Julion felt anxious as he looked at the collapsing clock tower.
He had already sensed that something was amiss when the green smoke started rising.
‘But they can’t possibly be destroying it.’
What exactly was happening inside?
Although he didn’t know for sure, it was evident that Rohiriel was responsible for bringing it down.
After all, Duke Cassian wouldn’t blow up his own mansion.
As Julion stood in front of the main entrance, debating whether to enter or go to the clock tower, he saw a familiar figure approaching from a distance.
“Your Highness!”
“……Zenid.”
Tension crept into Julion’s expression as he looked at Zenid.
His eyes darted around, searching for Rohiriel.
However, she was nowhere in sight.
“Why are you alone? Where is Rohiriel?”
“Milady is inside the mansion.”
“You mean she went in alone?”
Julion’s expression tightened, and he hurriedly tried to enter the mansion.
However, Zenid blocked his path and handed him something.
“Just wait a moment, Your Highness. Here, take this.”
“What is this?”
“It’s a medicine from Milady. She told me to give it to you.”
Julion accepted the small vial handed to him by Zenid, his expression turning bewildered.
“It’s as if she knew I would come here.”
“…Yes. Milady said you would appear in front of the main entrance around the time the clock tower collapsed.”
“Hah.”
Julion chuckled incredulously.
He tightly clenched the vial in his hand.
He was furious.
He had spent days worrying about Rohiriel, unable to sleep properly, and couldn’t even remember what he had eaten.
‘But here she was, calmly orchestrating everything alone…’
Even amidst his anger, what was more absurd was the increasingly rapid beating of his heart.
He resented the uncontrollable pounding of his heart in anticipation of meeting Rohiriel soon.
“Hurry, Your Highness. There must be a lot of poison sprayed inside.”
At Zenid’s urging, Julion sighed and swallowed the potion in one gulp.
He was hesitant, as he had missed Rohiriel once before due to a drug she had given him, but given the circumstances, she was unlikely to deceive him this time.
Having swallowed the potion, Julion stepped inside.
Zenid, however, remained at the door.
“I will receive the knights here. Will they follow me?”
“Could Rohiriel possibly even know what I ate yesterday?”
“Surely not.”
After briefly eyeing Zenid’s awkward smile with suspicion, Julion entered the mansion.
As Zenid had said, smoke filled the surroundings.
Individuals who appeared to be servants lay unconscious here and there.
‘I sense movement in the garden.’
The collapsed clock tower caused chaos outside, but the mansion remained quiet.
The only place where a presence could be felt in this almost deserted place was the garden located deepest within.
With his destination set, Julion wasted no time and swiftly made his way there.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Immediately after the collapse of the clock tower, Duke Cassian opened his eyes with an expression of disbelief.
The dust-filled view of the collapsed clock tower was reflected in his silver eyes.
“Have you truly surpassed Shahadna…?!”
The Duke’s silver eyes trembled, and a menacing aura emanated from him.
I reflexively stepped in front of my mother.
“Well, maybe not entirely. But one thing seems certain.”
Unyielding anger emanated from the Duke’s eyes as he looked at me.
I tensed my entire body and continued speaking.
“I’m not even half as good as my mother.”
My mother always said medicine must come from the heart.
Right now, her heart has been forcibly removed.
There was no way she could do her job properly in such a state.
She had only created mass-produced medications using her knowledge.
‘In fact, even achieving this level of effect with mass-produced medicine is already remarkable…’
By this point, the Duke should have collapsed.
Even with potions strong enough to knock out an elephant, he seemed to be becoming more alert.
‘Should I use another one?’
As I was thinking about the additional potions I had prepared, the Duke spat out a mouthful of blood.
Suddenly, his shoulders shook, and he started laughing out loud.
“Hahaha! You’re truly fascinating, Rohiriel!”
“…I didn’t use any madness-inducing potions.”
“If you didn’t want to follow me, you shouldn’t have walked in here of your own accord.”
No matter what I said, the Duke only uttered his own words, sporting a chilling smile.
The menace in his silver eyes made my whole body tense.
‘Because of the poison…’
Despite the poisoning, his inherent power would not vanish. The Duke’s movements only slowed down, but his momentum remained unchanged.
