“Julion, I need to get closer.”
First, I had to check the condition of the man who had been employed by Roxis.
I hope he’s still breathing.
“You can’t walk there with those feet.”
Julion said abruptly and picked me up as is.
“No, I’m fine…….”
“You’re not fine.”
I felt like he would be angry if I refused further.
It was embarrassing, but I decided to quietly accept being carried by him.
As we approached, a pungent smell tickled my nose.
Julion covered my nose with his clothes and frowned.
“It looks like there’s no sign of any surviving creatures.”
“What about the guy from earlier?”
Crunch. Julion stepped on a pile of ashes as he surveyed the area.
Ares had already searched the other side and returned.
“He’s gone. There’s no sign of him.”
“They must have taken him.”
Roxis must have thought it would be troublesome if that man was caught. Otherwise, he would have ruthlessly discarded him like useless goods.
“What on earth did you do earlier?”
“What do you mean?”
“How gruesome of a weapon did you carry that he collapsed so easily?”
“Oh, that.”
It was nothing special.
It’s an instant sleep anesthetic, one of the essential medicines I carry in my medical bag.
It’s what I used to infiltrate the crown prince’s palace before I proposed the contract marriage.
While I was thinking of a way to dodge that question, Ares called me.
“Your Highness, by the way…”
His voice carried a subtle hint of nervousness, mirrored by a trace of remorse lingering in his scarlet eyes.
“Was Hemion Martin here?”
“I also have a couple of questions. By the time I got to Garnet Palace, Hemion Martin was long gone. I thought Roxis had taken him, so I went after him, but apparently not.”
The two men’s eyes turned to me.
A brief silence descended.
Feeling awkward, I opened my mouth casually.
“Well… she probably escaped to another place, right?”
Silence followed.
Feeling the unspoken pressure to explain more, I awkwardly smiled.
Where should I start explaining?
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
A few nights ago, when I was about to administer a new medicine to Hemion, I was staying in the makeshift pharmacy in the Garnet Palace. because I needed to make medicine.
Darkness was falling, and the knights on duty were battling drowsiness.
Holding a small spoon, I opened the door connected to the next room.
It was Hemion’s room.
After gently closing the slightly ajar window with a soft sound, I placed a sound-blocking pill on the candle near the window.
I also placed one in front of the door and one at the door connected to the pharmacy, then slowly approached the bed.
“Hemion Martin.”
It was as if she was trapped in an eternal sleep from which she couldn’t wake up.
But upon closer inspection, there were differences from when I had come earlier.
The position of the blanket, the shape of his hands, even the direction of her disheveled hair
It was a strange change, considering that no one had come since my last visit.
‘As expected.’
Without any movement from Hemion, I called her again.
“Open your eyes, Hemion. I know you’re awake.”
I had sensed something odd when checking her pupils earlier.
It was different from someone who was genuinely unconscious.
After confirming a few more things, I could tell that she had woken up long ago.
She has been pretending to be asleep all this time.
This is probably because this is the crown princess’ palace.
‘Because she considers me an enemy.’
She must have thought that if she opened her eyes and let me know she was awake, she would be tortured and taken advantage of.
I moved closer and whispered in a low voice,
“What you’re doing now is even more foolish. Do you want to die after pretending to be asleep for the rest of your life?”
The prolonged duration of her unconsciousness serves as a significant indication that there might be a serious issue with her body.
Cassian might take advantage of that.
If she died in bed, they would simply say her condition worsened and she died naturally, so nobody would think of it as murder.
She had to wake up quickly, even if it was just to show everyone that she was in good health.
“It’s your last chance. If you don’t open your eyes now…”
I grabbed the spoon I brought from the pharmacy and held it to Hemion’s throat.
Then, deliberately, in a more indifferent tone, I whispered,
“I’ll end it like this. Think carefully.”
It was just a spoon; it might hurt a bit, but it wouldn’t cause any serious harm.
However, Hemion kept her eyes closed, adding to her belief that I was a villain who might target her life at any moment.
It’s only natural to feel anxious and fearful.
‘Actually, there are much easier ways.’
Ways like causing pain to make her move or tickling her until she couldn’t bear it.
