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Chapter 14
“Stop breathing and step back immediately!”
The Marquess shouted sharply. Drury staggered backward.
A disgusting smell rose from the shattered glass bottle. The moment she inhaled it, her entire body felt paralyzed.
The snakes inside their cages began hissing violently. Some of them slammed their bodies against the walls, trying to escape.
“W-what is this…?”
As Drury collapsed to the floor in fear, the butler rushed in after hearing the Marquess’s shout.
The moment he entered and sensed something wrong, he covered his nose and quickly opened the windows.
Only after a long while did the smell fade. Drury finally released the breath she had been holding.
The Marquess stared at her with bloodshot eyes. At some point, his pupils had turned red and split vertically.
He was so agitated that he could barely suppress his true form.
“…Where did you steal this from?”
“I—I didn’t steal it. It belongs to Cassian. You said yourself that Cassian is practically my possession.”
Annoyance flickered across the Marquess’s face. At his gesture, the butler quickly cleaned up the remains of the bottle.
“My lord… this smell… isn’t it Dragon-Slaying Grass?”
The butler’s voice trembled. His white handkerchief had already turned purple.
Dragon-Slaying Grass? What is that?
Drury had never heard of it. But the moment the name was spoken, her father’s face turned extremely pale.
“Drury. The Young Duke treasured this?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if this truly belonged to the Young Duke!”
“Y-yes. It did.”
Drury flinched under her father’s pressure.
Her anger always faded quickly in front of someone stronger than herself. Though that restraint never lasted long.
“…Since when? Do you know where he got it?”
“That…”
Drury loved attending the Duchess of House Sarkis’s tea parties.
Not only because she could see Cassian or because the young noblemen her age fawned over her.
It was because it gave her the chance to secretly sneak into Cassian’s room.
Security at the ducal estate was strict, so it wasn’t easy. But Drury was not an ordinary girl. Sometimes she succeeded.
Gloves he had taken off, books he had been reading, medicine bottles by his bed. She had stolen some of them.
Clutching the stolen items, she would imagine the future where she crushed that beautiful, pitiful boy beneath her. That fantasy calmed her twisted possessiveness.
“It was after the engagement was announced. Medicine bottles I’d never seen before started piling up under his bed.”
She had hesitated at first, but she clearly remembered when she first saw them.
“Tch. I thought he had attached some insignificant girl as a shield to avoid interference from his fiancée’s family.”
“And if not? Are you saying the Young Duke truly cherishes Damia Ponti?!”
“It could mean that girl’s backer supplied the Dragon-Slaying Grass. If so, there must have been a deal.”
“What is Dragon-Slaying Grass?”
“You truly don’t know?”
“No, I don’t.”
The Marquess ground his teeth, but Drury didn’t care.
“It is a plant that kills dragons. Its seeds were supposedly eradicated long ago.”
“A mere plant kills dragons? That’s ridiculous!”
“……”
“Then that means humans could fatally wound us!”
“Yes. We carry the blood of the Mad Dragon.”
They were nothing more than lowly half-breeds born from a dragon’s whim.
Yet dragonkin lived longer than humans, were stronger, and far more cunning and persistent than pure dragons.
Even when the Duke of Sarkis, who had slain the Mad Dragon, tried to wipe out every dragon in the world, they survived by hiding.
“I must inform Him immediately.”
There was only one person her father ever referred to as “Him.”
The one called the Master of the Dragonkin.
Drury’s eyes widened in fear. Even she, who feared nothing in this world, was afraid of that man.
“Is there anything else you’re hiding?”
At that moment, she remembered the maid taken by Damia. She couldn’t recall the girl’s name, but she remembered she had skilled hands.
“Is there anything else, Drury?!”
Her father’s unusually harsh tone made her unable to speak for a moment.
Now that “Him” had been mentioned, she had no room in her mind to worry about a mere maid.
The girl was just a low-ranking servant who knew nothing about their clan. Drury also replaced servants frequently.
Leaving her alone shouldn’t cause any serious problem. Her father might never even notice the missing maid.
“There’s nothing! I’ve told you everything!”
Drury raised her voice to hide her anxiety.
Meanwhile, Elena Sarkis sat alone in the sitting room attached to her bedroom, quietly drinking tea.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
With Elena’s permission, the head maid entered.
She had followed Elena from her maiden home and was extremely loyal. Besides managing the maids, she also carried out many of the Duchess’s confidential orders.
“Did my daughter-in-law return safely?”
“Yes. As instructed, we sent the finest carriage.”
“…She wasn’t upset, was she?”
“No. However, she strongly emphasized that once the investigation is complete, she wishes to take the maid named Romy with her.”
Elena tapped her fingers lightly on the tea table.
“She wants to punish the girl personally… Haha. With a face that looks like it couldn’t kill even a bug.”
“She seemed quite worried that the maid might be treated harshly.”
“To protect the very maid who threatened her… She truly is a kind child, isn’t she?”
“Yes. She seems like a young lady worthy of Master Cassian’s attention.”
Elena’s lips curved upward.
“Investigate that maid thoroughly. If there is even the slightest chance she might harm my daughter-in-law, deal with it appropriately.”
“Yes. There will be no cause for concern.”
The head maid bowed. Even the smallest movement was disciplined.
“And… we have finished analyzing the substance you gave us earlier.”
“What were the results?”
“There were no significant abnormalities.”
“Are you certain?”
With her ebony hair and features as sharp and cold as carved ice, her expression was chilling—nothing like the gentle Duchess known for loving children.
“Yes. No toxicity was detected. It is not a substance that becomes poisonous when combined with certain foods either.”
“That is fortunate.”
“However, it also has no medicinal effect.”
“That is unexpected. Well, she is a clever child. Perhaps she has her own thoughts.”
Cassian would not cherish poison, so the result was somewhat expected.
Besides, if it truly had been poison, it would not have been so easily discovered by Elena.
“Cassian is making me conduct investigations I would rather avoid.”
It was unlike Elena to behave this way, but now the only precious thing left to her was Cassian.
And that son was terminally ill.
“It is only natural for you to worry if Master Cassian keeps an unknown substance close to him.”
Elena smiled without replying.
“What about the source of the substance?”
“My apologies. We have not identified it yet.”
Sometimes Elena could not understand what Cassian was thinking. At times, even guessing frightened her.
‘After being disappointed so many times by false hope of survival… can Cassian truly remain sane?’
He had lived too long fully aware of his short lifespan.
Afraid of forming attachments, he drew lines around himself almost obsessively.
As if he no longer wished to cling to life.
‘Even the tea parties I hosted under the excuse of loving children were useless.’
She had wanted, at least in that way, to create precious relationships for him.
“Leave me for now. I need to organize my thoughts.”
“Yes. We will search even the western regions thoroughly to trace the source.”
“Ah, wait.”
Elena paused, as if remembering something.
“It is unlikely… but look into the herb garden my daughter-in-law tends as a hobby.”
She was not suspecting Damia.
Cassian, who trusted none of the Empire’s finest physicians, would hardly drink medicine given by a younger girl.
At least, she hoped not. The engagement to Damia was the first choice Cassian had ever made of his own will.
Still, one could never be careless.
“Yes, understood. I will take my leave.”
Elena merely nodded and leaned back into her chair.
“…There is one more thing I find suspicious.”
The head maid, who had been heading toward the door, stopped in her tracks.
