You are at the End of the Downfall

Kaela had no expectations. Without expectations, she could accept and retreat from whatever happened. Even if she was scared, surprised, dumbfounded, or felt wronged, she could still step back. She was good at it from much practice.

So when she opened her eyes, she wouldn’t be shaken no matter how Peon reacted. Isn’t that how it is for someone with a terminal illness waiting for death?

“You can sleep more.”

But among the reactions Kaela had prepared for from Peon, him sitting beside her wearing just a robe, looking at her and smiling, wasn’t one of them.

Wasn’t waking up alone in an empty room the most desirable and likely scenario?

Peon, in his uncharacteristically casual attire, sitting on the bed, shattered all the possibilities Kaela had considered based on the Peon she knew and the typical life of noble couples.

“Did you sleep well?”

If you don’t expect, you won’t be disappointed or hurt. And if you don’t expect, you can be even more surprised. Kaela realized this just now.

Last night, Peon was clearly not in his right mind. Slightly, no, perhaps very much not in his right mind. His eyes were exactly like that night Kaela had stolen a glance at before she died.

There was no reason in his pitch-black pupils contracting vertically and his dark purple irises. So even if he woke up and distanced himself from Kaela, or pretended nothing happened like after that night, it wouldn’t matter.

“It’s time for lunch, actually.”

But Peon was caressing her cheek and smiling. His eyes were affectionate, his touch gentle, and his lips were curved in a smile. Was this a dream?

Ah, right. Kaela had sometimes thought that every day unfolding since she woke up in the Ostein Duchy townhouse after dying might be a dream.

It wasn’t bad to fulfill all the things that had been forbidden to her, even if only in a dream. If she couldn’t do it this time, it would be unfair. The once impeccable and straight-laced Grand Duchess was indulging in her own form of deviation.

If something went wrong, there was a solution. She had already experienced the ultimate solution. So it’s okay. If it’s not a dream but reality, she should run away. But right now, it felt like too sweet a dream.

“Shall we eat and sleep more?”

Perhaps because her body was too tired, she slept deeply. She had supported the rear for five days of battle, and then was exhausted by Peon’s return, so she slept soundly.

It was amazing how she had never slept so deeply in Lusenford. Just as Kaela was thinking she should move her body a bit, Peon kissed her face out of habit and gently pressed his forehead against hers.

Having bathed first, the fresh-scented Peon stared at her intently. With their foreheads touching and his gaze unwavering, Kaela felt too embarrassed and subtly averted her eyes.

She didn’t know how to handle situations like this. Beatrice would probably skillfully manage men, not letting them look away at times like this, but Kaela didn’t know how to do such things and lacked that kind of charm altogether.

So even if she wanted to hold on, she couldn’t. Since trying would only worsen the situation, staying still was the best option.

“Let’s get up for now.”

While gazing at her and kissing her incessantly, Peon murmured with his lips against her cheek.

She had to get up and start her day as the Grand Duchess anyway. Kaela barely managed to nod and tried to get up quickly. Or rather, she tried to.

“Ah…!”

But she had to lie back down with a groan. She only now felt how sore and painful her body was.

“Can’t get up? Where does it hurt? Where?”

Large, warm hands immediately supported her. While doing so, he precisely pressed on her aching thighs and waist. Kaela covered her face with both hands and curled up.

“Our Duchess has been busy lately, after all.”

Having been aflame all night, and even briefly when they woke and made eye contact at dawn, newly used muscles had tightened considerably.

“I’m sorry.”

At this unexpected apology, Kaela peeked at Peon through her fingers. He was carefully loosening each tense muscle, looking very apologetic.

“I should have kept my senses until the end, I’m sorry. It must have hurt a lot.”

Kaela shook her head without realizing it.

They say a woman’s first time is painful, but even the one experience she had before dying wasn’t that bad, and this time it hurt even less. And the pleasure was frighteningly greater. She thought it was good that they did it. She didn’t regret it at all.

“To make an excuse, it was my first time too, so I didn’t know well. I just tried based on what I’d heard. How was it?”

The most reticent man she knew asked an embarrassing question while even looking apprehensive.

“Was it bad?”

“Why…”

As soon as her voice came out cracked, Peon quickly brought water from the bedside table and held it to her lips.

Kaela had no choice but to be lifted up in his arms and drink the water he offered. Her entire body ached that much.

Faced with Kaela’s groaning, Peon couldn’t even raise his head. He was so anxious and cautious that it seemed his claim of it being his first time might be somewhat true.

“I bathed you, do you remember?”

Kaela shook her head as she pushed away the empty water bowl. Come to think of it, apart from the soreness, she did feel clean and fresh.

