Chapter 14
Clack—
A firm hand clad in a black leather glove slammed the VIP room door shut, as if cutting off her line of sight without mercy.
A low voice sounded above her head.
“You came to work again today, it seems.”
Prina shifted her gaze from the VIP room back to Hugo.
From head to toe, he was still perfectly composed—flawless and elegant without the slightest disorder.
Come to think of it, Hugo was Declan’s stand-in knight.
That meant… he had been inside just now, attending his master.
‘Then right now, inside there is Declan…’
As the thought reached that point, a chill ran down her spine.
Should she consider it fortunate that the one standing before her was Hugo, not Declan?
“Y-Yes. I’m so busy I could die.”
Just thinking about Declan made her voice tremble.
“You came from over there, didn’t you?”
Hugo’s slanted gaze slowly reached toward the far end of the VIP room.
His red eyes sank deeply as he stared at Count Seiton’s space.
“Come to think of it, I believe I found you near that room a few days ago as well, Miss Felt. What a curious coincidence.”
The smile on his lips was gentle, but beneath that soft tone was a strangely familiar sharpness.
‘Familiar…? Why?’
Ah—she remembered.
Back when they were dating, Hugo had once gotten jealous when she was briefly with another man. He had used this exact tone then.
“Are you… interrogating me right now?”
At her words, one of Hugo’s brows arched slightly.
“…Did it sound like that? I thought I was asking rather kindly.”
He looked at her with mild curiosity, as if wondering how she had figured him out.
You always interrogate people while pretending to be kind.
Anyone who didn’t know him wouldn’t have noticed.
“…You’re His Majesty Caesar’s guard knight, aren’t you?”
Was that too direct? Hugo’s expression stiffened for a moment.
But he himself had just walked out of Declan’s VIP room. In this situation, Prina could no longer pretend ignorance either.
If he came from the VIP room, he would surely head down to the banquet hall.
And drink the wine offered by Count Seiton.
‘The wine I switched out.’
So Hugo wouldn’t die.
“S-Stay strong. Live well from now on. And… try not to overwork yourself too much…”
“…Are you saying goodbye to me right now?”
“Y-Yes.”
This was truly the end of her connection with Hugo. Even though she hadn’t returned the ring…
He’s rich anyway. He can just buy another one.
Prina glanced at his luxurious clothes. Those buttons—were they gold?
‘It bothers me a little that he said it was precious… but if it really were that precious, would he have given it to me?’
She had successfully removed the poison. There was no longer any reason to face him again.
Prina walked past Hugo.
Hugo didn’t stop her. He simply watched her retreating figure in silence.
With an unreadable smile on his lips.
* * *
After leaving the banquet hall, Prina carefully poured the stolen poisoned wine back into a bottle and returned to the imperial kitchen.
Soon, the poisoning incident would occur, and Count Seiton would leave without killing anyone.
‘But why would Count Seiton use such a reckless method?’
Even if he was cornered by Declan and facing charges of treason after the banquet, poisoning the wine he personally presented…
It was hard for Prina to understand.
Nobles, really.
No matter when.
‘But what do I do with this?’
Now that she had it, she didn’t know how to dispose of poison.
…Should she take it home?
…Poison?
Well. Maybe someday it could come in handy.
Prina decided to hide the bottle in a corner.
“Prina, what are you doing?”
She was caught by her coworkers. With the banquet underway, the workers had grown idle and approached her.
“Huh? Isn’t that wine? Were you trying to sneak a drink by yourself?”
“How selfish! Let us have a sip too!”
Prina panicked.
This is poisoned wine! You idiots!
“D-Don’t you have work to do? What if the chefs catch you!”
She hurriedly stopped them.
“Prina, that’s something you worry about after getting caught.”
Good grief. There were plenty of lunatics here who lived even more recklessly than Count Seiton.
“You’ll get your pay docked if you’re caught. And this isn’t wine stolen from the imperial kitchen—it’s wine returned from Daisy Hall. I accidentally brought it here and need to return it.”
“Tch.”
The workers pouted like sulky birds.
They had rushed over excitedly at the sight of wine, but now dispersed in disappointment.
Prina let out a sigh of relief and moved to hide the bottle where no one could see.
That was when—
Her gaze fell on a silver spoon on the shelf.
As if possessed, she picked it up.
Why?
Everything that followed felt unnaturally smooth.
She opened the bottle and poured a stream of wine over the spoon.
…The color didn’t change.
‘W-What?’
Prina rubbed her eyes harshly and stared at the spoon.
Silver should turn black when it touches poison.
But the spoon remained clear and bright.
This was definitely poisoned wine.
So why wasn’t it reacting?
‘Wait. If the wine I stole never had poison to begin with…’
Her thoughts froze cold.
‘Then why did Hugo drink unpoisoned wine and die?’
“Prina, where are you going all of a sudden?!”
The Daisy Hall workers shouted in surprise as she suddenly ran out.
There was still time.
She had to get to the banquet hall—fast.
* * *
Before Hugo lost his memory—
There had been a dreadful rainy season that seemed ready to swallow the capital whole.
And on that day, Prina had been terribly unlucky.
She had been swept away by a river swollen madly from the torrential rain, on the brink of death.
The raging current was violent enough to swallow even house-sized boulders.
People on the bridge trembled in fear at the fierce water, doing nothing but watching her die.
Cold, murky water stabbed into her lungs.
Her vision flickered black.
Just as she was about to give up her final breath—
Only one person jumped into that hellish river without hesitation to save her.
After being pulled out, through her fading consciousness, she heard Hugo’s voice pouring over her.
She remembered it clearly.
“Live, Prina. Please, force yourself to breathe.”
“This isn’t where you’re meant to die…”
As if she had fallen back into that moment—
His damp voice echoed in her ears.
‘If the poisoned wine reaches him, Hugo will die.’
Even a crow repays kindness.
‘…So I’m saving you too.’
That was why she kept running, even as her throat burned like it was on fire.
Even if a chilling truth lay hidden behind his kindness—
She couldn’t leave him to die an unjust death like this.
‘Just this once.’
