Chapter 14
“Hold your breath and fall right now!”
The Marquis shouted fiercely. Drury, who had been retreating, stumbled.
A foul smell emanated from the broken glass. The moment I smelled it, my whole body felt paralyzed.
The snakes in our enclosure hissed sharply. Some even tried to escape by banging against the walls.
“What, what is this….”
While Drury sat down in fear, the butler, having heard the Marquis’s screams, came running.
The butler, sensing something unusual as soon as he arrived, quickly opened the window while holding his nose.
After a long wait, the smell finally dissipated. Only then did Drury let out the breath he had been holding.
The Marquis stared at Drury with bloodshot eyes. His pupils had already turned red and were now slits, vertically splitting.
I was so excited that I couldn’t suppress my true feelings.
“…Where did you steal this?”
“Oh, I didn’t steal it. It’s Cassian’s. Father said Cassian was practically my property.”
A look of annoyance crossed the Marquis’s face. He gestured, and the butler quickly collected the remains of the glass bottle.
“Your Majesty, is this smell… not dragonstalk grass?”
The butler’s voice trembled slightly. Before he knew it, his white handkerchief had turned purple.
Dragon’s claw? What’s that?
I had never heard of Drury. But the moment the name came up, my father’s face darkened.
“Drury, the little duke cherished that?”
“yes?”
“I asked if it was the little duke’s stuff!”
“Yes, yes. That’s right.”
Drury flinched under the pressure of his father’s momentum.
Drury’s anger was easily quelled in the face of the powerful. The problem was that it didn’t last long.
“…Since when? Do you have any idea where it came from?”
“that…….”
Drury was very fond of Duchess Sarkis’s tea parties.
It wasn’t just because she could meet Cassian or because her peers supported her.
Because it was a chance to sneak into Cassian’s room.
The duke’s mansion was heavily guarded, making it difficult, but Drury was no ordinary girl. Occasionally, she succeeded.
The gloves I’d taken off, the book I was reading, the medicine bottle by my bedside. I’d even stolen a few of them.
I clutched the stolen goods tightly, imagining a future where I would trample on that beautiful, pitiful boy. Then, little by little, my twisted possessiveness would subside.
“It was after we announced our engagement. The empty space under my bed started piling up with bottles of medicine I’d never seen before.”
At first, I was confused and hesitated, but I quickly remembered when I first saw the bottle.
“Tsk, I thought you had a girl as a disguise to avoid interference from your fiancée’s family.”
“What if that’s not the case? Does that mean the Duke really cares about Damia Ponti?!”
“That means that girl’s backside might have provided the dragon’s scepter. If so, there must have been a deal.”
“What is Yongsalcho?”
“You! Don’t you even know that?”
“Yes, I don’t know.”
The Marquis gritted his teeth, but Drury paid no attention.
“It’s a dragon-killing plant. The seeds were clearly dried long ago.”
“You’re saying you can kill a dragon with just grass? That’s ridiculous!”
“…….”
“Then, does that mean that humans can inflict fatal injuries on us?”
“Yes, we are of the bloodline of the Gwangryong.”
A lowly half-blood born by the whims of a dragon, just a dragon.
However, the dragon race lived longer and were stronger than humans, and were far more cunning and tenacious than pure dragons.
Even when Duke Sarkis, who had slain the Light Dragon, tried to wipe out all the dragons in the world, they survived by holding their breath.
“I have to tell him right away.”
There was only one person my father called ‘him’.
The one called the master of the dragon tribe.
Drury’s eyes widened in surprise. Even Drury, who feared nothing in the world, was afraid of him.
“Is there anything else you’re hiding?”
At that moment, I remembered the maid who had been taken away by Damia. I couldn’t even recall her name, but I remembered that she was quite dexterous.
“Isn’t there anything, Drury?”
I couldn’t open my mouth at all because of my father’s unusual nagging.
Now that we’re talking about him, I didn’t have the energy to even bother with that little maid.
