Grand Duke, I Like You, But Please Die! - Chapter 26

As the door opened, a faint dawn scent brushed past her nose.

Taking careful steps, Delia quietly closed the door and soon realized Kaiel wasn’t on the bed.

‘He’s not here…?’

Her heart sank momentarily as she looked around the room, but it was too dark to see clearly.

She closed her eyes tightly and counted to ten before slowly opening them again. Her eyes, now adjusted to the darkness, could see the room more clearly than before.

‘It seems like he’s not here…’

Delia quietly moved around the room. After thoroughly checking the bathroom and bedroom, she sighed in relief.

If he wasn’t sleeping, it was better that he wasn’t in the room.

Delia knew very well that he sometimes went out for light exercise or a walk in the middle of the night.

Still, she didn’t forget to double-check.

“Kaiel…?”

She whispered his name softly.

There was no answer. She called him again.

“Kaieeell.”

Again, there was no response. It was clear the room’s owner was temporarily absent.

Feeling slightly less guilty, she began to search every corner of the room.

The room, reflecting its owner’s personality, had no unnecessary items, with everything placed exactly where needed.

After searching the desk drawers, bookshelf, and dresser, Delia finally found what she was looking for in a small nightstand next to the bed.

“Here it is.”

The lapocia samples and herbs, which couldn’t be stored carelessly, were kept right next to his bed.

Delia took the samples out of the box, closed the lid, and placed it back as if nothing had happened. She also opened the paper-wrapped herbs, took them out, and replaced them with other herbs she had prepared, putting them back in their original place.

‘Hmm! Perfect.’

Having committed the perfect crime, Delia hid the stolen items deep in her pocket.

Just as she was about to leave the room, she heard a faint sound that made her jump and hastily started to rush.

‘Don’t come…!’

Footsteps were approaching from outside.

‘No!’

Panicking and unsure of what to do, Delia eventually threw herself onto the bed.

The bed was very wide, soft, and had thick blankets, so she thought it would be okay if she hid well enough.

She even rolled to the opposite side, thinking he would most likely sleep near the nightstand.

It was a foolish decision, but it was the best she could think of.

Soon, the door opened with a low creak, and Kaiel entered with calm steps, closing the door behind him.

Having been outside in the cold, the atmosphere around him felt even more chilling.

He calmly removed his leather gloves, placed his cloak on the table, and took off his outerwear.

He paused for a moment, exhaled a low breath, and then calmly glanced at the bed.

“Delia.”

“……”

“Come out.”

“……”

After a moment, something wriggled under the blanket, and a round back of a head slowly emerged.

“How did you know?”

It wasn’t because she had hidden conspicuously that he noticed her presence.

From the moment he entered the room, he sensed something unusual, but since it wasn’t a hostile presence, he ignored it.

However, the moonlight streaming through the window had shone on the reddish hair that peeked out from under the blanket, giving her away.

Under the sun, her hair burned red like fire, but under the moon, it had the faint color of plum.

Crawling to the edge of the bed, Delia sat and looked at Kaiel. Surprisingly, he maintained a calm demeanor instead of kicking her out.

‘Considering I barged into his bedroom, he should be angry…’

Not knowing why, she decided to explain why she intruded into his room.

“A spider appeared in my room.”

Delia babbled an excuse.

“It was too big to catch, and I was scared, so I ran away.”

As she spoke, Delia, who was about to slide off the bed, suddenly froze in place. She looked up at him with her mouth slightly open.

“Kaiel…”

Her expression changed as she asked,

“What were you doing outside?”

It was because of a strong, distinct smell.

The metallic scent of blood.

The smell of blood, whether from a beast or a human.

Kaiel, noticing Delia’s expression, took a step back. He seemed well aware of the scent emanating from him.

But Delia immediately stood up and took a step closer, closing the gap he had created.

“What were you doing?”

“……”

After a brief pause, he responded.

“Taking a walk.”

“…Great. Wonderful.”

It seemed that neither of them was telling the truth at this moment. Neither she nor he.

Delia walked back to the bed and sat down firmly.

