At Delia’s reaction, Ian put down the reins he was holding and asked seriously,

“Are you not feeling well?”

“No, I think I’m feeling too good.”

However, as she kept taking deep breaths and couldn’t move, Ian tilted his head in confusion.

“……Miss?”

“I’m sorry, but could you leave me alone for a moment? I’m really, really good right now so don’t worry! The best! The best! The best!”

Finally, when Ian reluctantly drove the carriage away, Delia, left alone, waved her tightly clenched fists in the air.

If she didn’t do at least this much, she felt she couldn’t bear how her heart was tickling.

There was no way he knew what he was doing when he acted like such a temptress, it was just that his actions happened to be bewitching.

That made it even more ticklish.

When she caught up with Kaiel again, she had barely managed to calm down.

However, Delia soon found she didn’t even need to force herself anymore.

As soon as they stood in front of the tightly closed door, her heart that had been pounding until just now instantly became calm.

‘Calm down, Delia.’

What she was about to do would be a crucial moment that could change the flow of the novel.

With an unnecessarily nervous heart, Delia asked,

“Did you bring the antidote?”

Instead of answering, he nodded. Then slowly, he opened the door to the bedroom where Lady Rant would be lying.

* * *

After that, everything was the same.

The dark room came into view, and the sunlight that entered through the parted curtains illuminated Lady Rant. Then they could see Lady Rant, whose condition was so critical it was hard to look at.

She was in worse condition than when they had last seen her, and if Kaiel and Delia hadn’t brought the antidote, she would likely have lost her life in the near future.

After that, Kaiel’s actions would become unspeakably cruel, truly becoming an existence worthy of being called a villain.

“Delia.”

To think that this Kaiel standing beside her, calling her name, could transform so much.

At this moment, Delia thought it was fortunate that she had entered the novel.

“Yes.”

She carefully stepped forward one foot at a time to approach Lady Rant’s bedside. This time, there was no need for Kaiel to forcefully push her back.

Delia reached out to carefully support the back of Lady Rant’s neck, lifting her up and letting her body rest against her legs to stabilize her.

The skinny bones poked at her legs, but it didn’t make her shudder like before.

In the quiet, silent room, there was a clear sound of a cork being pulled from the antidote bottle.

When Delia turned her gaze, Kaiel was standing behind her like a sturdy support. When their eyes met, he nodded briefly. It meant to continue as she was.

Delia tilted Lady Rant’s face back to naturally part her lips and brought the antidote bottle to her open mouth.

Until the antidote that she poured little by little into her mouth was completely emptied, Delia couldn’t even breathe.

Directly reviving someone who had met their death at her fingertips was more nerve-wracking than she had imagined.

After she finished putting every last drop into Lady Rant’s mouth, Delia carefully laid her back down. Then she placed a brief kiss on Lady Rant’s forehead.

Sincerely apologizing in her heart for an unforgivable forgiveness.

‘I must kill Kaiel, madam. That’s why I saved you. Please wake up and make Kaiel happy.’

When Delia raised her head and stood up, Kaiel had been watching her the whole time.

His face looked like he had much to say, but he held back his words.

“Delia.”

Just as she was about to answer his call, the door opened and a familiar face entered.

“Oh my, I’m late. Grand Duke, how are you?”

It was John Lambert, the imperial physician.

He took off his hat and placed it on the table, then approached while adjusting his clothes.

After briefly bowing his head to Delia in greeting, he smiled kindly and said.

“Ah! The researcher miss is here too. That……”

Seeing the empty antidote bottle in her hand, Dr. Lambert stroked his mustache.

“May I take a look?”

When she readily handed over the bottle, he smelled the antidote’s scent and examined the bottle all around before returning it.

“Remarkable. How is the effectiveness?”

Delia answered,

“We might need to wait a bit more…… It could take several more days. In my case, the effects were quick since I hadn’t used lapocia long-term, but Lady Rant is different.”

Dr. Lambert, who had been listening to her words, almost had his mustache stand on end in surprise.

“Ex-excuse me…… What do you mean by ‘in my case’?”

He looked back and forth between Kaiel and Delia.

