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~Chapter 26~
“I know my useless son is in your debt. And this time, you saved my daughter and wife too. If there’s anything you want or need, say it. The damage you suffered will also be compensated in the family’s name.”
Ah, that’s the third time he’s said that.
Shariette glanced at Marian and Nixia. Both had the kind of look that said, See?
“I’ve been saying this from the start, Shariette. You saved our lives. This is not something we can just let go.”
Did they really need to? Shariette looked troubled. Just knowing this mother and daughter survived was enough for her.
It was a kind of indirect satisfaction.
But the duke also nodded seriously.
“Nixia’s right. Noble sacrifices should—”
“Nixia, stop. Miss Shariette just woke up. It’s not too late to talk after she recovers.”
The duchess clearly spoke to Nixia, but the duke backed down.
“…Think about it slowly, like Marian said.”
Nixia also joined in.
“Yes, tell us later when you think of it.”
“You heard them, Miss Shariette? Don’t feel pressured.”
Marian smiled and gently patted her shoulder.
The black-and-red Rubellot pair obediently closed their mouths.
Shariette silently admired them.
The real authority here is the duchess!
While she was figuring out the household’s hierarchy and power, Nixia and the duke exchanged a meaningful glance behind Marian.
They had said think about it slowly and talk later, but that didn’t mean they would sit idle.
Rubellots always paid back what they received—with interest.
Whether it was grace or grudge.
Though the interest was always decided by the one who received it, not the one who gave it.
A prison set in a dark, secret underground space, fitting for an old noble house.
The kind of Rubellot who would outdo any loan shark when it came to setting interest rates smiled, lips curling.
“Evans. You lack grit.”
Eden, with no strength left to scream, flinched on the floor.
He wanted to die. Please.
He’d begged to be killed more times than he could count.
The gut-wrenching pain reached his chest, twisting his heart.
But he could not die.
The young duke—this terrifying man—wouldn’t allow him to die, or even faint.
When Noxian flicked his fingers, Joseph opened a vial of antidote and poured it into Eden’s mouth.
It was the antidote to the same poison Shariette had drunk.
“Don’t whine. It’s only one teacup so far.”
He was even “kind” enough to heal him in between. The soft voice was like the devil’s mockery.
Noxian lifted a teapot that didn’t suit this place at all.
With an elegant motion, he poured scarlet tea into a cup.
It was almost artistic.
Just from the scene, it could have been a tearoom or a salon, not an underground prison.
“Open your mouth. We still have a long way to go to finish the whole pot.”
It was the exact same tea with the exact same poison Shariette had drunk.
“N-no… Stop, I-I’ll tell you everything…! I—guh…!”
“Talk later. Drink first.”
Knights held Eden down on both sides as he struggled. Noxian gripped his jaw, pried it open, and slowly tilted the cup.
“Aaaah!”
Joseph silently opened another antidote vial.
His lord wouldn’t stop until Eden drank the whole pot. Even if it took days.
If it ends with one pot, that’d be lucky.
Rubellots never returned something equal to what they received.
The most famous case was the Argen Marquisate two years ago.
Still, this time…
Joseph glanced at his lord.
If Noxian Rubellot is smiling, you’re screwed.
But blood runs thicker than water—Joseph felt no sympathy for the prisoner.
When the young lady from Willowhill—Miss Shariette—collapsed…
He honestly thought she’d die right there.
Anyone would have. Just remembering it brought cold sweat down his back.
Even a strong man, after just a few sips, would be begging for death from this pain.
“Stop…! Huff, huff, Noxian Rubellot, this is all your fault…! Aaaah! Just kill me!”
Eden spat blood and glared at Noxian.
Ah. Here we go again.
Noxian looked down at him without interest. He’d heard this blame game dozens of times before.
There’d even been one just recently.
“You’re expecting too much. I never said I’d let you live.”
“…!”
“You call yourself a doctor—were you upset that Argen was destroyed? That’s not enough to explain this.”
“Hahaha…! Don’t play dumb. You know everything. You wiped out Argen to keep that secret for yourself!”
At those words, Noxian—who’d been spinning his teacup—suddenly froze.
“…Stop. Everyone leave except Sir Joseph.”
The knights restraining Eden bowed and left.
Joseph’s expression also stiffened.
“My lord… could he be…?”
Realizing the tension between them, Eden laughed like a madman.
Ah, I knew it! I knew it!
You were the answer!
“Yeah, you had it. Noxian Rubellot—so that’s why you survived Latium’s curse, right?”
From the face that had been near death just moments ago, crazed hope and greed emerged.
Crack!
The cup shattered in Noxian’s hand.
He stepped forward slowly.
“…You, from the Argen Marquisate?”
“That’s right! You thought you wiped us all out two years ago, didn’t you? You arrogant fool—your stupid Rubellots know nothing. If not for that woman, I would’ve—”
Bang!
Noxian’s foot crushed Eden’s neck, making him choke.
His pale face was expressionless.
A smile filled with killing intent and mockery would have been more human.
Ah, now he would truly kill him.
After repeated torture, his broken mind felt joy.
Eden coughed blood and asked with shining eyes:
“Where is Argen’s elixir of immortality?”
When he’d heard that the Argen Marquisate had been wiped out with no survivors…
The first thing Eden thought of was the research left behind.
Immortality. Undying life.
Their life’s greatest ambition.
With the Argens reduced to ashes, the only person left who could possess that work was Noxian Rubellot, who had witnessed Argen Castle’s final moments.
So Eden—no, Franz—had slowly poisoned the duchess and young lady.
With Feynil poison, the silent killer disguised as illness.
If a family was on the verge of death, even a devil would reach for forbidden things.
After all, the research had begun with Blanche Argen’s terminal diagnosis.
Only one step remained to complete the immortality research.
If he could just get it in his hands…
“You must have seen it that day too, Argen’s research—”
“There’s no such thing. Nowhere.”
The voice was chillingly calm.
Drip, drip—the blood from Noxian’s hand fell to the prison floor.
He watched the red liquid flow along the stone.
Just like that day, two years ago.
“I destroyed every last trace of them along with the Argens.”
That day.
When he had gone down to the basement searching for Shasha.
When he realized what had been happening there all along.
He knew instantly.
No one must ever know.
If something like this came to light, it would bring irreversible consequences.
