Chapter 30

* * *

Lady Olden paced nervously inside her guest room.

Elicia had begun her monthly bleeding.

By now the effects of the hemocaran toxic mix should have shown. Yet Elicia was completely fine with no sign of change.

It was supposed to work immediately. Why was there still no result.

If she happened to conceive during all this…

Lady Olden bit her lower lip until it hurt, then quickly turned her head at the presence she sensed outside the window.

Four irregular knocks. The awaited signal.

“Why are you so late, Lord Rotter.”

She rushed to pull back the curtain and unfastened the window lock.

But the face she saw was someone completely unexpected.

“Not even a lover would be welcomed this eagerly.”

“Y, you are…”

Clouds drifted past the moon. As the backlight faded, the man’s face slowly emerged.

Lady Olden stumbled back, her face turning pale.

The man stepped forward just as decisively.

“Disappointed it is not the one you were waiting for.”

The one blocking her was Edwin, Duke of Lombard, who should have been at the Northern Wall at this hour.

He looked around the servant’s guest room with mild curiosity, then shut the window and lowered the curtains.

Even in perfect darkness, his golden eyes glowed bright and cold.

As if he were not human.

It sent a chill through her.

“You called him Rotter, yes. Infamously known in the Capital as a poisoner. He pretends to be a refined physician but medicine and poison are separated by no more than a sheet of paper.”

“I, I do not understand what you mean. Lord Rotter is…”

She suddenly sensed something strange in his words.

‘…was.’

It was past tense.

Her eyes widened in horror as she stared up at him.

“Oh, you noticed.”

“Where is Lord Rotter now.”

“Who knows. Perhaps he is enjoying a pleasant reunion with some of his former patients. I imagine they have quite a lot to say.”

A cold shiver ran down her spine.

Not only because she realized Rotter was likely no longer in this world.

‘When did it start.’

And how much did he know.

She had gone to great lengths to make Elicia infertile.

Every step had been handled in secret. She had spent enormous time and money to ensure nothing leaked.

Had all that been exposed so easily.

Or had they known from the very beginning.

The moment the thought hit her, Lady Olden collapsed to her knees at the duke’s feet.

“S, spare me.”

“Give me one good reason to let you live.”

“I will tell you anything. Whatever I know, wh, whatever it is, I will say everything.”

She was desperate, but she had one thing she believed in.

The duke did not like Elicia. No, that was too mild. He loathed her.

Otherwise there would be no reason not to consummate the marriage even once.

Outwardly, of course, everyone believed they already had. But as Elicia’s closest attendant, Lady Olden knew the truth.

“I know many things about Madam. Far more than anything Your Grace has discovered.”

“No. You know nothing about her.”

“I have served her since childhood. After the former crown prince and princess passed away, I was ordered by imperial decree to look after her myself. No one knows Madam better than I do.”

She shouted desperately to live, but the duke only sneered.

He showed no interest whatsoever in her information.

‘I need something else. Something he would want…’

Lady Olden dug her nails into the carpet.

She had already said too much. Even if she survived tonight, she could not imagine what awaited afterward.

But there was no other path.

Like a beast towering over its prey, she could feel the duke’s gaze pressing down on the nape of her neck.

He would not hesitate in the slightest to take her life.

“There is something else. I, in truth, I have another master…”

“You intend to confess your handler. That is quite the decision. But if you want to prove you are useful, I suggest trying another piece of information. I already know your master.”

“Wh, what do you mean.”

Lady Olden panicked.

Her true master had never once given her orders directly.

Outwardly they were complete strangers with zero connection.

Even the best spy would never uncover that relationship.

“You truly underestimated Lombard. Even if I no longer involve myself in ruling.”

He seemed to read her thoughts and chuckled quietly.

“For centuries, Lombard has fought monsters beyond the Northern Wall while dealing with the empire, which fears our military power. You think that level of strength comes from ordinary means. You should not have forgotten that.”

“…”

Lady Olden lowered her head in despair.

Edwin’s lips curved faintly.

“Is that all. You still cannot prove your worth.”

After a long silence, Lady Olden whispered.

“No matter how capable you are, I do not believe you know my master’s identity. Nor how far his reach extends in Lombard…”

She glanced toward the duke.

He sat comfortably on the sofa deeper in the room, one leg crossed over the other.

While she continued kneeling by the window as she had from the beginning.

‘Just one step.’

She could escape.

Even a duke could not catch her instantly from this distance.

With that thought, she sprang up and threw herself toward the window.

There was no time to undo the lock. She meant to break through the glass and flee into the garden.

The wooden bars were thin and weak compared to those at the Lombard estate. They would surely…

‘What.’

She had definitely jumped. Yet she felt no impact.

Instead of shattering glass, she heard a churning crunching sound beside her ear.

“A, aa, aaaaah.”

In the pitch dark, countless purple eyes opened.

Hundreds, thousands of eyes all staring directly at her alone.

“Let me give you a parting gift.”

There was nothing to see except the purple eyes. Only the duke’s calm voice reached her.

“You will meet them soon. The hands you spoke of. All of them will be there.”

Crunch, crack…

With a sickening sound of something breaking, her fingertips and toes were devoured by the darkness.

Lady Olden screamed in agony, without understanding what was happening to her.

But even her screams vanished without a trace.

The purple eyes curled upward in a twisted grin.

* * *

A sleek black cat finished its satisfying meal and licked its front paws clean.

The ravenous beast from moments earlier was gone, replaced by elegant poise.

[Humans filled with malice really are the finest delicacy.]

“You did not have to rush.”

[I was starving. How am I supposed to eat anything while you glare at me all day.]

“You cannot just eat my people without permission.”

At Edwin’s uninterested reply, the cat narrowed its eyes sharply.

Not the usual pumpkin gold. A vivid violet.

Purple was the mark of monsters.

That intense color belonged only to high-ranking monsters.

Edwin, of course, knew that. Yet he did not even blink while facing a great monster residing inside a cat’s body.

He even clicked his tongue as if annoyed, and the once-proud monster glanced away meekly.

[If not for you, I would not be reduced to this pathetic state.]