Chapter 21
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'…What is it?'
The weight that had been crushing his limbs became unbelievably light.
His rotting organs were healing, and new flesh was growing on his melted skin.
It was definitely 'recovery.'
Could it be that this unnecessarily sturdy body was healing itself again?
He had deliberately doused himself in deadly poison to see the illusion of blue eyes, and he suddenly felt a surge of annoyance…
But that wasn't important.
What was important was…
Ludville instinctively clutched at his chest.
Something, something was trying to disappear from within him.
He couldn't identify it.
But it was definitely a 'sense of loss.'
Something so precious was trying to slip through his fingers…
A sensation like his spine being pulled out.
A feeling of the world's center shaking.
A Monster roared and spewed Breath in front of him, but he couldn't hear it at all.
He instinctively reached out towards somewhere within himself.
He had to grab it.
He couldn't let it go.
He couldn't understand anything, but one thing was clear.
He had to hold onto that small, fragile thing that was trying to escape and not let it go.
Ludville, who was fighting the Monster, was fighting another invisible battle.
Without knowing what he was trying to hold onto.
And…
When he felt something barely caught on his fingertips.
'Got it.'
He grabbed hold of the thing in his grasp, which seemed about to break, and didn't let go.
Like a demon.
Even though he felt it was on the verge of shattering, he desperately held it close to his chest.
At the same time, warmth flowed back into the depths of his being.
The connection was barely maintained.
Ludville took a deep breath.
As if he had been drowning and had barely managed to swim up and take a breath of air.
"Hah…!"
Ludville smiled with joy and raised his sword.
And with madness shining in his eyes, he utterly smashed the Monster in front of him.
The Monsters, crushed by his overwhelming power, soon became unrecognizable.
"No, that won't do."
He chuckled softly.
It was a strangely elated and relieved laugh.
"Did you think I'd let you escape?"
Ludville muttered words he didn't know if he was saying to the Monster or to someone else.
And he continued to cut down the Monsters one by one as planned.
A storm of swords poured down under the pretext of purifying the territory.
Anyone could see it was just a massacre…
But if killing everything could be called Purification, then this was perfect Purification.
* * *
'I guess… I should repay him.'
Odelia had been steadily saving money little by little since she left the Cardel family three months ago.
She had received some help from Ludville.
To be precise, it was thanks to his 'memories.'
An imperial potter's jar buried in the dirt, old books being sold cheaply in a bookstore, and lost gold coins.
'I was originally going to use it as a settlement fund…'
But it was no longer necessary.
Under the guise of a contract marriage, she had to stick close to Ludville, constantly watching and making sure he didn't end his own life.
She took out the small amount of money she had saved and prepared gifts for two people.
First, she ordered high-quality silk and satin for Leona…
'…Is it a bit much?'
She had spent a day embroidering the silk, but frankly, the result was terrible.
If she presented this as a gift, wouldn't it look like an unspoken hint that she wanted to end their relationship?
Odelia hesitated for a moment and carefully folded the handkerchief again.
But as luck would have it, Leona entered the room at that moment.
"Oh my, what is this?"
"Just, something like a rag…"
"My name is embroidered on it, though?"
"……."
Leona took the handkerchief carefully and said in a more serious tone than ever before.
"I will treasure it as a family heirloom for generations to come."
At those words, Odelia shook her head with a small laugh, as if she couldn't help it.
Really, she was such a child. Always consistent.
And she prepared a gift for Theodore and visited his office.
Odelia knocked on the door.
"Do you have a moment?"
"……Princess?"
A faint surprise crossed Theodore's face as he opened the door.
Odelia carefully handed over the box.
"Thank you for the coat. I don't know if it will be a repayment, but… I prepared this."
Theodore accepted the box without a word.
When he opened the lid, a Magic Stone Nib with intricate carvings was revealed.
Small Magic Inscription were engraved in the black gold, and Magical Crystal glowed faintly.
"It's a Magical Tool for recording. It reduces wrist fatigue, and if you press this button, the color changes, making it easy to classify documents."
Perhaps he hadn't expected to receive a reward in return.
He stared at it silently for a long time, as if at a loss for words, and then briefly bowed his head.
"……Thank you, Princess. It's too much."
His voice seemed choked up.
She was a little embarrassed because he seemed more moved than she had expected.
Odelia rolled her eyes, feeling somehow awkward, and at that moment, she smelled an unusual scent wafting through the room.
Looking around, she saw a tray and some tools on the desk.
Dried leaves, thin paper, thread, and several Cigarette that had already been prepared.
"What were you doing?"
She asked cautiously.
Thanks to her experience as a healer, she was quite familiar with medicinal herbs.
The leaves were Normaline.
It was known as a powerful insomnia remedy, but its side effects were so severe that it was rarely used.
At her question, Theodore hesitated for a moment before reluctantly confessing.
"It seems that all the medicine I gave to the Grand Duke has run out, so I was preparing it so that he could use it as soon as he returned."
"……Medicine? This is Cigarette."
Odelia took a step closer and looked at the tray.
No matter how she looked at it, it was clearly meant to be burned.
"Well, oral administration doesn't have much effect on His Highness's insomnia."
He carefully picked up a Cigarette, finished it with thread, and said with a sigh.
"It seems that he can barely fall asleep by inhaling the herb in this form."
"But I know that Normaline is a herb with serious side effects…"
"That's right."
The butler readily agreed, as if he was already well aware of it.
He sighed deeply and continued.
"It dulls the senses, clouds the mind, and can even cause memory loss in severe cases. But without this, he can't sleep at all…"
She couldn't say anything for a while.
'To this extent…'
His condition seemed much more serious than she had vaguely imagined.
'…Even when he said he wasn't sane when he repeated the same time thousands of times, it wasn't this bad.'
He had many sleepless nights in her memory.
But he had never been so broken that he had to numb his mind to close his eyes.
