Was it because of the makeup? As she was lying in the coffin, she looked alive, as if she might open her eyes at any moment and look at him with her clear eyes.

I remember you entering the wedding hall wearing this navy blue dress. Among many pieces, what is most vividly etched in my memory is the pattern of the white veil covering your black hair.

Your jet-black hair stood out remarkably because of it. People didn’t stop whispering about your black hair.

“I’m sick of it.”

You, when I took you out from the execution ground, were so skinny and unattractive.

The doctor’s diagnosis said that it wouldn’t be strange if you collapsed and died soon. The seamstress’s complaints that you were so skinny and that no clothes would look good on you. The slander that all Phaeson family members are like those pale dolls.

I was sick of all those things.

Lahart slightly lifted Iren’s arm. It was thin and white. Even after five years, the dress still fit Iren’s body perfectly.

“You’re what I’m most sick of.”

You, who never gave up until the end.

You, who created an antidote.

You, who left without a trace of regret.

You, saying you won’t even leave a corpse behind.

I didn’t love you, Iren. No, I once did, but not anymore. So, this emptiness inside me, this madness that feels like it’s going to consume me,

is nothing more or less than because I couldn’t finish my revenge with my own hands. It was the first revenge I ever failed.

“I should have killed you.”

Then at least I could have seen you stop breathing.

Rather than seeing you lying on the office floor like a broken doll. It would have been much more satisfying.

I could have engraved the feeling of you dying in my hands.

His head was throbbing from lack of sleep. Lahart placed Iren’s hand, which felt like it was trapped in ice that would never melt again, on his forehead.

Suddenly, his tightly shut eyes snapped open.

“……Iren?”

Did her fingers just twitch?

Lahart stared intently at Iren. He thought it was just the makeup, but her lips seemed unusually red, too. Life seemed to emanate from her cheeks, which were faintly tinged with pink.

Has she come back to life? No, maybe she never died in the first place. Could it have been that she only seemed dead because of the poison?

The poison of the Phaeson is like magic. They achieved what no ordinary poison could.

Miraculously, Irelaide you……

Lahart touched Iren’s lips. Dye came off on his fingertip. It was the same color as Iren’s lips.

Unlike his fingers stained red, Iren’s lips, with the makeup wiped away, were closer to purple. The color of death that Lahart terribly hated, no, loathed, had not only consumed her lower half but also enveloped her.

He remembered her gentle and careful touch as she rubbed over the skin burnt by poison. After Iren touched him, the terrible pain used to subside significantly.

Perhaps it was thanks to the ointment she applied, but Lahart occasionally thought that Iren had taken his pain away. She looked so terribly pained every time she applied the ointment.

If I kiss your lips, would the shadow of death cast over you transfer to me? If we share it, could death become not death?

If that happens, if that could happen, then I would become someone who saved you once again. You would realize that even in death, you cannot leave me.

Lahart leaned down. A faint scent of herbs came from Iren. Smelling her unique body odor made her seem truly alive.

It was puzzling for a moment. Even if a magician cast a spell, would her body odor remain just the same?

His urge to kiss her lips fiercely surged up. It wasn’t out of a desire for her body.

On the battlefield, knights and soldiers wanted to be under his command for one reason: they wanted to survive.

They regarded Lahart as an immortal god-like being. They firmly believed that if they followed his orders, they would surely return alive. Indeed, he had lived up to their beliefs until now.

So, if I breathe my life into my wife who dares to leave ahead of her time, could I possibly keep Iren by my side?

Could I make it so that not even death could dare to claim her?

“You’ve ruined me.”

Look at me, Irelaide. I, who have seen countless deaths, am having the insane thought of wanting to kiss your lips in front of you, whom everyone says is dead.

I’m deluded into thinking your fingers moved, your eyelashes fluttered, and you smell like a living person.

I think it might be alright to not bury you in the ground or burn you as you wished but to lay you in this room until the day I die.

I’m insane. Broken. Because of you.

Lahart stopped just before his lips touched hers.

It was the pointless, meaningless struggle that felt unpleasant. Instead of sharing a kiss and breath, he held Iren’s hand.

“Damn it, Irelaide.”

You never give me what I want, until the end.

Her fingers were stiff, unbending.

“Thank you, Lahart.”
“I like Lahart too.”
“Do you know what the best part about being engaged is? That we can hold hands as much as we want.”

Now, these hands will never bend again.

Even so. Even then.

Lahart wrapped her hand and forcibly bent it. Then he got up without looking back.

You were tormented by my side while you were alive.

But now, you will never leave me.

