I just asked for the location of the bathroom, but why is he running at me with a knife?
I put aside the absurdity that came over me and twisted my body because I had to live first.
Perhaps because he was rushing with all his might, he lost his balance and fell forward. In the process, the blade grazed my forearm, but I didn't care.
This was nothing compared to what I've experienced so far.
'Then what do we do now?'
Time has stopped.
No, it seemed like it stopped for a moment.
I slowly rolled my eyes and took in the sight of the guy stopped in midair.
A red-faced face. If you lower your gaze a little, you can see the hand holding the guy's neck underneath.
The guy didn't stop, but someone suddenly reached out and grabbed the falling guy's neck.Let's slowly raise our eyes to find the owner of that hand—
"...Brother?"
"..."
My eyes met unwavering green eyes.
What the fuck, why are you here?
As if my doubts hadn't caught my attention, Cruel quietly looked at me and looked at the person he was holding in his hand.
His hands tightened as if he wanted to kill him like this.
Tendons stood on the backs of his hands and forearms, the face of the guy whose neck he grabbed turned red, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"Keuuuh—"
Wow, it's bloody.
It didn't look good to see him struggling while holding onto Cruel's arm with both hands, so I looked away with a puzzled look on his face. At that time, something suddenly fell at the servant's feet.
"...Documents?"
What, was he really a spy?
Before unconsciously reaching for it, there was a hand picking up the paper first.
Cruel was still strangling the guy, so it probably wasn't him. Then, the owner of this hand is...
"This seems like an important document of the imperial family."
"...Duke?!"
"It's been a while, Count."
Purple eyes grinned.
What? Why would someone who is not on good terms with the Emperor come here?
"I'm on my way to meet His Majesty for a moment and give a reward to a dog that obeys me. I never thought we would meet like this."
His eyes briefly glanced at my injured shoulder.
...Is it possible for a duke who is neither from the royal family nor from the royal family to raise a dog in the imperial palace?
Or rather, my doubts seemed to be blatantly displayed on my face.
I was embarrassed by the answer that came back with a smile on my face, so I wiped my face, but the Duke's voice continued as if I had more to say.
"I heard that the Count also came to see His Majesty. May I ask what your purpose is?"
"Ah, there is something I would like to ask about the territory I received recently..."
"Is it because it is not enough? It's small or the land is barren?"
"No, I just want to return the territory."
"That's interesting."
As I looked at the Duke's eyes, which were gently curved with interest, I thought about expressing my trouble.
What if I ask more? I don't want to talk about the reason here.
Especially in front of Cruel.
Fortunately, the Duke didn't ask any further questions, perhaps because he noticed that I was hesitant to ask the reason.
But no thanks. The topic he brought up to change the topic was a very difficult one for me.
He looked down and saw the servant lying on the floor.
Cruel, who was holding the bastard's neck, was suddenly standing behind the Duke.
His expression was as calm as ever, to the point where you couldn't tell he was strangling someone just a moment ago.
"It's amazing that you were able to catch a spy while waiting like this."
"No, this is..."
"There is no need to be humble. There is no need to be on guard. I have no intention of intercepting the ball. Even if it weren't for Lord Cruel, the Count would have easily subdued this man."
"No, I mean..."
"Count!"
Damn, what else!
I looked back towards the place where the sound came from with full of frustration and immediately had to relax my eyes.
The people approaching from afar were none other than the crown prince and princess.
"It seemed like a lot of time had passed, so I was worried because you didn't come back..."
The crown prince quickly looked over the situation.
As if to prove that he was not the crown prince for nothing, he quickly understood the situation and smiled on his face.
"I never thought you would catch a spy like this."
"That's..."
"As expected, you're amazing!"
"Cough, Your Highness..."
Can't you both just keep your mouths shut?
Are you both doing this on purpose? To fuck me over. Otherwise, there's no way you'd be putting pressure on you and pretending like it's not the case. But for some reason, the surrounding atmosphere was strange. It felt like the air had suddenly changed.
As I slowly raised my head, wondering if something was wrong, I made eye contact with those whose eyes were wide.
"Count, are you okay?"
"...Yes?"
"What should I do? There's blood!"
"...?"
"Call the palace doctor! Hurry!!"
In addition to the princess's fuss, the sound of the crown prince calling the courtier echoed through the palace hallways.
Only then did I feel the warm liquid dripping down my chin.
Ah, I thought I was simply possessed, but it seems that this weak body was hurt even by the slightest impact. For some reason, I felt a little sick inside.
It would not have been possible for something as simple as this to have happened, and I think this result was due to the surprise at the surprise attack.
"I'm fine..."
"Don't lie, just tell me what made you feel like this. There must be some inference, right?"
"No, really..."
"Now that I think about it, there's a wound on your arm. It looks like it's fresh."
The crown prince's gaze landed on the wound caused by being grazed by the sword a moment ago.
This was at the level of a scratch. There really was no problem.
No, no matter how weak I was, there was no way I would vomit blood like this just because of that.
While I was wondering how to explain this to the royal family in front of me, who had been silently observing the situation, Cruel blurted out one phrase.
"It appears to have occurred while suppressing a spy."
"Then... I guess we should consider the possibility that the weapon was coated with poison."
