Although events unfolded contrary to Theron’s wishes, regardless of everything else, Leus needed to calm his excitement.

“I’ll handle that myself…”

“Handle what—”

“You just stay by Roel’s side.”

“…”

Just the mention of Roel’s name created a gap in the ruthless face. Leus, who had been moving his lips for a moment, soon dropped his head weakly.

Even just seeing him waver after having his weakness exposed, it was clear.

‘It seems he won’t be able to leave.’

Leus would never be able to let go of Roel. No, it was clear that he would never let her go.

[This is the timeline separator]

Ten days passed like that. The view outside the window captured the slightly faded summer colors of the Viscount’s estate.

Leus wanted to leave the Plona Viscount’s estate immediately, which deserved to be burned down, but he couldn’t do so. He was worried that if he moved rashly, something might go wrong with Roel, who hadn’t even opened her eyes yet.

Despite having bloodshot eyes from barely sleeping during that time, Leus absolutely never left Roel’s side as long as he could stay with her.

Holding her hand tightly, he continued to pour out his healing power, which was probably meaningless.

“Roel.”

During this time, Leus spent more time talking to himself. It was still painful that no answer came back, but when he ran out of things to say, he would call out Roel’s name once in a while, like just now.

It reminded him of what Helen had said when Claude fell into a comatose state on the battlefield before.

[“Father told me that even when people on the brink of death seem like they’ll never wake up again, they can actually hear everything we say. So he said to call out to them until it gets tiresome. So they don’t lose their way.”]

So today too, he called the woman’s name until it became tiresome.

Coincidentally, Roel was deep in sleep with the face of someone who had already gone far away.

“You need to wake up before autumn comes. Didn’t you agree to go to Perocel with me?”

As always, the low voice was gentle. However, Leus’s back as he looked at Roel seemed a bit tired.

“Are you doing this because you hate me?”

“…”

“For not keeping my promise to make you happy.”

“…”

Leus, who was about to ask if she now couldn’t even bear to look at him, closed his mouth.

Did he really have the right to ask such a thing?

How shameless. Leus closed his eyes tightly and buried his forehead on their tightly clasped hands.

“Roel…”

But then, he felt a slight movement in his palm.

Leus suddenly raised his head to look at Roel. But as if the signal just now was an illusion created by his desperation, the woman’s face remained calm.

The momentary expectation turned into an overwhelming disappointment. It was the first time his judgment had been so clouded.

Everything was a mess.

Leus, gritting his teeth, inwardly chewed out curses directed at himself and then sank back into anguish like before. Following that, he called Roel’s name once as if out of habit, then repeated words of atonement and self-blame.

After struggling with guilt for a long time, Leus raised his head.

“Roel, please…”

But an unbelievable sight met his eyes.

Roel was struggling to lift her eyelids. At first he thought he had finally gone mad, but he could definitely feel a slight movement from the small hand he was holding.

“…Roel?”

“…”

“Roel, are you conscious?”

The watery eyes revealed beneath the very slowly moving eyelids were still hazy.

She had woken up to the sound of him calling her name tirelessly, but Roel still couldn’t distinguish reality.

“Roel.”

As the warmth cupping her cheek and the urgent voice seeking confirmation reached her, Roel gradually came to her senses. Soon, Leus appeared a bit more clearly in her cloudy eyes.

“Ah… Leus.”

Leus wanted to answer right away. But feeling that his voice would tremble pathetically if he opened his mouth now, he squeezed the woman’s hand again instead of answering.

Leus stood up from the chair and lowered his body to match her eye level, and Roel continued in a frail voice.

“Am I… alive?”

This time too, Leus couldn’t answer.

There was no way Roel hadn’t felt the shadow of death that had covered her. Because he knew that fact too well, he couldn’t forgive himself even more.

She wasn’t a woman who should have gone through something like this.

The fact that he was ultimately the one who caused her to go through such a thing. The fact that even after she went through such a thing, he couldn’t do anything for her. The fact that even at a moment like this, he was pathetically keeping his mouth shut.

If even he found himself this pathetic, how resentful must Roel be towards him?

Leus was overcome with a feeling of whether he wanted to die right away, or whether he wanted to kill himself.

At that moment, Roel tried to move her limp hand. Seeing her continue to move her hand that couldn’t exert much strength, it seemed she wanted something else.

Soon realizing that she wanted to touch his face, Leus obediently brought the woman’s hand to his face.

“Your eyes… why are they like that?”

As if his body was screaming from being unable to overcome fatigue, Leus’s eyes had bloodshot veins. Even in her dazed state, Roel worriedly asked as she felt the man’s face was too rough under her hand.

“Your face is a mess… Did you not sleep again?”

Hearing her voice mixed with a metallic sound, Leus’s face contorted.

“Leus… you’re really okay, right?”

“How can you worry about me… even at a moment like this.”

He hated himself for receiving the woman’s kindness. And at the same time, he liked that she was still kind to him. That’s why it was harder to shake off the guilt.

“I’m sorry, Roel. For making you go through something like this…”

Roel didn’t know anything else, but she did know that she was able to narrowly escape death thanks to Leus.

“…Thank you.”

