But Evolaine could instinctively sense that she was willing to help.

After nodding toward her, Evolaine turned her gaze back to the Marquis.

The way to subdue the Marquis, who had transformed into a monster, was to strike his vital points.

When his vital points were struck and his balance collapsed, she needed to stab her sword into a non-lethal area to incapacitate him.

‘I can do this.’

She might not have been able to before, but now Evolaine wasn’t alone.

She had Cardel and the people of the Duchy of Radelica silently cheering her on.

The Emperor and Astrian had helped her in every way to awaken Kelic’s power, and Basilica, Kelic’s guardian deity, watched over her from the side to keep her on the right path.

With everyone together in this situation, Evolaine absolutely couldn’t lose.

Meanwhile, while Evolaine faced the Marquis alone, Cardel waited outside the banquet hall for the Duke and Ashili.

Ashili had received the feather they’d painstakingly found at Yutinne’s grave with Heron, and she was coming with the antidote made from that feather.

“Why are they taking so long?”

The two who should have arrived by now hadn’t contacted him for some reason.

His anxious heart made his thoughts sluggish.

He was uneasy. If they failed to arrive in time, everything would fall apart.

Cardel paced outside before finally going in.

When he headed to the small side room connected to the banquet hall, he found the Emperor, Ceril, and Astrian sheltering there together.

“How’s his condition?”

“…Not good. It seems the monster’s blood entered his body, but there’s no way to detoxify it.”

“……”

The Marquis’s blood must have entered when his claws pierced Astrian’s shoulder earlier.

The blood flowing from the wound on his face must have dripped in.

“……”

The Emperor said nothing. If they couldn’t treat him in time, Astrian could die.

But right now, there was only one antidote available.

It was meant to undo the Marquis’s monster transformation.

There was no way to save Astrian.

The Emperor could only watch his son slowly approach death.

“……Your… Majesty.”

“……! Astrian, are you conscious?”

“Yes…, urgh!”

“Don’t move! Not yet, not yet. Just slowly, a little……”

When the Emperor urgently stopped him, Astrian obediently lay back down on the bed.

His complexion had noticeably paled. His lips had turned blue and cold sweat kept flowing.

Astrian breathed laboriously, exhaling ragged breaths. The occasional coughing sounds seemed to tear through the air.

Cardel felt keenly that sound alone could share a person’s suffering.

He couldn’t believe Astrian was truly dying.

Even though he was seeing it with his own two eyes.

“I have something, to tell you. Your Majesty.”

“……What is it?”

“The Second Prince is, not my brother. He’s just a doll created by the Empress… made like the Young Marquis. So, when I die……”

Astrian’s whispered words were barely audible.

Cardel could only guess from the Emperor’s extremely shocked expression that he’d dropped a bombshell.

Right after speaking to the Emperor, Astrian collapsed with his face against the Emperor’s shoulder.

His limp body was unsettling.

Cardel rushed over and checked his pulse, but couldn’t find one.

“……Your Highness.”

He placed his finger under Astrian’s nose, but felt no breath.

His breathing had stopped. No matter how much he shook the limp body, there was no movement.

“Your Highness!!”

At the end of this long journey, someone they’d believed would naturally be with them had departed.

It was a parting no one expected, a tragedy.

The Emperor’s anguished crying sounded like screaming.

Do you know the miserable heart of a father who must hold his son’s corpse while crying silently in a side room?

Cardel squeezed his eyes shut.

It was too cruel and terrible a divine punishment to bear witnessing.

A harsh divine punishment mistakenly inflicted on an innocent person.

* * *

Ashili and the Duke arrived afterward.

By the time they arrived, everything had already unfolded.

Evolaine was struggling to face the Marquis, and the people in the side room were immersed in unexpected grief.

“Here, the antidote.”

Breaking through the chaotic atmosphere, Ashili handed Cardel a bottle containing the antidote.

“You only get one chance. The medicine needs at least 5 minutes after ingestion to take effect. It’ll work from then.”

“That means Evolaine has to hold out 5 more minutes.”

The situation wasn’t good. Though Ceril was helping Evolaine by casting sorcery on the Marquis, it wasn’t working well—perhaps the monster’s blood was a variable.

Evolaine, strong in close combat, had difficulty closing the distance with the Marquis, and Kelic’s power kept being absorbed by him.

“I’m not sure anymore.”

He no longer felt certain.

Astrian had died, and he couldn’t believe this operation would succeed in returning the Marquis to normal.

They’d spent seven years preparing for this undertaking.

He’d thought everything was perfect and predicted there would be no mistakes.

Yet the most important person had been attacked and killed. By the very person who caused this undertaking to be prepared.

What kind of absurd situation was this?

Then Ashili slapped Cardel’s cheek.

Smack—!

With a loud sound, Cardel’s gaze turned.

Even the Duke had never hit him, yet Ashili struck him. Cardel looked at Ashili with a confused face at this first-time experience.

“Get it together, Cardel. Are you going to make His Highness’s sacrifice seem like a dog’s death?”

“……Sister.”

“Right now Evolaine is facing the Marquis alone. A girl who just barely finished her first awakening took an accelerant to stop her father, who was called the strongest swordsman. If she falls, we all die. Are you still going to talk weak?”

“……”

Her upright gaze held Cardel.

A calm, unwavering stare. Cardel realized his sister now had the appearance of a complete leader.

“His Highness endured alone because he didn’t want Evolaine disturbed. What we need to do is make sure his consideration isn’t wasted—help Evolaine defeat the Marquis.”

“……I understand.”

His heart, shaken by anxiety, felt calm again. Cardel steadied himself and gripped the antidote.

Clang—!

Then a metallic rupture sound came from the banquet hall.

The sound you hear when something goes wrong.

‘No way.’

Opening the side room door and entering the banquet hall, he saw Evolaine and the Marquis.

Evolaine, whose hair and eyes had returned to blue from lack of Kelic’s power, and the Marquis, with purple light rippling around him.

“Evolaine!”

The rupture sound earlier was Evolaine’s sword hitting the floor after she’d lost her grip, pushed back by the Marquis’s power.

“……”

“……”

The Marquis’s foot stepped on Evolaine’s sword.

Just when Cardel thought he’d approach step by step to attack Evolaine, Nailik’s movement stopped.

“……?”

His blank stare at Evolaine seemed somehow entranced.

At the Marquis examining her this way and that like observing her, Evolaine awkwardly lowered the arm she’d raised to defend.

‘What’s this?’

Cardel, watching the situation, was equally confused.

Even transformed into a monster, did he recognize his daughter?

Either way, it was a good sign.

They needed to use this opening to feed the Marquis the antidote.

While the Marquis’s attention was captivated by Evolaine, Cardel concealed his presence, approached him, and grabbed both his arms from behind.

Kraaaak—!

Startled by the sudden external force, the Marquis shrieked and thrashed, but Cardel didn’t let go.

While they were locked in tense opposition, Cardel threw the antidote toward Evolaine.

“Evolaine! Make the Marquis take the antidote!”

“Yes!”

While Cardel held the resisting Marquis’s body, Evolaine mounted him, forcibly opened his mouth, and poured in the antidote.

Only after pouring every last drop into his mouth and confirming the Marquis had swallowed it did Evolaine and Cardel separate from him.