Arthur Reta wasn’t even angry at his colleague’s appearance. This woman was truly remarkable in many ways. Though the meaning differed, he was impressed that she was as remarkable as Clementina.

“It’s all that maid’s doing. Duke of Kowan seems to have been used by that witch-like woman.”

After spitting out those words, Bella suddenly recalled the n*ked man who’d emerged from Duke of Kowan’s room.

“Stupid man.”

Bella muttered to herself and spat out rough words, then shuddered, trembling all over.

Arthur Reta’s head became cold as ice. All his nerves sharpened. There was clearly a reason for Bella’s sudden attitude change. Ray, who’d been lying on the sofa, stopped laughing and slowly sat up, beginning to watch Bella with a cold gaze.

This woman seemed to have belatedly come to her senses.

“Lady Bella, you are the Duchess’s sister. But you are a criminal.”

Arthur Reta finished his deliberation. This woman was a criminal. She had the crime of not reporting anything until now. She’d just proven that crime herself.

“Oh my! How can you say such harsh things to me! You’re really too much. Really too much! Huhuhu, huhu.”

Bella buried her head in her hands and began sobbing.

“Considering you’re the Duchess’s sister, I won’t imprison you.”

“Prison?”

Bella’s head shot up. No tears were on her face. She moved her lips, but seeing Arthur Reta’s cold face, she shut her mouth.

This method didn’t work on this man. It only fueled his anger more.

‘What do I do?’

She’d thought she’d grasped a golden thread, but it was a golden thread about to snap. The Emperor had suddenly collapsed while drinking tea with the Empress and hadn’t regained consciousness. If not for the Duke of Drasia, Duke of Kowan was the person most likely to become the next Emperor.

But was that possible? Even if so, with the Duke of Kowan’s wife position precarious, by what skill could she rise to the Empress’s position?

Bella was a woman who’d fallen in love, but love wasn’t everything to her.

Bella too had only needed an excuse to escape Sustain Castle. Duke of Kowan had been hope for such a Bella.

Like Clementina.

Everyone knew the love story of Duke of Kowan’s father Arti Aeskis and Umbarot’s former queen Merella Sichenti. Duke of Kowan was a legitimate heir of the Ronakia Empire, so after the Duke of Drasia, he was the person closest to imperial succession.

Bella’s emotions strangely heightened. Her heart pounded.

She’d thought the Duke of Drasia would immediately go find Tina when he learned she’d disappeared. But he hadn’t. He’d headed to Setia on the Emperor’s orders. Judging by the Duke of Kowan’s attitude, this was clearly somewhat different from the plan.

Numerous knights from Umbarot Kingdom had entered Issiliad summer palace to protect their king. But the timing was strange. With the Emperor collapsed, no matter how one looked at it, the Ronakia Empire’s Empress seemed like a hostage.

Then what could Bella choose?

For now, she had to stick to both sides. Whether Duke of Kowan liked men or not, Bella didn’t care. She just had to survive.

Bella glared at Arthur Reta.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Bring evidence that Count of Suderel and that maid are connected. Or you’ll have to bring evidence that Count of Suderel is connected to this situation. Then I’ll speak well to the Duke of Drasia.”

“Bella is the Duchess’s sister. No matter what Bella did wrong, what will you do?”

“Do you think the Duke will overlook Lady Bella for that reason?”

“……”

Dion’s cold gaze rose in Bella’s mind. She wasn’t a warm sibling to Tina either.

Bella pushed out the fingernail lingering in her mouth with her tongue and spat it into her hand. Then she flicked the fingernail toward Arthur Reta’s feet. It was absolutely not something a count’s daughter should show.

Clementina drew one horizontal line with a sharp stone on the tree stump beside the wooden house, where four vertical lines were already carved. There were three such bundles of carved lines on the tree stump.

Many days had passed since Sue left this place.

When Clementina asked for sugar, Sue nodded without much question. Then she packed her things and left Diahart Island with two dragons.

As soon as Sue left, Clementina began searching every corner of the wooden house. Sue had left only a few foods, but she had no sense of how to divide this food since she didn’t know when Sue would return. She was a mage with not a single likable quality.

Clementina originally had no gluttony, but after spending several days here, even small trivial foods strongly stimulated her appetite. Whenever she was thirsty, Sue would hatefully bite into fruit one by one in front of her.

Clementina felt murderous impulses every time Sue did that.

