

Reus’s face immediately crumpled at Teron’s answer. His look said, what the hell does that have to do with me?

Teron clicked his tongue softly as if things had become troublesome.

‘Was it bound to come to this after all?’

He had hoped that Reus wouldn’t realize his true feelings until Roel ran away. Those feelings that would be overwhelming for some, and that others could never return to before realizing them.