"Please wait here. I will go outside and check the situation first."
As Karina nodded in understanding, Hasten pulled his hood down low and went out. It had already been ten days since they had been hiding in their hideout. The wave of monsters that had originated in the north had now spread throughout the empire. The capital is near the palace, the outskirts of a quiet village, a residential area with many people, narrow streets in broad daylight, etc. The monsters appeared here and there regardless of time and place.
Kkugukung.
With a small vibration that seemed to resonate from afar, stone dust fell from the wall with a spurt...
'The vibration is closer than yesterday.
The shelter where Karina and Hasten were currently staying was weak in defense. If they were attacked by monsters, they wouldn't be able to hold out for long. If they were unlucky, the walls and ceiling would collapse and they would be crushed to death by the rocks. So they decided to move to another shelter today. They didn't have much to pack.
'Are the others okay?'
Karina was worried because she couldn't get in touch with him in this chaotic situation. At that time, Karina was anxiously waiting for Hasten to return.
"Found it."
"...!?"
An unfamiliar voice was heard from behind. Karina, startled, quickly turned to where the voice had come from. There stood a handsome man with white skin and soft blue hair. It was the first time she had seen him. His impression was not bad, but no. On the contrary, he was on the more favorable side, but for some reason, she felt uneasy.
"Who are you?"
Karina asked in a wary voice. At that question, the man raised the corners of his mouth and smiled silently.
"As expected. My guess was right."
The man muttered something incomprehensible and came closer to Karina. Since he suddenly appeared in a place where there was no one, there was a high chance that he was a wizard.
"Stop."
Karina took out the dagger she had received from Hasten and aimed it at the man. He had clearly said that he had found her.
"Don't come any closer and tell me why you came to me."
She was sure that the man was not looking for her for a good reason. Karina asked in a warning tone, but the man snorted, not paying any attention to her threats, and snapped his fingers. Then.
Clank!
The dagger she was holding fell off her hand and rolled on the ground. While Karina was flustered, the man suddenly approached her and grabbed the artifact she was wearing around her neck. It was the artifact she had received from Pavel.
"Did you receive the dragon's power through this?"
Even though it had already become translucent and lost its original color, the man recognized it clearly.
"Who are you?"
Karina asked him again as if she was interrogating him, and the man opened his mouth with a graceful smile.
"I said I'd see you again next time. Don't you remember?"
"What...?"
"It doesn't matter if you don't remember."
An ominous black magic emanated from the hand of the man holding the artifact. As Karina struggled, the man used his black magic to pin her against the wall and wrap his arms around her neck to prevent her from escaping.
"This... Let go...!"
Karina struggled fiercely to escape from the man's grasp. But.
"Be quiet."
The man put his hand on Karina's head and spoke. With those words, a pitch-black magical power enveloped her entire body.
"Huh!"
She felt something unpleasantly squelching, pulling her into deep water. She struggled to get away, but she couldn't escape the thing that was squeezing her whole body. Her mind was getting dizzy and her vision was turning black.
***
"...!"
Karina opened her eyes with a shudder. Her surroundings were covered in darkness.
"This is the conscious mind."
But soon she realized that, unlike usual, Karina had an unpleasant feeling that something was being stirred artificially.
'It's as if you're looking for something inside me...'
As if her feeling was right, the sparkling lights in front of her changed their appearance and wavered like sharp thorns as if they were running away from something. And among them, one of them, which was so faint that it looked like it would go out, blinked as if it would be consumed by the darkness at any moment.
'Are you looking for that? What is that?'
Karina quickly reached out her hand towards the light, and the surrounding scenery changed into a place she knew.
"This is the judge's office."
That was it. It was the place where she had given up everything and drunk the wishing potion. Not far away, she saw Jeremiah. At that time.
"Your Highness! Your Highness the Grand Duke!"
Ron came running in with a serious expression.
"What's going on?"
"I think you should come quickly. Young lady Milliner..."
Jeremiah frowned as he watched Ron trailing off.
"What's wrong with her?"
Ron, who had been hesitating, continued his report.
"I think she took poison."
"What...?"
For a moment, Jeremiah's face turned red with shock as if he had been hit in the back of the head with a hammer.
'Could this be? Is this a memory from right after I died?''
Karina watched them with an expressionless face.
***
"Get out of the way!"
Jeremiah hurried through the crowd of people who had gathered to attend the trial, running towards where Karina was. He couldn't believe Ron's report.
'She was talking to me face to face just a moment ago. And now she's dead?'
It was nonsense. He stopped in front of the room where Karina was and took a deep breath. However, due to an inexplicable trembling, his hand holding the doorknob was not able to gain strength. There was no time to waste. His body kept getting heavy as if he did not want to confirm the truth.
'No, that can't be. It's obvious she's trying to get my attention again.'
