~Chapter 69~
“…Dane?”
What did that even mean?
Camilla doubted her ears.
“…If I’ve wanted you this whole time, even though I couldn’t protect you for five years.”
With his low voice, hot breath brushed against her neck.
“Would you push me away?”
Her head felt dizzy with emotion. Camilla felt her body trembling.
“Even if you push me away, it’s fine.”
But at his next words, her heart dropped.
“Just don’t die.”
Don’t die.
She had heard those words from Nina too.
But somehow, they felt different now.
Camilla slowly raised her fingertips to the man holding her.
“About me… how much do you actually know?”
Camilla carried many layered secrets.
That she had once been an illegitimate child.
That as a child, she had lived like livestock, treated as a sword-training tool.
That she later made drugs for dark businesses and worked as the arena’s manager.
All of it—misery and guilt—had pushed Camilla toward death.
If not for her sister’s letter, she might have hanged herself the moment the trial ended.
And yet, a new fear rose up.
“What exactly did you dig up?”
At last, Camilla pushed Dane away and screamed.
“…That you’ve been drinking poison for your family.”
His thick voice pressed down on her.
Moonlight revealed her pale cheeks.
“And that you even made poison meant only for yourself… to die.”
The moment she heard that, her head spun.
Camilla shoved Dane wildly.
She was only a weakened patient, but her will was not weak.
“Camilla!”
“Go! Get away!!!”
It felt like a lie that she had wanted to talk with him.
What Dane uncovered was the very shame at Camilla’s core.
‘Why am I like this?’
A shame she herself had never recognized suddenly surged up, forcing a scream out.
“Camilla, it’s okay!”
But she shouted back at the Dane trying to calm her.
“It’s not okay!!”
Tears spilled down freely.
Camilla whispered desperately to the man staring at her in shock.
“…Please leave, Dane. Please….”
At those words, Dane lowered his head.
Soon after, footsteps faded, and the door closed.
Left alone in the darkness, Camilla covered her mouth and buried her face in her knees.
Tears soaked her dry cheeks.
‘Ah… I see.’
At the Mowin estate, almost everyone except Nina had known, so it had been quietly ignored.
She had never even thought her constitution would be taboo.
And yet—
‘I hated my own body.’
The moment she realized that, despair rushed in.
‘Ah, I finally feel alive. I’ve gotten my youth back!’
A body her mother had carefully shaped, then sold for a chest of gold coins.
That was where everything had started.
She tried to live a goal-driven life.
Otherwise, the shame she ignored felt like it would chase her down and swallow her whole.
She hadn’t even realized it was shame—
until Dane learned the truth.
Being exposed like that to the man who said he wanted her was unbearably humiliating.
She covered her eyes.
One thing was clear.
‘I don’t belong beside Dane.’
Clack.
As Dane stepped out and shut the door, he felt like smashing his own jaw.
‘I’ve lost my mind.’
The alcohol had long worn off.
Camilla’s scream echoed painfully in his ears.
He could not forgive himself for cornering and hurting the woman he loved.
‘About the red potion you recovered from the Mowin family’s laboratory.’
‘Yes.’
‘We discovered its use through the encrypted research journal.’
What Carrie examined had been taken from the Mowin laboratory—but in truth, it looked like Camilla’s personal research.
It had been inside the only locked drawer.
The potion, clearly something Camilla had been researching alone, felt ominous. That was why he had given it to Carrie.
And Carrie had reported—
‘Actually, it’s an antidote… but it had something unusual.’
With worried eyes, Carrie handed over a parchment covered in dense writing.
Short words filled it, yet the parchment was very long.
‘Everything written here is the name of a poison.’
Carrie whispered carefully.
‘And this medicine focuses on how to make treatment effective… when someone has already been poisoned by all of these.’
‘…What?’
A cold sensation ran through Dane.
After interrogating the Mowin servants, he learned about Camilla’s constitution.
In that moment, he wanted to kill the baron, trial or not.
But since the baron was already imprisoned, he had drowned himself in wine instead.
He should not have.
He should have gone to the prison and stabbed through the bars.
“…Camilla.”
Leaning against the wall, Dane clenched his fist.
His nails dug in, blood dripping, but he closed his eyes and whispered like a prayer.
“Camilla.”
Please.
“If you’re not okay… I’ll make it okay.”
He had waited five years.
Even after hurting her, even knowing how cruel he was—
he could no longer imagine a life without her.
Five years ago, on the day his engagement to Nina was finalized—
Dane was devastated.
“Under the Empress Dowager’s witness, the Escalus Grand Ducal House and the Baron Mowin House have exchanged oaths, establishing the engagement.”
The engagement ceremony had happened earlier, but on the morning before he left for Beluoa, the oath signed by the Empress Dowager arrived.
Dane’s name was written in gold, with Nina Mowin’s beside it.
The Grand Duke of Escalus nodded in satisfaction and whispered as if comforting him.
“Illegitimate blood is impure. Such people always betray others.”
What nonsense was that?
“Your uncle was also an illegitimate noble… and because of that witch, he was betrayed and suffered until his death.”
“…I don’t see how illness relates to betrayal. I’ll take my leave.”
With a father like that sitting as Grand Duke, Dane would prove his own worth.
But—
‘I miss her.’
Still, not a single reply from Camilla came.
Not a letter condemning the engagement.
Not even a reply to letters asking her to tell him if she needed anything.
Disheartened, Dane threw himself into the business his father entrusted to him.
Reading the flow of others’ desires was easy.
The Escalus businesses in Beluoa, once declining, stood tall again.
Count Ian, a business partner, began frequently visiting his residence.
‘You said you’d never done this before, yet your skill is incredible! I truly respect you, Grand Duke’s son!’
Ian offered useful information and asked to be friends.
Among the wolves of a foreign land, Dane was lonely.
Ian was not a bad friend—or business partner.
But when alone, he always thought of her.
The girl who said she would be quiet like a tree, yet carried unforgettable scars.
‘Dane, I—! I was recognized for my swordsmanship! I’ll be your right hand!’
‘Grand Duke’s son! Our guild received some interesting information—!’
People gathered around him.
But the seat of his first friend was always empty.
Even when he visited Escalus, he never saw her.
Years passed.
As every business he touched succeeded and people called him the “Hand of Midas,” women began appearing at business dinners.
“Grand Duke’s son, this is my daughter.”
All dressed lavishly.
“What kind of woman is your type, Grand Duke’s son?”
They showed no hesitation, even knowing he had a fiancée.
He ignored them—but one woman continued cheerfully.
“Have you heard? They say there’s a woman called a witch in Escalus.”
Dane looked up.
A witch—his father’s words came back to him.
“Our family is in pharmaceuticals, so we heard… a genius alchemist who controls Escalus’s medicine trade and bullies merchants. They call her the ‘Witch of the Mowin Family.’”
His mind snapped awake.
“They say she’s so wicked that even commoners fear her, and society avoids her. A noble lady should have dignity—”
“Did you ask about my taste?”
The woman’s face brightened.
“Yes! If you’d tell me your taste, it would be an honor—!”
“A witch-like woman.”
The woman froze.
“…Pardon?”
“I said a witch-like woman is my type.”
