How the Villainous Consort Avoids His Death Ending - Chapter 10.2
“……”
It was not as if I had not foreseen this situation. I also knew when I should step back. Nothing I did would change my fate, which was already doomed to meet a terrible end.
My goal had been to stay quiet and unnoticed, to divorce peacefully, and to leave the Grand Duke’s domain.
But the sound of a child crying for his mother would not leave my ears. I bit down hard on my lower lip.
“Your Grace…”
My voice trembled miserably. I feared that Tristan might draw the sword hanging at his waist even now. Yet, I whispered desperately with a cracking voice filled with earnestness.
“Please believe me.”
A long silence descended over the crimson waves.
There was no reason for Tristan to trust me. I had brought forth no proof and merely insisted on my words. Still, I had nothing else to say.
There was nothing I could do.
At that moment, Tristan took a step closer. From a distance where I could almost feel his breath, his blue eyes looked down at me.
“Can I trust you?”
His low voice echoed in the night air, deep and dark like a sound rising from the depths of the abyss.
I clenched my trembling hands tightly and drew in a breath. The cold, damp air of dawn seeped deep into my chest. I met Tristan’s gaze head-on.
“…I will prove it.”
The small whisper escaped my lips at last. At that moment, Tristan’s eyes wavered faintly.
Petals carrying a foul stench scattered in the damp wind. Pale moonlight softly wrapped around Tristan’s white face. Standing tall among the blood-red blossoms, the Grand Duke was hauntingly beautiful.
At last, Tristan nodded solemnly.
“I will believe you—just once.”
His heavy voice quietly sank into the frigid darkness, disappearing among the crimson petals beneath the moonlight.
❖ ❖ ❖
“That cannot be done, Your Grace. Even if it is your command, I cannot obey. How could you trust the Grand Consort, Your Grace!”
Wilhelm’s shocked cry rang through Constantine’s bedchamber. The surrounding guards wore uneasy expressions. The nanny, watching with a twisted face, raised her voice heatedly.
“Your Grace, how can you be certain that strange thing is an antidote and not a poison? To give His Highness Constantine a drug of unknown origin!”
Tristan did not answer. His heavy gaze turned straight toward me, calm yet chilling.
I quietly lowered my head and looked down at the small bottle in my hand. The red liquid inside shimmered like blood.
After obtaining the corpse flower, I had received help from the servants arranged by Tristan to gather the remaining ingredients and prepare the antidote.
“If he drinks this, will he be cured?”
A thin voice reached my ears. Constantine, who had half-raised himself from the bed, was clutching his blanket.
“Do not believe her, Young Master! It is the Grand Consort’s trick!”
The nanny cried out in alarm, trying to stop him. But the boy ignored her and asked again.
“Hm? Grand Consort, then I won’t be sick anymore?”
Tristan raised one eyebrow, his expression uncertain. It must have been because the child, though anxious, was not lashing out as sharply as usual.
“Yes, Your Highness. Once the toxins leave your body, you will not be sick anymore.”
A faint color returned to Constantine’s pale face. For some reason, my throat tightened.
The Grand Consort, suspected of being a spy, was offering him this medicine. Yet the boy’s desperate desire to cling to even this fragile hope was pitiful.
That was all the more reason why I could not afford to delay.
I steeled my resolve and looked at Tristan.
“It is only natural for you to be uneasy. Then, allow me to drink half of it first.”
“What?”
Tristan’s eyes widened.
Before he could stop me, I quickly drank half of the antidote in one go.
The red liquid slid down my throat, spreading a bitter taste. At the same time, a burning pain seared through my esophagus.
I gasped sharply and clutched my chest as my heart pounded violently, enough to make it ache. My legs gave out, and I collapsed on the spot.
“Grand Consort!”
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