In the display room filled with images of ancestors bearing the name of Talion. Dark curtains were drawn on the windows to prevent the paintings from being damaged. Drushia blinked slowly as she faced the peculiar darkness.
‘Why am I here?’
His blank gaze slowly drifted until it stopped at a certain point. In the middle of a wall filled with large portraits flaunting the family’s status, an unusually small frame caught his eye.
It was a round-shaped frame, about the size of two outstretched palms. Peculiarly, it had a large jewel embedded at the top. The strange blue-purple jewel revealed its color vividly even in the darkness.
‘Isn’t that the portrait of the first family head?’
He had never seen it before, but had heard of it. That the person in this small, seemingly unremarkable frame was the founder of the Talion family.
As he approached to get a closer look, the frame that had been hanging on the wall suddenly fell. In a sealed room with no wind.
‘Huh. Why?’
The fallen frame made a loud noise as it hit the floor. Even the blue-purple jewel that had been firmly embedded popped out.
“Oh my goodness. Why did this fall?”
While he was thinking about whether to call a jeweler or a frame maker, someone’s voice was heard from outside the door.
“Your Grace, where are you! It’s urgent!”
At the urgent voice, Drushia picked up the jewel and put it in his pocket. He picked up the fallen frame, placed it on the shelf, and apologized in his heart.
‘I will call someone to repair it soon.’
“Your Grace, please come out quickly!”
The voice calling for him grew louder. The commotion coming from downstairs was unsettling, and he could no longer delay. Drushia hastily opened the display room door and went outside.
****
“Ugh….”
“Your Grace! Are you conscious?”
Kalf’s voice echoed loudly in Drushia’s ears. He struggled to lift his eyelids, but his vision was blurry and he couldn’t see properly.
“Your Grace. It’s Kalf.”
Though he tried to answer, his tongue was stiff and wouldn’t move as he willed. Even his thoughts weren’t functioning properly, as if his mind was covered in fog.
“…office… seal… grand…father….”
“Are you saying to seal the office? We’ve already contacted the estate.”
Drushia slowly blinked to indicate yes. His gaze fixed on Kalf, waiting for what he would say next.
“…report….”
He was asking for a report on the current situation. Kalf hesitated, not knowing what to say. The Ducal family’s physician couldn’t provide an answer, saying “unknown,” while Maiheller’s physician gave an even more desperate answer.
[It’s a difficult poison to neutralize. Treatment is possible, but it might take a long time and could leave significant aftereffects.]
[Aftereffects, such as?]
[He might have difficulty moving his body.]
A death sentence had been delivered overnight to the healthy man leading one of the Empire’s great families. How could he bring himself to say such words?
“We need to observe your condition a bit longer. The treatment is proving difficult.”
It was too early to draw conclusions. Kalf spoke euphemistically, but Drushia read the hidden anxiety in his words. However, even his thoughts weren’t connecting properly, and his consciousness was fading.
At that moment, the door opened and Shafri rushed in.
“Dru! Are you awake?”
Though the figure before him wasn’t clear, he recognized Shafri’s voice. Drushia’s brow furrowed.
‘Why?’
His cloudy eyes, lacking focus, still expressed his question. But even that couldn’t be maintained for long. A powerful drowsiness overtook him, swallowing his will to stay awake.
“Dru, Dru!”
Shafri sat in the chair beside the bed and took Drushia’s hand. Drushia, who had lost consciousness again, showed no signs of waking up.
“He was awake just now, wasn’t he? What did Dru say?”
Kalf looked down at Shafri with a stiff face but didn’t answer.
“Baron Crowny.”
“Excuse me, Lady Maiheller.”
Kalf brushed aside Shafri’s question and left the room.
Despite having seen his face for years, Kalf remained rigid. He was equally unkind to everyone, which was somewhat comforting.
“Sigh, that iron wall.”
Shafri shook her head and shifted her gaze to Drushia. The hand she held was large and cool. Despite being longtime friends and fiancée, she couldn’t remember holding this hand more than a few times.
“Master and servant, how alike they are.”
“Lady Maiheller. The Duke needs to rest.”