“I also applied some medicine.”

Applied medicine? Why? Kaela wondered as she unconsciously lifted the blanket, and then understood. Medicine should be applied. It should be applied so it disappears.

“I’m sorry. I pounced on you like a child.”

He had acted exactly like a virgin whose eyes had rolled back at the sight of a woman. Though he had lived to 32 in his past life and his mental age was in the early 30s, he lost his reason upon finally embracing the woman he had desperately wanted.

With the battle and that trivial poison Beatrice had used, his body, left with only instincts, knew no restraint.

In fact, it was now impossible to hold onto reason in front of Kaela. So he was anxious afterward. What if Kaela, who used to insist on propriety even in bed, was disgusted and despised him for pouncing like a beast?

He had resolved to treat her as tenderly as possible, but he couldn’t help feeling anxious.

“If you tell me how it was, I can improve.”

Before his regression, he hadn’t said anything. A husband who didn’t communicate and was only swayed by others was the worst. So this time, he wanted to communicate more earnestly. Even if Kaela didn’t allow it, he was determined to try desperately.

This time, he had to make the effort. The young Grand Duchess, who had lost everything – her inheritance, her title, her only family – and was left with nothing, had tried her hardest, and he had ignored it all. So this time, he had to make the effort. If he tried, maybe…

Hiding his poor hope, Peon pulled the bell cord to call a servant and whispered,

“You seemed to enjoy it… If you tell me in detail, I can do better, so please tell me. How was it?”

He smiled as he saw his wife, who had been flushed red all night, turn red again. She was so beautiful.

Peon, who had been smiling happily at her, excused himself briefly and disappeared towards the door. Then he returned with a large bowl of food.

“Shall we talk while eating?”

Placing a tray on the bed and setting the bowl on it, Peon took her in his arms and began to feed her various things himself.

“I, I can do it myself…!”

“Alright.”

As a well-mannered lady, being fed by someone else was against etiquette. Peon immediately withdrew his hand and watched her quietly. It was quite a large meal for breakfast.

There were two soft egg dishes, toasted white bread, well-cooked chicken and salmon, cream sauce, and Kaela’s favorite new chef’s special potage, along with fruit preserves and wine to boost energy.

Wondering what to eat first, Kaela picked up a spoon to try the potage.

The silver spoon trembled. It dipped into the potage, and she managed to scoop up a spoonful, but it trembled again. In the end, the potage dripped back into the bowl. Why is this happening? Kaela looked at the spoon suspiciously.

“Are you doing an inventory check on the silver utensil?”

“No.”

“It’s too heavy. I think it’s mixed with something other than silver.”

The spoon is too heavy to lift. Why is this happening? As she blinked and looked at the spoon that had dropped again with confusion, she heard laughter from above, and a large hand picked up the spoon instead.

“It’s because all your strength is gone. Let’s not do anything today and just rest. I’ll feed you.”

All her strength is gone? That’s impossible. As she raised both hands and observed them seriously with a blank face, the laughter grew louder.

Again, kisses showered on her forehead, between her brows, cheeks, and temples. Why is this person acting like this? When she looked up, he kissed her on the lips this time.

“Why?”

“Why? Because you’re too beautiful.”

His clear purple eyes, now free of the black poison, looked at her for a long time and smiled. She was this pretty and lovable.

Kaela, whom he was looking at with clear vision and a refreshed state without any noise in his head, was alluring to the point he didn’t want to show her to others, and simultaneously beautiful enough to want to boast about.

So he just wanted to bury everything and pretend not to know. He didn’t want to break this peace, just like this. That’s why he kept promising next time. Next time, he would do better, so just one more time.

Now, Kaela had all the initiative in this relationship. He was just trying to look good in front of her, hoping not to be pushed away. Even though he knew he shouldn’t ask for more after shamelessly achieving this much, he kept looking back, hesitating, and sitting down.

But the situation wouldn’t let the sinner rest easy.

****

As soon as the battle ended, Peon, who had stayed in the room with the Grand Duchess for a long time, came out with a clean and refreshed face and started dealing with the aftermath.

Most of the quiet orders he had given while in the room with Kaela had already been carried out or were in progress. As soon as he parted from Kaela, he again faced the heavy issues and his own sins hidden among them.

“Hyung-nim. It’s not my place to say, but I think overall repairs are needed.”

Even Isidore, the Emperor’s inspector, was careful enough to put aside his title and speak cautiously about the poor state of Fort Fueten and Lusenford.

They had been through a battle, and those who came from Crania had witnessed it, so there was a clear justification. However, when it came to execution, the past weighed heavily. It was more than just weighing; it was frightening.

