Iren’s laboratory was located underground. It was a place where one had to descend to the second floor through narrow and steep stairs used by the servants.

If you pass through several storerooms and open the innermost door, you’ll be led directly to Iren’s laboratory.

In order to setp up this laboratory, Iren had to pester Lahart for several days.

Iren had never asked Lahart for anything before, not even before their marriage. With eyes full of interest, Lahart looked at Iren, who was desperately pleading.

Even with his unfamiliar and eager gaz, Iren wasn’t happy. She didn’t even think he would grant her request.
Interest soon disappeared from his eyes. His cold gaze turned emotionless, as though he was looking at an incomprehensible object.

“Look at this.”

Lahart took off his glove and extended his bare hand to Iren. The hand that had turned purple due to the poison shook in front of her eyes.

“In the past, I couldn’t even hold a pen without taking medicine because the pain was unbearable. I had to tie the sword to my trembling hand and force it to move.”

“It’s because of me. Duke please give me a chance. To undo my mistake…”

“Mistake.”

Lahart burst into laughter. His laughter, which was tainted with madness, abruptly stopped.

In the next moment, Lahart grabbed Iren’s shoulders and forcefully pressed her down.

“Ugh!”

“Irelaide.”

Even halfway kneeling down, Lahart’s anger towards Iren didn’t fade. His burning blue eyes glared at Iren, and he was gripping her shoulders tightly.

An excruciating pain, as though her bones were being crushed, overwhelmed her. Iren bit her lip, suppressing her moan.

“That was not a mistake. A mistake would be me misjudged my strength and break your bones.”

“…I’m fine, Duke. If it helps to vent the Duke’s anger.”

Lahart remained silent for a moment. Then he released his hand from Iren’s shoulder as though he was throwing it away.

Iren sat down on the floor and silently shed tears.

Lahart gritted his teeth when he saw her crying. She didn’t want to cry, but her shoulder hurt so much that tears flowed uncontrollably.

Iren forced herself to swallow her sobs.

“Don’t cry. I didn’t break it.”

Iren nodded her head. Tears fell onto the carpet, leaving stains. Lahart knelt down on that stain.

“Is this the only thing you’re asking of me?”

His quietly spoken words disappeared in an instant. His purple hand wiped away Iren’s tears. After licking the tears on his finger, he stood up.

“I’ll give you a chance. It won’t be too bad to see you struggling.”

A few days later, the butler guided Iren to her laboratory.

“Even if you your last name has changed, you can’t change your blood. This is your research laboratory in the Cardius Duchy where you’ll be studying poisons… It seems you’ll have to be grateful to the master for his generous decision, Madam.”

The butler openly criticized Iren. But Iren couldn’t say anything. The butler had not said anything wrong.

As she descended the dark staircase carefully, she felt slightly relieved. Lahart would never come here first.

She was glad that she could research antidotes freely without catching his attention.

With the budget allowance dedicated to her, she prepared the necessary tools and equipment. She had no interest in dresses or jewelry, so there was still a considerable amount left in the budget.

Lahart said nothing when he received the budget details. He seemed genuinely willing to give her a chance.

And so, five years passed.

“It’s already been five years…”

Iren looked around the laboratory that smelled of herbs. The shelves filled with herbs surrounding the laboratory, the flasks containing unknown liquids, and the equipment for storing small samples were just like the various laboratories in the Phaeson Mansion.

However, unlike the laboratories in the Phaeson Mansion, there was something essential missing in Iren’s laboratory.

The test subjects for testing the efficacy of the medicine.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the history of the Phaeson family was the history of poisons. And it was also the history of sacrifices.

Failure meant the downfall of the family, so Phaeson’s poisons could never fail. They could not be used in practice unless they passed through a rigorous testing process.

Of course, the mansion always had test subjects prepared.

Plants, animals, and sometimes humans.

After the development of magic, they began to use specifically-designed magical creatures or tools made for experimentation. That was what was known on the surface.

Iren, the beloved youngest daughter, had been taken to the place where test subjects were managed by her adoptive father when she was young. And she was shocked.

The first floor was decorated like an ordinary mansion, but on the second floor, there was a greenhouse for growing plants, and on the third floor, there were cages for animals.

The animals were not in bad condition. But as soon as Iren’s father appeared, they whimpered and bowed their heads. They instinctively sensed the smell of death and felt terror.

But the most shocking thing was the underground.

There, neither plants nor animals, but humans were trapped. Shackled on their hands and feet, they were clearly humans, like Iren, but not human at the same time.

They were slaves traded like merchandise at the market.

Iren discovered a young boy from the farthest iron bars.

He was a beautiful boy with hair shining silver even in the darkness.

The moment Iren made eye contact with the boy, she lost consciousness and collapsed. She had received an excessive shock on her fragile heart.

That place was a dreadful prison awaiting death.

Even before, Iren didn’t particularly like poison, but after that day, she completely abstained from poison and focused only on antidotes.

She visited the mansion where test subjects were confined several more times.

