Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 

I DON’T WANT TO STUDY! I want to eat sweets today, not study!”

In Rishe’s life as a maid, sometimes Millia would shout and lock herself up in her room. This was when Rishe grew skilled at lockpicking.

Rishe could tell by the sound of her voice when Millia really wanted to be alone and when she was just craving attention. On this day, it was the latter, so Rishe unlocked the door without hesitation and entered her room. She looked down at the round lump of blankets on the bed.

“You were working so hard up until yesterday, Mistress,” Rishe coaxed. She was dressed in a maid uniform with her hair in a ponytail. “You’re writing a letter to the archbishop in the Crusade language for the festival next month, aren’t you?”

“I didn’t want to anymore when I woke up this morning! Boys don’t have to learn Crusade, and I can do my job as the royal priestess’s stand-in without being able to read the psalms! I’m sick of being the only one who has to study so hard!”

Rishe thought, I hear it takes adults a long time to learn Crusade.

The girl had been twelve then, and she hadn’t yet been told who she really was. Rishe found out first because the duke had opened up to her about it. A year into working there, he had come to her and told her, “I want one person I can trust at Millia’s side who knows her secret.” Since Millia was the real priestess, she would need to know the Crusade language. But since she was being made to learn it without yet knowing her origins, she was having a hard time of it.

“Mistress Millia,” Rishe said, leaning over the bed. “The more knowledge you gain, the more weapons you’ll have at your disposal. Or maybe it would be better to say that knowledge will expand your world.”

Millia remained curled up, but she was quiet. Contemplative, perhaps.

“If you learn a language most people know nothing about, then you’ll get a glimpse into a world they know nothing about. Aren’t you curious about how the people in myths lived, what sort of dreams they had, and what they found beautiful? There might even be wonderful love poems written by the goddess.”

The lump twitched at that. Millia happened to be experiencing a bout of puppy love.

“In fact, I wish I could participate in your lessons on Crusade as well.”

“You do?”

“Yes! Why, I would be ecstatic if you would be my teacher, Mistress Millia.”

Millia sprang up, her covers piling in front of her with a soft whump. She regarded Rishe with sparkling eyes. “You’ll come and study with me, Rishe?”

“Of course. You’ll have to learn a lot by yourself first, though.”

“I’ll do it! It sounds fun, me teaching you!” Millia’s mood had completely recovered. She jumped out of bed and gave Rishe an enthusiastic hug.

“I look forward to learning from you. Let’s get you ready to go to your lessons, Mistress Millia.”

“Yes! I might see Lord Bernhard, so make sure I’m extra cute today, all right?”

“Hee hee hee. As you say, Mistress.”

After this exchange, Millia engaged with her studies diligently and began to teach Rishe what she’d learned later that day. That was why Rishe was able to read Crusade. She’d even traveled with Millia to the Grand Basilica and exchanged words with the archbishop at the time. But all of that had occurred in a different lifetime.

 

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I never found out the reason why Mistress Millia’s identity as the true royal priestess was kept hidden from the world, but I feel like I might have an idea now.

That evening, Rishe found herself staring down at a pot in the kitchen in a distant corner of the Grand Basilica. She was alone with Arnold, boiling a concoction of medicinal herbs. She’d begged him to convince the Church that they be allowed to use the kitchen.

Slowly stirring the pot, she tilted her head back and asked Arnold, who was behind her, “Do you believe in curses, Your Highness?”

If she had to guess, he didn’t. In fact, she figured even asking the question was a waste of time, but his answer surprised her.

“There are times when it’s convenient to say I do.”

Rishe spun on her heel. Arnold was seated at a table, chin in hand and watching Rishe work dispassionately.

“By which you mean…?”

“When it comes to manipulating public opinion, the concept of power surpassing human understanding is useful. It’s especially striking on the battlefield; such things can significantly influence soldiers’ morale.”

“I see.” She’d been caught off guard at first, but his explanation was just what she’d expect of him. It was less about what he himself believed and more about applications in tactics and politics.

