Chapter 5

“Heuk, huu, haah! Heut, please…. Heut….”

By the third time, she was unable to remember clearly but she seemed to have cried and begged him to stop.

But he didn’t stop. She told him to stop many times, but he didn’t listen.

‘This is enough. This devil…… Even this monster will die, too.’

For a successful assassination, it is not a waste even if her body breaks.

It’s over. This will be the last memory of her life.

And Nicole fainted, flooded by orgasm, covered with energy and excitement.

༺━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━༻

It was that day.

Nicole and Raul saw each other after three months because of his local business trip.

And Raul, who faced her for the first time in a while, drove Nicole crazy again.

〈Leave me alone. I want you to treat me like I’m dead. I hate even the way you breathe.〉

Nicole hesitated at first, but soon felt the limit of her patience and screamed again.

Raul uttered such cold words to Nicole.

〈Stop thinking.〉

〈…….〉

〈Say what I tell you, and just do what I tell you. I don’t even expect you to act like a normal person, so just act like a doll.〉

Listening to Raul’s hateful words is now over.

The fear of being left in this man’s family register even after death is over.

Now she will finally be happy. Through the comfort of death.

༺━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━༻

When she opened her eyes again, she smelled something sweet.

‘How long have I been sleeping?’

She checked the time in a hurry. It was four in the morning.

Fortunately, she only slept for two hours.

‘I didn’t die unconscious, I see.”

It was about time for the poison to spread all over her body. Nicole carefully turned her head and checked the space next to her.

‘Is he dead? He’s not lying next to me, is he?’

But Nicole’s bedside was empty.

Her stomach throbbed. Her messy bottom was cleaned as if someone had wiped it off, and there was only a thin layer of silk on her body.

‘I’m sure all the maids are out tonight. Who did it?’

Nicole thought. That noble, arrogant man couldn’t have dressed her.

She doesn’t even know if he’ll grab her by the hair and drag her down to the floor as soon as the sex is over.

Kiiik.

Then the door to Raul’s study opened.

Raul entered the room with a calm face. Raul was neatly dressed and no trace of what had happened in this room was seen.

‘What? The poison didn’t work?’

Nicole was confused for a moment. Looking at him like that, Raul opened his mouth quietly.

“If you’re up, get dressed. And sit down.”

What lay beside Nicole was a soft dress she often wore when she was alone. A plain dress, with few decorations, just like commoners’ clothes.

Nicole followed Raul’s instructions as if hypnotized. Her buttoning hand trembled.

‘Isabel is a brilliant pharmacist. We secretly tried to concoct the poison of the night. There’s no way our poison won’t work.’

Nicole bit her lip. Then Raul spoke peacefully.

“If you’re wondering about the poison, I know.”

Nicole raised her head. Her pupils dilated.

“Now you, what did you say…….”

“You wanted to die with me, Nicole?”

He spoke kindly. Then he went one step closer to Nicole.

Nicole stepped back without realizing it.

“Even if we swore an oath of marriage to die together, if we die on the same day, we might fall into the same hell. Wouldn’t it be unfortunate if you run into me again in hell?”

“……Did you know?”

Nicole spat out.

“I took my eyes off you for a while, but you’re amazing. You always surprise me. But your hiding place is obvious. There’s a recipe for poison.”

“…….”

Nicole’s eyes darkened.

She might be strangled right now. Or she might be beaten to death. Nicole was nervous.

“Did you notice from the beginning?”

“From the moment I entered this room.”

“…….”

“Looking at the color of your tongue and veins, you really were poisoned.”

Nicole’s whole body trembled. She felt as if she was melting.

“Are you mocking me? For your lies, I…….”

“I ordered you to sit down. You belong to me in this life, and you have to listen to me.”

Nicole was caught by him and forced into bed.

Nicole did not even resist. She felt like a wobbly straw doll.

“I told you to relax. Nicole, you succeeded.”

Raul leaned over Nicole’s shoulder.

Nicole couldn’t understand the situation. What the hell is he talking about?

“I’m going to die soon.”

Only then did Nicole feel that his face was strangely pale.

His strong fingertips on her shoulders were trembling slightly.

The window was half open before she knew it. The light wind entered, shaking the window, and the moon out of the clouds shaded his face.

Nicole was overwhelmed by his presence and could not say anything.

“Before that.”

“…….”

“There’s something you need to know about this medicine. Taking this medicine won’t kill you with me.”

Raul had a knack for speaking clearly in other people’s ears, no matter how low his tone is. It’s the same tonight.

“The host of this medicine can only be a male or a female. And if you have sex with someone with enough energy, the poison is transferred to the other person. Of course you’re poisoned too, but not enough to die.”

“You think I’ll believe such a thing.….”

“You’ll live, I’ll die. Even if you don’t believe it, that’s the truth tonight.”