She was a low-level maid who knew nothing about their clan, and Drury changed her servants frequently.
Even if she left it alone, there wouldn’t be a major problem. Even my father might not notice the missing maid until the very end.
“No. I told you everything!”
Drury shouted loudly to hide his anxiety.
* * *
Meanwhile, Elena, Duchess of Sarkis, sat alone in the drawing room attached to her bedroom, drinking tea.
dripping.
“Come in.”
With Elena’s permission, the maid entered the drawing room.
She was a loyal follower of the Duchess, having followed her from her parents’ home. In addition to her duties as head maid, she also carried out many of the Duchess’s secret orders.
“Did the new baby get back well?”
“Yes, as you said, I sent the best carriage.”
“…Aren’t you upset?”
“Yes, but I emphasized that I definitely want to take the maid named Romi with me once the investigation is over.”
Elena tapped the tea table with her fingertips.
“You want to punish me yourself… Haha, you look like you can’t even kill a bug.”
“She seemed quite worried that the maid named Romi would be treated roughly.”
“You’re trying to protect the maid who threatened you… You’re such a good girl, aren’t you?”
“Yes, she seemed like a girl that Master Cassian would like.”
Elena raised the corners of her mouth.
“Investigate that maid thoroughly. If she seems to be causing any harm to the new baby, deal with it accordingly.”
“Yes, I will make sure you don’t have to worry.”
The maid bowed her head. Even in this seemingly insignificant movement, a sense of restraint was felt.
“And… I’ve also finished researching the ingredients of the drug you entrusted to me a while ago.”
“What was the result?”
“There was nothing particularly unusual.”
“Are you sure?”
Hair like ebony and facial features that look like they were painstakingly carved out of ice.
Her cold expression belied the rumor that she was a kind duchess who loved children.
“Yes, no toxicity was detected at all. They say it’s not a hazardous substance that turns into poison when consumed with certain foods.”
“That’s fortunate.”
“However, it is not effective as a treatment.”
“That’s unexpected. Well, he’s such a bright kid, I guess he has his own thoughts.”
It was an expected result, as Cassian would not have been carrying poison around with him.
Besides, if it really was poison, Elena wouldn’t have found out so easily.
“Casian is making me do background checks I don’t want to do.”
It was uncharacteristic of Elena, but she had no choice, since Cassian was the only precious thing left to her.
Moreover, the son has a limited lifespan.
“It’s only natural that you would be concerned, seeing as Mr. Cassian is using an unknown drug.”
Elena smiled without answering.
“Where did the drugs come from?”
“I’m sorry. I still don’t have a clue.”
Elena sometimes couldn’t fathom Cassian’s inner thoughts. No, even trying to guess them felt daunting.
‘Her hopes of survival have been dashed time and time again. Could Cassian really be sane?’
The child has lived for too long, conscious of his short lifespan.
I used to draw lines almost to the point of being meticulous, fearing that there might be someone special around me.
As if he no longer wanted to be attached to life.
‘The tea party I held under the pretense of loving children was no use.’
I wanted to create a precious relationship with Cassian, even if it was just like that.
“Go out for now. I need to gather my thoughts.”
“Yes, I will search the West to find the source of the drug.”
“Oh, wait a minute.”
Elena paused, as if something had occurred to her.
“I doubt that’s true, but… you should also check out the herb garden that Sae-a-ga tends as a hobby.”
It wasn’t that I doubted Damia.
There’s no way Cassian, who doesn’t trust even the most prestigious senators across the empire, would drink the potion given to him by a girl younger than me.
He hoped it wasn’t so. His engagement to Damia was the first thing Cassian had chosen of his own free will.
Still, it was forbidden to let down one’s guard.
“Yes, I understand. You must be tired, so I will take my leave now.”
Elena nodded and leaned back in her chair.
“…There’s one more thing I’m suspicious of.”
The maid’s footsteps as she headed toward the door stopped.
