At last, she could bid farewell to the humiliation of constantly watching the great powers' moods, never knowing when one of them might decide to trample her country underfoot.
“Hehehe.”
I pressed a kiss to the head of the angel statue I had never once let out of my possession since purchasing it.
“As expected, the angel's blessing is protecting me.”
Buying it had been the right choice.
With light steps, I opened a drawer.
Rows of small glass vials rattled softly against one another. I picked up one of them, then grabbed a well-worn dagger whose handle bore the marks of long use.
I made sure its blade was still razor-sharp.
“Now then, shall I go hunting for ingredients?”
“Hehehe.”
I looked down at the sleeping Deyan and smiled.
Strictly speaking, he was an enemy I would have to eliminate someday anyway.
A knight of a nation that might have murdered my mother. A massive wall standing in my path. A sword that would surely be wielded on the front lines if war ever broke out.
And if I wanted to list even the smaller offenses, he was also an illegal immigrant.
So there's no reason to hesitate.
Die, Deyan Boyslav Nemanic!
I drew the dagger and thrust it toward the sleeping man.
At that very instant, his eyes flew open.
He threw himself sideways with startling speed.
Crash!
The bed lurched violently with a deafening noise. Deyan had overturned it and used it as a shield.
“Tch.”
He's ridiculously strong.
He looked like a bear, and apparently possessed a bear's strength as well.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding, Your Grace.”
Deyan's voice came from behind the bed, now standing like a barricade between them.
“Oh my. You're awake, Sir Nemanic?”
As always, I replied in a gentle voice. People lowered their guard more easily that way.
“Would it be possible for you to untie me first?”
“No.”
I rejected his request immediately.
“Then allow me to ask.”
Deyan remained calm.
“Why exactly are you trying to stab me?”
“Do I have any obligation to answer?”
The bed hid my expression, but I smiled anyway.
You could've simply come out and been stabbed politely.
I slowly approached the sacrificial offering for my demon summoning ritual.
The dull movement finally made Deyan realize he was bound.
Thick ropes tightly wrapped around his shoulders, torso, and neatly folded wrists.
When he lifted his head, he caught sight of Idir reflected in the window.
A delicate figure.
A flowing dress.
Long hair braided and adorned with ornaments.
A smiling woman holding a knife.
...To be honest, she was terrifying.
Who dressed up so beautifully, then visited an unconscious man and tried to stab him?
Worse, even after being caught, she continued smiling sweetly without removing her gentle mask.
Deyan unconsciously swallowed.
He could hardly believe she was the same frail young lady he had escorted at the banquet.
No, if she'd always been like this...
Then who exactly was I escorting?
She might not have needed an escort at all.
“Your Grace.”
Deyan first attempted to open a line of communication.
He had heard that Duchess Idir Hubert possessed a gentle temperament and never lost her composure regardless of the circumstances.
Naturally, he had believed the rumors.
Until now.
The gentle temperament part seemed completely fabricated, but the composure part appeared to be true.
After all, not many noble ladies could remain that calm while trying to stab someone.
“I apologize for crossing the border without permission. However, I was carrying out orders and fulfilling a mission, so the circumstances were unavoidable—”
“Sir Nemanic.”
Idir cut him off.
“That doesn't matter to me right now.”
“...”
“I only need your blood.”
“...My blood?”
Deyan felt his heart begin to race.
Why does she want my blood? Did she discover something?
The reflection of Idir in the window gradually grew larger.
Step.
Step.
She moved so lightly that her footsteps were nearly silent.
Peaceful conversation is out of the question.
At that moment, Deyan realized something.
The pain in his abdomen was gone.
His injuries had already healed.
The urge to destroy and kill everything around him wasn't surfacing either.
He was certain he wasn't in danger of losing control.
First, I need to get out of these restraints...
Now that he was sure, there was no room for hesitation.
In fact, hesitating would be dangerous.
“So just stay still and let me stab you!”