Some time later, Iren waited for nightfall and opened all the iron barred windows of the place where the test subjects were gathered.

“Escape quickly!”

She shouted until her throat went hoarse and tried to escape, and she fell into a trap in the instant. It was a deep pit that she couldn’t climb out of by herself.

What should she do?

While gazing up at the pitch-dark sky, a small, slender hand reached out to her.

“Hold my hand. I’ll pull you up.”

The boy with beautiful hair that seemed to be plucked from moonlight was the very same boy she had made eye contact with through the iron bars.

She suddenly recalled that she was taught by her etiquette instructor that she mustn’t casually grab a stranger’s hand, but she had no time to hesitate.

Iren grabbed the boy’s hand.

The boy smiled mischievously and exerted force in his hand. With stronger force than expected, Iren’s body was swiftly pulled up.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No, I’m fine… Ouch.”

Iren sat down as soon as she set foot on the ground. Her ankle twisted when she fell into the pit.

The boy lifted Iren’s dress and examined her ankle. Below the slender ankle, was swollen a swollen bone.

“Does it hurt?”

“…A little. It’s bearable.”

In reality, Iren was in tremendous pain, but she endured it.

The boy chuckled as he watched Iren flinch every time his finger grazed her. He then showed her his back.

“It might be difficult for you to walk. Hop on.”

“I can walk…”

“You’re injured. How can you walk? Why not get on my back? Come on.”

“If someone I do not know carries me, my teacher will scold me.”

“I know you. If you get to know me, then you’ll can hop on, right?”

The boy turned around and smiled brightly. Iren gazed blankly at the boy who shone warmly like the sun in the moonlight.

“My name is Lahart. I will soon become Lahart Cardius. Thank you for saving me, Iren.”

Cardius?

For a moment, Iren was puzzled.

Cardius was the surname of a duke. Even young Iren knew it, as the family was famous and well-respected.

But why was a person from such a famous family being used as an experiment?

She had many questions, but she did not ask them. Somehow, she felt that if she asked those questions, Lahart would feel hurt.

“…I’m really thankful. Thank you for carrying me.”

Instead, Iren expressed her gratitude, and Lahart smiled once again. His clear smile made her heart flutter.

Iren hugged Lahart’s neck with a radiant face.

* * *

Iren awoke from her reverie and lowered her head. The distant memories of the past were as fleeting as a dream.

She wondered if it would have been better if it were just a dream. Would it have been less miserable than her current suffering, holding on to faded memories?

Or perhaps she couldn’t find a place to escape from the dreadful reality and went mad.

“It’s a pointless thought.”

Iren dismissed the sentiment by talking to herself. She inserted the key and unlocked the lock, taking out a thick book from the drawer.

There was nothing written on the green cover. As she flipped through the cover and pages, it was filled with densely written content in Iren’s handwriting.

There were dozens of identical books on the bookshelf. They were all research journals she personally wrote.

Traces of her struggles over the past five years to create Lahart’s antidote.

Iren spread out the sections she had written until yesterday and started her research.

Creating an antidote is much more difficult than creating poison. It requires understanding the structure of the poison. And the poison Lahart consumed was a lethal combination made up of at least twenty different poisonous plants combined.

The structure was so complex that Iren, who grew up in the Phaeson family hearing that she was a genius who appeared once every 100 years, struggled for five years.

“I will prove that those five years has not been in vain. I will definitely complete it within a month.”

After numerous experiments, she succeeded in understanding the structure of the poison. The remaining step was to develop the antidote.

A few hours later, Iren placed a small bottle containing a transparent liquid on the desk.

Her forehead was covered in sweat. She wiped the sweat away with a handkerchief to ensure no foreign substances entered it, then opened the lid.

She confirmed that it didn’t even emit any smell as intended, then took another bottle from the shelf.

It was a bottle containing poison.

“Could you be with child…”

Jane’s words suddenly came to mind.

No, it’s impossible.

She sighed briefly and drank the poison from the bottle in one breath. Within a minute, dark red blood flowed from her mouth.

Trembling, Iren grabbed the bottle containing the antidote with her shaky hands, and somehow managed to pour it into her mouth.

“Glug, cough…!”

You must not vomit the antidote. Iren covered her mouth with both hands. Her blood started flowing backward, along with the feeling of her insides twisting.

With a thud, her body collapsed to the ground. Iren struggled to keep her consciousness even as she experienced intense convulsions.

To have a child with a body like this. It’s not right.

She wanted to save Lahart. But she didn’t want to use an innocent life as an experimental subject.

Thus, Iren decided to become the subject herself.

Because I’m the one who made him like this.

Because I subjected him to a life of nothing but suffering.

And compared to the suffering he endured, this is nothing.

“Iren, there’s a flower that shares your name. I’ll plant plenty of them in our mansion and create a flower garden.”

“…Lahart…”

This time, I won’t fail. I will… I will definitely make you better. I don’t care what happens to me.

Her consciousness faded. Iren pricked her finger with a sharp pen tip. But her cruel eyelids couldn’t withstand it for long and tightly shut.

* * *