“dicine… for Your Highness?”
“No, it’s not for .”
Gueuze smirked as he spoke.
“I have a pet that’s been getting on my nerves lately… It’s not behaving properly and has started to bare its teeth at . It’s really unpleasant. The problem is, it’s a rare creature, so killing it carelessly could cause trouble.”
“Y-Your Highness sh, ould have many respected physicians… at your side…”
“I can’t entrust this matter to other physicians. They’re too loose-lipped. If sothing goes wrong, they’ll run straight to His Majesty and tattle.”
“…Your Highness, this doesn’t… seem like sothing… I should b-be involved in.”
Gueuze put his glass down and clasped his hands. Surely, Dullan couldn’t truly believe he was talking about an actual animal.
“I’d like you to prepare a tasteless, odorless drug. The less detectable, the better. Carynne ntioned you’re quite skilled at mixing substances into food. Isn’t that right?”
“…I’ve only ever dealt with minor… dicinal substances. Poison isn’t exactly…”
Dullan was trying to deflect the conversation, clearly reluctant to get involved. But now that he was in Gueuze’s room, avoiding involvent was impossible. Perhaps Dullan hadn’t fully grasped this yet. Once inside, he had no choice but to obey Gueuze’s commands.
Carynne had claid that Dullan could cure Gueuze’s condition, but Gueuze didn’t believe it for a second. He had far more experienced and knowledgeable doctors in his retinue than this young priest. Entrusting his body to soone handpicked by Carynne? That would be sheer madness.
“I’m in desperate need of capable subordinates.”
“…Your Highness.”
“I’d like you to beco one of them, Dullan. After all, aren’t we bound together by Carynne?”
Even so, Gueuze had no intention of discarding the amusing toy that had rolled into his hands. Though he disliked priests and physicians, the mont he saw Dullan, he knew this man could be toyed with.
The longing in his eyes. The fire simring beneath his corpse-like skin.
It was all too clear to Gueuze, hidden though it was beneath the black priestly robes, the gaunt body, and the clumsy speech. n like Dullan, consud by hidden desires and frustrated by unfulfilled ambitions, often caused unexpected problems. If such resentnt could be skillfully manipulated, they beca highly useful. People who wanted much but had little—such n made perfect tools.
“If you take care of this task well, I’ll make sure you’re properly rewarded.”
“…It’s getting late, Your Highness. I… I should be going now.”
Whether he disposed of both Carynne and Dullan simultaneously or turned Dullan into a useful subordinate, either option suited Gueuze. He smiled as he stared at Dullan, whose expression remained unreadable. It was difficult to discern what he was thinking, unlike the lust that had been so obvious when he looked at Carynne.
“How about this? If you help , I’ll recomnd you as a vicar to the Grand Cathedral.”
“That’s quite… a jest, Your Highness.”
Dullan’s voice, on the other hand, grew steadier, devoid of its earlier tremors.
Gueuze rested his chin on his hand. He enjoyed this ga—watching soone’s life teeter on the edge of a single decision and plucking out the pieces he needed. It was the nature of a ruler, after all. Let’s toss the bait and see what happens.
“Carynne is carrying my child. Wouldn’t it be fitting for you to beco at least a vicar?”
“……”
Dullan’s expression hardened, and the mont Gueuze saw it, he knew he had hit the mark.
‘He’s not the father.’
Carynne hadn’t involved her lover in such a dangerous ga. She had brought in a re relative. Carynne had claid that Dullan would help her, but to Gueuze, this was a mistake. Dullan looked at Carynne with eyes that betrayed he saw her as far more than just a relative.
But if Gueuze stopped here, the resentnts of a foolish man would be directed at him rather than Carynne. It seed necessary to shift the course of the ga.
“It might not be mine. After all, I’m not entirely certain. I know for sure that I wasn’t her first.”
“Wh…”
“I’ve confird it.”
Gueuze smirked. He wasn’t lying, not in the slightest. Dullan couldn’t tear his eyes away from the prince’s glass.
“No matter how much I adore her, I can’t elevate her child to royal status. Isn’t that right? But she’ll need a husband, and since Carynne has chosen you, I’d like to give you that much authority.”
So, we must beco a family.
His smile resembled that of a serpent.
* * *
Dullan returned to the room assigned to him. For a long while, his stomach churned with nausea, refusing to settle. Perhaps the wine didn’t sit well with him.
“…Ugh.”
Crown Prince Gueuze had demanded his loyalty.
The dicine he wanted was clearly poison. If Dullan got involved, it was obvious his own life would be forfeit. Yet he wasn’t in a position to refuse. Nor was fear the issue. Carynne would co back to life. He would co back to life. But that wasn’t where the problem lay.
“Pregnant.”
Dullan needed to consider why he was here. Why had Carynne chosen him as her husband? And why was she by Crown Prince Gueuze’s side? She had said she had a man she wanted to introduce to the lord. Then why? Was it truly the prince’s child? Or another man’s?
“When the hell did you get pregnant?”
Dullan had been observing Carynne for quite so ti. Yet she hadn’t seed to be involved in any passionate affair over the past few months. One day, she had suddenly disappeared, only to reappear as Crown Prince Gueuze’s mistress. Had she been hiding in the Grand Cathedral with the crown prince during that ti?
“It might not be mine.”
Just how many n had she been with?
She’s only seventeen. That couldn’t be true. Perhaps she had suffered misfortune while away from ho. But to have beco pregnant, so much so that even the father’s identity was unclear? Sothing didn’t add up. At seventeen, she should still be an innocent maiden.
“…No, she’s not seventeen.”
Carynne Hare isn’t seventeen.
Dullan reminded himself of this fact. He knew better than anyone else that she wasn’t a woman of that age. He didn’t know how long she had lived, but it was certain she was a woman well-versed in n, worn and experienced. If her life repeated year after year, it would make sense for her to indulge in desires freely. She would have discarded and replaced n as she pleased.
Even so, that wasn’t the issue—or it shouldn’t have been. He had told himself that soone living a cyclical life might beco broken. It wasn’t unexpected. He had tried to think this way. But…
What disturbed Dullan was that Carynne had attempted to escape him.
Sleep eluded him. An odd anger simred within him toward Carynne Hare, who had drifted through countless n only to summon him now. He already knew what Crown Prince Gueuze wanted him to do—create a poison to kill Prince Lewis.
‘Why the hell did Carynne have summoned?’
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand. The last ti he had seen her was when they were children. It was unlikely she had suddenly developed affection for him. She had hurled a vase at his face the last ti they had spoken.
Carynne hadn’t recomnded him as her husband because she thought he would help her. Nor was it out of affection. There was only one reason she had chosen him.
“To take revenge on .”
Dullan was already familiar with Crown Prince Gueuze’s depraved inclinations. Catherine had shared many sordid stories with him—stories she hadn’t told her daughter.
Thus, Dullan understood what Gueuze wanted from him and what was likely to happen to Carynne. Gueuze would use him and then decide how to deal with Carynne.
If she was lucky, she might remain a mistress. If she was unlucky, she’d end up on a guillotine.
Dullan, too, had nowhere to escape. He whispered a prayer.
“Lord, show the path I must take.”
But no answer ca. Even so, Dullan knew what he had to do. Even if it wasn’t the path God desired, it didn’t matter. Dullan began preparing the poison. He wasn’t afraid.
He had already made enough preparations in the past. The process didn’t matter. Only the result did.
And the result was certain.
An endless cycle, with no true end in sight.
/subliminalwayfarer
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