“The duke likely believes in this ‘curse’ his daughter possesses. Since the girl is the real priestess, he must think it only natural that she could possess such a power.”

“You’re probably right. His denial of the curse’s existence seemed more for my benefit than anything else.”

Duke Jonal must’ve been trying to prevent her from guessing at Millia’s identity.

“If it were just the carriage accident, that would be one thing, but with this seamstress incident as well, he wanted to keep you away before you caught on.”

Is that the only reason he didn’t want me helping with the festival? Rishe stepped back from the pot, took out some small bottles from her bag, and set them on the table.

“What are these?”

“Poisons I collected yesterday,” Rishe answered matter-of-factly, and Arnold barked a laugh.

“Well, this is a lot more interesting than a stuffed bear.”

“I found several traps set up in the forest around the Grand Basilica. I wiped them with my handkerchief, soaked it in water, and isolated the poison through precipitation.”

In the bottle on the right, the poison had sunk to the bottom. In the left, it floated near the top.

“The bottle on the left contains a sleeping drug that takes effect immediately. This amount could put a grown man to sleep in a few minutes. Hunters normally use it.”

Arnold thought back to a past incident. “You said something similar when bandits attacked us on our way back to Galkhein from your homeland. Back then, it was a drug that caused paralysis, but you said it was used in a similar way.”

“Yes. It’s all because meat quality suffers if prey is too active before its death. Though if the poison is so concentrated that it kills its prey instantly, the meat will suffer for another reason—the failure to drain the animal’s blood promptly after death. Hence, these drugs are used to keep animals alive and relaxed in their traps until the hunter can come collect them.”

She picked up the bottle and shook it. “Both that paralysis drug and this sleeping drug lose their toxicity if exposed to heat. However, this drug has another special property.”

“Let’s hear it.”

Rishe set that bottle down and flicked her eyes to the other. “The poison in the bottle on the right seems to be lethal.” It contained a transparent poison with a slight tinge of red. “If a lethal dose is ingested, it’s a matter of minutes till death. If you ingest less than that, you’ll immediately experience high fever and lethargy, and you will be incapacitated for around a week.”

“…”

“This poison has an interesting interaction with the sleeping drug here. The two counteract each other.”

Arnold frowned. “They counteract?” he asked, and she nodded.

“The sleeping drug neutralizes the poison. Likewise, the poison prevents the sleeping drug from taking effect.” She pressed the two bottles on the table together with a clink. “If you ingest these two drugs at the same time, you will neither fall asleep nor die.”

“You’ll just go on like nothing happened?”

“Yes. But your body will fully absorb the sleeping drug in a matter of hours, neutralizing its effect. At that time, only the poison will remain in your system.”

“So you can die hours after ingesting the poison for seemingly no reason,” Arnold noted.

“The only reasons you’d use poison when hunting are if you were trying to catch a particularly ferocious beast or if you only had access to less potent weapons. I didn’t see any signs of dangerous creatures in the forest, so I can’t think of a reason for coating those traps with these poisons.”

“But hunters would only use bows, right? Things like bows and throwing knives aren’t very powerful. If it’s difficult to kill animals with those weapons alone, doesn’t it stand to reason that they’d also use poisons?”

“The thing is, this poison isn’t neutralized by heat like the other one. The only thing it has going for it is that it wouldn’t make the animal suffer needlessly, thus keeping the pelt undamaged. But the sleeping drug should be no different on that front.” There was another doubt Rishe harbored. “Both poisoned traps smelled like metal as well.”

She’d noticed when she was sniffing the poisons coated on the traps the day before.

“Animals have a strong sense of smell. Normally, hunters will bury new traps in the soil for months or submerge them in river water to eliminate their scent so that animals won’t notice them. There’s no way someone would set up a trap that I could smell on my handkerchief and expect to catch anything with it.”

“Their aim is clear, then.” Arnold leaned back in his chair and said calmly, “The trap was set not for an animal but for a human.”

Rishe said nothing in response. In truth, she’d been hoping for him to pronounce her idea as ludicrous. If Arnold agreed with her, however, then she had to be firm in her conviction.

