History had recorded Grand Duke Evander as little better than a beast.

But the man she had met in person was somewhat different from those records. He still seemed dangerous, but the impression he gave was clearly not the same as what had been written.

‘What matters right now isn’t that.’

She let out a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut.

‘I’ve finally been given my chance……’

The revenge she had wanted even as she lay dying.

Grand Duke Evander was the essential stepping stone for that revenge.

‘To bring down Helena, who has already seized control of the principality’s internal affairs, I absolutely need the power and standing that Grand Duke Evander holds.’

The path of revenge she would have to build slowly, step by step.

She needed no one’s love, no wealth or glory.

‘Once the revenge is done, I’ll leave everything behind without a single regret……’

To do that, she first needed to find the one who had tried to kill her aunt.

Click.

The door opened and Rina hurried in.

“His Grace the Grand Duke just left for his quarters. Nothing happened, right?”

The marriage was to be announced at the ball.

There was no telling what scheme Helena might set in motion, so it had to be kept secret for now.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. More importantly, Rina, I have something to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Why did I collapse?”

“That…… I’m not entirely sure myself.”

Collapsing without warning and losing consciousness.

The most likely cause was poison.

But she needed to determine what poison had been used and how before she could identify the culprit.

“Was there anything unusual I did before I collapsed? Something I ate, or perhaps a wound of some kind.”

“Hmm. You didn’t eat anything in particular……”

Sensing the shift in atmosphere, Rina’s voice dropped lower. She looked simple enough at a glance, but she was quick to read a room.

“Oh, right. You collapsed while looking over the jewelry you’d purchased from the capital recently. That was the only thing out of the ordinary.”

True to her reputation for extravagance, perhaps she had gone too far in collecting jewelry.

“Bring it to me.”

“Yes, just a moment. I put it somewhere safe……”

A short while later, Rina returned with a small jewelry box.

Inside the box was a collection of various pieces: necklaces, brooches, and more.

What reckless extravagance on a household that could barely afford it.

Among them, the piece that drew the eye without question was a bracelet set with a large ruby.

“That bracelet was the most expensive of everything you ordered this time. It was also your favorite.”

“Was it?”

The craftsmanship was as elaborate and ornate as the price suggested.

But unlike the exterior, the inner surface had been coated in a rough, matte black.

‘Why would they craft it like this?’

A bracelet made by one of the most renowned artisans in the capital would not have an error. Studying it closely, Alicia spotted an extremely fine black powder.

A powder so faint it would be invisible at a casual glance. But Alicia, versed in thousands of medicinal and toxic plants, could identify it at once.

‘This is…… the poison of the black lily……’

Extracted from the roots of the black lily, a flower that bloomed only on nights when the crescent moon rose, this poison was absorbed rapidly through skin contact and delivered directly to the heart through the bloodstream.

It disrupts the heartbeat and triggers cardiac arrest.

It left no trace beyond a faint initial dizziness and chest pain, which was why it was called the silent killer, a lethal poison of the highest order. Naturally, it was both difficult to obtain and extraordinarily expensive.

‘Just as I suspected. My aunt was poisoned.’

But there were still too few clues to identify the culprit.

‘Who would do this, and why? Who would try to kill a powerless count’s daughter using a high-priced poison distributed exclusively through the Empire?’

Questions spiraled into more questions.

Then, in that moment.

‘Wait. Right. The only ones who can distribute this are apothecaries licensed by the Empire. Which means……’

Grand Duke Evander’s abrupt and secretive proposal.

Combined with the clue that the poison could only be obtained from the Empire, the outline of the person who had tried to kill her aunt came into focus naturally.

Mother…… was it you again this time?

Helena must have learned that Grand Duke Evander had set out for the Darlington domain and moved in advance.

Then again, who else would dare do such a thing?

A woman who would stop at nothing in pursuit of her ambitions. A scheme only Helena could carry out, a Helena capable of swallowing even the Empire where her own father sat as Emperor.

And the reason was clear.

‘If an heir were to be born between His Highness the Grand Duke and my aunt Alicia, strictly speaking, there would be no greater threat to the Grand Ducal heir’s consort, who was essentially a niece-in-law. That is why she tried to prevent the marriage by any means necessary.’

The gaps filled in one by one, and a truth of history entirely unlike what had been recorded unfolded before her.

Of course, some things had not changed.

‘You were after my life in my previous existence, and you are after it in this one too.’

The era was different, the people were different, yet the bitter connection remained. But Alicia’s heart felt lighter for it.

‘Good. That’s exactly how it should be. Because that means I can take my revenge properly.’

Not dread, but anticipation swelled within her. Alicia gripped her trembling fingertips and gathered her thoughts.

The beginning of a perfect and sweeping revenge.

The first step was this:

“Rina, write me a list of every maid who entered my room over the past three days.”

“Why do you need that all of a sudden?”

“Because one of them is on it. The contemptible ones who tried to poison me.”

“Po, poison?”

Rina blinked rapidly, startled out of her wits.

“Ju, just a moment.”

She quickly searched her memory and began writing down the names.

The names of the maids were recorded one by one.

Reading through them slowly, a light sparked in Alicia’s eyes.

‘There they are.’

Over a dozen maids in total.

Of them, only two had abruptly left the count’s household.

And both for reasons that were far from convincing.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

In the western wing of the Windmore comital household, inside the annex reserved for distinguished guests.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of fingers drumming against the leather-padded armrest of a chair echoed through the room. It came from Grand Duke Evander, resting his chin in his hand, lost in thought.

A grey ring with a mysterious air about it.

It had belonged to his mother, killed by the Emperor’s betrayal.

‘The only thing I managed to recover from her brutally murdered body……’

But it was not only his mother the Emperor had taken from him. His father and his only brother had also lost their lives to the Emperor’s schemes.

‘Just wait a little longer……’

A vengeance he could not conceal stirred within his dark eyes.

That was why he had come to the unremarkable Darlington domain to propose to a young lady he had never even met.

Click.

The door opened and Lieutenant Derick entered, handsome-faced with red hair and blue eyes.

“I sent a courier ahead as instructed and have made arrangements for the announcement to be made at the ball.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The drumming against the armrest finally stopped. He swept his hair back roughly and let out a long sigh.

“Good. Make sure it goes without a hitch.”

“Do not worry. The head maid overseeing this ball is completely taken with me.”

Derick swept back his red hair and smiled. But Grand Duke Evander said nothing and simply tilted his glass in silence. Reading his expression, Derick took a seat across from him.

“Why do you look so grim? Was this not the marriage you wanted?”

Glug.

Grand Duke Evander filled his glass and spoke.

“She was very different from the rumors.”

Derick tilted his head to one side.

“In a good way?”

“Hard to say. Whether it is good or not.”

The words lingered in the air as he looked up toward the ceiling.

But his thoughts about Alicia did not last long.

“Ngh.”

A headache that had been plaguing him for months. The pain felt as though his skull were being crushed, and Grand Duke Evander’s brow creased.

Excruciating pain that came without warning, along with bouts of delirium, were eating away at the Grand Duke’s mind.

Grk. He clenched his back teeth and steadied his breathing.

Veins rose on his forehead. Blood vessels burst in his eyes.

The pain was enough to make him lose consciousness, and his brow twisted.

“Are you all right?”

Grand Duke Evander was the kind of man who would not let out a single groan even from a wound deep enough to show bone. Seeing him in visible distress, tension crept into Derick’s eyes as well.

“……”

But Evander said nothing. He simply gritted his teeth and poured himself another drink.

Glug.

The notoriously strong liquor of the North.

The only anesthetic capable of dulling a headache that no medicine could touch.