He turned the handle and opened the door. Then he saw Karina lying on the floor. She had her eyes closed as if she was just sleeping. Maybe that was why it didn't feel real at all. He slowly approached Karina, who was lying down. He stroked her cheek. It was still warm.
'Yeah. It's so warm.'
She couldn't be dead. Jeremiah tried to wake her up, feeling the warmth on her fingertips. But it was a bad decision. When he tried to wake her up, Karina's body sagged and her head dropped. His heart sank to the floor.
"Your Highness..."
Ron said with a face of shame after seeing that sight.
"I should have watched her closely until the trial. I'm sorry."
"..."
Jeremiah couldn't say anything. His mind was blank, wondering what to say. Jeremiah lifted his trembling hand and placed it on Karina's heart. There was no heartbeat, which should be normal for a living human. Not even a small breath could be heard.
"Ah..."
A sigh escaped his lips, and he gasped for breath, shaking with the fear that was creeping up on him.
'This can't be happening.'
She was a woman he resented and hated terribly, but he never wished for her to die. He thought she deserved to be punished for her wrongdoings, but he never once thought that it should be done with death.
'But why?'
If there was anyone in this world who resented her the most, it would be him. If there was anyone who was betrayed and enraged by her the most, it would be him. Even he had never wished for Karina's death.
"Why on earth?"
Jeremiah froze in place as if he had lost his soul. Only then did he realize. He had hated her to death, but he could not let her go completely. It was a deep love and hate. He realized this only after losing her, too late. Jeremiah hugged Karina's body, which was growing colder. Tears flowed from his eyes, filled with deep regret and despair. Karina felt a strange feeling as she watched Jeremiah, who was so shocked by her death.
"I thought you would be happy."
It was a completely different reaction from what she had expected. And from the person who saw it.
'Shouldn't it feel refreshing?'
But rather, he felt complicated. Normally, the bodies of the dead were temporarily stored in the cold underground before being placed in a coffin. Of course, the bodies of criminals were left on the frozen snowy mountain or thrown at the foot of the mountain to be eaten by wild animals.
Karina was a noble, but she was going to be tried for a crime. It must have been a blessing to be temporarily stored in the cold underground. However, Jeremiah prepared Karina's grave in the place where the ancestors of the grand ducal family were buried. He neglected his work and continued to stand by the coffin where her body was placed.
"Karina... I'm sorry."
Jeremiah kept calling her name, his eyes red with regret.
"..."
Karina didn't understand why the man who hated and ignored her was acting like that. No. She knew, but she didn't want to admit it.
"You should have done that to me while I was alive."
A grumble came out of him without him knowing. After a while, Ron came to see Jeremiah with the investigator.
"I found the sign."
"..."
At those words, Jeremiah looked back at the investigator with a haggard face. However, at the report that followed, Jeremiah's eyes opened wide.
"The sign is Croana addiction."
"What?"
Karina was also surprised.
'What? Croana?'
Why is the name of that poison derived from here?
"No poison was detected in the potion that Young Lady drank just before she died. It appears that she had been poisoned by Croana for a long time, and had been enduring by taking small amounts of the antidote."
Jeremiah's face was distorted.
"Croana... Isn't that poison the one mainly used by Marquis Milliner?"
"Yes."
The investigator nodded.
"That doesn't make sense... Karina is the Marquis's daughter. I don't know about anyone else, but Karina would never die from that poison."
That was right. At that time, the production and distribution of Croana were all under the power and control of the Marquis of Milliner. The antidote was the same. Even if Karina had eaten Croana by mistake or someone's scheme, she would not have died because she could not obtain the antidote. She couldn't die from Croana poisoning unless the culprit was the Marquis of Milliner.
'Now that I think about it, the wishing potion I drank was just a simple fatigue recovery drug.'
As she remembered what Mikhail and Pavel had said, Karina realized why she had to die.
'So in the end, my father killed me.'
After the divorce, she moved into the Marquis's house, so there must have been many opportunities to give her medicine. Sometimes, she complained of difficulty breathing and pain all over her body, so she even went to see the Marquis's doctor.
'I felt better after taking the prescribed medication.'
Still, it made no sense that Marquis Milliner was unaware of Karina's Croana addiction.
'Were you planning to threaten me if I didn't listen?'
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped his lips. Unlike Karina, who was mocking herself, Jeremiah was shaking with anger.
"After investigating, it seems that Young Lady Milliner was not treated well within the Marquis' household. It seems that she suffered a lot of discrimination because she was not the current Marquis's biological daughter."
"It's all my fault. I caused her death."
He knelt beside Karina's coffin in despair.
"I didn't know that she was being treated like that by the Marquis. I didn't know that the Marquis was using her, and I just hated her."
"What do you mean? Marquis Millainer is a piece of trash who would even kill his own children!"
"If I had known her circumstances earlier, I wouldn't have done it."
Karina's heart ached at the sight of Jeremiah curled up, blaming himself and despairing.
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