Ding ding.

Nicole felt like a large bell was ringing in her ear.

It wasn’t peace that awaited her tonight.

It was further confusion.

His grip weakened. Nicole jumped up from her seat.

Kuuk.

Then he suddenly coughed. There was faint blood on his palm when he took his hand off his mouth.

〈Drop in body temperature, change in pupil’s color, and hemoptysis.〉

This man always taunted people, but he never lied. Nicole had a hunch that his words were true.

“Come here.”

He held Nicole’s hand. And when Raul’s hand fell, what lay on her palm was a silver ring.

On the outer rim of the ring, the symbol of Raul’s family was engraved on the center.

‘This is an heirloom, only given to the families of the seven great families, including the families that have been destroyed…….’

Raul used to wear this ring, a symbol of his family.

“This ring has a hidden function. It’s a magic tool that can recognize and save documents. It contains everything you’re curious about. Get out of here and read it. And don’t ever show up in the capital again.”

Nicole’s hands began to heat up as if it were on fire.

There was blood on Raul’s fingertips. Raul caressed her cheek with his bloody hand.

“You’ll let me……run away?”

“Yeah. If they see you like this, you’ll be torn to death by the people. You’ll probably be caller a murderer.”

“……don’t talk crazy. You’re… You’re…….”

Nicole finally understood the situation.

This man knew all about it, but he was beaten by Nicole.

“Why did you?”

This selfish man with everything in the world. Why would this bloody man do this?

“I lost everything when I met you.”

Nicole spouted confusedly.

“I know.”

“…….”

“I know, Nicole. So this is it.”

Nicole’s voice is hoarse. Her head was in a state of chaos.…. And she couldn’t say anything.

He said with his eyes closed as if he was holding back something.

“I should’ve listened to people. I shouldn’t have married you. You ended up being my weakness. You’re such a sick and foolish woman. I’ll never…….”

“…….”

“Most of all, you made me unable to take my eyes off a woman like you.”

Raul’s eyes were very cold when his hand fell off.

“Go now. You were going to kill me anyway and you were going to die, too.”

Nicole looked toward her room unconsciously.

“What a fool. Are you looking for this?”

Raul picked up a small bottle of medicine on the table. It was only then that Nicole found out what it was.

It was an extra poison that Nicole prepared just in case.

Raul threw it on the floor. As the bottle broke, poison was scattered on the floor.

“In the morning, the butler will come to wake me up and find my body. You still have time before that. I’ve prepared for this kind of scenario, so meet my confidant knight, Bastard. He’ll tell you how to escape.”

He sounded as if he was going easy on her. It’s as if he’s treating her like a child.

Raul said Bastard would come to a boat house in a nearby park that he had designated as an emergency shelter in advance.

“I don’t want anyone to see me die. So get out of here.”

Nicole faltered back. She wanted to get away from Raul. She wanted to escape from this incomprehensible reality.

“I’m crazy that I’d rather die than let you sleep with another man.”

He murmured at the end.

As soon as the door closed, Nicole seemed to hear his voice.

༺━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━༻

Raul slowly leaned his back on the bed.

‘Did I write down all my wills about the secret service, Shadow?’

He thought silently as he looked at the ceiling, which he had seen over the years and got used to. Then he closed his eyes slowly.

He was looking at the burning village. Soon his subordinate Bastard came and whispered to him.

〈One of the villagers wrote a letter. It seems that the rest of the rebels are hiding in this village and living as slash-and-burners. Some people say they’ve seen children perform healing powers.〉

Raul slowly turned his horse around and headed for a small house in the mountains.

Bastard said quietly.

〈I think the Yveschapel people are here. If you want to use them as a pass to prevent the imperial marriage by the emperor, it would be the cleanest choice to bring only one daughter with healing power and deal with it. The power of the Yveschapel family that the emperor wants is healing power.〉

〈I’ll see that and judge it myself.〉

The little house looked peaceful and warm.

He went out into the backyard through a low back door.

Palak. White sheets hung on the clothesline and fluttered. There was a shadow of someone floating behind it.

〈You are…〉

A woman popped out.

She was still full of girlishness as if she had just become an adult.

Her eyes were big and her body was small and thin. She has a rather pretty face than a beautiful one.

〈Have we met somewhere?〉

Nicole said quietly.

Soon the sound of horse hoofs rang out. Anxiety spread across Nicole’s face in an instant.

Whistle. The wind blew. The white cloth covered Nicole’s face. Raul was staring at her.

Somehow he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Then the knights stormed into the backyard. They knelt down in front of Nicole.

Raul slowly approached her. He stared at the woman who would be his wife for a long time.

Not knowing that he won’t be able to take his eyes off her for a very long time after that.

So defenseless

It was Raul’s last dream and last breath.

(t/n: I’m crying so hard rn ????)

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟ advanced chapters available here