“Are you…… done talking?”

“You’re too wicked.”

Looking at Sekreya biting her lip until it turned white, Elena realized this was the right answer all along. There was no reason to try to express things indirectly with this opponent.

“You’re selfish and you only care about yourself. If you think someone is a bit lacking, you mercilessly look down on them and treat them carelessly. How could you possibly deserve to be by the Grand Duke’s side?”

“Just because you have a mouth……”

“No one has ever spoken to you straight, so I’ll do it. A selfish woman like you would find even the most accommodating and affectionate man insufficient. It would be nice if you could listen to what I’m saying now and realize it, but it’s probably useless. You’re a spoiled only daughter from a rich family. Having lived a life of being pampered, you think you’re all that. I can’t even gauge how deluded you are about your own exceptional abilities.”

Elena spoke with satisfying frankness. In contrast, Sekreya couldn’t say a word.

“This is different from the teatime fight you imagined, right?”

It wasn’t a fight where one subtly overpowers the other through nuanced speech. She was directly saying, ‘You’re wicked, that’s why you failed,’ so Sekreya was taken aback and overwhelmed.

Sekreya knew that when her anger reached its peak, she couldn’t think at all. She focused her blank eyes and clenched her fist, ready to hit Elena. She did so because she felt this anger would remain as a grudge if she didn’t strike.

“You’re still so confident because the Grand Duke is backing you.”

Sekreya attributed even the reason Elena could yell at her to the Grand Duke.

“Hah, you really won’t come to your senses until you die.”

Elena pressed her forehead and shook her head.

“You’re saying what I wanted to say.”

Sekreya stood up, pushing her chair back. She looked ready to grab Elena’s hair, throw her to the ground, and stomp on her.

“No. I’m going to stay still.”

Elena let her hands fall to indicate she truly wouldn’t do anything.

“Feel free to hit me if you want. But not today.”

Sekreya slightly frowned at her suddenly tingling limbs. Though she didn’t want to reveal her condition to Elena, the tingling was getting worse. Just as she felt the sensation disappearing from her toes, Elena’s voice reached her.

“Do you know what death is?”

“I should……”

Know that, she tried to say, but her tongue seemed stiff and wouldn’t move as she wished.

“Trying to kill the head of a family because of your greed. That’s truly unforgivable, but I doubt you’d understand even if I explained it.”

“N-no way.”

Sekreya hugged her trembling body and raised her head in disbelief. Even her chin shook incessantly, and her teeth chattered.

“That’s right. I poisoned you.”

Elena twirled her teacup.

“Are you…… out of your mind?”

“Why would I be out of my mind? You’d only continue to torment others if you lived, so it’s better to kill you.”

As her legs also escaped her control, Sekreya collapsed to the ground. She glared at Elena.

“How dare…… Kup.”

How dare you poison me. I won’t let this go.

She wanted to say these words, but Sekreya covered her mouth as a lump of thick liquid welled up.

“Kuluk.”

As it filled her mouth to overflowing, red lines formed between her fingers. When she realized what had welled up was blood, terror filled Sekreya’s eyes.

“Save me.”

Facing real death, Sekreya painfully stretched out her hand. Fear blurred her reason, and the instinct to survive dominated her.

“I…… want to live.”

Sekreya’s face was becoming soiled with blood and tears.

The moment she grabbed Elena’s skirt, unable to even swallow her saliva, her hand was violently knocked away. Elena kicked her hand away as she stood up and lifted her own skirt.

“You’ve dirtied the dress I bought today.”

At Elena’s grumbling, Sekreya’s eyes grew dim. The clear world became blurry, and her past self overlapped with Elena’s image.

Throughout her life, Sekreya had never cared about others’ suffering. She only cared about her own beauty and wanted others to serve her.

The wailing of a maid begging to be spared just once, the feelings of those who asked for one last chance—she hadn’t understood them then.

Not knowing that I too could die.

“I was wrong…… I……”

Sekreya’s faint breath stopped, and her desperately outstretched hand dropped.

Elena, who had been irritable and fussy until Sekreya died, suddenly became quiet. In contrast to her earlier fuss over the bloodstain on her skirt, she now lowered her hand in silence.

Curling her body into a ball and wrapping her arms around her legs, Elena calmly gazed at Sekreya.

Facing sudden death, Sekreya couldn’t even close her eyes. The light seemed to pass from her open eyes, then fell as tears.

“That’s how the world is. It’s not the strong who survive, but those who stab others in the back.”