This time, Leus kept his mouth shut of his own will. Because he thought that those words absolutely did not belong to him.

“Why are you making that expression, Leus…”

“It’s all… it’s all my fault. I caused you to go through something you shouldn’t have had to experience by doing unnecessary things.”

Roel looked at the man’s face that clearly revealed his sense of guilt, then slowly opened her mouth.

“I heard your voice.”

After collapsing, Roel dreamed of her past life.

The vague modern scenery felt a bit unfamiliar, but she quickly adapted as if forgetting reality. Like that, she headed somewhere led by people whose names she couldn’t remember well. As she did so, both the pain and her memories became fainter.

Just as she was about to take a step, believing without any doubt the people’s words that she could be completely at ease if she went just a little further, someone’s voice faintly reached her ears.

It was a man’s voice, and listening carefully, it seemed to be calling someone’s name.

“Roel.”

Even though it was calling someone completely unrelated, that voice kept making her stop in her tracks. She asked the people if they didn’t hear the strange voice, but they only looked at her with expressions asking what she was talking about.

And the man’s voice that at first only repeated a stranger’s name gradually changed as if in pain, and later led to endless self-blame.

“Are you doing this because you hate me? For not keeping my promise to make you happy.”

“No, Leu, s… huh?”

Only after unconsciously uttering the man’s name did she realize.

The fact that this place was not reality, and that the place she really should be was where the man’s voice was coming from. And the fact that the further she got from reality, the closer she was getting to death.

“Roel, please…”

And the moment Leus desperately called out to her, Roel opened her eyes.

“If you hadn’t called me, I probably… would never have opened my eyes again.

“…”

“Now you’re my savior, Leus.”

Roel, who smiled faintly, wanted to add that he could stop blaming himself now. But due to sleepiness suddenly overtaking her, she ended up closing her eyes without being able to finish her words.

It was darkness again. But she didn’t feel any fear due to the warmth felt in her hand.

[This is the timeline separator]

Viscount Plona heard the news that Leus had immediately headed towards Verodica after the Grand Duchess regained consciousness.

Why did he want to meet his daughter of all people?

‘He’s been by Her Highness’s side the whole time, so there’s no way he could have figured out the culprit already.’

From the Viscount’s perspective, that was an undoubted fact, but it was inevitable that he became extremely anxious.

After Roel regained consciousness, he had detained the people who could possibly be suspected, but Leus had ordered to send them all back without even meeting them, let alone interrogating them.

It was also because he already knew who the culprit was.

Even if it wasn’t the Viscount, anyone who heard Verodica’s words after miraculously opening her eyes would immediately realize who the culprit was.

“This can’t be… Her Highness is alive? How? That’s absolutely impossible…”

“You… don’t tell me it was your doing?”

“This is really impossible. They clearly said she would never open her eyes again, how…”

Contrary to his confidence that it wasn’t done by a member of the Viscount’s family, the culprit who attempted to assassinate the Grand Duchess was none other than his own daughter, Verodica.

Viscount Plona killed the servant who handed over the cup to make it look like suicide, in order to somehow conceal this. And he disciplined his daughter. Even though you committed this act, you must absolutely not be implicated as the main culprit of this incident, so deny it no matter what.

No, from this moment on, you are absolutely not the real culprit in the Grand Duchess assassination attempt.

Since areia was detected in the cup, there was no choice but to somehow cover up the incident. Asking where she got it from, who gave it to her, and why she went this far were matters for later.

But regardless of her father’s worries, Verodica was still focused on Roel.

‘Why didn’t she die?’

I heard it was an extremely potent poison, should I have increased the amount? To miss such a first and last chance like this!

Far from reflecting, she blamed herself for not properly finishing off Roel.

Of course, she didn’t think at all that Leus would catch on. According to the person who handed her the drug, there was no way her involvement could be discovered.

‘As long as that person doesn’t appear, it’ll be fine. The servant has already been concluded to have taken his own life, so they’ll never know.’

So Verodica was a bit confident until Leus came to find her in person.

“You look fine.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Thankfully—”

“How dare you.”

“Pardon…?”

She thought he had visited for the purpose of checking on her, but Leus’s expression as he looked at her was only cold.

“Did you think I would be worried?”

“Y-Your Highness, why are you suddenly—”

“Suddenly?”

Leus sneered lowly.

“It seems you thought I was a fool who would smile at someone who tried to kill my wife, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Isn’t that right?”

There was nothing that could point to her as the culprit. Yet the Grand Duke was certain that she was the culprit.

No, this was beyond certainty – it was the reaction of someone who already knew the fact clearly.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, Your Highness… I was a victim that day just like Her Highness—”

Verodica’s voice cut off unnaturally at the chilling sound of a sword being unsheathed.

“From now on, you’ll need to move your mouth carefully.”

“Y-Your Highness…!”

“I have no intention of believing anything you say.”

“Please, just listen to me once—”

“There’s only one conversation we’ll have from now on.”

The blade turned leisurely under Leus’s touch. The light reflected off the sword appeared and disappeared repeatedly on Verodica’s neck.

“The level of your punishment.”

“…”

“Unfortunately, I have nothing else to discuss with you.”