...Yes? Poison?
While I was sitting there with a dumbfounded look on my face as the situation was going by, a cloth was wrapped around the top of the wound.
Perhaps to prevent the poison from spreading further, the crown prince wrapped the cloth close to my shoulders and tied it into a knot... but tied it too tightly.
'There's no blood flow at all.'
No, that aside, my arm felt like it was going to fall off.
Moreover, because it was tied tightly, more blood came out of the wound.
At first, it appeared as a plain red color, but soon changed to a cloudy dark red color and began to seep out in droplets.
"Is it also poison?"
It's like there's no blood flowing through it. If you tie it up so tightly, your blood will turn black and you will die.
By the way, where did you get this fabric? Who on earth would take care of something like this... Ah.
I made eye contact with Cruel. And next to him, the Duke smiled with his eyes wide open and praised him for doing a good job in a meaningful tone...
'That bastard gave it to me.'
My mood suddenly became unpleasant. I would like to immediately throw away this useless thing, but I cannot untie what the crown prince himself has tied up for me.
I didn't have the energy to say anything more, so I just resigned myself and closed my eyes.
It was my own decision to ignore this whole damn situation, but...
"Count! You can't close your eyes now! Hold on just a little longer!"
"...Ha..."
***
The palace doctor was examining the other person with a hard face.
His hands were shaking so slightly that only those with good senses could notice them.
If you feel a sense of déjà vu in this situation, you would not be mistaken. He was the one who examined Honorary Count Deon Hardt, who was coughing up blood in the banquet hall last time.
Oh, it wasn't blood though, it was pudding. Even thinking about it again, it was truly absurd.
So, even as he ran this time, he had doubts in a corner of his mind.
'It's real this time.'
The fishy smell was not fake. In other words, it was a really dangerous situation...
The doctor swallowed back the tears that welled up.
The patient's condition had changed from last time, but the people around him had not.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Princess, His Excellency the Duke, and even the hero Cruel. He tried to take comfort in the fact that His Majesty the Emperor and General Nemeseus were not there, but—
"What is going on?"
Even General Nemeseus came, as if heaven hated him.
Honorary Count Deon Hardt appeared to have some business to attend to, and after paying courtesy to the crown prince and princess, he sat down and began to watch. Cold sweat was running down his back.
If he made a mistake, he would definitely die. Even if he didn't get treatment, he would die. Feeling that his life was in danger, the doctor's hands became busy. Check the inside of the mouth, check the pulse, and check any wounds.
As the examination continued, the palace doctor's complexion became whiter.
The sight was so serious that even those watching became anxious, and in the end, the crown prince, who was unable to see it, opened his mouth as if he was nervous.
"Is it that serious?"
"That's..."
"It's okay, so tell me."
"...There is nothing special."
"...What?"
There was a moment of silence as the answer was completely different from what they expected.
The crown prince's eyes fluttered as if he can't believe it, and the princess covered her mouth with both hands and opened her eyes wide. Cruel was only looking at the palace doctor with his mouth shut.
While others were rushing to come up with different answers, the one who answered first was Nemeseus, who arrived late and was observing the situation.
"That must mean it's the Demon King's curse."
"Ah..."
Realization flashed across the others' faces. Was that why he said it was so okay? Because it wouldn't be curable anyway.
Deon Hardt must have decided there was no need to cause unnecessary concern and waste their time.
An expression of novelty appeared on each person's face and then disappeared. In particular, the crown prince looked at Deon Hardt with a sad expression.
'It's so deep inside.'
It's a pity that others don't know this.
The Crown Prince, recalling the well-known image of Deon Hardt, tried to fix his distorted expression and change the subject.
'Because he doesn't want anyone interested in his curse.'
Sympathy only made him unpleasant.
He barely took his gaze away from him and moved it to a sturdy man who arrived late.
"General Nemeseus. What did you have to do that brought you here in person?"
***
The crown prince's attention was focused elsewhere. As I was anxious about what to say about the curse, I quietly sighed in relief.
For some reason, every time the story about a curse that didn't exist was mentioned, a burdensome setting was added. But that was only for a moment
"His Majesty is looking for Honorary Count Deonhardt."
"Ku, kuek!"
I could barely suppress the cough that was about to burst out.
I had to hold back. If I coughed here again, something crazy might happen.
The general's eyes were fixed on me. I pressed down on my mouth with the back of my hand, lowered my eyes, and tried to control my pounding heart.
...I calmed down, but I still didn't understand.
General, why on earth did you come in person? You have an errand boy, so use him!
He even looked uncomfortable. There was displeasure in his eyes as they scanned me.
The general's busy eyes passed by the people on the scene and stopped at the servant with a frustrated expression.
"It looks like we have an uninvited guest ahead of time. Do you mind if I take care of it?"
"Even if that wasn't the case, I was planning on asking. For your information, the spy was caught by Count Hardt, so make sure there is no mistake."
"…All right."
I was very uneasy that my name had to be included in that conversation, but the conversation ended anyway.
So now all we had to do is drag him away and throw him in jail... Why are you looking at me?
Even the look in their eyes was not clear.
"I have to see His Majesty anyway, and since you are the one you caught, let's go together."
"Yes?"