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Chapter 15
Of course, Luciella’s claim that she knew the Duke was a complete lie.
She had never intended to invoke his name in the first place. Her original plan had simply been to throw out any important name and bluff her way through by pretending she had powerful connections.
But in a crisis like this, using the Duke’s name was better than being framed and thrown out, wasn’t it?
Declaring that she would make the matter as big as possible was one of the best defensive strategies her mother had taught her.
Like the time Manager Park had tried to quietly fire her mother after she discovered his corruption, and her mother had protected herself by dragging the CEO’s name into the situation.
“…This…”
Ruben stammered for a long while, his face full of confusion.
His frightened gaze shifted toward Bael and then back to Luciella.
Eventually, he realized that continuing the confrontation would gain him nothing.
“Damn it.”
Muttering bitterly under his breath, he fled the room.
Silence settled over the chamber.
“…Cough!”
Bael suddenly coughed.
[Warning: Life-threatening condition.]
The Status Window continued flashing dangerously.
No.
The alarms were growing even more frantic.
[!! Toxin Activation in Progress — Immediate Treatment Required !!]
How am I supposed to treat it if I don’t know what it is?!
Luciella frantically looked around.
[▼▼ Estimated Survival Time Rapidly Decreasing ▼▼]
[!! Current Condition Deteriorating Rapidly !!]
[⚠ No Time Remaining — Failure to Act Immediately May Result in Death ⚠]
[!!!WARNING!!!WARNING!!!WARNING!!!]
“Mana… You need to stop using mana…”
At that moment, something caught Luciella’s eye.
Thunk—
Acting purely on instinct, she snatched away the sword in Bael’s hand—the one faintly emitting mana—and threw it far down the hallway outside the room.
“Breathe. Slowly.”
“Haa…”
Bael’s pale face twisted as he struggled to steady his breathing.
Fortunately, as he calmed down, the chaotic warnings filling Luciella’s vision gradually disappeared.
Thank goodness.
Only then did she let out a sigh of relief.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to just punch him?”
“…Mana reaches farther than my fists.”
Bael grumbled as he slowly recovered.
Meanwhile, Luciella checked the Status Window again.
The bright red warnings had vanished.
And the message now displayed—
“…Huh?”
Her eyes widened in shock.
“This… was it?”
Almost entranced, she leaned closer to read.
“What was?”
Bael’s question never reached her ears.
“I found it.”
Her voice trembled.
At last, she had found the answer she had been searching for over the past several days.
[The toxin has left the affected area. Be careful not to come into contact with it again.]
The message was unmistakable.
So this was it.
The reason Bael continued being exposed to poison despite every other factor being eliminated.
The reason he could never escape the poison, no matter where he was moved.
Bael’s rapier.
The treasured keepsake inherited from his late father.
The poison was inside the sword.
Several Days Later
“Bael first received that sword around two years ago.”
Cain spoke quietly.
His worried gaze swept over Bael, who sat silently on the bed, before returning to Luciella.
Bael listened without moving.
“It originally belonged to my older brother Cedric, Bael’s father. The Duke kept it after his death. I was the one who eventually handed it over to Bael.”
“Lord Cedric’s sword…”
Luciella murmured.
Cedric Bellaon—the late young Duke of Bellaon—had died more than ten years ago.
There was no way the Duke himself had secretly poisoned the sword during that time.
Which meant…
“For ten years, nobody used that sword.”
Cain spoke firmly.
“That much I know for certain. However…”
His gaze shifted toward Aila.
“Do you remember the cause of death of Brother Cedric and Lady Siena?”
“They were living in the territory at the time, so I never examined them personally.”
Aila answered with a grim expression.
“But I heard that their entire bodies became paralyzed over the course of only a few months.”
“…”
“The progression was much faster than Lord Bael’s condition. But the symptoms were similar enough.”
An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
Bael frowned deeply while considering the implications.
Cain slowly closed and reopened his eyes.
“One theory seems possible.”
He looked at Luciella.