He stood there, silently watching her. Delia patted the space next to her on the bed.

“Come here.”

“No.”

“Let’s talk. I’m curious about the relationship between a walk and blood.”

“…It’s late.”

Delia tried to say more, but Kaiel, looking visibly tired, headed towards the bathroom.

Every time he moved, his toned body subtly showed through the thin fabric, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.

“Kaiel, surely…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Kaiel’s voice interrupted her.

“Go back.”

He added,

“…Be grateful I’m letting you go.”

Admittedly, she had been wrong to intrude into the grand duke’s room uninvited, so she said nothing more as he disappeared into the bathroom.

As the sound of water started from the bathroom, Delia carefully examined the clothes he had taken off.

Though they were dark in color, under the moonlight, she could see some parts were damp and darker.

There was nothing wrong with his clothes, so the answer was clear.

‘He killed someone.’

Delia’s heart began to race.

‘Who…! Who did he kill?’

As she racked her brain, a name briefly came to her mind.

‘Sera Appel.’

The assassin who had shot the arrow that injured her cheek.

From what she knew, the only people Kaiel was likely to kill at this point were the assassins attacking him.

The time when he would go mad and kill people indiscriminately hadn’t come yet.

‘Haa…’

Delia sighed deeply and picked up his gloves and clothes. The damp blood stained her hands, but she didn’t care.

‘I didn’t think he would actually go and kill them himself.’

With the clothes in hand, she walked back through the corridor to her room.

‘If Kaiel has decided to track down the assassins, it won’t be long before he finds out who’s behind them.’

According to the original storyline, once Kaiel discovered who was behind the assassins, he would transform into someone fitting the role of a villain.

If that happened, things could spiral out of control faster than in the original story.

Lost in thought as she walked, Delia soon found herself back in her room. With a heavy heart, she scrubbed the clothes with water and soap.

The fragrant scent of soap mixed with the metallic smell of blood, creating a strange aroma.

After drying the wet clothes overnight, Delia spent the night embroidering a small design on the palm of his leather gloves. It was clumsy and crooked, but it was a small gift for him.

The next day, Delia secretly moved all the equipment and books she needed from the lab to her room, away from prying eyes.

She needed to start her research as quickly as possible before Kaiel noticed she had taken the samples and herbs.

For a while, maid Lisa frequently checked on Delia in her room, but each time, Delia was quietly making a gift for the Grand Duke.

“What do you think?”

Delia proudly held up one of the gloves.

Lisa stood in place, examining the glove with a complicated expression.

“This is…”

“Hmm?”

“…a dog?”

Delia tilted her head.

“No.”

“Ah! Now I see, it’s a chick hatching from an egg.”

“Wrong! Incorrect.”

Lisa squinted at the glove but ultimately failed to identify the embroidery.

Frustrated, Delia held the glove up closer.

“It’s the Grand Duke’s face. Here are the eyes, and here are the nose and mouth.”

“Ah!”

Lisa let out a short exclamation and asked Delia to call her if she needed any help before leaving the room.

“Is it that strange…?”

Confused, Delia set the glove aside and pulled out the research materials she had hidden under the bed.

Her research was almost complete.

The novel only mentioned which herb could detoxify the lapocia’s components, so she had to figure out the rest on her own.

Delia had tried boiling, drying, and grinding the herbs and finally found the most effective detoxification method.

Though lapocia was a narcotic poison, when combined with the herb from Fourpeak Mountain, its toxic properties disappeared and actually aided in detoxification.

After several days of research, Delia discovered that boiling and fermenting the two herbs together in the right proportions created an antidote.

Now, all that remained was to test its efficacy.

So, how would she test it?

She couldn’t experiment on just anyone, given the potential effects and side effects.

Fortunately, she had a perfect test subject with an immortal body.

‘…Me!’

The problem was that she had used up all the lapocia samples during her research. After a moment of contemplation, Delia’s eyes sparkled.

The next day, Tranade Castle was in an uproar.

All because one of their cute researchers had run away in the middle of the night!