MEBD 06

Chapter 06

The Wrongly Fastened First Button (2)

[Bleddin Wiltiéra… did he truly not betray his master, Crown Prince Lucadin Manus of Egonid?]

The day before he and his mortal enemy fell into the ravine together—

After finally tracking Berenice down and catching her, Kaiden had asked only one question.

And she had answered:

[Bleddin Wiltiéra was a knight who lived without shame until the day he died.]

After hearing that answer, Kaiden had released her without another word.

If he hadn’t let her go then, her final plan—risking her own life—would have failed, and she would have been dragged back to the capital, mocked by all, and executed.

‘Why did he let me go?’

Only now did that question finally surface in her mind.

“Who… did you say you were…?”

“Berenice Wiltiéra, Your Highness. Please, don’t speak—you’re losing too much blood.”

“Wiltiéra… kuh—”

Berenice hurried to support Kaiden as he coughed up blood, but amid the metallic scent of it, she caught another—foul, acrid—smell.

It was a scent she knew well—one she had both inflicted and suffered before.

Poison.

“When were you poisoned?”

“You can tell that I was…?”

“No—don’t answer.”

It wasn’t a poison that killed instantly.

It was the kind created to keep its victim alive for as long as possible—just to make them suffer.

So the Crown Prince of the Empire wouldn’t die here, not yet, not in the Wiltiéra domain.

The problem wasn’t the poison itself.

It was the fact that Kaiden—who should have been stationed at the border fighting the barbarians—was here at all.

‘Why now? Why here?’

Before her regression, Kaiden had been ambushed by assassins on his way to the capital and barely survived. It had been a well-known event throughout the Empire.

Yes, the same event was unfolding again—but the timing and the location were completely different.

‘Last time, they found him too late. His recovery took ages, and by then the Third Prince, backed by the Empress, seized the Crown Prince’s seat.’

The Emperor, stricken by grief over losing his most beloved son, left the throne’s succession vacant for a long time, saying nothing about an heir.

Among the people, it was rumored he simply couldn’t let go of his departed child.

But the nobility all knew the truth.

‘The ruthless Second Prince, who resembled the Emperor’s younger self that once slaughtered his brothers for the throne… and the weak Third Prince, still clinging to his mother’s skirts.’

He hadn’t wanted to choose either of them.

Berenice stared at the pale-faced Kaiden and unconsciously tightened her grip on Bleddin’s sword.

If Kaiden’s injury had happened now instead of before her regression—

Then, unlike in the past when no one had found him in time, she was here. And soon, Wiltiéra’s knights would arrive, following the signal she had left behind.

‘I’ve been poisoned by this before. I know the antidote.’

If she could save Kaiden faster than before, perhaps history itself could change—

—and if that change favored her?

Berenice pushed aside the thought for later. Kaiden’s condition was worsening fast.

“Wiltiéra’s knights are coming. Please, hold on.”

“…Hold on?”

Kaiden frowned faintly at her words, his eyelids heavy.

“The more you talk, the faster the poison spreads.”

Berenice bit her lip, anxiety gnawing at her as she watched his once-bright face grow ghostly pale under the sun.

Her earlier provocation had momentarily cleared his eyes, but things were deteriorating too quickly.

If he could only last until her knights arrived—but—

‘Assassins will come soon.’

They had attacked a Crown Prince. Yet the poison wasn’t lethal.

That meant they weren’t here to kill—they were here to torture.

‘He won’t die here. Not this man.’

She was sure of it.

Which meant the real danger was not Kaiden’s life—but her own.

What assassin would let a noble witness live after seeing the Crown Prince poisoned and bleeding?

When she’d first entered the forest, she had thought she could run if things went wrong—but now, escape was impossible.

‘Can I even move?’

The answer came immediately.

Blood still poured from the wound on Kaiden’s left shoulder.

If this continued, he might die not from poison, but from blood loss and shock.

“I’ll… tend to your wound.”

Kneeling beside him, Berenice hesitated, then gently set down the sword she’d been clutching to her chest—the sword of Bleddin.

Kaiden’s red eyes flickered toward it for an instant before returning to her.

“And what can you possibly do… by looking at it?”

“I told you twice already—you shouldn’t speak.”

“Never learned the virtue of silence… kuh…”

“Well, now’s the perfect time to start learning.”

Why was he so flippant even on death’s doorstep? Before her regression, when she had last seen him, he hadn’t been like this—

Yes, he had been exhausted and battered then, too, but he’d still been composed, serious—nothing like this sardonic tone.

‘Even dying, he’s still royalty.’

As she peeled back the torn fabric to inspect the wound, Berenice pressed a clean handkerchief against his shoulder, a hint of mischief in her voice as she said,

“Hold still. I’m stopping the bleeding.”

He must have felt pain, but aside from a small furrow of his brow, he made no sound.

He looked far too used to bleeding, to being wounded.

“The cut isn’t deep, but the bleeding won’t stop.”

“…A curse.”

“A magic device?”

“Yeah.”

A mado-gu—a relic from the long-vanished Age of Magic.

Rare-sounding, yes, but not truly rare. They could still be found across the continent, their power sustained by the lingering mana in the world.

Even non-mages had long since learned to use them, through knowledge left behind from that era.

Of course, some were common trinkets, while others were tightly guarded treasures.

The “Freezing” artifact currently preserving Bleddin’s corpse was one of the cheap ones—anyone with money could buy it.

‘But a cursed one like this? You can’t buy that with gold.’

Charging a device was possible, but repairing one was not.

That alone made even the most common mado-gu something people used sparingly.

A cursed, high-tier device like this could only be acquired by someone powerful.

‘Someone high up was involved. But who?’

As she recalled the nobles who might wish Kaiden harm, one name came to mind—too great a name to even whisper aloud.

Yes. If that person were behind this, everything made sense.

But she couldn’t say it.

“What are you… thinking about…?”

Kaiden’s weak voice pulled her back. His red eyes were still sharp, watching her.

Instead of answering, Berenice met his gaze and said,

“Poison and a curse? You’ve certainly made some enemies, Your Highness.”

It was a slightly impertinent remark to a royal, but she needed him awake—provoking him seemed to work better than concern.

“Hah… ha.”

He let out a dry laugh and shook his head, gritting his teeth.

As he moved, his hood slipped off.

A cascade of tousled black hair fell over his sharply defined face.

The dark strands and long lashes cast shadows over his crimson eyes.

His pale, ashen skin—drained by poison and blood—only enhanced the striking lines of his features.

For a moment, Berenice couldn’t look away.

Then—

A faint sound.

Footsteps.

Soft, almost imperceptible—but her sharpened senses caught them.

‘Not the knights!’

The hidden presence radiated hostility.

In the same instant the sound stopped, Berenice spun around, seizing Bleddin’s sword from the ground.

Clang!

A sharp metallic sound rang out—the enemy’s blade stopped just before her face.

Her arms trembled violently from the force.

‘The knights aren’t here yet?’

She had blocked the assassin’s first strike purely by miracle. But her body, still weakened from recovery, would never endure a second.

“Ugh!”

The assassin seemed to realize it too.

Half his face was hidden by a dark hood, but she could see the mocking glint in his eyes as he pressed harder, forcing her back.

Just as she braced herself for the next blow—

A strong arm wrapped around her waist from behind, pulling her back firmly.

A rush of unfamiliar warmth enveloped her.

Then Kaiden’s low, steady voice whispered right by her ear:

“Well done. Now… close your eyes.”