“We need to expand the castle.”

The poor people of the castle looked at the Grand Duchess, who first said those words, with wide eyes. Peon had thought it was the right thing to say.

After all, Peon was the one who felt the need for expansion most acutely. He was glad to have met someone who shared his mind when Kaela said such things.

It seems his brainwashing started to go awry because of that joy. He wanted to believe that Kaela’s advocacy for expansion was purely as the Grand Duchess of Lusenford, not as the Emperor’s spy.

No, he just believed it. That’s why Beatrice, pretending to be Peon’s spy from Crania, made a fuss and sent evidence that Kaela was leaking information to the Emperor so meticulously.

Beatrice had judged that it would be difficult unless it was evidence created when the brainwashing was almost undone. He shouldn’t have fallen for such evidence.

“It’s collapsing too quickly.”

“It was built hastily in the first place.”

It’s a neighborhood that goes into convulsions at the mere mention of expansion due to money concerns. How much care could have gone into a hastily built castle? They must have saved money, labor, and time.

“Even if the evil dragon came and just breathed on it, it would melt. This isn’t a joke, it’s the truth, hyung-nim. I’m genuinely worried.”

Peon chuckled. Well. It seems we don’t need to worry about dragons. As long as the son is here, the father won’t come to create a sea of fire, right? The Emperor, who knew this and placed Peon here, was the most vicious one, though.

When a son who couldn’t even understand words due to a curse raised his sword against his father, how must the father have felt?

“Hyung-nim, are you not afraid of the evil dragon?”

Isidore looked at Peon as if something was very strange. Peon was wandering around that area like a riddle, bringing only one horse, even though the border overlapped with the evil dragon’s territory.

“There’s something more frightening than the evil dragon.”

“Is it the foreign tribes? Well, seeing that they’ve even formed an alliance this time, it really seems like big trouble.”

“When you return, please report this briefly to His Majesty the Emperor.”

“Of course!”

However, Isidore didn’t offer any further help. They were originally just distant cousins. In the Dakiten family, Peon was an existence that would be better off not existing.

“When are you going back?”

“Staying longer would just be a nuisance. Coincidentally, many of the investigation subjects died in this battle.”

They died crushed and torn apart at the left wall of Fueten Fortress, unable to even scream.

“However, as I mentioned yesterday, the butler…”

Isidore’s voice lowered, and Peon quietly nodded and listened. A few minutes later, Isidore left, and Peon remained alone.

Human senses are incredibly dull. The field of vision is narrow, they can’t see far, and hearing is limited. Although he had lived with limited senses all his life, just before regressing, as Beatrice had pointed out from the northern tower, ‘non-human beings’ were different.

His senses had developed so much that when he thought about the time before regression, he didn’t want to go back because it was too frustrating. Thus, he noticed the ominous beginning. He had to notice it.

It always started with the drink the Grand Duke had every afternoon. Usually, it was tea. Peon looked down at the adequately brewed tea in an appropriate teacup.

Before the regression, Kaela had tried to improve the quality and brewing method of that tea. The people in the palace, including the butler and the head maid, mocked the fallen southern princess for trying to act refined despite their poor circumstances, clinging to her old habits.

He should have dealt with those gossiping mouths first. But the brainwashing became stronger and more solid along with those words, the poison that Beatrice had already planted here several times. It was stupid and pathetic to the point of embarrassment.

With a crack, the teacup developed a fissure. Peon quietly looked down at the teacup. The tea he alone didn’t drink was barely touched. The tip of his tongue stung.

‘Poison.’

Not poison in a magical sense, but actual poison that would harm a human body if ingested. However, this amount wasn’t enough to seriously harm a person. At most, it would cause stomach pain and some illness.

Someone wants Peon to be sick until he’s on the verge of death.

“…How boring.”

As he said it out loud, he realized it really was. It was something he had experienced once before. There was poison in the tea that the Grand Duchess personally prepared, the Grand Duke drank it, so the Grand Duchess was once again the bad woman, and the Grand Duke was angry.

It’s repeating according to a predetermined script. They all lack any imagination or creativity.

Or perhaps they don’t know how to apply it because they have no memory. Peon, who had his memories, indifferently watched the tea leak through the cracked teacup. The tea in that teapot must be poisoned.

He knows everything now. However, what he dared not claim to know was the frustration felt by the Grand Duchess who used to put her heart into even the smallest things.

Peon lowered his head deeply. The tip of his tongue, which now automatically distinguished poison, still stung. It was telling him that last night was a dream, this morning was a distant illusion, and now was reality.

It was striking the back of the head of a sinner drunk on sweet dreams, saying that he must face the sins he had been avoiding.