“Hah!”

Suddenly gasping for air as she opened her eyes, Delia slowly steadied her breathing while staring at the ceiling.

How much time had passed?

Sunlight streaming through the window gaps peacefully illuminated the room. However, the sensation of pain remaining throughout her body was still vivid enough to make her head spin.

“Ugh……”

It was pain she never wanted to experience again.

Delia sat up. Before she could properly rise, her stiff body ached, making her brows furrow involuntarily. Soon, as she absently turned her head, Delia realized someone had been watching her.

Kaiel.

He was sitting quietly on a sofa in the corner. His eyes that met hers were deeply sunken.

Though she didn’t know since when, he had clearly been keeping watch the whole time.

She was about to call his name with joy, but Delia suddenly felt an inexplicable resistance rise up and swallowed her words.

“Kai……”

Perhaps her throat was blocked.

As Delia let out a small cough, Kaiel who had been sitting on the sofa by the bed strode over and helped support her to sit up.

After placing thick pillows to help her sit comfortably, he stood still for a moment staring intently at Delia.

Under that gaze, Delia smiled slightly, planning to tease him as usual. But somehow she felt her expression wasn’t smiling at all.

After awkwardly moving her facial muscles trying various expressions, Delia soon realized.

‘Ah, I’m not in the mood to smile right now.’

Moreover, it was hard to keep meeting his eyes.

Why?

Finally, after trying to meet his eyes several times, Delia had no choice but to turn away first.

It was an emotion difficult even for herself to understand. After all, the Kaiel before her was still unchangingly Kaiel Ceder.

However, unlike the complex emotion, her body’s memory that followed simply explained her situation. Every time she took him in with her eyes, her heart ached. Seemingly reminding her of the past pain.

“How are you feeling?”

“……”

Delia couldn’t easily answer Kaiel’s question. Once again, an indescribable sensation suppressed her opening mouth.

The low, deep voice asked again.

“Are you alright?”

It was an infinitely serious yet careful tone. A voice not easily heard from him who usually only had cold tones lingering.

Drawn by that voice, Delia opened her mouth.

“I’m fine……”

But this time was no different.  The words she wanted to say wouldn’t come out, scattering powerlessly before she could speak them.  Instead, a firm answer lingered in her heart.  

‘I’m not okay.’

Delia lowered her head.  

An unknown resistance.  

Only after facing him a few more times did Delia realize where it came from.  

It was like the feeling of discomfort after deciding to kill him.  

She had no memory of the past two days, but the moments when she struggled in agony were as vivid as if they were engraved in her bones.  

It was terribly, agonizingly, painfully awful.  

There was no helping hand to save her from that endless hell.  She just had to endure it.  

In her state of unconsciousness, she came to a conclusion.  

‘I have to kill him.  I have to kill him.  I have to kill him to live.’

Her heart felt infinitely complicated.  

When Delia bit her lip without answering, Kaiel’s expression hardened.  

“Delia.”  

“…….”

Kaiel, who was observing her reaction, quickly reached out to check on her with a hardened expression.  But who knew?

“Don’t……touch me.”  

Delia coldly pushed his hand away.  She flinched in surprise at her own unfamiliar reaction, but ignored it and clenched her jaw.  

Kaiel’s face hardened imperceptibly.  

Delia opened her slightly trembling lips and asked,  

“How long has it been?”  

“Two days.”  

Kaiel, who answered, quietly asked,  

“Were you……sick?”  

Delia shook her head slightly.  It was only natural for those who didn’t know to think it was strange since she had collapsed for two days straight.

Kaiel continued.  

“The doctor said there’s nothing wrong.  The cause–”  

“You don’t need to know.”  

Another curt reply.  

Kaiel’s pupils narrowed.  

“Delia.”  

“It’s no use even if Your Grace knows.”  

A somewhat unsteady gaze fell upon her.  

“Delia, I need to know to help you.”  

“No, Your Grace can’t help me.”  

“Delia!”  

“My name……”  

Delia felt a lump in her throat as she spat out the words.  But if she didn’t do this, she definitely wouldn’t be able to kill him, so what else could she do?  

“Don’t call me that.  You don’t have to do that anymore.”  

A deep darkness spread across Kaiel’s eyes.  

‘I have to get away from Kaiel.’

Whenever the feeling of the past two days, which had been agonizing as ever, crossed her mind, even her deep affection for him was swallowed up into the abyss.  

Perhaps even the greatest of hearts is helpless in the face of immense pain.  

Maybe it’s a good thing.  

She couldn’t put it off any longer.  

‘Even today……’  

It was then.  

“You were here!  Your Grace!”  

