Leah’s heart sank at the chilling gaze that ensnared her.

‘It can’t be.’

She clenched her trembling hands tightly. There was only one person she knew with red eyes.

The person who had gripped her wrist strongly, despite seeming frail. And the faint floral scent that emanated from him.

“…Your Grace?”

Was it due to nervousness? She murmured in a low, cracked voice.

But the eyes staring at her gave no answer to her desperate question. They merely gazed at her coldly, like frost in midwinter.

A heavy silence settled thickly between the two. Just as she thought even the pounding of her own heart was eerie,

The figure shrouded in darkness was fully revealed by the moonlight pouring through the gaps in the stone wall.

‘Ah.’

At that moment, when her vague suspicion turned to certainty, the man slowly began to approach Leah, who had frozen in place.

– Thud, thud.

Though neither slow nor fast, with each step he took, her heart constricted rapidly.

Leah’s back touched the cold wall as she stepped backward, as if struggling to live even a little longer.

As if there was no more escape.

“It seems you have rather bad luck.”

Then a deep, low voice wrapped around Leah’s ear.

“Or perhaps good intuition?”

Leah looked at the man with trembling eyes.

“How did you know to come here?”

“I, I just happened to…”

“Just happened to.”

He let out a chuckle, as if amused by her answer.

“Then let’s say it was bad luck.”

A red alert warning of danger blared through Leah’s mind.

“Why are you shaking so much?”

Despite his casual question, Leah couldn’t stop her shoulders from trembling finely. Because none other than Duke Haidern was speaking now.

“H-how are you able to…”

He was supposed to be a duke who communicated by writing on paper, unable to speak. The trembling of Leah’s hands on the desk intensified.

The pressure was so overwhelming that it felt like it would swallow her whole, making even breathing difficult.

“Are you trembling because I can speak? Or.”

The man who had suddenly come close reached out to Leah. Then he brushed aside her red hair that cascaded down to her chest.

“Because of the identity of the medicine you’re holding?”

The man looked down at the vial of medicine Leah was clutching. She gripped the vial tightly.

The identity of this medicine, which had become poison mixed with lily of the valley…

“Poralium.”

As if reading Leah’s thoughts, he continued speaking with a languid smile.

“It’s a poison made by combining lily of the valley with acapodium. In large doses it’s lethal, but in small amounts it weakens one’s energy and makes the body frail, as if struck with an illness.”

A sickly duke on the verge of death at any moment. The ill-fated prince.

‘Was he weak from birth?’

No. The deliberation was brief. As if all the puzzle pieces had fallen into place, Leah bit her lip. She felt a numbness as if someone had struck the back of her head.

‘Your Grace has been…’

“I made it.”

He continued speaking, raising one corner of his mouth.

“And took it myself.”

The duke snatched away the vial of medicine clutched in Leah’s hand. Then he nonchalantly downed the medicine in the bottle in one gulp.

Watching this, Leah couldn’t close her gaping mouth.

Her mind filled with questions at the duke’s shocking action of drinking poison as if it were a vitamin.

‘Why on earth? Why do such a thing…’

The fact that Duke Haidern had taken this poison to deliberately weaken his own body.

Even if it wasn’t enough to kill him, as it was only a small amount of poison, this was clearly throwing away his health.

Moreover, judging by the duke’s illness, it didn’t seem like he had only been taking the poison for a day or two. He looked sickly enough that he must have been taking it for quite a long time.

Why would the man who could be called the noblest in the empire do such a thing…?

What could he possibly want to gain by going to such lengths?

“You could die.”

“I know.”

“If you know, then why…”

Why was the duke doing such a dangerous thing, risking his own life? Duke Haidern leaned forward, pressing even closer to Leah.

The duke’s two eyes, now face-to-face with Leah at close range, glowed an eerily bright red. He stared at Leah for a moment before speaking.

“There’s no reason for me to explain that much to you.”

The man’s fingers, which had somehow reached Leah’s face, stroked her cheek.

“Because you’re going to die here today.”

Damn it. Leah let out a short sigh.

Why did ominous premonitions always turn out to be true?

‘I should have run away then.’

She had learned the secret the duke had kept hidden for over a decade. And in such an absurd way, too.

Leah swallowed hard at the killing intent that suddenly permeated her entire body.

At the same time, his hand that had been caressing her face gradually moved downward. To cut off her breath.

‘If I stay like this, I’ll die.’

Leah’s heart pounded wildly at the duke’s murderous gaze. And when his ice-cold hand touched her nape, she squeezed her eyes shut.