“Bluntly put, it’s an assassination tool. If someone went into the forest and triggered the trap, they would think it was a simple injury.”

“Yes,” she said. “They would return to the Basilica and, by the time their wounds had been treated, they would simply die a painless death.”

“If it were a fast-acting poison, they would suffer the effects as soon as they were injured. They’d notice the poison immediately, and someone else would probably be able to suck it out of the wound.”

“Right, though I can’t recommend trying to suck out a poison this deadly. Even if you spit it out immediately, it would still be putting poison in your mouth. I wouldn’t be surprised if it killed the person attempting to treat the poison as well.”

Such methods should only be taken for paralyzing or sleeping drugs. Rishe’s master in her life as an apothecary had said so, and Rishe firmly believed the same thing herself.

“I take it you’re whipping up an antidote in that pot?”

“Yes. I was able to find the herbs that make up the base for the sleeping drug in the forest nearby. It’s not the best time of year for them, so I was only able to make enough for five people.”

Sensing Rishe’s intentions, Arnold let out a sigh. “Oliver can deliver it to the four seamstresses.”

“Thank you, Your Highness!” Rishe was relieved to hear it, but she couldn’t be entirely optimistic yet.

Arnold seemed to share the sentiment. “You said fatigue and fever would only occur when given a nonlethal dosage of the poison. It sounds like that’s what happened to the seamstresses.”

“I believe they absorbed it through their skin instead of ingesting it or receiving it through a wound.” And there was only one thing the four seamstresses were guaranteed to have touched. “I believe Lady Millia’s dress was coated in the same compound of poisons.”

This morning, Millia had told her she was so looking forward to dyeing the dress that she’d sent for it to be adjusted without trying it on to get it back faster.

“A fatal dose for a young child would be smaller than one for a grown woman. If Lady Millia had tried on the dress yesterday, she would have been poisoned and could have died.” The image of Millia dead pushed aside the memory of her letting Rishe brush her hair and being delighted by the ribbon. A chill scuttled down Rishe’s spine.

“All because I convinced her to try on the dress,” Rishe said quietly, willing her voice to keep steady. One false step and the worst could have happened.

While she was consumed by the thought, Arnold said, “Don’t be scared of a future you’ve only imagined.”

Rishe’s shoulders jumped. “Your Highness…”

He still sounded disinterested, but his words were firm. Arnold looked Rishe right in the eye and continued, “Don’t get them confused. What you’ve imagined is only a possibility; it’s not the reality.”

Rishe’s breath caught.

“What you fear has not actually occurred.”

He was right; the worst-case scenario had already been avoided. Rishe took a deep breath.

“The same goes for the seamstresses. Regardless of your actions, they would have begun work on their final adjustments.”

“…”

“Rishe.”

She nodded at his urging. “I understand. I’d like to deliver the antidote to the seamstresses as quickly as possible.”

“Good,” Arnold said, appraising.

Although she felt her brows droop, this was no time to feel down.

What are Prince Arnold’s plans for Mistress Millia?

Rishe truly felt that the Arnold sitting in front of her now was a kind person. But the plan he harbored in his heart was so important to him that carrying it out would crush that kindness into dust.

That was why, five years from now, Arnold mobilized the military to kill Millia. Since someone was clearly after Millia’s life now and Rishe was trying to protect her, she had no idea what sort of actions Arnold would take in response. It was more than possible that he would oppose her.

Mustering up her courage, Rishe said, “I’d like to tell Duke Jonal that someone is trying to assassinate Lady Millia. If we’re going to protect her, we’ll need the approval of her legal guardian.”

He lowered his gaze thoughtfully. “You’re right. That’ll probably be more effective than telling him to worry about a curse.”

Relieved, Rishe stood from her chair. “I’ll have the antidote finished by the time they’re done with their prayers. If you wouldn’t mind, please arrange for it to be administered.”

“I got it.”

Rishe rolled up her sleeves and returned to the pot, which had just finished boiling. She confirmed the state of the antidote and transferred it into five small bottles. She wanted to cool it under some running water first, but she needed to get it to the seamstresses as soon as possible. She entrusted the bottles to Arnold and hoped the brew would cool enough during transport.

