The tip of the Duke’s sword pierced even closer to her pale skin.
It seemed that if it went any deeper, it would cut through the veins.
Despite the tense silence hanging between them, my mother, the very person involved, remained eerily expressionless.
‘Is there really no emotion left?’
Despite the Duke’s prior warning, my instinctual fear persisted.
But now, Mother was just a doll, blinking and breathing.
As I silently observed her, the Duke spoke.
“Rohiriel, it’s all up to you. What will you do?”
The Duke, disguised as a compassionate father, smirked.
The tension was suffocating.
A breeze blew again, and I closed and opened my eyes slowly.
And there, in the distance, I saw faint smoke rising.
‘Zenid, you did it. Success.’
Now, just a little more.
Just a little longer…
I pulled a small pouch from my pocket and spilled the contents onto the ground.
At the same time, I stood up, burying the sound.
Meanwhile, the green smoke gradually thickened behind the duke, who was laughing confidently.
Bvel, sensing something amiss, turned his head, and his eyes widened.
At that moment, the Duke also seemed to sense the unusualness and furrowed his brow.
“It’s just a bug. Do you think a crawling bug revealing itself will have a significant impact?”
It seemed the Duke was aware of Zenid’s infiltration, as he didn’t appear surprised but instead wore a sneering smile.
“Do not test my patience any further, Rohiriel.”
“W-what do… you want me to do then?”
I no longer hid my trembling.
Rather, I expressed my anger more openly, squeezing out my words as if wringing them out.
“If I say I will listen to you, will you put that sword away?”
A satisfied grin spread across the Duke’s face.
He pretended to ponder for a moment, then gestured with his eyes towards the grassy ground.
“First, you need to correct your arrogant behavior. You must beg my forgiveness for rebelling against me.”
He was talking about kneeling and begging for forgiveness.
Step by step, I moved closer to the duke, making unwavering strides.
Then, slowly bending my knee and bowing my waist, I reached into my pocket.
A hard glass bottle caught my fingertips.
Fumbling with one hand, I unscrewed the cap and glanced under the table.
White foam bubbled up onto the grass where I had sprinkled some powder.
“What other trick are you trying to pull?”
As the Duke’s slightly annoyed question hung in the air, I swiftly sprayed the substance from the glass bottle onto him.
A momentary look of concern flashed across the Duke’s eyes.
He is a powerful man, powerful enough to lead an empire into darkness.
As long as he was determined, he could evade me, no matter how close I got to him.
But if he did, he would have to retrieve the sword pointed at my mother.
To escape the potion’s range, he had to keep his distance completely.
But I knew Zikriesen Cassian.
He will not avoid it.
He thinks I’m inferior to him.
And perhaps he also firmly believed in the precautions he had taken.
‘How arrogant can he be?’
Indeed, the potion had struck the duke all over his body, causing his face to stiffen.
Perhaps thinking his pride was at stake, a smirk slowly emerged.
I gathered strength in my trembling body and sneered at the corners of my mouth.
“Go ahead; do as you please.”
“Rohiriel. Are you really…”
“I’ve long since moved on from my mother. Isn’t it more problematic for you if the doll sustains damage? I’m completely ready to leave Cassian behind.”
The Duke didn’t respond.
Instead, he tightened his grip on the sword handle, his hand trembling slightly.
As if my behavior took him by surprise, the Duke did not immediately cut my mother down as I had expected.
“Even if you say it’s useless, I won’t give up. Shahadna’s medicines are all over the mansion. Besides, I’ve already taken the medicine…….”
The Duke paused, and his eyes fluttered.
At that moment, I was certain.
‘A reaction.’
Tiny veins appeared in the Duke’s eyes, and soon a thin line of blood trickled from his lips.
Yet he couldn’t seem to retrieve the sword aimed at Mother, despite exerting all his strength.
But that was all.
Instead of swinging down, the sword was steadily plummeting towards the ground.
“Rohiriel……!”
Blood gushed from his open mouth.
The Duke’s eyes widened.
It appeared he had consumed a lot of the antidotes Mother had prepared, so he was puzzled as to why my potion affected him.
He turned his gaze to Bvel, who was standing nearby.
“…Bvel. What are you doing, not moving─”
But the Duke couldn’t finish his sentence.
Bvel was crouched on the floor, trembling and shaking, as if in a trance.
Like someone seeing a terrifying illusion.
“Bvel! What are you doing?”
Despite the Duke’s reproach, Bvel couldn’t snap out of it.
Saliva dripped from his open mouth.
Finally, the Duke seemed to struggle to hold himself up and retrieved the sword, plunging it into the ground.
The poison was so potent that it could knock someone out instantly, so I was surprised to see him still speaking coherently.
Perhaps it was due to Mother’s antidote, which he had taken beforehand.
‘He didn’t even end up like Bvel.’
The vial I had thrown under the table a moment ago.
It was originally a mild sedative when used alone, but when mixed with certain herbs, it transformed into a hallucinogenic substance.
That specific herb was perigrass.
I had hoped the Duke would be affected at least somewhat, but unfortunately, his resilience seemed to differ from Bvel’s.
“What in the world… Clearly, the antidote… cough.”
But there are few here with as strong a mental fortitude as the Duke.
The Duke’s wavering gaze extended beyond Bvel to the entire mansion.
The numerous servants and knights at Cassian Manor.
He couldn’t hear a single noise they made.
As he vomited blood once again, I spoke to him.
“Zikriesen Cassian. There’s something you’re missing.”
The duke’s eyes showed puzzlement at my words, which seemed out of place with the situation.
I glanced briefly at my mother, who showed no significant change even amidst the chaos.
Fortunately, my mother seemed not to be indoctrinated to follow the duke as her master, as she did not intervene despite the danger he was in.
She was merely flustered, unsure of how to act.
“I know my mother very well, but she doesn’t know me.”
The Duke’s expression seemed to question why that was a problem.
He probably hadn’t considered it, since he didn’t know much about pharmacology and medicine.
I smirked and continued.
“If you don’t know anything about my pharmacology, how can you protect yourself completely?”
At that moment, an intense light flashed before my eyes.
An earth-shattering roar followed it.
Behind the building, the black clock tower was crumbling.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Having parted ways with Rohiriel at the clock tower, Zenid hid in a corner and began to act immediately upon seeing people falling down.
She first poured some potions into the mansion’s drainage system before taking the second pill as instructed.
Then, she rushed outside and urgently reported to the guards.
“Something terrible has happened! Everyone at the black clock tower has collapsed!”
The guards, with bewildered expressions, quickly rushed to the clock tower to take the people out.
Meanwhile, Zenid circled the perimeter of the clock tower, dispersing the potion.
The guards knocked on Cassian’s door to investigate, but there was no response.
It was thanks to Rohiriel’s effort to enter earlier.
Amidst the growing confusion, as the people from the clock tower were being taken out, Zenid lit a match.
‘That should be enough.’
Then, she ignited the green vial Rohiriel had given her and hurled it at the clock tower’s wall.
As the previously scattered potion met the ignited vial, thick smoke billowed up.
The guards investigating inside the clock tower rushed out, startled, and nearby people gathered to watch.
As soon as the smoke rose, ominous crackling sounds and tremors began to shake the building.
“Everyone, evacuate!”
For the next step, Zenid left the collapsing clock tower behind and headed towards the main entrance.
At the same time, her eyes widened in surprise.
“Oh my, just as the lady said…”
A man with thick black hair appeared at the entrance of the mansion.
As if arriving on cue, it was Prince Julion.
