~Chapter 98~
Camilla thought for a moment, then spoke.
“Actually… when you disappeared two years ago, I sent people to search for your whereabouts.”
This was news to me, and my eyes widened.
“Then I heard you were at the Grand Duke’s estate, and I was worried…”
She met my gaze, her expression softening.
“I’m glad to see you’ve been well.”
I remembered what the young Duke of Durnarn had said:
[Camilla worried for you a lot.]
At the time I thought it strange, but seeing her now, I knew it wasn’t an empty courtesy.
“I truly wish for you to be happy. After all, you’re the one who opened the way for me.”
Even two years ago, Camilla had cared for me without any gain to herself. Back then, I doubted her sincerity, thinking she must have hidden motives.
But now…
After two years, I had learned to tell pure goodwill from pretense — and accept the former. I finally had enough time, enough space in my heart.
So I could say, at last—
“…Thank you, Sir.”
Camilla answered in her own way.
“I wish you good fortune.”
“His Majesty granted Lady Rohiltern the elixir?”
“Yes.”
At that same time—
Aksion Blancia listened to his servant’s report inside his office.
“…Are you all right, my lord?”
“I’m not the one who’s sick, His Majesty is. Why are you worrying about my mood? That’s irritating.”
Aksion, a powerful man with influence over imperial affairs, snapped coldly. The servant apologized again and quickly withdrew.
The elixir in question was so rare even Aksion had struggled to obtain it. Yet the Emperor didn’t drink it himself. Instead, he always found excuses to give it away — and the last one had gone to Bella Rohiltern.
If Aksion complained, Isabel would only say, “Why pour water into a bottomless jar?” That line alone would tear him apart inside.
And because she was sick, he couldn’t scold her. He’d suffer silently and retreat to his office.
It had happened so many times, he already knew the pattern.
He stayed seated, breathing deeply.
He had been working to cure Isabel for over ten years. The best physicians had come and gone, every precious herb had been tried, countless medical texts studied, even dabbling in magic, curses, and forbidden arts.
Yet nothing worked. That very morning, another blood-soaked handkerchief came from Isabel’s palace. Her time was slipping away every moment.
‘So this really is the only way left.’
He pulled out an old tome from his shelf — the original version of the book he had once given Rian.
Rian had said the magic circles inside were tampered with, but he was wrong. The book wasn’t for summoning spirits at all. It was for breaking the world’s fabric, opening rifts to reach what lay beyond.
Some called them demons. Some called them gods.
They were capricious, terrifying beings. But if a contract was made with the right price, they always fulfilled it.
Contacting them was his only hope left.
He had confirmed the ritual worked — Rian had been the perfect test case.
The problem was, the rift had closed too quickly.
Aksion hadn’t told Rian the details written in the back, about the precautions and requirements. Because to open the rift, no magic was needed.
What was needed was a powerful, burning greed — strong enough to attract those beyond the rift.
‘The circle activated. The beast appeared — proof it worked. But the rift closed too fast… Was it because of her?’
Bella Rohiltern. The woman Armians couldn’t live without. Her overwhelming magic had crushed the rift shut.
Aksion wanted her on his side. If not, then at least far away from Armians. Such talent was wasted on that man.
So he had searched the Rohiltern estate, and even won over the Count and Countess. But that was as far as it went.
The Countess fell into her own trap, and the Count scrambled only to save himself — so pathetically that public sympathy turned toward Bella.
Both had lost all value as pieces on his board.
Aksion sifted through papers about House Rohiltern. He skimmed past Bella’s household, acquaintances, hobbies, even her self-taught study of herbs. Then he stopped.
‘Charlotte…’
Her name had been erased from the records, and under Armians’s watch she had been reduced to servant work. He had lost interest then.
But now—
‘She might still be useful.’
He stacked the papers neatly and placed the old tome on top.
Armians had been hiding out at the Palace to avoid Bella, but even that had limits.
The Palace had holidays, and work at the Grand Duke’s household piled up while he was away.
So the cold war followed him home.
When Bella came to see him, he brushed her off with “I’m busy.” If she didn’t press, he pretended she wasn’t even there.
It was the servants who suffered most.
First, he avoided Bella himself — then when she actually left, he looked as if the whole world had collapsed.
And his temper… sharper than ever. Even a rooster with broken spurs would be less vicious.
“Your Grace, the lady is here.”
“And?”
“We do not know what mistake she made, but… would it not be merciful to forgive her and show tolerance?”
“I have too much work today.”
He claimed to be busy, but his eyes drifted idly over his desk.
“Today alone, my lady came five times. That shy woman mustered so much courage to walk here. Yet if Your Grace keeps rejecting her—”
“Halter. You seem awfully interested in trifles today. I assume you finished today’s quota of work first?”
Halter shut his mouth tight. The other servants, afraid of drawing his wrath, bowed their heads.
The office went silent.
Armians turned his eyes back to the empty air above his desk.
The servants thought everything would be solved if he just accepted Bella again. But that was only the surface.
He knew why Bella came.
‘She’ll say she’s fine. That even if she drinks poison again and again, she can endure it.’
When you love someone, you learn these things. Bella was stubborn in strange ways. No easy words would bend her.
‘And in the end… I’ll give in.’
It was getting harder and harder to stay angry at her face. He already knew how this fight would end.
That’s why he avoided her. He was afraid he’d see Bella drink poison again.
“……”
His gaze drifted toward the window.
Rain was pouring down, drenching the earth.
And then — something that shouldn’t be in the garden caught his eye.
A woman in only a thin indoor dress was walking calmly down the garden path. Rain plastered the fabric to her body.
‘Bella?’
“Your Grace?”
Before the startled servants could react, Armians bolted from the office. His vow not to see her shattered as he ran into the garden.
Bella was there.
Her steps were light, as if it weren’t raining.
If not for her pale lips, bitten hard, he might have thought she was simply out for a stroll. She acted as though it were a sunny day.
Behind her, maids panicked. They held umbrellas but didn’t dare cover her, as if she had forbidden it.
Armians snatched one, pulled Bella into his arms, and forced her under it.
Rainwater soaked his arm and fell freshly from her drenched hair.
“Are you insane?”
She was trembling so badly her body rattled against him.
And yet—
“You came.”
She looked up at him and smiled.