“All right, I’ll head to the building with the guest lodgings.”

“Right. I’ll order Oliver to deliver this as fast as he can.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” With a deep parting curtsy to Arnold, Rishe strode in the opposite direction. When she arrived at the other building, she went up to the floor that housed the duke and his daughter’s rooms and waited for them there.

Maybe I should have headed for the cathedral where they’re praying, but I need to be cautious. She’d come here instead because she couldn’t trust Schneider and the other bishops. For now, I should only tell Duke Jonal about my suspicions. If he would allow it, I’d like to protect Mistress Millia at all times.

Easier said than done, considering the clergymen had indirectly asked Rishe keep her distance. She wouldn’t be able to stay with Millia without drawing the Church’s attention.

Maybe I should fake an assassination attempt on myself as well and just get them to increase all-around security in the Basilica? No, they’ll just tell me to return to Galkhein where I’ll be safe.

Time ticked by while Rishe considered her options. They’re a little late getting back, aren’t they?

Right then, she heard small footsteps coming her way. She thought it was Millia, but she quickly amended herself. Those are Leo’s footsteps.

Just as she suspected, it was Leo. He scrambled up the stairs toward her, out of breath and flustered. “Did Mistress Millia come here?!”

Surprised, Rishe shook her head. “No, she’s not back yet. Is she missing?”

Leo’s face fell. “After prayer, the adults had something to talk about back in the cathedral, so I was told to escort her to her room. On our way, the wind snatched her ribbon. She looked like she was gonna cry, so I went after it by myself, and while I was gone, well…”

“No…” Rishe felt that chill creep up her spine once more. She didn’t want to scare Leo, but she couldn’t help panicking as she asked, “Was anyone approaching just before you left her?”

“No, no one. I’m sure there was no one nearby, but…”

“But?”

“While we were walking, she asked me where the orphanage I grew up in was. I told her it was just past the woods to the east.”

Everything clicked for Rishe in that moment.

“I was hoping she went back to her room without me.”

Millia hadn’t just gone back to her room like she was supposed to, Rishe was sure of that. “Please, Leo. Can you run back to the cathedral and tell people you trust about this? If possible, I’d like it if you could tell Prince Arnold too. He should be somewhere near the administration building.”

“But I have to go search for her in the fores—”

“I’ll go to the forest!” It would be safer for Rishe to search for Millia, on account of the traps. She had to find her before anything happened to her. “Please!”

Rishe ran off without waiting for Leo to answer her. As the setting sun dyed the Grand Basilica crimson, she dashed through the eastern halls. She reached the forest before the area fell into complete darkness.

A child’s footprints—and they’re not Leo’s. These are girls’ shoes! Rishe grimaced, her breathing shallow. I knew it. Mistress Millia went into the forest.

She itched to surge forward, let her panic lead the way, but she’d miss vital clues if she did that. As she caught her breath, she scanned the forest. There wasn’t a lot of exposed dirt, and much of the ground was covered in fallen leaves. Only a few footprints dotted the area, but Rishe walked straight in without hesitation. The footprints were oriented east; she was confident Millia had gone in that direction. She paid attention to whatever small traces she might find, be it new tracks in the soil, oddly parted grass, spiderwebs torn a certain way, branches broken by a shoe or a hoof or fall, or whatever else.

Humans were awfully large compared to most animals, a fact Rishe tended to forget. Even a child such as Millia was larger and heavier than the vast majority of woodland animals. That was why she had ample clues to follow.

Calm down, stay cool, and don’t make a mistake. Leave traces for whoever Prince Arnold sends after us.

She pressed forward, noticing the difference between marks left by a large animal and ones left by a human child.

If I make a mistake, I could be too late!

A terrible premonition welled up in her, but she quashed it with a deep breath. Eventually, she came upon some violet hair caught on tree bark. Relieved as she was to be heading in the right direction, a new anxiety arose in her.

I only came this far with Leo. I don’t know what sort of traps may lay ahead.