The knight guarding outside was still watching her without closing the door. Shafri put Drushia’s hand back under the blanket and stood up.
“Ah, so fussy.”
Shafri checked Drushia’s face once more and reluctantly left the room. The escort knights checked Drushia’s complexion with worried expressions and quietly closed the door.
Drushia awoke the day after Maiheller’s physician began treatment. The people of the Duke’s residence, who had been fearing the worst, sighed with relief.
Shortly after, Kinvil, who had fallen into a coma before Drushia, also woke up. However, he was unable to control his body and couldn’t leave his bed.
Contrary to the expectation that he would quickly recover, Drushia only regained consciousness occasionally and showed no signs of recovery. Meanwhile, Shafri stayed at the Talion Duke’s residence continuously in her capacity as fiancée.
****
The garden of the Igraine mansion was much larger than those of other noble residences. Inside were several annexes in addition to the buildings surrounding the main house. Among them was a hunting lodge built by a family head who enjoyed hunting.
Far from the main house and now filled with dust as no one used it anymore. Ashika carefully opened the old door and entered.
The annex was the size of one large room, with various weapons and hunting tools hanging on one wall, and objects of unknown use leaning against the walls on the floor.
“My lady, you’ve arrived?”
“Hello, my lady.”
The person who came with Jeanne was an unfamiliar face.
“Yes, is there any new information?”
Though her expression was calm, an undeniable tension was felt in her voice.
“He still can’t get up. It seems Duke Talion’s regular duties are being handled by his assistant, and the Knight Commander has sealed the mansion. It’s essentially difficult for outsiders to approach.”
The woman in her early thirties said her younger sister worked as a maid in the Duke Talion’s residence. She had been passing along information occasionally, but this was the first time she had asked to meet in person.
“Didn’t you say the Duke’s fiancée…, Lady Maiheller, is there?”
“Yes. She’s staying there as an exception. Since the Duke woke up thanks to Maiheller’s physician, they seem to be relying entirely on them for treatment.”
“It’s already been over ten days. You say there’s no improvement? Is the treatment actually working?”
Ashika’s voice rose. Though it wasn’t the woman’s fault, she unconsciously took on an accusatory tone.
When she had fled from Talion’s safehouse, she had been afraid of facing Drushia.
What had happened to her? Was she really going mad? Would that man notice the problem? How could she mitigate the night they had spent together? She had been anxious with such thoughts.
Then came the thunderous news to Ashika.
Drushia, on his way to the Grand Duke’s territory, had lost consciousness for unknown reasons. Hearing that he was hovering between life and death due to an unknown poisoning, her world went dark. Being skilled with the sword, wouldn’t it have been better if he had been attacked by an assassin instead?
“Then why did you want to meet today?”
“Well… this.”
The woman took out a bloodstained shirt from the bag she had brought.
“What is this?”
“I secretly retrieved it from the incinerator where it was thrown to be burned. I heard it was what the Duke was wearing when he was first brought in.”
Seeing the dark red dried traces, Ashika felt dizzy.
‘That’s his blood.’
Her hands trembled so much that she couldn’t bring herself to receive it.
What was that man to her? Just a man with whom she had spent one night due to strange circumstances. Wasn’t he the man who growled at her whenever he saw her and persistently bothered her, the man she couldn’t stand?
Ashika, with a pale face, struggled to maintain her composure.
“They were going to burn this?”
“It’s strange, isn’t it? Isn’t this evidence from the time of the incident?”
Jeanne tilted her head and questioned. Ashika couldn’t understand it either.
“Who disposed of it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they thought it wasn’t necessary for the investigation process.”
Ashika shook her head at the woman’s answer. This was an assassination attempt on the Duke of Talion. It couldn’t have been handled so carelessly.
“Thank you for your effort. Give me the evidence, and tell your sister that she’ll be contacted soon.”
Ashika handed over the payment she had prepared to the woman.
“Thank you.”
The woman smiled brightly as she received the heavy pouch.
“Jeanne, where is Nile?”
“He should be in Lord Geness’s office.”
Ashika nodded and hurriedly left the building. Shortly after Ashika disappeared, Jeanne escorted the woman out of the mansion without being noticed by others.
Shafri seems sus