Chapter 3

“Ha… Has he become immune to the poison scent?”

A thick male voice was heard from behind the curtain.

“It’s been ten years already… Please switch to another perfume.”

“This is the strongest one. I’ll get a new one tomorrow.”

The two people whispering behind the terrace curtain seemed to have finished their conversation and closed the window. The maid shivered once and hurried out.

‘I am a mirror. So. I didn’t hear anything.’

Adelina covered her ears. She hoped Lexion would sleep in another room tonight. She closed her eyes, wishing the suspicious perfume sprayed by the maid would quickly dissipate.

Contrary to Adelina’s hopes, Lexion soon entered the room.

‘Why! Why did you come in! Why!’

Even late at night, Lexion, dressed neatly in a white shirt and black pants, approached Adelina.

“There’s blood on it.”

Lexion frowned as he removed the mirror. He, who hadn’t flinched even when assassins aimed swords at his neck, now looked as if the worst thing in the world had happened.

‘Get out of this room! Quickly! Go to another room!’

Adelina banged on the mirror wall and shouted loudly. She didn’t realize how frustrating and upsetting it would be not to have a physical body.

“Let’s go.”

Fortunately, Lexion took Adelina and headed to another room.

+++

Lexion placed the mirror on the sofa table and dampened a towel to wipe the blood off.

He had forbidden the attendants and servants from touching this mirror, so they wouldn’t have been able to clean it even if they saw the blood.

‘Interesting.’

As a Sword Master, Lexion naturally sensed the assassins entering. But simultaneously, he felt as if someone was echoing in his head.

Even just now. When he entered the room, he had already sensed the faint scent of poison. Yet, there was a strong feeling as if someone was warning him.

‘Perhaps… it feels that way because my sister’s belongings are with me.’

That must be it. In this mansion, where there was no one he could trust and nothing of his own, something he felt attached to gave him such a feeling.

Lexion stood up and removed the mirror from the wall. He hung the now clean Adelina in its place.

“Pretty.”

Perhaps because it was cleaned, it sparkled even more, making the expression “pretty” seem fitting.

‘Oh my! You know how to look at a mirror.’

For the first time, Adelina’s heart fluttered at being called pretty by a handsome man, even though she had no physical body.

‘Why… that expression…’

But soon, when Lexion’s red eyes seemed to sink into melancholy, she placed her hand on the mirror wall.

‘Why… a similar expression to mine…’

He hadn’t heard the word “fake,” so why did he have a sad expression similar to hers?

Adelina gently stroked the mirror wall. She wanted to touch his cheek and comfort him, but her hand couldn’t reach his cheek.

+++

A few days later, Adelina was vigorously protesting to God from within the mirror.

‘No! I asked for an R-rated novel, and you give me martial arts!’

After days of requesting a sensual, beautiful R-rated novel, God forcibly injected martial arts filled with red bloodshed.

‘Where would I use martial arts if I learned them!’

You need a physical body to use martial arts… wouldn’t you need a body to even use the sword skills forcibly learned!

Adelina grumbled for an hour, ending with a prayer to be injected with an R-rated novel full of flesh tones the next day.

+++

After the assassins came, there was a continuation of peaceful daily life for a few days.

Based on his past experiences, Lexion also guessed that no assassins would come for a while.

‘Are they trying to kill me… or save me…’

If they were going to send someone, they should send skilled ones. Facing low-skilled ones wasn’t even worth training and was just bothersome.

Or, during this relaxed period, they might be planning to send truly skilled ones.

“Tonight, I’ll eat in the bedroom. Prepare it simply.”

“Yes, Duke.”

As Lexion gathered clothes to change into and entered the bathroom, maids soon came in pushing trays of food.

‘That maid!’

Adelina spotted the maid she had seen a few days ago, the one who sprayed the poison scent, among those carrying the food.

“I’ll do the setting myself.”

“Sure.”

The maid sent the others out first and neatly arranged the napkins and cutlery. As expected, she glanced around and turned her head toward the bathroom door to confirm if the water sound continued.

Phew… The maid let out a small sigh, took out a small glass bottle from her bosom.

Pop. The sound of the glass bottle opening was so loud that even she was startled and looked around again. Then, as if her heart was still pounding, she pressed her left chest with her right hand and poured the liquid from the glass bottle into the wine bottle with her left hand.

Click. Lexion came out of the bathroom wearing only a shower gown and a towel wrapped around his head.

Whether it was because of seeing him or because she had put something strange in the wine, the maid’s face turned red.

“Duke, enjoy your meal.”

The maid bowed deeply. Lexion twisted the corner of his lips faintly above her head.

“Sure.”

As soon as Lexion finished speaking, the maid left the room.

‘No! Not the wine! You can’t drink that!’

Adelina screamed inside the mirror.

She still didn’t know what kind of person Lexion was. Whether he was a good person or someone who truly deserved to die, she knew nothing about him yet.

But she felt so sorry for him, who couldn’t even rest comfortably at home.

“There was a silver goblet.”

Fortunately, Lexion stood up, opened a drawer, and took out the silver goblet that had been buried with Adelina.

‘Yes! Pour the wine into that goblet! It will turn black!’

