In the original work, Desian was given the potion to kill off all of his emotions. The dark wizard Toloji was killed as he tried to run away.

*****

After Desian left, Citrina went back to sitting in the garden. She thought of the curiosity that had flashed past Desian’s indifferent face.

“What was that, I wonder?”

Either way, the dye was cast and she had no choice but to wait.

Citrina slowly began to read books about spirits.

Ten minutes, thirty minutes, then an hour had passed. As the evening sun was setting, cold air settled on her arms.

Citrina saw a teary, red-eyed Aaron running up to her. The boy who usually didn’t leave the building was shaking. Seeing the tears in his pitch-black eyes, Citrina got up.

“Aaron nim.”

“Citrina.”

He pointed at his bracelet, which served as his mana’s restraint. It was the same type of restraint as Desian.

The bracelet was vibrating strangely. Aaron’s arm trembled. He extended his arm to Citrina.

“Look at this.”

His cheeks were deathly pale.

“I think my older brother is in danger.”

Citrina stared at Aaron’s bracelet wrapped around his wrist. She stood up in a hurry. A bandage fell out of Aaron’s pocket. It was as if it was to warn of something ominous.

“It’s dangerous..…”

‘Was it the time when Toloji gives Desian the emotion killing drug?’

The villain’s narrative was cruel. Citrina knew how Toloji tormented Desian, but she didn’t know when he would inject the emotion killing drug into Desian.

So it made sense not to go where Desian was kept.

Agonizing over that, Citrina picked up the bandage. It was almost an unconscious act.

“My older brother is underground.”

“I know.”

At first, Citrina had not planned to go with him. Desian told her to wait here. Citrina also didn’t want to die, so she wanted to wait here.

However, she looked into the Aaron’s innocent eyes. Citrina had seen eyes like this in her past life

…. From Spring, the dog she used to care for.

“I’ll go there alone. But just in case, you should avoid the place and protect yourself.”

Aaron spoke in a trembling voice. He seemed ready to die.

If Desian’s mana exploded, the whole annex would be in danger. But Citrina doubted that would happen. She thought about the Desian she had seen just a few minutes ago.

His image was very human.

There wasn’t a single servant along the path as they passed through the corridor, down the staircase, and to the underground cell’s entrance.

As they were heading down the seemingly never-ending stairs, they spotted some smoke overhead.

The place where Desian was kept was so gloomy and dark that it brought to mind a prison. The air was dismal and thick.

In these sorts of conditions, even angels would become devils. She didn’t like Desian very much, but Duke Pietro made her grit her teeth.

“Shall we go in?”

“…yeah.”

Citrina and Aaron moved a little closer.

‘What is that?’

The sight before her was more gruesome than she had imagined. Unlike what she had experienced as a spectator reading the novel, the sight made her nauseous. Acrid smoke hung in the air of the wrecked room.

‘The head butler and the dark wizard Toloji are probably dead in here, if I remember correctly.’

After the smoke had cleared a bit, she could see Desian standing with his back to the wall.

Citrina was a little relieved to see Desian’s silhouette.

‘Let’s be calm, Citrina, these people were going to die anyway, and they were bad people who were experimenting on Desian. You just need to change the future a bit.’

She took a deep breath, which boosted her energy. Luckily, this wasn’t the first time Citrina had seen death.

Citrina walked into the room with a cool face. Aaron, who had been stumbled with bleary eyes until then, took the lead.

“Brother.”

He went inside with watery eyes. Perhaps he had convinced himself that Desian was dead.

What she believed was the head butler’s body was spilled about the floor in a messy way.

No, it couldn’t be called a corpse anymore. It just looked like a bundle of rags. The corpse was odd for how extremely pale it was.

‘The corpse is strange. Anyway, he was evil, and he is already dead…’

Disgust rose briefly. She didn’t feel any particular regret because they were all mean people.

“Aaron.”