Chapter 7
7
Nina abruptly thought of ‘number 3.’
If the Duchess was planning to poison Adrian, now would be the time!
Of course, she had followed him.
‘I imagined a cool scene where I knock away the poisoned food and shout, “This is poison!”…'
I ended up drinking it myself.
Well, I probably couldn't have gotten out of there without drinking it.
“Nina, Nina, are you alive? Huh? Don’t leave me.”
At the faint voice, Nina struggled to answer.
It was unlike him. A voice that had lost all composure and was pleading.
Adrian was terrified by the limp, cold Nina.
If she died like this, if she left him behind.
He was tall and lanky, but still only a sixteen-year-old boy. He trudged through the snowfield. He abandoned the exhausted, collapsed horse where it lay.
He had never wished for night, for night to come, so desperately before.
Everywhere was cursed snow, with no shadows, no darkness.
The sun reflected off the snowfield, and the expanse of white was nothing but light.
As the sun began to set and the shadows lengthened, he barely managed to plunge into the darkness.
It was the first time he had deliberately walked into the darkness, but there was no other way.
“Darkness, where paths and light are useless, lead me to a safe place.”
Running through the darkness, he thought of the Jet-Black Knights. If he had any allies in this world, it was only there.
When Adrian burst out of the darkness, Jin, who was tending the bonfire, stared in astonishment.
“Young Master?”
“Kirill! Where’s Kirill?!”
Kirill, the medic, rose from her seat.
“What’s wrong—oh my.”
Adrian thrust Nina at her as if pushing her away.
“Nina, Nina drank poison. Nina…”
Kirill laid Nina on the ground and said,
“Poison? Let’s have a look, then.”
Her attitude was so calm that Adrian wondered if Kirill understood the gravity of the situation.
“She’s vomiting blood, not breathing, and she’s so cold.”
Vice-Captain Louis gripped Adrian’s shoulder.
It was the first time the group had seen Adrian, who was always calm and smiling, so incoherent.
“She’ll be fine. By the way, did you make up a day’s journey in one night?”
Adrian nodded.
Kirill, who had been examining the limp Nina, chuckled.
“What is it?”
Louis asked, and Kirill said,
“I’m over forty, and this is the first time I’ve seen anything like this. Should I say it’s impressive, or should I say it’s amazing?”
“Just tell me.”
At Adrian’s urging, Kirill shrugged. The woman in her mid-forties had her white, wavy hair tied back in a single ponytail.
If you asked who had watched over the Jet-Black Knights the longest, everyone would point to Kirill.
“She lowered her body temperature to slow the spread of the poison. Her heartbeat is slow, too. Like a hibernating animal. I didn’t know humans could do that. I don’t know what the poison is, but I’ll administer an IV first.”
Kirill looked around.
“It would be best to go to a safe place before starting treatment. Once the treatment starts and her body starts working normally, it will be quite painful.”
The group quickly repacked their belongings. They began detoxification in a nearby village.
As Kirill began the detoxification, the Spirits retreated. At the same time, the poison began to take effect.
Nina twisted her body, vomited blood, and scratched at the floor with her fingernails.
It was a terrible night for Nina, but it was also terrible for the group, and even more so for Adrian.
After recovering to some extent, they moved to the Violet Forest, where the Knights’ headquarters were located.
Nina suffered from sores in her mouth, throat, and stomach, and jaundice remained, but she survived.
Two months later, she was completely recovered, and even Kirill was amazed.
On the night everyone raised a toast to the recovered Nina, Adrian came to Nina’s room.
“Young Master?”
She mumbled, rubbing her eyes. The room was dark, and Adrian stood silently in the doorway.
“Why did you do it?”
Adrian’s voice was cold. Nina flinched and sat up straight. It was too dark to see his face clearly.
If nothing else, it was true that her eyesight had deteriorated because of the poison.
‘Not quite night blindness, but still.’
Anyway, her eyesight had worsened.
I understand why Adrian died young. It was a truly terrible poison.
“What are you talking about?”
“The tea.”
His answer was concise, and Nina asked back.
“Are you angry?”
“Angry?”
His tone was incredulous.
“Angry? Me? Angry?”
The last words were devoid of any emotion. Just words recited as if reading from a book.
Adrian approached slowly. No, was he moving a little faster than she thought?
He stood in front of Nina. His face, illuminated by the light, was as cold as a statue.
“Why should I be angry? My loyal subordinate drank poison for me; shouldn’t I be praising her? It’s a day for me to celebrate having such a subordinate.”
“You are angry.”
“Don’t talk like that.”
Adrian gripped Nina’s shoulders.
“Don’t talk like that, as if I’m reacting to something trivial, as if all of this is nothing to you.”
“Adrian.”
Nina called him. He didn’t answer. His rough hands still held her.
Nina said,
“I knew there was poison in that tea when I drank it. I couldn’t not know. It had a fishy smell.”
“And yet!”
“But Adrian was going to drink it.”
Adrian looked as if he had been slapped. His hands lost their strength. Nina jumped up from her seat.
“You knew from the moment you received the tea, didn’t you? That’s why you refused when I tried to taste it first.”
Adrian stepped back.
Nina stood askew and crossed her arms.
“Don’t think I’m stupid, Adrian.”
“I’ve never thought that.”
He looked down at her with a pale face.
How could I ever think that of you, Nina.
How could I ever.
“I don’t know why you were going to drink it, but you better be prepared from now on. If you’re going to drink poison, I’ll drink it instead, and if you’re going to get stabbed, I’ll get stabbed instead.”
“Nina!”
Adrian shouted, cornered, and Nina looked at him as if to say, ‘Why? What?’
He ran a hand through his hair.
Swallowing, he chose his words. No, he couldn’t choose.
As if exposing himself, he opened his mouth.
“Nina, if I ever drink poison or get stabbed, it will be because I planned it.”
His eyes looked at Nina.
He seemed to be struggling to speak, so Nina opened her mouth instead.
“I know. You probably thought that trying to drink poison was an appropriate way to get out of there. Adrian, you have some resistance to poison, too.”
And you probably wanted to ease the Duchess’s surveillance.
Adrian’s eyes widened.
Nina smiled.
“What? I like Adrian, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind. I know that Adrian isn’t an innocent lamb.”
So you didn’t think I was stupid after all?
She narrowed her eyes, and he hurriedly waved his hands.
“No, that’s not it…”
It was unexpected.
He was surprised that Nina, knowing he was that kind of person, was still unchanged.
He was too shallow to think that her affection might be ‘pity for a poor Young Master.’
Nina cut him off.
“Just don’t hurt yourself. What if you die young later?”
“Then what about you?”
Adrian blurted out.
“Then what about you, Nina.”
And what about me without you?
Adrian, who had struggled to swallow the unspoken words, looked down at Nina.
Nina politely raised both hands and said,
“I’ll be careful too.”
Suspicion filled Adrian’s face, but Nina said again.
“Really. Well, you can think of it as the best thing a Jet-Black Knights member can say in the Violet Forest, where Bellac runs rampant.”
As Nina said that, she held out one hand, and Adrian clasped hands with her.
“It’s a promise.”
Nina smiled, and he swallowed a sigh.
“Yeah, please.”