“If the poison truly spreads through the flow of mana, as you suggested…”
“…”
“And if we consider that adults—especially trained swordsmen and mages like those two—circulate mana through their bodies much faster and more powerfully…”
Cain let out a long sigh before turning toward Bael.
“…Then it was assassination.”
Bael spoke quietly.
“Not aimed at me. At my parents.”
He didn’t seem particularly shocked.
Or devastated.
In truth, he revealed almost no emotion at all.
Only a faint trace of anger hidden deep within his blue eyes.
“It’s not a theory anymore.”
Aila spoke bitterly.
“We can safely conclude that the rapier was the source of the poison.”
It had already been five days since they separated Bael from the sword after hearing Luciella’s suspicions.
During those five days, Bael’s condition had improved dramatically.
His legs, which had remained rigid for years, could now bend halfway.
When he used Cain’s sword as a mana conduit, he had even managed to bend and straighten them several times.
Luciella nodded.
For her, there was no room for doubt.
The Status Window had given her the answer the moment she threw the sword into the hallway.
Just to be certain, she had conducted several experiments, repeatedly bringing the sword into and out of the room.
The result had always been the same.
The poison that had paralyzed Bael was inside the sword.
Every day, during mana training, he had been channeling poisoned mana directly into his own body.
Just as his parents had done years ago.
“It was clearly intentional.”
Cain’s voice turned cold.
“The question is who committed such a crime.”
Silence settled over the room again.
“You said Lord Cedric used that sword his entire life?”
Aila asked.
Cain nodded.
“If I had even once suspected the sword…”
Aila’s expression was miserable.
Yet no one could blame her.
The sword had belonged to Cedric Bellaon his entire life.
The Duke himself had preserved it after Cedric’s death.
Who could possibly have imagined that poison flowed through it?
“If the paralysis progressed rapidly…”
Aila hesitated.
“Was there any chance the blade was modified shortly before their deaths?”
“I don’t know for certain.”
Cain paused.
Then he sighed heavily.
He already seemed to have reached a conclusion.
“A maid who served Brother Cedric for many years once mentioned something.”
“…”
“About six months before Brother Cedric died, his younger brother Osborne borrowed the sword, claiming he wanted to use it for training.”
“…!”
Aila and Luciella immediately narrowed their eyes.
“Later, Osborne claimed that one of the decorative emeralds had been lost and replaced it with a more valuable blue mana crystal.”
Cain’s expression darkened.
“The Duke himself once mentioned that the gemstone had been replaced, so that part is definitely true.”
“A blue mana crystal…”
“It’s a stone specially designed to accelerate the flow of mana both inside and outside the body.”
Aila answered before Cain could.
A bitter smile crossed her face.
“A perfect tool for assassination using mana.”
Cain fell silent for a moment before continuing.
“However, nothing is certain.”
“Why?”
“Because if the maid’s account is correct, the gemstone came from the merchant company operated by my sister Melina.”
“…”
“And it was Brother Devron who delivered the modified sword.”
“So we can’t be sure at which point the tampering occurred.”
Aila finished quietly.
Luciella let out a deep sigh.
She already knew the Bellaon siblings were not particularly close.
All three surviving siblings possessed their own ambitions.
Power.
Wealth.
Prestige.
Each of them wanted everything.
But for one sibling to poison another…
And then spend ten years silently watching their nephew suffer the same poison-induced paralysis…
The thought was horrifying.
“…This is good news.”
Bael finally broke the silence.
“What?”
Cain looked at him in surprise.
“I always wondered.”
Bael’s voice was calm.
“How my parents really died.”
“…”
“And whether the same thing was happening to me.”
Cain’s eyes widened.
Bael continued.
“Uncle, you always said that an enemy standing in the open is less frightening than an enemy hiding in the shadows.”
“…”
“None of the suspects are unexpected people.”
His expression remained astonishingly composed.
“Nor are they people I was particularly attached to.”
“…”
“So this isn’t bad news.”
His logic was cold and clear.
Then he turned toward Aila.
“What really matters is this.”
For the first time, genuine emotion entered his voice.
“Can I… get better?”
