Chapter 9
It was a strange discomfort he had never experienced before in his life.
But what was even stranger was actually that woman.
The ill-fated Duchess who had become his wife without his knowledge, Alice Dearrut.
She had been odd from the moment she entered the room.
‘He looks even more handsome in the light.’
She had stared intently at his face and said such embarrassing things so casually.
‘Good afternoon, Kylus.’
She even greeted him as if they were close, though he was practically dead.
Her behavior was quite disconnected from that of an ordinary noble lady.
Alice Fordley.
It was said that she was no different from an abandoned child of the Fordley Count’s family.
He had thought that Alice, who had been married off like merchandise, would be quite timid and intimidated.
Moreover, with Grand Madam Quillian bearing down on her, he thought she would be not just docile, but completely devoid of her own will.
But the Alice he had briefly encountered was not intimidated at all.
“…Something’s off.”
Could he have been mistaken?
Kylus called for his butler.
“Adolf.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“That woman earlier… is she really the Fordley Count’s daughter who married me?”
“…Yes, she is.”
The butler answered with a face that seemed to say, ‘What are you talking about?’
He knew it sounded ridiculous.
After all, he had heard the butler address her as ‘Young Madam’ several times.
But still, he had to ask, just in case.
She was so different from what he had imagined.
Hmm, exhaling uncomfortably, he thought.
He would have to keep an eye on Alice.
Anyway, she would be coming to tend to him every day for a while, so it wouldn’t be difficult to figure her out.
Of course, it would be unpleasant to have her touch his body, but it couldn’t be helped for now.
But thinking about it again, it’s really unpleasant.
“Your Grace, are you alright?”
As he frowned, remembering her hands scrubbing his body as if removing old stains from porcelain, the butler asked worriedly.
Kylus shook off thoughts of Alice and said to the butler:
“It’s nothing. More importantly, did you send a letter to the Meltain Barony?”
There was something he had ordered the butler to do last night.
It was to summon the young lady of the Meltain Barony, a vassal of the duchy and his cousin, to the ducal residence.
Before he collapsed, a letter had arrived from the Meltain Barony, a vassal of the duchy.
They wanted their young lady to stay in the capital before her social debut to learn many things.
Therefore, summoning the Meltain young lady was not difficult and would be quite helpful to him.
If a guest suddenly arrived, it would divert Grand Madam Quillian’s attention, and though few people knew it, his cousin possessed considerable magical skills.
She would be able to handle his covert affairs.
The butler replied with a brighter face than before:
“Yes. I delivered the letter to Grand Madam Quillian today and quickly sent a letter to Baron Meltain asking him to send the young lady up.”
“Well done. When the Meltain young lady arrives, we’ll start moving in earnest. Until then, you keep a low profile as well.”
“Yes. However, Your Grace, there’s something I forgot to mention yesterday due to the confusion.”
“What is it?”
“After Your Grace collapsed, Grand Madam Quillian sent me medicine to give to the Duke, but as of yesterday, the Young Madam has taken over managing that medicine. So I can no longer divert that medicine.”
“…I heard the physician was changed to someone named Helkin.”
The fact that the butler had been diverting the medicine meant he couldn’t trust it.
Which meant this Helkin must also be one of Grand Madam Quillian’s people.
It’s not surprising, given that he took the position of physician after Kylus collapsed.
Perhaps it was even to be expected.
To kill him perfectly, she would need a doctor she could control like a puppet.
Kylus slightly furrowed his brow and asked:
“That’s right. He’s the one Grand Madam Quillian brought in after chasing out Dr. Mailu, the original physician. Moreover, according to the servants, he has exceptional knowledge of poisons. Perhaps he…”
The butler clenched his fists, swallowing his anger as he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.
Kylus could guess what the butler was trying to say.
He was probably going to say that he might have collapsed after taking poison made by that man.
He had been suspecting the same thing.
But if the man was even proficient with poisons, there was no need to doubt.
It must have been poison made by him.
As Kylus continued his train of thought, he suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.
“…Did you say the Duchess has been managing the medicine since yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Yesterday…”
He had regained consciousness last night. And it was probably yesterday that he first took the medicine made by Helkin, which the butler couldn’t divert.
Alice was Grand Madam Quillian’s person, so she must have given him the medicine.
Could it be that the reason he suddenly regained consciousness was related to that medicine?
Kylus rolled up the sleeve of his left arm and raised an eyebrow as he looked at where the wound had disappeared.
The butler, following Kylus’s gaze and seeing that the wound had vanished, said with a surprised face:
“The wound… it’s gone.”
“Yes. When I regained consciousness, I found the wound had disappeared. Adolf, was the wound still there when you were attending to me?”
“Yes. The wound was definitely there yesterday morning.”
“Then this wound must have disappeared last night as well. And the person who came to me last night was…”
“…the Young Madam. She came to give Your Grace Dr. Helkin’s medicine.”
Alice Fordley.
That strange woman was getting on his nerves again.
