Translator: Nox

Chapter 48

Chapter 48

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"This is—"

"Don't say it."

Dielo said urgently. But it was already too late.

Was it because even if he could use the Purification Flame, he couldn't burn all the oxygen around him?

The moment I thought the approaching white substance was stinging my eyes and burning the inside of my throat.

—Clatter, crash!

I dropped the tableware I was holding and leaned weakly to the side.

"……!"

The last thing I saw as I fell was the knight's face.

Perhaps because he couldn't escape the effects of the poison while using it, he already looked dead.

…To bet your life on detonating poison, that's too much.

With that thought as my last, my consciousness went dark.

* * *

The dining hall had no windows facing the outside.

This was to prevent exposure to attacks such as arrows from the outside.

That didn't mean there were no vents, but the ventilation couldn't possibly be good enough to remove the poison that had spread in an instant.

—Bang!

Even when Dielo burst open the door with the Argenta flame, it was the same.

"Krua!"

He was fine even in the white poisonous fog, but Krua wasn't.

This white poison, with a sweet scent that dragged people into a terrible dream, was called 'Nightmare'.

Of course, very few people could wake up from that dream.

"He couldn't possibly not know that I'm immune to this poison."

In the first place, those who become heads of each family start by developing resistance to various poisons.

Among them, deadly and famous poisons like Nightmare are naturally developed resistance to.

"Lord!"

"Madam!"

Dielo held Krua in his arms and went outside through the white poisonous fog.

Startled servants followed.

"Bring things to wipe away the poisonous fog, immediately."

Dielo's cold voice echoed.

"Healer Nias is coming."

The healer was contacted quickly.

Nias, who learned poison before medicine, would be able to handle this matter appropriately.

But did she inhale too much poison?

"……Krua."

Dielo looked down at Krua's already pale lips.

It was strange to see her red lips, which used to chatter brightly and confidently, lose their color.

—Thud.

As soon as Dielo laid Krua on the bed, maids swarmed around.

Hands covered with cloths over their noses and mouths and gloved hands busily wiped the poisonous fog from Krua's body.

"We must get her to take this first!"

Nias, who had rushed up, held up an antidote.

Then she paused, seeing Krua's condition.

If Nightmare was just a poison that showed dreams, there would be no reason for such a commotion.

Nightmare showed those who were poisoned dreams so terrible that they couldn't bear it.

And if they lost their minds because they couldn't bear it, they would die.

Of course, dying peacefully was a lucky case. Many also had seizures in the process.

The characteristic was that no matter how much they convulsed or felt pain, they couldn't wake up from the dream.

Until it was detoxified.

And even then, it was over if the detoxification was too late.

"……Is her condition serious?"

Dielo didn't care about his clothes and body, which were covered in poison.

It was too insignificant to affect him.

But it wasn't for his bride.

He wrapped her in his arms the moment he saw the white poisonous fog, but he couldn't stop her breath.

'…….’

The feeling of strength leaving Krua's body, which he was holding, was clear.

It was when Dielo looked down at his hand.

"The antidote was administered quickly, but the speed at which Nightmare is spreading is too fast."

Nias had a troubled face.

"Has Madam often had dreams?"

It is an accepted theory that those who dream often are more vulnerable to Nightmare.

"……Dreams?"

Dielo paused.

Wasn't there something she used to talk about?

That she dreamed of being trapped in a burning place, sometimes.

His face contorted.

"Not often, but occasionally."

She said she did.

Nias's expression worsened at those words.

"……."

Dielo's expression hardened coldly.

Nias tried desperately to treat Krua, but she couldn't remove all the poison.

"I can only hope that the Nightmare doesn't devour Madam until the antidote takes effect."

Nias, who had been working on detoxification for a long time, finally stepped back.

She had done her best.

"……."

But Krua, who was breathing somewhat roughly, was still having a nightmare with pale lips.

Dielo bit his lip.

His empty hands felt empty.

He felt suffocated by the clear sight of her collapsing, not by his fingertips, but by something else.

Why?

Since they couldn't possibly not know that I'm immune to Nightmare, they must have been targeting Krua.

I thought Krua was attractive.

If anyone thought otherwise, I would have been angry.

But I didn't want Krua to attract so much attention that she would become a target.

A person who shines so brightly that you can't take your eyes off her even though she's dazzling.

That's why I should have known sooner, much sooner, that there would be those who would target her.

I thought they would target Dielo himself.

But it seems she shone even brighter at the meeting than I thought.

—Thump.

Dielo, who had been leaning against the wall, pushed off and started walking.

No one dared to speak to the family head as he walked quickly.

A haze formed around him as he walked down the silent hallway.

His Magical Power was reacting to his anger.

A suffocating heat remained where he had passed.

I want to destroy everything, plans and all.

If the opponent was going to target Krua, then there was no need for such plans.

Krua, wait until the opponent is off guard?

'Using me—'

My bride, my bride.

He gave a hollow smile. A sharp arsenic formed on his lips.

It was arsenic directed at himself.

Why did I have such a foolish thought?

At first, I only wanted to eliminate Alloze. But hasn't the goal changed?

I want to have my bride. I want to make her completely mine.

Then, of course, the method must change.

The plan to use something that should be cherished and cared for as a means was absurd in itself.

My bride, I can't be as elegant as you after all.

I felt something snap in my head.

"Rick."

As his low voice echoed, Rick, the head of the intelligence department, appeared next to him.

"Gather all the servants, including those who have visited the mansion."

Rick's eyes widened.

"To the servants below the third floor—"

He was asking if he would show such a cold side to the servants below the third floor.

Dielo answered immediately without blinking an eye.

"Regardless, all of them."

If Krua was going to be a target, it would be better for me to stand out.

"Lord."

The head of the intelligence department, Rick, was the one who had the nickname 'cheerful psycho' because he always walked around with a cheerful expression, whether he was getting blood on his sword or burning something with flames.

It meant that he didn't get nervous about anything.

No, he was the one who enjoyed situations that would make others nervous.

But when Rick met the family head's eyes, he realized that something was seriously wrong.

"……."

Dielo's blue eyes were shrouded in a strange light.

Wasn't it said that blue flames were the hottest?

"I will gather them immediately."

Rick moved quickly.

It seemed that the family head was very angry.

A faint Magical Power was visible in his eyes. That was a sign of 'emotional runaway'.

When someone with power loses their reason to the point where they can't control their abilities.

A state in which they run wild, closer to their true selves.

That state was called emotional runaway.

"Go and gather all the servants in the mansion. And."

Rick said to the intelligence agent. And he hurriedly added.

"Contact Redius Argenta. Quickly."

Dielo Argenta, who extremely suppressed himself, had never caused an emotional runaway.

But now, just before an emotional runaway occurs, the only one who can stop him is his teacher and blood relative, Redius Argenta.

"……Is it possible to calm him down?"

Rick looked back at where Dielo had been, watching the intelligence agent disappear quickly.

…Thinking about the overly sweet appearance of the lord and his wife, which seemed like acting.

Can Lord Redius really stop the family head?

"I don't know."

It's not something the head of the intelligence department should say, but Rick really didn't know.

Krua Argenta.

The mistress of the family who came from Alloze and is adapting so well to Argenta.

But the person who will step down from this family when the real Pero appears someday.

She might be the only one who has the answer.

The problem is.

"……She probably hasn't woken up yet, right?"

She was unconscious right now.

Rick's face paled unusually.