Finally, you will remain forever as Irelaide Cardius.

As my wife.

The smile on his face as he left the bedroom was covered in cold madness.

* * *

“……He was smiling.”

Jane, who had been anxiously waiting with her hands clasped together, clearly saw the duke’s face as he came out of the bedroom. The distinct smile on his lips too.

It was a handsome smile that made his attractive face shine even more, but it gave her goosebumps right away.

What kind of madman could smile after meeting his dead wife for the last time?

‘What did he do to the madam?’

Jane paced back and forth but waited until Lahart’s shadow disappeared down the hallway.

The duke had spent quite a long time in the room. Soon the madam would wake up, and if the duke returned, something unimaginable and terrible could happen.

Even after Lahart had completely disappeared, Jane looked around for a long while. Only after confirming several times that no one was there did she rush into the bedroom.

“Madam!”

Iren lay in the coffin in a proper posture. Her right hand, which had been neatly placed on her belly, was disheveled, and apart from the wiped-off lip makeup, nothing else had changed.

Wait, the lip makeup was wiped off? Jane gasped at the sight of Iren’s pale lips.

It was at that moment when she opened the cosmetic lid to reapply the makeup on Iren’s lips.

“……Cough!”

“Ma, Madam!”

Iren coughed violently. Jane threw aside the cosmetics and hurriedly propped Iren up. As she patted her back, Iren kept coughing out, a reaction to the sudden influx of air into her lungs.

“Haah, haah……”

“Are you okay, madam?”

“Uh…… Fairly, I can bear it. Cough.”

“Madam, I, just for a moment…… I’ll just excuse myself for a moment. It’ll be quick.”

Iren simply nodded in response to Jane’s request for understanding. Jane placed her hand on Iren’s chest. Underneath her palm, she could feel the heart beating rapidly.

“Oh, my goodness…… My goodness.”

Tears welled up in Jane’s eyes.

With trembling hands, she took Iren’s hand and placed it on her chest just like she had done moments before.

Iren could feel the heartbeat too. It was as if her palm was strongly beating, signaling that she was alive, that her plan had worked.

“You’ve woken up. Madam…… You’ve opened your eyes. Oh God, thank you. Thank you so much……”

Jane held Iren’s hand and sobbed. If the duke had left just a bit later, everything could have been ruined.

The thought that it was now over made her break down in tears due to the released tension.

Iren silently hugged Jane. Jane must have suffered the most, mentally. While all Iren did was take medicine and lie in a coffin, Jane had a lot to do.

“You must have had a very hard time on your own. I’m sorry.”

“It was, sob, it was hard, but now that you’ve woken up, it’s okay. I’m the one who should be thankful that you woke up. Thank you, madam……”

“It was you who woke me up. You shouldn’t be thanking me. Thank you, Jane.”

Iren wiped Jane’s face with the hem of her dress. The gentle touch and lukewarm body temperature made Jane’s crying intensify again.

Iren tenderly comforted Jane until she calmed down.

“Have you finished crying?”

“No, three days and nights of crying wouldn’t be enough. But there’s no time to cry. I’ll cry when you’ve safely made it out of the castle, Madam.”

Jane blew her nose into a handkerchief and smiled. As she grimaced with her nose red from rubbing, Iren stroked her own abdomen.

Was it just a feeling? Her lower abdomen felt warmer and slightly heavier than before.

Although she hadn’t been formally examined, she was confident that the baby inside her was safe, just like her.

Thank you for holding on. You and I, let’s try our hardest till the end.

It was only after talking to the baby that Iren properly looked at the clothes she was wearing.

“This dress is……”

“Ah…… Please don’t misunderstand, madam. I was going to change your clothes when suddenly the duke came…… and he ordered me to put this dress on you.”

“Did he bring it himself?”

“Yes. He came with it and just threw it at me.”

Iren fiddled with the hem of her dress. Where on earth had Lahart found this dress? Even she hadn’t taken it out since their wedding.

And why did he dress her in this dress?

The answer was simple. It meant he would never forgive her. It connected to the reason why Iren hadn’t sought out this dress since after their wedding.

Despite being the first gift she received from him after they reunited at the Phaeson mansion, where Lahart had collapsed from drinking poison, whenever she saw this dress, painful memories unavoidably surfaced.

Iren shook her head. There was no time to dwell on the past. She had risked her own life and that of her baby, and it was an opportunity that Jane had secured by risking danger.

“Let’s change quickly and leave.”

Iren took off her dress and changed into the clothes Jane had prepared. Then, she applied dye to her hair. Her white hair turned to a brown similar to Jane’s.