“You have to drink it all in one go.”
“I know.”
Elia pinched her nose and downed the medicine in one breath.
“Ugh!”
As she gagged, Felix quickly popped a piece of candy into her mouth. The sweet taste made the nausea disappear as if it were a lie.
A short while after Felix left, Alexis entered the room.
“Elly, I’m glad you’re awake. You were down for quite a while this time.”
“I heard. I was asleep for a whole week…”
“You had deep internal injuries.”
“What happened to the village?”
“All the villagers are safe—thanks to you.”
Alexis hugged Elia gently.
“Don’t do anything dangerous again, Elly.”
Elia didn’t dislike the fact that Alexis was worried about her.
“What happened to the village chief?”
“We looked into it. Turns out a dark mage had disguised himself as the village chief.”
The real chief’s body had been found in a storage shed.
“We gave him a proper funeral. The village is safe now.”
“It’s still early to say that. Count Gaisa will be visiting the village.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already heard from Lapis.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, Your Grace.”
Elia hadn’t contacted Lapis again after their communication orb call—Jasper had fallen ill, then the incident at Alfonso Village broke out, leaving her with no time to follow up.
“Since you weren’t responding, Lapis sent me a letter. He discovered that Count Gaisa had been siphoning off food supplies.”
“I suggested raiding the food supplies he stole.”
Alexis smiled gently.
“Right now, Count Gaisa is bringing that food here himself. I bet he has no idea it’s the very same food he stole.”
“Sounds like Lapis did a great job.”
Alexis nodded in agreement.
* * *
Count Gaisa arrived at Alfonso Village, completely flustered.
“Who are you?”
“Oh! I’m Luke, the new village chief.”
“New village chief?”
“Yes, the previous chief passed away recently.”
“Ah, I see.”
Count Gaisa looked around.
The village looked far too clean and pleasant to have recently suffered a plague.
“Hey, didn’t a plague break out here recently?”
“Oh, that? It was resolved a few days ago.”
“Resolved?”
“Yes! Turns out an evil dark mage cursed our village.”
“A dark mage cursed it?”
Luke puffed out his chest and proudly declared,
“Our Duke defeated the dark mage himself. Thanks to him, we’re free from the curse now.”
“I-I see…”
“So there’s nothing to worry about, my lord.”
“Haha, that’s good to hear.”
Count Gaisa was given a room in the village chief’s house for the night—it was the biggest and nicest place in the village.
He glanced at his aide.
“Roman, what’s going on here?”
“I’m just as confused, my lord.”
“Didn’t we say the plague would be spreading here by now? How did the Duke know about it and resolve it?”
Unless he had clairvoyant powers, it made no sense.
Only he, Grand Duchess Christina, and her inner circle had known about the outbreak.
If the plague had spread from Alfonso Village to the Duke’s territory and beyond, the blame would’ve fallen squarely on the Duke for failing to notice something happening right under his nose.
‘Now the medicine I brought is useless.’
The medicine Count Gaisa had received from Grand Duchess Christina was meant to cure the plague.
He was a businessman who made his fortune in pharmaceutical production. With that medicine, he was supposed to take credit for curing the disease and become a witness to shame the Duke’s family.
‘Everything’s gone off track.’
The Grand Duchess’s plague cure was now useless.
‘I was supposed to blame the spoiled food on the plague too. This is bad.’
Not knowing that the food had been replaced, Count Gaisa began to panic.
‘I have to get rid of the food before the Duke finds out.’
If it was discovered he brought rotten food, the Duke wouldn’t let it slide.
It could even backfire on him.
He felt like things couldn’t have gotten more tangled.
“Roman, we need to get rid of the food.”
“You mean…?”
“As soon as we leave the village, lure some monsters to us.”
The Duke’s territory was full of monsters.
“If we say the food was lost in a monster attack, the Duke can’t say anything.”
“Understood. I’ll send knights right away.”
“Make sure nothing causes trouble for the Grand Duchess.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Count Gaisa thought that even someone as perfect as Grand Duchess Christina could make mistakes sometimes.
If he cleaned up the mess well, he’d easily win her favor.
After all, he would have fixed what she had failed to do.
Smirking, he looked at his aide, Roman.
The medicine from the Grand Duchess may have been useless, but now was his perfect chance to show off his cleverness.
Little did he know what was coming the next day.
* * *
Crash!
Grand Duchess Christina smashed a vase on the table.
It was because of the news her aide had just brought.
“What did you just say?”
“The operation failed, Your Grace.”
“How?”
“The dark mage we sent… was killed.”
“By whom?”
Christina’s eyes glinted sharply as she glared at her aide.
He bowed deeply and answered in a flat tone,
“They say he was killed by Duke Cartellani himself.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, I confirmed it in person after visiting the village.”
“And the village?”
“It’s perfectly fine. Only the village chief died—everything else appears normal.”
“The Duke is more capable than I expected.”
“Yes, Your Grace. The dark mage we sent wasn’t low-ranking, either.”
Christina stepped on the flower petals scattered on the floor with her heel.
“He might already be at the level of a master.”
Her aide looked up in shock.
“At such a young age?”
“The Cartellani line is said to produce prodigies. That reputation isn’t unfounded.”
“Won’t Count Gaisa be in trouble?”
“He sent me a letter, actually. Seems he’s doing damage control in his own way.”
“Then…”
“We’ll have to wait and watch.”
Spinning gracefully, the Grand Duchess looked back at her aide.
“How’s the search for the Guardian going?”
“We’re doing our best.”
“‘Doing our best’… It’s progressing too slowly.”
She stepped closer and gripped his chin.
“You’d better truly do your best… unless you want to become his sacrifice.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You may go.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
After sending him away, Christina pulled the bell cord to summon a maid.
Without waiting for orders, the maid quietly cleaned up the shattered vase on the floor.
Christina watched her in silence and sank onto the sofa.
* * *
The next morning, Count Gaisa got up early and began packing to leave quickly.
“Your Grace?”
But Alexis showed up at dawn with the Iron Eagle Knights, preventing his early departure.
“You’ve traveled far. Thank you for coming, Count.”
“Ha ha, I didn’t expect Your Grace to come all the way here yourself.”
“I couldn’t have a noble guest from the Imperial Court arrive without proper welcome. Besides, the roads outside the village are full of monsters.”
“If I couldn’t handle that, I wouldn’t be much of an imperial noble, would I? Though we’re no Iron Eagle Knights, the squad I brought can take care of a few monsters. Your concern is appreciated.”
“Still, I’ll escort you—just in case. We can’t risk anything happening to those precious supplies.”
Count Gaisa forced a smile, despite grinding his teeth inside. With the Duke himself offering to escort him, he had no choice but to accept.
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
“If you’re ready, let’s depart.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
So Count Gaisa had no choice but to leave under the escort of Alexis and the Iron Eagle Knights.
His aide Roman sidled up beside him and whispered nervously,
“My lord, things are getting worse. What do we do?”
“At this point, we need to attract as many monsters as possible.”
“Any method?”
Count Gaisa glanced toward Alexis and the knights riding ahead of them.
Then he reached into his cloak and quietly pulled out a glass vial.