Sekreya had merely wanted to vent her anger on Elena. Elena had waited for her and prepared thoroughly. She had the poison made from Luria flowers brought and used the garden to hide it from others.

As she endlessly stared at Sekreya’s pale face.

“Se, Sekreya……”

A middle-aged man’s voice was heard. Marquis Emeth had come looking for Sekreya but couldn’t approach due to the unbelievable scene.

Slowly dragging his trembling legs, he finally reached Sekreya and fell to his knees. Turning over Sekreya’s prone body, Marquis Emeth placed his hand under her nose and gently pressed her neck to check her pulse.

After confirming her death himself, Marquis Emeth jerked his head up.

“You killed my daughter? You…… how dare you!”

With a scream, Marquis Emeth rushed toward Elena, drawing his sword and swinging it simultaneously.

He swung his sword with the determination to behead Elena, but it was blocked with a metallic clash and could advance no further.

“Move aside.”

“Not Elena.”

Rudfelix not only blocked Marquis Emeth’s sword but also deflected it.

Rudfelix had also come with Marquis Emeth and discovered Sekreya’s death, but he only protected Elena and did nothing else.

“You should take her away quickly.”

“Do you…… do you think I’ll let this go?”

Marquis Emeth glared at Rudfelix with bloodshot eyes. The tears flowing from the eyes of a parent who had lost a child felt like tears of blood.

“Never……”

Unable to continue speaking, he hurriedly left the garden carrying Sekreya. Elena covered her ears at the scream of an employee who was in his path.

“Elena.”

Rudfelix smelled the very faint scent of Luria flowers.

“Yes?”

“You did something unforgivable to Marquis Emeth. She’ll wake up tomorrow, but until then, he won’t recover from the shock, will he?”

Elena stuck out her tongue and smiled cutely.

Her face looked so innocent that it was hard to believe she had poisoned Sekreya.

“He’ll never forget this incident for the rest of his life. He only raised his daughter by coddling her, which made her grow up even more crooked. If he can discipline her now, it might be good for him to remember today’s nightmare forever.”

Although they had given Sekreya a terrifying warning, there was no guarantee others would do the same.

“I mixed a confusion drug with the Luria poison.”

She said she used the same poison because Sekreya had tried to kill the Luria Trading Company master. If Sekreya had thought about it calmly, she would have realized it was a poison that only made someone appear dead for a day. But Sekreya had no such composure.

How could she think she would wake up again when her limbs were stiffening and she was spitting blood?

Elena had mixed a confusion drug with that poison and imitated her.

“I hope Sekreya becomes a different person when she wakes up.”

She didn’t expect much.

‘Just enough not to carelessly treat others’ lives.’

Thinking ‘After experiencing something this big, she might come to her senses a little,’ Elena casually looked up and was startled. She had sensed a shadow, but it was Rudfelix trapping her against the wall with his hand.

“Why did you come here?”

Rudfelix’s upturned lips showed a smile that already knew the answer. Elena lowered her head in her narrowed space and mumbled quietly.

“Because it’s the place where I first saw Sekreya……”

That’s where Elena had received Rudfelix’s confession.

“Don’t you remember my confession?”

“Confession? Hmm…… it was a bit intense.”

Elena’s eyes shifted sideways as she touched her lips with her finger.

“I think my heart fluttered.”

Her impression of recalling the confession was as lukewarm as if she were remembering a meal that was just decent enough to eat. Rudfelix lowered his head, recalling that somewhat disappointing day. Even if someone had interrupted in the middle, he had said everything he wanted to say. He thought it should have been a memorable confession, but he could smile again looking down at Elena.

He thought she had raised her hand to fiddle with her lips, but she was actually hiding her subtly trembling lips.

“Is that all?”

“How could that be all?”

Elena, who hadn’t lost her composure in front of Sekreya, now had reddened eyes.

‘You know everything and still make me embarrassed.’

She normally didn’t filter her words, but now she wished he would pretend not to know. Since it had come to this, Elena decided to fulfill her desires.

“You didn’t finish your confession then. Please continue.”

Rudfelix burst into laughter and rested his forehead on Elena’s shoulder. His body’s trembling was fully transmitted to her. Elena tilted her head this way and that, listening to the sound of his laughter.

‘It’s not like I said anything wrong.’

Since there was nothing to take back, she just waited. Thinking he would speak when ready, she admired the fluffy clouds floating in the sky.

In fact, it had already grown dark, so the clouds weren’t very visible. Just vaguely whitish things passing by, that sort of thing?