TMLITTKM | CHAPTER 129

[CHAPTER 129]

When I opened my eyes, Amelia was in my line of sight.

The burning pain in my throat was gone.

Amelia was holding Vincent, who had collapsed after drinking tea and vomiting blood, and was crying sorrowfully.

I immediately knew this scene was a dream.

It was a continuation of the dream I had when I collapsed at the House of Duke Royce before.

Now that I was in the same position as Vincent, the scene felt especially different.

That medicine is the one I drank too…. It must have been really potent. I barely even touched it, yet it did this.

At the same time, I thought that Vincent must have suffered greatly as well.

Am I going to die like this too?

While Amelia was crying, the door suddenly burst open.

Seeing Vincent collapsed, the attendants cried out in shock toward the outside, and soon the sound of knights running could be heard.

Now and then, I could hear the words “assassin of the imperial family.”

Now and then, I could hear the words “assassin of the imperial family.”

Flustered, Amelia darted her eyes around before pulling out a vial from within her arms.

It was the same kind of vial I had received from the duke, and about half of the liquid remained inside.

Without hesitation, Amelia poured the medicine into her mouth.

Soon after, she collapsed on top of Vincent, bleeding from her mouth.

Without hesitation, Amelia poured the medicine into her mouth.

Soon after, she collapsed on top of Vincent, bleeding from her mouth.

Ah….

So this was how Amelia before Vincent’s regression had died by following him.

Yet even knowing that, I was not surprised.

Because I now desperately understood that Amelia’s feelings for Vincent had been sincere.

And I too, now, shared feelings somewhat similar to hers….

Soon after, severe dizziness washed over me.

I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again, only to find the previous scene gone and everything submerged in darkness.

Then, crying could be heard again.

It was Amelia’s voice.

I could not see her, only hear her voice.

To be precise, it was not something I heard with my ears, but something that rang inside my head.

“Hic, I was foolish…. To let His Highness die by my own hands…! Ah, ahhh!”

What was strange was that as I listened to her sobbing, a sharp pain began to sting deep in my own chest.

As if Amelia had become me, her crying nearly brought tears to my own eyes.

Then, from far away, murmured voices could be heard.

One of them was very familiar.

“Of course. If I go back, I will not be deceived again.”

「…That’s not it. But I will give you another chance.」

“Can I really live again?”

「That child is crying too much. It’s noisy. But if you cannot see the truth, you will end up with the same ending anyway.」

Vincent?

I did not know who the other presence was, but one of them was undoubtedly Vincent.

After that, Amelia’s sobbing grew louder, making it hard to hear the rest of the conversation.

Then, a pale cluster of light flickered in front of me.

「Stop crying. You’re too loud.」

It sounded as if it were speaking directly to me, right before my eyes.

I tried to part my lips to answer, but no sound came out.

Instead, only Amelia’s sobbing continued to echo.

「Hoo, you need to empty yourself a little. Go rest somewhere else for a while. That place will not be easy either, but it will be enough to clear your head. You will be able to look at yourself a bit more objectively.」

Somewhere else?

Amelia’s crying gradually subsided.

Then the light in front of me grew larger, filling my vision with blinding white.

It was so bright that I could no longer see anything ahead.

When I tightly closed my eyes and opened them again, a ceiling that was familiar yet buried in old memories came into view.

Hanmaeum Mansion, Building 105, Unit 202.

It was the ceiling of the old villa where I had lived with my parents from birth until middle school.

…So it wasn’t possession. I was Amelia reincarnated?

Then what was the original story I read?

As my thoughts failed to come together, my consciousness gradually faded.

I wanted to continue thinking, but I fell back into a deep sleep once more.

***

“There were impurities mixed in?”

Vincent looked at Sylvia, who was reporting on the magical potion, while sitting at his desk.

Sylvia held out the vial and lightly shook it.

“Yes. As I said yesterday, the turbidity was far too high for a magical potion. So I separated the undissolved powder and the liquid and tested them individually. The results are in….”

“What were they?”

Oscar, who was standing beside Vincent, could not hold back and cut in impatiently.

“The transparent liquid was powdered glass. It is normally solid, but magic made it appear liquid. The moment it enters the mouth, it turns back into powder and cuts through the throat and organs as it goes down.”

“Ugh.”

At Sylvia’s explanation, Oscar shuddered in disgust.

Only then did Vincent nod as if it finally made sense.

“That explains the reaction….”

Both he and Amelia had vomited blood and collapsed shortly after taking the potion.

Even in his previous life, one thing he had not understood was that if it were truly poison, the divine protection should have prevented death.

Until now, he had assumed the master of the Mage Tower had found a way to bypass divine protection and created a poison.

Well, in the sense that it harmed people, it could still be called poison.

If it had been powdered glass, Vincent would have physically damaged his organs, vomiting excessive blood and dying from massive hemorrhage.

That was something divine protection could not prevent, making it more lethal to Vincent than any poison.

“But the strange thing is this impurity.”

“What was that?”

“This one is rat poison. The kind commonly used in civilian homes.”

“What? Rat poison? That kills people too, right?”

“Well, yes. In that sense, it is poison.”

Sylvia tilted her head, still looking puzzled, as she shook the vial.

“Making powdered glass look like liquid requires very high-level magic. So why mix something as low-grade as rat poison into it?”

“Perhaps they wanted to be absolutely certain?”

“It seems like it would actually lower the chance of death. This rat poison is extremely bitter, making it hard for a person to swallow. The smell too…. Would you like to smell it?”

Sylvia opened the lid and set it down in front of Vincent.

Vincent lightly brought the vial to his nose, frowned, and passed it to Oscar.

Oscar sniffed it as well, grimaced, and set it down.

“Ugh. It really would be hard to swallow.”

“Right? If they were going to use it, they would need to mix it with something strongly scented, like a spice, to mask it….”

“Then the person who created the glass powder liquid and the person who mixed in the rat poison are likely two different people.”

At Vincent’s conclusion, Sylvia nodded in agreement.

“That is probably the case.”

Vincent stared at the vial again, then clenched it in his hand.

“Good work. How is Amelia’s treatment going?”

“Ah, she has recovered enough to swallow medicine. Thankfully, she only ingested a small amount.”

“That is a relief. But then why… has she not regained consciousness?”

Vincent’s expression darkened as he asked.

“I am not a doctor, so I cannot say for certain, but she should wake up soon. She seems extremely exhausted both physically and mentally, so it is as if her body is taking this chance to rest deeply.”

“I see. Very well. You may go.”

As Sylvia lightly lifted her skirt and bent her knee, she added as if remembering something.

“Oh, Your Highness. What I said before has clearly proven to be a misunderstanding. I apologize for suspecting the Lady.”

“…That apology is not mine to receive. Rather, I…”

Vincent had also suspected Amelia, so he would need to apologize as soon as she woke.

Sylvia smiled faintly as if she understood, then left the room.

She never intended to kill herself. Not now, and not in the past life either.

In the previous life, it was true that she had been deceived into giving him the medicine, but she herself had not betrayed him.

Knowing that made his heart feel much lighter, yet at the same time painfully sore.

The time he had spent forcing distance while suppressing his feelings now felt unbearably wasteful.

It’s okay. As soon as she wakes up, I will apologize and start over.

Vincent waited earnestly for Amelia to wake up.