Instead, he exuded a strong aura and bound my ankles.
I struggled to shake it off, then moved my mouth.
“In the end, you’re rotting from the inside out. What more can you do? Just give up quietly. It’ll ease your suffering.”
I took a slow, deep breath, trying to sound calm.
But the Duke remained unfazed by my taunts, responding with the same smiling face.
“I’ve taught you that it’s not over until it’s over, haven’t I? Your actions will be your downfall, Rohiriel.”
“……What does that mean?”
“Did you think I only prepared precautions inside the mansion?”
His words implied that there were people waiting outside the mansion.
As expected, Duke Cassian had prepared multiple layers of defense.
Unfortunately, there was a part of me that believed him.
With a wry smile, I spoke up.
“You said it yourself. That I resemble you a lot.”
I hate to admit it, but maybe it was true.
I bit down on my lip to break free from the Duke’s aura.
“Then wouldn’t I have come prepared with layers as well?”
For a moment, the Duke’s eyes flickered with unease.
Seizing the opportunity, I immediately grabbed my mother’s wrist.
She stared at me expressionlessly, startled by the sudden contact.
“Teveroka, follow me.”
As I expected, my mother was not pleased.
Her reaction was starkly different from Bvel, who was already unconscious due to fear.
With no memories or emotions, she had nothing to fear or recall.
Moreover, despite the spread of various other potions throughout the garden, she appeared unaffected by them.
It was puzzling, but escaping from here was the top priority.
“Where are you going……!”
As I tried to pull my mother away and escape, the Duke lunged forward, brandishing his sword.
‘How does he still possess such strength…!’
I stumbled back a step.
The distance between us closed in the blink of an eye as the Duke’s massive body poured toward me.
The tip of his sword gleamed, and amidst the grimacing sight, I caught sight of familiar black hair.
―Kahng!
Even though it was happening right in front of me, I couldn’t properly perceive the movement of objects.
The fragments of the shattered sword were flying through the air.
The Duke was staggering backward, vomiting blood as he planted the remaining half of his broken sword into the ground.
Those were the only two things I could see.
“Rohiriel, you……!”
The familiar scent, the familiar voice.
And the familiar face scolding me as usual.
Seeing the neat back of the person blocking my way, I couldn’t help but smile.
But Julion’s face as he looked back at me was the most haggard I’d ever seen.
His eyes widened as he took in the color of my hair, which had changed to a deep blue, and then his brow furrowed.
“Why are you so reckless?”
With a scowl on his face, Julion didn’t even wait for me to answer before he continued.
“What did you think you were doing, barging in here all by yourself……!”
“I came because I knew your highness would come.”
As I referred to him as Your Highness instead of using his name, he paused and stared at me intently.
“You… Ugh. Are you saying that now? If I had been a minute late, everything would have gone wrong.”
“But you weren’t late.”
I replied softly, smiling.
Julion’s face grew even darker.
“…Let’s talk about this later.”
Julion seemed to have more to say, his expression overflowing with words, but given the immediate situation, he gritted his teeth and aimed his sword at the Duke once again.
“What is this…?”
The Duke looked perplexed at Julion’s sudden appearance.
He had only intended to quietly bring me in and put me in chains, but with the unexpected intervention of the prince, his plans must have hit a snag.
The Duke’s eyes flickered with a myriad of thoughts.
Above him, Julion’s low voice fell.
“Duke Cassian. How dare you attempt to kill the Crown Princess? Are you out of your mind?”
“…I wasn’t planning to kill her. It was just a measure to temporarily subdue him as needed.”
There were plenty of witnesses outside the mansion.
Feeling that it was no longer possible to conceal anything, the duke completely exposed his ambition and didn’t even attempt to cover up his intentions.
“But I’m curious. How did you get here so quickly? I made sure no information leaked out.”
He asked, his face showing curiosity.
He must not have considered that I would directly inform Julion.
Perhaps he thought I had no intention of returning to the palace, given that the palace had been turned upside down in search of me.
‘I don’t actually intend to return.’
Even so, since there was a pawn that could still be used, it would be a waste not to utilize it.