At that moment, she sensed a presence that didn’t belong to an animal.

I found her!

Rishe spotted a small girl some distance away. Without a doubt, it was Millia. She was seated against the base of a tree, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands over and over again. Rishe’s heart wrenched at the sight.

“Lady Millia!”

Millia flinched, then turned toward her. She must have been crying all by herself in this dark forest.

Rishe rushed to her. “Are you hurt?!”

“Oh, Lady Rishe!” Millia reached out and clung to her.

“Does anything hurt? Did you twist your ankle or injure yourself?” Millia shook her head. Rishe stroked her hair, relieved to hear it. “Thank goodness.”

The girl swallowed her sobs and mustered a shaky question: “Why are you so nice to me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I have a bad power! It’ll put you in danger too, Lady Rishe.”

Rishe blinked and studied her. She really did look to be on the verge of tears. “I was under the impression that you liked me.”

“O-of course I do! I really like you!”

“Hee hee, I’m happy to hear it. Doesn’t that mean I’ll be safe even if you can curse people?”

Millia hung her head, tiny shoulders trembling. “But Mama died back then!” Big droplets spilled from her honey-colored eyes. “One day, I got in a lot of trouble, and I yelled, ‘I hate you, Mama!’ That night, Mama collapsed, and she never came back after that.” Millia’s face twisted in agony. “I have such a bad power. I went and said that, even though I really love her! It’s all my fault she died!”

In Rishe’s life as a maid, Millia had never said much about her mother’s death. She’d always looked like she didn’t want to talk about it, so Rishe made a point not to bring it up. This was Rishe’s first time seeing how deeply the tragedy wounded her.

“Y-you know, Rishe…” The words poured out of Millia in concert with her tears. Once she started to speak, it was like the dam holding back her feelings had broken. “I was trying to get Papa to hate me. If I could leave Papa, then what happened to Mama wouldn’t happen to him, right?”

“You—”

“I decided to be selfish—to be a bad girl. If Papa started hating me, he’d send me back to the orphanage!” Millia sniffled, rubbing her eyes again and again. Her voice trembled after rejecting her father so many times. “I love Papa, but if he’ll die because of me, then it’d be better if he hated me and got rid of me. I don’t care if I can’t be with him anymore, I just want him to be okay.”

“Goodness, Lady Millia…”

“Up until now, it’s been okay. When I wasn’t actually mad, I could say I hated something, and the curse wouldn’t happen. But the carriage yesterday and the dress today…all of it was my fault.”

Rishe gently took Millia’s hand before she could rub her eyes again. “That’s why you said you’d stop being selfish earlier.”

Millia gave a little nod.

The Church didn’t have anything to do with that, then. It was a decision Millia came to after doing her best to come up with a way no one else would get hurt.

“My real Mama and Papa probably threw me away because they didn’t want a cursed child. Bishop Schneider must have asked Papa to take me in like he did with Leo, and that’s when I started living with him.”

Suddenly, Rishe understood why Millia had told Leo “You’re not blood-related, so I shouldn’t have compared him to your father” at lunch earlier that day. Her tone was uncharacteristically cold even though she was supposedly speaking of Leo and Schneider. But she hadn’t meant them. She had been reflecting on herself.

She already knew she wasn’t her father’s daughter. Evidently, the girl was trying to tell herself that there should be more distance between her and the duke.

“Papa is so kind. He raised me even though I’m not really his child, and if I really want to give all my love back to him, then I can’t just wait for him to get rid of me.”

“So you asked Leo where the orphanage was and decided to leave on your own?”

“Ugh…” Millia looked up at Rishe and wailed, “I’m sorry for throwing away the ribbon you tied for me, Lady Rishe!”

Rishe just wrapped her arms around Millia and hugged her tight. “I should be the one apologizing, Lady Millia.”

The girl hiccupped and wailed, her little body racked with sobs.

“You looked so sad sometimes, but I couldn’t even reach out and comfort you to the very end.”

She should never have left Millia alone with her sadness. When she pouted and said that she wanted to be left alone, Rishe should have embraced her and asked what was troubling her.

