Drip, drip, drip.

The trickling water was making a consistent noise, perhaps due to the pouring rain that had fallen through the cracks.

Despite it being midsummer, the chilling temperature made one curl up, and a foul smell stung at the nose in the humid air.

Just how long had she been trapped here?

Because there were no windows, Lea couldn’t even tell how much time had passed since she had been imprisoned.

A few days ago, there was a public trial, attended by numerous nobles. As expected, the trial had not gone in Lea’s favor, a commoner.

The count’s heart had stopped due to the new medicine she had made. Just that fact alone ensured Lea’s life wouldn’t be spared.

All the nobles pointed their fingers at Lea, labeling her a murderer.

“Could it be, the Count is actually dead…?”

‘That can’t be possible…’

She muttered, lowering her head. If the medicine was fatal enough to kill someone, she wouldn’t be in this condition.

She had protested vehemently against this fact, but it didn’t reach them.

“It’s strange.”

Normally, public trials for serious matters lasted for days. However, Lea’s trial ended in less than half a day.

As if they wanted to hastily wrap up the case.

She screamed it wasn’t so, but the judge sentenced her to death anyway. Lea buried her head between her knees, flooded by horrendous memories.

“Really, now I am…”

A tear trickled down from Lea’s eye, wetting her skirt.

Had the Count really died? Would I really be executed like this?

Lea was despondent about her sudden change of circumstances. Just a short while ago, she was dining and spending peaceful days.

Those were irreplaceably good days. Why did it have to change like this overnight? She felt infinitely pathetic curled up like that.

“It’s over.”

If the death sentence had been decided, there was no turning back. The guard said that tomorrow was the execution day.

‘After tonight, I’ll be hanging motionlessly from the gallows.’

A crushing loneliness made Lea tremble. She thought that maybe it would be better to end it all herself. Just then…

Footsteps resounded, as if someone was descending into the underground dungeon.

“Lea.”

“…?”

At the familiar voice calling her name, Lea slowly lifted her head. Before her eyes was Rickel, looking straight at her.

“Ri, Rickel!”

Lea sprang up and approached the iron bars where he was. With a desperate voice, Lea asked him.

“How is the Count? What happened to him?”

Though everyone in the courtroom had said the Count was dead, Lea didn’t believe it. The Count couldn’t be dead.

Rickel, the Count’s righthand man, came to see her, proof of that. If he really had died, the one person who should be cursing her…

With a sliver of hope, Lea looked at Rickel, as if begging him to say what she wanted to hear.

“…The Count is.”

Noticing Lea’s eyes, Rickel wet his lips and seemed to hesitate, his expression quite awkward.

His normally radiant purple eyes shimmered differently than usual. But Lea didn’t have the leisure to notice such things.

“…The Count has passed away.”

‘What? Passed away? Did he return to his territory, or does it mean…’

Lea, who still couldn’t understand the situation, asked Rickel again, her face a mask of despair.

“Passed away? What does that…”

However, the answer that came back was exceedingly brief.

“…He breathed his last.”
Rikel shattered even the small hope that Lea had been clinging to. And he did it brutally.

“……What?”

The count died because of the new medicine she made.

Her thoughts seemed to freeze at the unreal words of the man.

The count is not dead.

She had been incessantly telling herself that he had just lost consciousness for a moment…

Once he regains his senses, he would get her out of this place. That’s what she believed as she endured her hellish days.

“That’s impossible.”

How could this even be? Lea’s trembling legs, which had been clutching the bars, suddenly went limp.

“Lea……”

Her body and spirit collapsed simultaneously. Life drained from Lea’s vibrant green eyes.

“How could……”

And slowly, tears began to fill her eyes.

“Because of the medicine I made……”

The man is dead.

The shouts of those who had pointed fingers at her in the courtroom a few days ago echoed in her ears.

Back then, the accusation felt unjust and infuriating. But now…

Tears poured out of Lea’s eyes in torrents.

“Did I really, Count……”

Her memories with the Count flashed before her eyes like a slide show.

He was rough around the edges, but considering his life of constant peril, it was understandable.

He was coarse and arrogant, but he harbored warmth within.

“I killed him…… I killed that man……”

The guilt that had been weighing down on her shoulders suddenly ballooned. The fact that her new medicine drove Akiya to a corner drove her mad.

It hurt. It hurt so much that she wanted to die.

Clutching the bars, Lea screamed.

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.

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