Someone flung the door open.  

Kaiel, whose important time had been interrupted, turned his head with a cold gaze.  The servant, who had just opened the door and entered, flinched at the sight.  

It was disrespectful to open the door to the Grand Duke’s room without permission.  However, the words that followed conveyed the urgency of the situation.  

“La, Lady Rant has collapsed again!”  

It was Delia who reacted first to those words.  

“What?”  

She hurriedly got up from the bed, her body half-raised, and asked in a trembling voice.  

“You’re saying Lady Rant collapsed again?!”  

Delia hurriedly got out of bed and lifted the blanket.  But her foot caught on the blanket, and she ended up sprawled on the floor.  

Thud–!

Kaiel immediately approached to help her up, but Delia violently shook off even his hand.  Kaiel’s face contorted.  

Delia, who couldn’t possibly have seen his expression, shouted at the servant.  

“Why?  Why did she collapse!  That’s impossible……!  Then, then……”  

This can’t be happening.  

Did the antidote not work properly?  

Her vision started to blur.  

If so, it was a failure.  

Her heart sank.  

‘The antidote failed.’

Why else would Lady Rant have collapsed again?!  

The thought that she had to kill Kaiel, even though she hadn’t even been able to properly fulfill one of his biggest wishes, made Delia’s eyes shake uncontrollably.  

‘I even endured the pain of death, risking the penalty!’  

The fact that she had failed like this was so frustrating that her body began to tremble.  A calm voice came from behind her.  

“Delia, get up.”  

A large hand touched her shoulder, but at this moment, its weight only seemed to crush her heart.  

“No!”  

Delia twisted her body away from his touch and brushed back her messy hair.  

“This won’t do.  I have to go see Lady Rant.”  

Delia, who managed to pull her foot out of the blanket, stood up and walked towards the door.  

But for some reason, the servant standing at the door blocked her way and wouldn’t move.  

“Move.”  

“I……”  

“I said move!”

The servant glanced at Kaiel over Delia’s shoulder.  He seemed troubled by his hesitation.  

Kaiel had come up right behind Delia.  

“He told you to move.  Move.”

He said, looking down at the servant coldly.  At his voice, several times sharper than usual, the servant, who was about to step back, barely managed to hold his ground.  

“Can’t you hear me?”  

When he spoke forcefully, the servant said in a subdued voice.  

“Her Majesty, the Empress, has given an order.  She said that the young miss is not allowed to leave the room……”  

The servant trailed off.  

Kaiel’s gaze grew colder.  

“Why.”  

“Th, that is, the reason why Lady Rant collapsed this time is not because of her previous illness, but because of the poison that was sent as a gift, and the one who sent that gift……”  

The servant’s eyes subtly shifted towards Delia.  

That gaze could only mean one thing.  

Delia, who was about to push the servant aside and run out, clenched her fists.  

“It must be me, right?”  

Simultaneously with her words, Kaiel retorted.  

“No.”  

He was right.  It was clearly a false accusation.  

‘This is too much, really too much……!’  

On top of feeling like she was going to die from the distress of deciding to kill Kaiel, she had to deal with this ridiculous accusation.  

Delia let out a sigh, calming her anger.  

‘At least it seems like the antidote worked.’

The problem was the poison in the gift.  

Delia suddenly remembered a small box among the pile of gifts in front of Lady Rant’s room.  

‘I thought Ashlene had taken care of me and sent it on my behalf.’

The culprit must have prepared a gift in Ashlene’s name as well, knowing that Delia would think that and not suspect a thing.  

At first glance, it seemed like a false accusation aimed at Delia, but she wasn’t the target.  She was just a means to an end; there was another purpose.  

‘Lady Rant.’

If there was anyone in the Imperial Palace who harbored such ill will towards Lady Rant, it could only be one person.  

The culprit who was so overwhelmed with malice that they sent poison to Lady Rant.  The mastermind behind Lady Rant’s poisoning with lapocia.  

‘Roena Roches.’

The Empress of the Sheriton Empire, and the biological mother of Niol and Ashlene.  

The reason why the Empress harbored ill will towards Lady Rant was, simply put, hatred and jealousy towards her lover.  

To resolve all of this, Delia, she herself, had to step forward.  Since she had decided to save Lady Rant, she intended to take responsibility until the end.  

‘Sigh, more work for me.’

To resolve the situation, she had to send Kaiel away first.  

Delia said in a low, subdued voice.  

“Your Grace, please go see Lady Rant now.  I’ll wait here.”  

However, Kaiel didn’t move, standing firm as a rock.  

“I said, go see her!  Lady Rant has collapsed!”