“Something that shouldn’t be crossing my mind is coming to mind, but surely I must be thinking wrong……?”

Kaiel opened his mouth.

“Yes, that’s it.”

Delia added.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Dr. Lambert jumped with his mustache quivering.

“What…!”

Kaiel gave the doctor a look to lower his voice.

“I told you…… She can’t be controlled.”

Dr. Lambert recalled the words he had used to describe this researcher.

“You also said she doesn’t listen.”

Delia, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, suddenly raised her head.

“What did you say?”

Her serious expression loosened in disbelief.

‘So they had such conversations about me when I wasn’t around?’

Delia asked Kaiel.

“Did you say that? That I don’t listen?”

Dr. Lambert asked Delia.

“You didn’t actually experiment on yourself, did you?”

Kaiel sighed and clarified the situation.

“Let’s go out first.”

As they walked out, Kaiel very naturally raised his hand as if to wrap around her shoulders, but that hand never directly touched her skin. Thanks to this, Delia left the room without noticing anything.

She gave some instructions to Dr. Lambert.

“Please watch over Lady Rant’s condition while giving her the antidote for several days. One bottle per day, make sure she properly swallows it slowly down her throat. And please keep a daily log of her condition.”

As she spoke, Delia suddenly wondered if Kaiel had administered the antidote to her in the same way when she was unconscious from lapocia.

The thought of his large frame holding that small bottle and slowly pouring it into her made her want to smile a little.

“You’re quite a capable researcher, miss.”

And a bit reckless too, Dr. Lambert added as he chuckled while stroking his mustache.

“You would do well working at the imperial medical office.”

It was an incredible compliment, but for a moment, Kaiel’s expression strangely hardened.

However, due to his height, Delia couldn’t see his face unless she looked up.

Delia responded with a bright smile.

“That’s high praise, doctor.”

That’s when Kaiel coldly added,

“We still need to see more progress. Such praise is premature.”

“……”

Delia felt her previous joy instantly deflate at his words.

He was right. It was too early to be happy since they didn’t know the progress yet.

‘Still……’

Though she knew all too well that he was someone stingy with praise, this time it particularly stung.

She had endured the risk of her plausibility score dropping to as low as 80 to make this choice!

If he had just thrown out even one word of ‘good job,’ she wouldn’t have felt this dejected.

Dr. Lambert, perhaps noticing how the Grand Duke’s words had dampened Delia’s spirits, hurriedly added.

“That’s true, it is early praise. However, from what I can judge, miss’s skills are quite high-level.”

It wasn’t just words to make her feel better, but sincere.

Chuckling, Dr. Lambert suddenly extended his hand toward Delia.

“Let me introduce myself again. I’m John Lambert.”

When Delia reached out to take his hand, Dr. Lambert gave it a light squeeze in handshake.

She smiled and introduced herself as well.

“I’m Delia Averbit.”

Dr. Lambert smiled back at her and asked while adjusting his bag.

“As the imperial physician, may I send you letters when needed?”

“That……”

“Or perhaps becoming an imperial researcher would be……”

“Dr. Lambert.”

Before Delia could answer, Kaiel cut in.

“You may leave now.”

Kaiel handed over all the antidote bottles he was holding to Dr. Lambert.

“Go.”

At his brief words, the doctor said “Oh my” while receiving the bottles, gave a bow, and left.

When the doctor left, a moment of silence fell between the two.

Delia was the first to break the silence.

“Um…… I’m going for a walk!”

Still unable to shake off her hurt feelings, she had no choice but to turn away first.

In fact, even she thought that compared to the pain Kaiel must feel knowing he had to die by her hand, her current hurt feelings were nothing.

What was this kind of hurt compared to having to kill him? But still, right now she needed time alone to digest it.

“Delia.”

As she started walking toward the garden, Kaiel called out to her from behind. Sadly, contrary to her legs that were about to stop, strange words suddenly burst from her mouth.

‘I…… I want to go see His Highness the Crown Prince who they say is beautiful and shining.’

“……”

As if that would be freely possible? It was nonsense.

But once her mouth had said it, her legs followed her words and kept moving without stopping. Those moving legs began to pick up speed at some point, and before she knew it, she was running through the imperial garden.