She regretted not pestering Lillian and Dimint for stronger training if she’d known this would happen.

“Hah—”

Clementina let out a long breath. Her lips were parched dry from the surroundings being too arid in the hot energy of Toter volcano. It seemed so long ago since she’d conversed with anyone. Perhaps from being in a hot region too long, her sense of time had dulled. Her mind wasn’t clear.

It seemed to be that d*mn herb’s fault. Sue had said it didn’t affect humans. But in Clementina’s view, that wasn’t true. It definitely affected people. At least it had an effect on her.

Clementina felt drained and constantly wanted to sleep. Like those rock-like demonic beast dragons.

Drip.

Leaning against the tree, Clementina felt hot liquid dripping on the back of her hand. Wondering what this was when it wasn’t even raining, she looked down to see water on the back of her hand.

Clementina stared blankly at that water droplet, then slowly realized. This wasn’t tears. Not sweat either.

Saliva!

Clementina kept becoming more similar to those demonic beast dragons. Unable to move, sitting blankly and drooling?

If she continued like this, she might become powerless like those demonic beast dragons, unable to do anything.

At that thought, Clementina struggled to raise her body. Her knees cracked. Her body was stiff and her shoulders wouldn’t straighten properly. She had to do something before becoming an idiot.

Sue had been exposed to this herb much longer than Clementina, yet was fine. Was it really not the herb’s fault?

She missed Dion.

What was this Duke doing instead of rescuing her? Other times he appeared suddenly all the time, so why wasn’t he by her side now—it was only frustrating.

She no longer remembered the letter she’d written. She was now tired of hearing an answer to her love confession.

“I miss you.”

That was all she felt. Nothing else was needed, and she wouldn’t demand love. She just wanted to see his face. If she was going to die here, she wanted to see him one last time before dying—that feeling came.

She found herself strangely sentimental beyond necessity.

Clementina crouched and stared blankly at the demonic beast dragons drooling with hazy eyes.

During Clementina’s stay here, she’d counted twenty demonic beast dragons total. It was hard to believe Sue had cared for this many dragons alone. She’d directly seen how much meat dragons ate while staying at Aeskis Castle.

“How did you raise so many dragons? They don’t even move.”

“These guys eat grass.”

“Grass? Dragons don’t eat meat but eat grass? And they’re not even babies?”

Sue chuckled at Clementina’s words and glanced with a meaningful look.

“I heard a new dragon was born in Drasia—now you know quite a bit? Haha. These guys have only eaten herbs I gave them since they were babies. I raised them that way.”

“Good heavens! But how can they grow so big eating only grass?”

“Elephants only eat grass too.”

At Sue’s sarcasm, Clementina pouted and observed the demonic beast dragons up close. It was possible because they all didn’t move and only blinked.

“But why don’t they move? Ow! What are you burning again?”

When Clementina arrived here, herb piles around the demonic beast dragons were burning with small embers, thick with smoke. That was why the demonic beast dragons’ minds were hazy and they drooled.

Sue had wandered Diahart Island for a long time searching for wild dragon babies. When female dragons laid eggs, male dragons incubated them.

Some like Lili incubated eggs, but those who didn’t trust whether the eggs were theirs just abandoned them. The number of such eggs was more than expected. Half the eggs abandoned without male incubation rotted. But half hatched alone too.

Because of Toter volcano.

Lili was one of them.

Newborn dragon hatchlings ate freshly picked flowers. Sue had cleverly found such dragon hatchlings and experimented on them.

Dragons raised on the herbs Sue created differed in size and appearance. Some had dozens of horns, while others wore a single round horn encircling their entire heads.

Clementina’s mind tangled into chaos. Her mind wasn’t clear, making it hard to grasp cause and effect even for obvious facts. But she couldn’t think any longer. So she moved first. She had no time to judge whether this was the right action.

The demonic beast dragons’ nests had plenty of grass. Just sprinkling the herb seeds Sue made on the ground made them grow vigorously. They didn’t grow on water but by sucking nutrients from Diahart Island’s soil. The demonic beast dragons plucked the grass growing where they sat and chewed it. That was why they drooled so much.

There were eight herb piles burning smoke around the outside of where the demonic beast dragons gathered. Not too many, not too few—just the right amount. Sue must have discovered the proper amount through long experimentation.

Clementina decided to extinguish all the herb pile fires. A lit herb pile lasted about ten days. During that time, Clementina had refilled them when they ran low. Sue had threatened her before leaving.