“You’ve been fighting all this time to protect your father.”

Another loud wail tore free from the girl’s lips.

“You’re a wonderful girl, Lady Millia. If you leave your father, he will be so sad that he’ll cry.”

“H-he will?”

Millia sounded like she couldn’t even imagine it, so Rishe smiled and nodded. She’d seen it herself on the night before Millia’s wedding. Duke Jonal had been a sobbing mess. Whether they were blood relations meant nothing to him.

“Let’s go back to your father, Lady Milla.”

But Millia still shook her head. “No, I can’t go back!”

“Oh, come now…”

“I don’t want to be near anyone I love! It shouldn’t have to be Papa or Mama. I should die before anyone else!”

“Wait!”

Millia shoved Rishe with all her might, and Rishe heard something click. It was a hard sound, like something striking metal. Rishe’s eyes reflexively darted to Millia’s feet. That’s when she noticed the thin string hooked around the heel of one of Millia’s shoes.

Oh no!

Rishe only had a split second to think.

The reason Millia was crying here, the metallic sound from up high… If Millia tripped on something, what traps might use a string? Wasn’t there a trap I saw in her past life that used a tripwire to determine its target’s location? Ah! A poison arrow trap!

“No!” Rishe’s hand shot out. She grabbed Millia by the shoulder and threw herself on top of the girl.

The next instant, pain seared through her neck. It burned like fire, but she knew the sensation of heat was just an illusion. Her vision distorted, and she dug her nails in the dirt. She hadn’t been able to completely avoid it, and red blood dripped from the scratch.

“No! Lady Rishe!”

The arrow that had grazed Rishe was sticking out of the ground. Rishe recognized the color of the drug coating its arrowhead.

It’s the same mixed poison that was on the other traps! Rishe grit her teeth and cupped her neck. Her fingers slipped on the blood. I was grazed, that’s all. If I’m only bleeding this much from a neck wound, the actual cut isn’t anything to worry about. The problem is…

The poison compound that had entered her bloodstream.

Rishe grunted as her thoughts warped. She felt faint. It was a slight relief, however, that she recognized what she was feeling as a powerful drowsiness. The nectar poison hasn’t taken effect yet.

There was a fast-acting sleeping drug mixed into this poison that counteracted its effects. Until her body completely absorbed the sleeping drug, it would stave off the effects of the poison. At present, the only symptom Rishe felt was drowsiness, not nausea or pain.

They’re not negating one another…the sleeping drug is overpowering the poison. This compound must contain more of the…first one.

She needed to think of a way out of this situation, but her thoughts were fragmented. She crouched on the ground, desperately trying to string them together. Drops of blood fell to the soil.

Millia quaked with fear, but she managed to stand and yelled, “J-just wait, Lady Rishe! I’ll go get someone!”

“No…you mustn’t…go out on your own!” Rishe could hardly breathe, and she couldn’t raise her voice enough to be heard. As she listened to Millia’s footsteps fade into the distance, she cursed her own failure.

How could you make a mistake like this? Showing Mistress Millia your blood and making her worry so?

She couldn’t let herself become another reason for Millia’s anguish. The girl was so young. Rishe should have been looking out for more than just her physical safety—she should’ve protected Millia’s heart as well.

You can’t sleep. Stay conscious, do something, buy yourself time! Struggle!

Unfortunately, she had no herbs for an antidote, and the ones she had created would be on a carriage right about now. All five went to the seamstresses so there would be a spare if anything happened to one of them. It was Rishe’s policy to make extras in case of damage or loss during transport. She was sure that he had made the arrangements to transport them properly—but, wait, who was that? No, worrying about that could come later.

Ah, the wound… I must at least remove whatever poison is still in my skin around the wound!

The burning, friction-like pain was caused by the poison. After making contact with the skin, the nectar poison would enter the bloodstream in thirty minutes. The more poison that seeped into her body, the more chances she would suffer lasting effects even if she drank an antidote.

I don’t have any water, and I can’t constrict it or suck it. I’ve only got one other option!