Adelina breathed a sigh of relief. Now he wouldn’t drink the poison.

Lexion’s lips twisted subtly. He placed the silver goblet on the table and poured the red wine. As the silver goblet turned blacker, Lexion’s red eyes grew darker.

“Such a suspicious Emperor Grain.”

Lexion brought the blackened silver goblet to his lips and filled his mouth with the wine.

Adelina screamed in shock and pounded on the mirror wall.

‘No! What are you doing drinking that!’

As Lexion’s throat moved significantly, Adelina felt like she was going to cry.

‘Drinking it knowing it’s poisoned! Why! Why!’

What kind of life must one lead to have their life constantly in danger like this?

What kind of life must one live to have to drink something knowing it’s poisoned?

‘Why did you do it… why? Wasn’t there a way not to drink it?’

Adelina looked at him pitifully. He was the one who drank the poison, but it was her heart that felt like it was breaking.

For a moment, she felt as if Lexion’s blood-red eyes met hers.

Lexion felt his throat heat up and looked at the mirror.

‘My sister’s mirror…’

It felt as if someone inside the mirror was watching him.

“Ugh!”

Lexion grasped the sofa with his left hand and pressed his left chest hard with his right hand.

“Huff… Huff…”

His breath became ragged. It felt as if someone was squeezing his heart with their hand. His heart raced uncontrollably, then felt like it was freezing and stopping. It felt as if his entire skin was being cut with a knife.

Was it this painful when Rose drank the poison?

Probably not. They said it was a lethal dose, so it must have been a hundred times more painful than this.

Emperor Grain wouldn’t kill him with poison, so it wouldn’t be as strong as the poison Rose drank.

‘Emperor Grain!’

Lexion gritted his teeth to stay conscious and tried to keep his eyes wide open and focused.

“Haa… Haa…”

Or was it a command to eat and die this time?

With pain worse than usual, Lexion clutched his heart and collapsed onto the sofa, looking at Adelina.

-“Remember. Your life is mine. I can take or spare your life at any time. And everything you cherish.”-

As Lexion closed his eyes, Emperor Grain’s voice from ten years ago echoed in his ears.

This poison was a kind of test by the suspicious Emperor Grain to test Lexion’s loyalty.

The message was clear: put poison in it and eat it without question. It was part of Emperor Grain’s training of Lexion that started when he was 13.

When Lexion refused the poison, Emperor Grain sent him a black box. Inside that box was the head of a boy who lived in the Ernst Duchy. And… that boy was also 13 years old, like Lexion.

After receiving that box twice, Lexion no longer refused the poison. The Emperor, as if rewarding him, personally gave him a small glass bottle filled with blue liquid.

-“Yes, Your Majesty. My life is yours.”-

At 13, Lexion accepted the glass bottle with both hands and drank the blue liquid in front of Emperor Grain.

+++

‘What do I do! What do I do!’

Adelina, unable to sit still, moved closer to the mirror wall.

‘Oh… Oh…’

Her body seemed to pass through the mirror wall, then fell to the floor with a thud.

‘Ugh… What happened?’

Her whole body hurt from the fall, but more surprising was that she wasn’t wearing anything.

‘The person first!’

What did clothes matter now! Saving a life was more important!

Adelina, still n*ked, ran towards Lexion to save him.

‘Oh… Oh…’

Fortunately, by the time she reached the sofa, she was wearing something that looked like a white chemise dress. Maybe because she wished for at least a nightgown, such clothes appeared.

‘First, block the blood points!’

Adelina pressed down on the acupuncture points she learned from martial arts books with both hands. Now she could slow the spread of the poison throughout his body.

‘Why is he so heavy!’

Struggling, she managed to lay Lexion, who was much larger than herself, flat on the sofa. She couldn’t even think about moving him to the bed.

Perhaps because she handled Lexion too roughly, his eyelids fluttered open for a moment.

‘An angel?’

Seeing her silver hair, Lexion thought she might be an angel and closed his eyes again.

“Hey, do you have something like an antidote?”

Adelina sniffed the silver goblet and tapped Lexion’s face.

Judging from the smell mixed with the wine aroma, this poison came from the teeth of a fish called the blue-striped betta.

This poison was commonly used in martial arts. It mainly caused paralysis, but in large amounts, it could strain the heart and be fatal. However, since it was a common poison, it was easy to detoxify. As long as he drank an antidote quickly, he would be fine by the next day.

“Bookshelf… blue…”

Lexion answered with a still pained expression, unable to open his eyes.

Adelina hurried to the bookshelf and pulled out a thick economics book bound in leather. Opening the cover, she found a small glass bottle filled with blue liquid in a deeply hollowed space.

‘I saw it in passing before, but I didn’t think it was that.’

This was the result of Adelina’s meticulous observation of Lexion’s every move. She grabbed the glass bottle and ran back to Lexion.

“Drink this. You won’t die if you do.”

She lifted his head and brought the bottle to his lips, but he no longer responded, and it seemed he was unconscious, as he didn’t open his lips either…

‘Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!’

Adelina cursed internally three times out of frustration. She understood the situation.

An unconscious man poisoned. And a woman already holding the antidote.

The answer was obvious.

“Don’t blame me later for taking your purity.”