She had just been appointed as an apothecary and taken her first steps, but now she had to die in this gloomy duke’s estate?

‘No. That absolutely cannot happen.’

The man’s long fingers gradually touched her neck.

Just as his touch began to slowly constrict Leah’s breath, making her breathing labored, a scene flashed through her mind.

‘He definitely seemed to have chest pain.’

The memory of when she first encountered the duke in his bedroom overlapped in her mind. The image of the duke clutching his chest as if in discomfort. It certainly wasn’t an act.

“Y-you’re experiencing side effects, aren’t you?!”

“What?”

They say that even if you enter a tiger’s den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you. Leah desperately recalled the side effects of poralium.

And as if her guess had hit the mark, the duke’s brow twitched. The strength in his hand that had been about to choke her also weakened.

‘As I thought.’

“Y-you’ve definitely been taking the medicine for more than a year or two, at least 7 years or more. That’s right, isn’t it?”

Only then did interest finally spark in the duke’s chilling eyes.

“The first signs of side effects are eye tremors and frequent chest pain. When I first went to see you, you were clutching your chest as if in pain, weren’t you?”

“…And?”

The man glanced at her as if telling her to continue.

“It starts with chest pain, but as time passes, the accumulated toxins in the body can cause cardiac arrest. You could die suddenly at any time without warning.”

“Then, are you saying that if left untreated, I could die an untimely death?”

The words she had just uttered were not lies fabricated merely to survive. If the side effects had already begun, he could suddenly die without warning within 1-2 years.

“Yes. You must be feeling it too, Your Grace. That your body isn’t the same as before.”

Whether he believed her words or not, the duke’s hand moved away from Leah’s neck.

‘It worked.’

Seeing the duke’s gaze deepen as if he had taken the bait, Leah became certain. That the duke believed her words.

“I’ll make it. A remedy to eliminate Your Grace’s side effects.”

“…”

“I don’t know the details, but it seems you need to keep taking the medicine… You need a remedy, don’t you? Am I wrong?”

– Thump, thump, thump.

In the brief moment while waiting for the duke’s answer, Leah felt as if her heart would burst.

Please, please just let it work this once.

The short time spent waiting for the duke’s permission felt as long as if it had been divided into dozens of pieces.

Then the duke, who had been staring blankly at Leah, let out a short breath.

“How long will it take you to make it?”

‘It worked.’

A remedy for a poison she had never made before.

Though it was difficult to set a deadline for something she had never attempted, Leah had no time left to deliberate.

“With about 6 months, I should be able to…”

“Three months.”

“…Pardon?”

The duke spoke with a relaxed expression.

“Bring it to me within three months.”

‘Is he out of his mind?’

The average time it takes to develop a new drug is one year. But sensing that the duke wouldn’t wait a year, she had desperately said 6 months.

‘Three months? That’s impossible!’

But whether he knew her thoughts or not, he murmured softly.

“I hope you succeed. I’d rather not see blood, you see.”

There was no room for negotiation. That man really intended to kill her.

Leah felt her throat going dry.

“It would be best if you don’t show your face around here anymore.”

The duke turned away from her as if he was finished.

“Unless you want to die before the three months are up.”

Adding a chilling warning.

* * *

Leah didn’t know how she made it back to her room. When she came to her senses, she had returned to her room and locked the bolt.

She placed her hand on her chest, which felt like it might burst at any moment. Even though she was alone now, her heart was still racing madly.

“Hah… What am I going to do?”

It was just words she had thrown out to avoid the immediate crisis. But regret washed over her belatedly.

Three months, was it possible to make a remedy in just three months?

No matter how she thought about it, it seemed impossible.

‘I’m not some unparalleled genius, how am I supposed to make a new drug in three months?!’

Moreover, she had only just become an apothecary. Leah felt so desperate that she thought it might be better to go out and die.

Leah ran her hands over her dry, haggard face.

“What should I do? Should I run away now?”

As soon as she thought about running away, the duke’s fiercely glowing red eyes came to mind. The cold hand that had touched her nape.

Though the hand that had been about to choke her was long gone, it still felt as if an invisible hand was gripping her neck.

How was this any different from being given three months to live? After pondering for a long while like this.

“Right. If I’m going to die anyway…”

Whether she dies later or gets caught while running away and dies. For now, let’s get out of the duke’s mansion.

With that, Leah sprang to her feet, thinking of ways to escape. Her grass-green eyes showed determination.