Rishe was doubled over on the ground now, her forehead pressed to the earth. She reached down to her leg, fingers quivering, and somehow managed to remove the dagger strapped to her thigh. Using both her hands didn’t seem feasible at present, so she held the sheath in her mouth to remove the blade.

I have to wash it with new blood.

That was the only method available to her. She carefully attempted to cut her skin, but her fading consciousness was making it hard to aim away from any major arteries.

Her hand suddenly relaxed, and the dagger slipped from her grip. “Ack!”

Pull yourself together! There’s no other way to fix this. I can’t let my lady’s heart be scarred any more than it already has—no, I’m not her maid right now! I must wake Master Hakurei… Wait, was this my third loop?

Her thoughts spun and got muddled in the mess. She exhaled deeply, grasping for the dagger next to her.

Even if Mistress Millia went for help, the people of the Church won’t enter the forbidden forest. I must handle this myself! No one will come into the forest if it means getting on the Church’s bad side…

Something nagged at her. Rishe sat hunched over on the ground and furrowed her brow. Why am I thinking of Arnold Hein right now?

That emperor had declared war on the country that Rishe had served as a knight. She tried to convince herself of this, but the strange feeling in her mind only grew. She had to hurry, but the whole world spun.

Emperor Arnold Hein is King Zahad’s enemy… He destroyed Coyolles and executed the royal families of so many nations. That tyrant tried to kill Mistress Millia and His Highness the prince, and he killed my captain and Joel… That cruel man started a world war and let countless people die… He has a real mean streak…

As her wound throbbed, Rishe grew more and more feverish. She planted both hands on the ground and tried to raise her upper body as she continued painting a mental picture of Arnold.

His sword form is beautiful. His posture is always good, and he works efficiently. He faces people sincerely. He’s thoughtful and also bold, but sometimes he seems almost cowardly.

She heard a leaf crunch underfoot but found it too difficult to discern more than that. A deep fog shrouded her thoughts, and few things were still clear to her. She could only focus on his black hair and his azure eyes, the color of the sea. His soft voice when he called her name, the feeling of his fingers in her hair. The exasperation plain on his face when he looked her way, and the ever-so-rare smile he showed her and only her.

He always looks straight at me. He’s a liar, but he doesn’t want to be. He’s actually very kind. He’s the man I’m going to marry, my…

Rishe raised her head to stare at the person before her. For some reason, she was on the verge of tears.

“My husband…”

Arnold was out of breath. She had never seen him like that before. Scowling, he scanned her and clicked his tongue before grabbing her shoulder roughly. She gasped as he pulled her up and pressed her back to the tree behind her. Gripping her shoulder, Arnold sank his teeth into her bleeding neck.

“Aah!”

Then he sucked, loud and hard. She flinched at the strange sensation and paled a second later. Arnold had his lips on her wound and was draining the poison from it. She stiffened.

“No, w-wait!”

Arnold spat out the blood and drew in a short breath. He brought his lips in close again, and Rishe mustered what strength she could to resist.

“Prince Arnold, y-you mustn’t! If you do that, you’ll—!”

Arnold ignored her desperate pleas and sucked again. His fingers dug into her wrist and pinned her to the tree.

“Your Highness, please let me go! It’s poison! Don’t put it in your mouth, or else—”

“Shut up,” he said, voice low. There was a dangerous glint as he glowered at her for the first time in his life. “This is one time I refuse to grant your request.” His shapely lips were red with her blood. He dragged the back of his hand over his mouth and murmured in a husky voice, “I thought I told you I won’t allow you to die.”

“Hngh!”

He bit and sucked, bit and sucked. Numbness overtook her as the poison faded from her skin, accompanied by a strange sensation somewhere between heat and pain. But the feeling gave her no relief, for her heart was in chaos.

Why? I don’t want you to do something so dangerous! Oh, this is just like…

Rishe wanted to cry but felt hopelessly dizzy. She was weakening, losing her grip.

Ah, it really is…

She slowly shut her eyes as the world swayed around her.

It’s like when I die.

That familiar feeling stole away her consciousness, and she sank into a warm sea.