At last, Idir lunged.
Still bound, Deyan barely managed to twist his upper body and seize both her wrists.
“Your Grace, please! Let's talk for a moment—!”
“Grr!”
Without warning, Idir bit down hard on his forearm.
“Please don't injure me!”
Deyan shouted in alarm.
Idir completely ignored him.
Even as she struggled desperately to break free from his grip, her eyes—green as a forest after rainfall—remained fixed on him with relentless hostility.
The intensity was frightening.
If I have another episode, I don't know what I might do to her.
Deyan was cursed.
Any wound on his body healed rapidly.
Even if his heart was pierced, his flesh shredded, or his bones crushed, he would recover within a day.
The price was his sanity.
Whenever his wounds healed, he lost all reason.
Savage impulses seized control of his body.
Every time it happened, he rampaged like a beast, slaughtering every living thing in sight.
His own soldiers and comrades had often been among the victims.
Unable to distinguish friend from foe, that outcome was inevitable.
And after the bloodshed ended, unbearable agony always followed.
Injured.
Killing.
Struggling.
Again and again.
Like a resurrected corpse, he had marched across battlefields through endless cycles of pain.
That was what his family had been raised for.
What they existed for.
Reason and intellect had never been necessary.
At least, not until recently.
“Forgive me, Your Grace...!”
Deyan twisted Idir's wrist, redirecting the blade.
The dagger caught against the thick ropes binding him.
Though he was forcibly moving her arm through sheer strength, Idir's expression didn't change in the slightest.
She simply glared at him as though he were her mortal enemy.
“I'm truly sorry. But could we untie this first and talk for ten minutes...? No, even five minutes would be enough.”
“Stop talking nonsense!”
Noticing the ropes loosening, Idir suddenly relaxed her grip on the dagger.
Then she slammed her forehead directly into Deyan's face.
Immediately afterward, the pointed heel of her shoe drove into his abdomen—precisely where his wound had been.
“Kh—!”
Who in the world had taught her such a devastating combination attack?
His vision swam.
His blood boiled instantly.
“Get away from me!”
Crack!
Deyan practically tore through the restraints and shoved Idir backward.
“Damn it! I told you not to injure me!”
Idir was sent flying by his strength.
Blood again...!
Creating some distance between them, Deyan hurriedly wiped beneath his nose.
His body was heating up as though molten metal had been poured into his stomach.
I can endure this.
His intestines had been torn before.
His fingers had been severed before.
A mere nosebleed didn't even qualify as an injury by comparison.
“Just stay conscious.”
If he lost control and harmed Idir, the incident could easily escalate into a diplomatic crisis.
And if that happened, his mission would end in complete failure.
The heat inside him intensified.
It felt as though he had been thrown alive into a furnace.
“I can handle this. This much...”
The pain was horribly familiar.
Deyan curled into himself.
After rolling across the floor like a ball and crashing into the wall, I could barely think straight.
“Ugh...!”
The sword...!
In the midst of everything, I worried that the sword I'd dropped might end up in Deyan's hands.
I quickly pushed myself up and checked on him.
Deyan was crouched tightly, his broad back rising and falling with harsh breaths.
Blood dripped steadily through the gaps between the fingers covering his face.
Just a few drops.
A few drops would be enough.
With that blood alone...!
“This is fine. I can endure it. I can endure...”
Still curled up, he muttered rapidly under his breath.
He looked as though he were possessed by something.
He's completely exposed.
It was frustrating not to have a weapon in hand.
It felt like I could stab him in the back right now, inflict a wound, and accomplish my goal immediately.
Yet at this crucial moment, I had nothing to stab him with.
Could I at least collect that nosebleed somehow?
As I quietly adjusted my grip on the glass vial hidden beneath my dress—
Deyan looked up.
His gaze met mine.
“...!”
My breath caught.
His eyes...
Deyan's eyes were glowing a vivid crimson red.