Kylus looked down at his smooth skin with a hardened face, pondering.
He had a feeling that his awakening wasn’t just a simple miracle.
And for some reason, he felt that Alice Fordley might be involved in his awakening.
For now, since Dr. Helkin was said to have made the medicine…
“Adolf.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Bring Helkin to me tonight. I need to meet him myself.”
He would be better than that strange woman whose intentions were unclear.
Kylus’s dark eyes flashed dangerously as he rolled down his sleeve.
* * *
“Did you hear? A guest is coming to the ducal residence.”
“A guest?”
“Yes. I heard it’s the Duke’s cousin sister, the Meltain young lady.”
“This is the first time a guest is coming to the ducal residence since the Duke collapsed.”
“That’s why the Grand Madam is so on edge. We should all be careful.”
As Alice was leaving the dining room after dinner, she overheard the conversation of passing servants.
It seemed that Sienna Meltain, the female protagonist, was indeed coming to the ducal residence.
She had hoped that Grand Madam Quillian would throw a fit and prevent it, but to no avail.
With the Meltain young lady’s arrival, would things be alright from now on?
The female protagonist she had enjoyed reading about in the book was now far from welcome.
Because being involved with her would mean endless incidents and accidents.
“I guess… I’ll have to move up my plans.”
The only way to survive would be to leave the ducal residence without getting entangled with the Meltain young lady.
Yes, let’s find a way. A way.
What could be a safe way to escape from Grand Madam Quillian’s grasp?
As Alice was racking her brain, Maris suddenly blocked her path.
“Oh my! We almost bumped into each other, Maris.”
They were so close that if Alice had taken one more step, their lips would have collided.
Maris, also feeling the uncomfortably close proximity, stepped back as if shuddering.
I don’t like it either, you know?
Alice swallowed the words that rose to her throat.
“Young Madam, you didn’t respond when I called you.”
“You called? Why?”
“Why? It’s already evening. It’s time for the Duke to take his medicine.”
“Ah…”
It was time for the most important part of Alice’s daily routine.
Time to give Kylus his poison.
“Right. Let’s go.”
Alice turned her steps towards Kylus’s bedroom.
* * *
“We’re meeting twice today. Ah, I guess it’ll be twice every day from now on.”
Once to wash your body during the day, once to give you medicine.
Alice greeted Kylus, counting on her fingers.
Of course, he was asleep and didn’t respond.
But Alice was getting used to these greetings that were practically talking to herself.
However, Helkin, seeing this behavior for the first time, looked at Alice with a very disgruntled face.
“…Young Madam. The Duke is in a deep sleep state and can’t hear anything.”
“Yeah, I know. But I should still greet him when I see his face, right?”
Alice shrugged.
“Ah, well, if you say so…”
Helkin looked at Alice as if she were crazy before averting his gaze.
But Alice paid no attention to Helkin’s gaze.
“Maybe it’s because I cleaned him well during the day, but his face is glowing.”
She smiled contentedly, looking at Kylus’s face, which somehow seemed to have better color.
“There’s no way he’s glowing. His complexion will only get worse.”
At that moment, Helkin spoke up, having heard Alice’s words.
“Hmm… really?”
“Yes. Even though he’s not dead, the sleeping poison is still poison. It gradually destroys the body over time. So his complexion can’t possibly improve.”
Alice looked down at Kylus intently.
Unless there’s something wrong with my eyesight, this complexion doesn’t look pale at all.
His lips seem to have gotten redder than yesterday too.
Could it be because of the holy power she used?
Yesterday, she had completely healed his wound.
Maybe it had other effects as well.
Alice turned to Helkin.
“Helkin. You said before that there was absolutely no possibility of the Duke’s condition improving. Is it really impossible for such a thing to happen…?”
“Yes. It’s a poison that resists both holy power and antidotes. He absolutely cannot wake up.”
“What if, say, holy power could heal wounds or reduce pain, even if it can’t wake him up? Is that possible?”
“No. The Duke’s body is currently poisoned to the point where no healing techniques work.”
Helkin said with a resolute face.
This raised question marks in Alice’s mind.
If no healing techniques work, how did my holy power work?
She had clearly seen the wound heal with her own eyes.
What’s going on? Is something wrong?
“But why are you suddenly asking about this?”
Helkin asked as Alice looked at Kylus with a strange expression.
Alice, who had been briefly considering whether to tell the truth, spoke as if it were nothing:
“Oh, just wondering, just in case.”
Although she had leverage over Helkin, she didn’t trust him as a person.
It wouldn’t do her any good to let him know she had holy power.
Besides, he said the Duke could never wake up… Even if it was strange that the wound had healed, nothing would change.
Alice dismissed it as a useless thought and held out her hand to Helkin.
“Give me the medicine.”
She received the medicine from him and opened the lid of the crystal bottle.
Then she fed the nutritional supplement, called poison, to the sleeping Kylus.
When she had given him about half the medicine, Alice suddenly paused as a thought struck her.
