CHAPTER 164……………………………………………….
Chloe’s steps quickened as she entered the villa. She glanced around just in case, then bit down hard on her lip as a surge of pain rose within her.
“Ugh.”
She had somehow endured it until now, but at this very moment—when what she desired was finally within reach—the pain spiked to its limit.
Unable to bear it any longer, Chloe tore off the bandage wrapped around her arm. Rotten flesh sloughed off and fell away.
“N-no…”
Her pace grew even faster.
With a deathly pale face and the loose bandage fluttering behind her, she hurried through the empty, desolate villa—a sight that suited the barren estate all too well.
This villa had been the duchess’s private property, inherited from her family, a place where Emily would often come to recuperate. But now, it belonged solely to her.
Yes. This place was hers.
No matter what anyone said, she was the master here.
Everything else had been taken from her. If she didn’t at least think that much, she felt she would go mad.
‘But they can’t just expect me to die.’
As she panted for breath, one corner of Chloe’s mouth twisted upward.
Just when it seemed she had hit rock bottom, a path to survival would always appear. The dragon’s heart she had hidden here was proof of that.
“Chloe, you would do anything for our Emily, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course. Naturally.”
She blinked with the most innocent expression she could muster. To earn the trust of the duke, a man of immense influence in the Empire, she would even pretend to offer up her life.
“It’s a secret, but there is exactly one medicine that can save our Emily.”
“Then we must obtain it at once! What’s the problem?”
“…There is someone else searching for the same thing.”
The duke wavered between loyalty and impropriety before steadying himself.
Emily, his only daughter, was his entire world.
Perhaps the reason he kept running a merchant guild unsuited to his temperament was to save her.
“It is a legendary item passed down in the Empire. It possesses primordial magic and can cure any curse or illness in existence. It can raise anyone to their feet—so long as they are not already dead.”
“Does something like that truly exist? What could it possibly be…?”
“The dragon’s heart.”
Has this man been reading fairy tales?
It sounded like a joke, but she couldn’t laugh. He was far too serious for it to be dismissed as the desperate words of a grieving father.
Blind faith swirled in his eyes.
“Listen carefully. I am searching the entire continent. One day, it will come into the guild’s possession. I must remain by Emily’s side, so I will entrust everything to you. From its appearance, even from when it is still an egg—”
She committed to memory his hushed explanation, spoken as though someone might overhear. An immortal medicine that cured all curses and illnesses—whether real or fake, she might find a use for it someday.
And when it truly fell into her hands, she couldn’t help but marvel at his conviction.
“Oh my, so it was real.”
With such a detailed description, how could she not recognize it at a glance?
She placed the glowing red orb, nestled carefully in an old box, on her palm and smiled.
The foreign merchant who had brought it panted with anticipation in his eyes—How much will I receive?—and Chloe smiled brightly at him.
Offering a smile to someone about to die was a lady’s virtue, after all.
“…So this is mine. It’s mine.”
She hid it thoroughly, so that no one would even know it existed. She never believed it belonged to the duke.
Whether he grieved upon hearing that it could not be found, whether Emily’s breath eventually faded—it didn’t matter. If it was that precious, it should be used more effectively.
One must look to the distant future.
Hadn’t the duke himself said that the Emperor was searching for it for his son? Then she should secure a more exalted buyer.
Her mind began to race.
First, she would take the position of the duke’s daughter.
As if it had been hers from the beginning—she would become such a perfect daughter that Emily’s very existence would be forgotten.
After that, she would earn Aaron’s trust as he searched for his brother. And at the decisive moment, if she were to lift his curse—how fitting that would be.
“A deal? How laughable.”
Of course, she intended to add one condition: that the Crown Prince step aside of his own accord.
If she cured his curse only for him to covet the throne, it would be like attaching a tumor to herself.
But the Crown Prince she met in person had, fortunately, not the slightest interest in the throne.
“Yes… that’s right.”
And yet that very man married that woman and cast her into ruin in an instant.
Chloe’s rage stretched endlessly, without even knowing where to land. Mixed with unbearable pain, half the words that spilled from her lips were curses.
“Ugh… hngh.”
Staggering, she descended the stairs to the basement one step at a time.
Though this was her private space, the item she had to hide most carefully was stored here.
If it was something containing omnipotent power—the only one of its kind in the world, its value beyond estimation—then she had no choice but to guard it with the utmost care.
“Haa… haa…”
Hot breaths escaped between her clenched teeth.
Clatter.
The ordinary jewel boxes within reach were flung aside like outlets for her frustration. She could gather them up later. Something else mattered now.
Chloe stopped somewhere in the middle of the cellar and stretched her arm toward the wall.
One, two—she counted the bricks by eye. It seemed there was yet another hidden compartment here.
Rrrk.
With desperate strength, she pried out a brick and pulled forth a shabby box concealed within.
Since the moment it came into her possession, she had stored it away exactly as she received it. This was the first time she had opened it again.
With bloodied hands, Chloe threw open the lid.
“Ah…”
Before she could even lift it fully, a dazzling radiance spilled out, making her squint.
Last time, she had been too busy hiding it to examine it closely. But now she was utterly captivated, unable to tear her eyes away.
So this is the dragon’s heart.
It shone as if polished every single day, inspiring even a sense of reverence she hadn’t known she possessed.
“…Damn it.”
What a waste. For something so precious to disappear.
She had to live, so she had to consume it—but the very situation infuriated her beyond measure.
If only she hadn’t been bitten by the balrog.
No—if only that wretched woman hadn’t been so vicious!
All her resentment turned toward Adele.
“Haa… haa…”
I will have my revenge. Let’s both live and see.
Chloe seized the dragon’s heart. With its mesmerizing clarity, it looked less like a shriveled, dead heart and more like a glass sphere filled with shimmering red liquid.
The moment it touched her hand, a warm energy spread through her, already heightening her expectations of its effect.
“Just you wait.”
Breathing raggedly, Chloe lifted it with trembling hands. Forcing her collapsing body to keep its balance, she was just about to put it into her mouth—
Crash!
A deafening noise exploded behind her.
“….”
As Chloe slowly turned around, her bloodshot eyes widened to their limit.