But such methods could only ‘wake’ her.
In addition to waking her up, I wanted her to feel that I had no intention of harming her.
Even if the process was somewhat provocative,
“Now, make a choice. Open your eyes, or…”
I pressed down on the hand holding the spoon.
Very slowly, deepening the spoon, raising her fear to an extreme.
“Pathetically follow your family.”
In that moment, Hemion’s eyebrows, which had been motionless, twitched.
Indeed, even a brave girl couldn’t continue with such a sleep in the face of extreme fear.
“!”
Hemion opened her eyes for a moment, snatched the spoon pressing her throat, and stared at me with olive-green eyes filled with hatred.
In the midst of the tumultuous emotions, Hemion uttered a word as if growling.
“You murderer.”
She seemed healthy. A sarcastic laugh escaped me.
Having achieved my goal, I straightened up and took out a notebook.
“Your eyes look healthy, and your voice is clear. Do you feel any discomfort?”
As I scribbled down Hemion’s condition in my notebook, her anger was replaced by bewilderment.
“What are you trying to do now?”
“Now that you’re awake, I need to check your medical condition. Are you in pain anywhere?”
“You…… You tried to kill me!”
Hemion raised the spoon she had snatched from me, aiming at me, then hesitated.
Only then did she seem to sense something strange, blinking her eyes and staring intently at her hand.
“What is this?”
“When did I try to kill you?”
“It was definitely a knife…”
“Did that look like a knife to you? Has your vision not fully recovered, or is it a cognitive impairment?”
Hemion still seemed unable to understand the situation, stiffening like a wax doll.
“You tricked me, making a threat like that with this…”
Blushing, Hemion swung the spoon, stopped, swung it again, looked at her hand, and glared at me again.
Observing the absurd scene, I couldn’t waste any more time and brought up the main point.
“Hemion Martin. I don’t have any intention of harming you. If there’s one thing I want, it’s to save you.”
“And you expect me to believe that? You’re one of the evil Cassians. The one who made my father and mother like that, Cassian’s…”
“Did I do it myself? I don’t know anything about it.”
“But…….”
“If I intended to kill you, I would have threatened you with a real knife, not with a cute little spoon.”
“Then why play such a trick?”
“Does this look like a joke to you? If I waited a few more days like this, you would really have died. In the hands of Cassian, whom you hate so much.”
Hemion gaped at me, her mind racing.
I decided to leave it at that for now out of respect for her, who is still confused.
“You’ve been awake for a few days now, so I’m sure you’ve heard that I’m the one who saved your life and protected you.”
I pressed her shoulders, making her lie back on the bed.
“Out of respect for you, I came to you first, without even publicly announcing that you were awake. Think about why I did that, if you have a brain.”
“Just to spite me…”
“Again, if I were, I would have threatened you with a knife, not a spoon, and it’s better to kill a toy that won’t listen.”
The candle in the window flickered.
The effects of the sound-blocking pill were gradually wearing off.
“I’ll come back tomorrow night. For now, I suggest you continue to pretend to sleep during the day; there are too many eyes and ears wondering about you.”
Hemion didn’t respond.
Looking at the extinguished candles, I quietly left the room.
From then until the spring banquet, every night, I sought out Hemion.
I informed Hemion of the secret passage after learning that Roxis would attend the banquet.
“There might be an attack. If that happens, escape straight to this place.”
“Where is the destination?”
“There are two places. One is the 21st watchtower, and the other is… there.”
I pointed outside the window.
Hemion, checking the location, widened her eyes in surprise.
I explained further.
“Depending on the situation, the evacuation location may change, so let’s set a mark in advance. If you head to the watchtower office, draw a circle on the floor. And if you go to that place, mark an X. Do you understand?”
“I got it. Can I ask one thing?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why on earth is there a secret passage in my room?”
Hemion looked at me as if genuinely curious, gathering her eyebrows.
I covered the rug over the secret passage again.
“It’s not that there’s a secret passage in your room.”
Hemion’s face became more puzzled.
Hearing the footsteps of the knights from outside, I paused for a moment.
As the sounds moved away again, I continued my explanation.
“I brought you to a room where there is a secret passage.”
