The Cold-Hearted Grand Duke Obsesses Over Me After My Death - Chapter 125

Chapter 125. Confusion (4)

‘If I stay like this, it’s dangerous. He might find the passage.’

Hearing Ian’s voice without pause, Emilia felt overwhelming fear. But she didn’t have the strength to move Louid, and she had no intention of escaping alone.

“Emilia.”

At that moment, Louid called her name in a faint, barely audible voice. It seemed he forced himself to speak, his breath coming out rough after the single word.

“Louid, are you awake?”

Supporting his neck with her arm, she asked in a small voice. If she spoke loudly, Ian might hear.

“Do you remember the passage in the rear garden wall I showed you when we first met? Go out through there, get on a horse, and head toward the sea. Just keep following the mountain path.”

Louid spoke with difficulty. Black blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

“Gasp, Louid, you can’t die.”

Emilia hurriedly wiped the blood from his lips with her sleeve.

“No matter where you are, I’ll come find you.”

After leaving those words, Louid lost consciousness again.

“No. Louid.”

She wanted to scream and cry, but she couldn’t make a sound. His body was growing cold. But she didn’t lose hope.

He woke up. He won’t die.

To her, Louid was someone like an immortal.

“Louid, hold on just a little longer. I’ll save you.”

Emilia held the unconscious Louid and whispered softly into his ear.

‘She’s not here.’

Meanwhile, Ian stopped calling Emilia’s name. It seemed she had already escaped the prince’s palace. Della and Lina had ruined everything.

Fools.

Glaring at the fallen mother and daughter, he clicked his tongue with a cold expression and turned away without hesitation.

Should I check the Crown Prince’s palace?

He paused, considering whether to go there to look for Emilia, but soon shook his head. There was no time. The Billiot soldiers buying him time had probably already fled, and the imperial knights would return soon.

‘I need to erase the evidence.’

He went to the stairway entrance and raised his sword high to cut off Lina’s breath.

At that moment, he sensed someone in the first-floor corridor.

Hurriedly returning to the bedroom, Ian opened the second-floor window and leapt outside.

‘There must be an exit to the secret passage somewhere….’

He thought as he ran. He hadn’t seen Emilia leaving the prince’s palace, so she must have gone into a secret passage.

He didn’t know where the entrance was, but the exit would definitely be near the rear gate. As a prince, he knew that secret passage exits were usually built near the rear gate.

For now, he decided to head to the forest near the rear gate. If she wasn’t there either, he would give up and escape.

‘Surely the Emperor has been taken care of.’

Seeing that Della, a powerful black mage, was dead, it was certain that Louid had been at the prince’s palace. Before coming here, he had received a report from his aide that the Emperor and the Crown Prince had both drunk poisoned tea, so not only the frail Emperor but Louid as well would not be in a normal condition.

‘This worked out well.’

Even if Louid survived and later invaded the Kingdom of Billiot, it didn’t matter. Preparations for war were already complete, and by then Louid would be greatly weakened.

‘Emilia, just wait a little longer. I’ll come take you.’

He could simply make Emilia his Empress after attacking the empire. Wearing a demonic smile, he disappeared into the darkness.

“Open your eyes, Louid. Don’t lose consciousness. Can you hear me?”

Emilia kept talking to Louid. It was to keep him from losing consciousness again.

“Emilia, run… quickly.”

Perhaps it worked, as Louid murmured slowly with his eyes closed.

She could escape alone and go to the vineyard Damian had prepared, but she couldn’t do that, and she didn’t want to.

“You always tell me to run. At first it was because you didn’t like me, but now you’re telling me to run to save me. But I won’t go.”

She changed her mind about leaving Louid.

‘I need to stay by his side.’

Seeing Louid trying to save her, she realized his true feelings. Even without hearing a confession of love, she could understand his heart. He loved her.

When he woke up, she would formally apologize for Duke Berthe’s wrongdoing and tell him she didn’t want a divorce.

“Thank you, Louid. I love you.”

Emilia confessed the feelings she had hidden all this time as she tightly embraced his body, which was growing colder.

It might be dangerous if I go out, so I’ll stay here.

Right now, she couldn’t tell who was an enemy or an ally, so outside the secret passage could be dangerous. Ian’s voice was no longer heard. Emilia decided to wait until she heard Alex’s voice.

‘I wish Sir Asher were here….’

Right now, neither Damian nor Count Asher was in the capital. Jamie and Deo had also gone on leave to their hometowns in the north. The only person she could trust was Sir Alex.

Louid’s body began to convulse again.

“Louid?”

Dark red blood continued to flow from the corner of his mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

He had only been struck by a small pillar of flame, so there was no way Louid, who had stronger stamina than most, would be like this.

Could it be poison?

A dreadful thought came to her. She remembered when Louid had been struck by an arrow and poisoned with Serot poison.

It didn’t seem this severe back then.

What if he really dies?

Until now, she had never once thought about Louid dying. But now it felt like reality.

She tightly embraced him to preserve his body heat.

“This ring will protect you.”

Emilia removed her mother’s ring from her finger and placed it on Louid’s finger.

She didn’t know what abilities it had besides blocking fire, but she held onto a faint hope that it might save him. The ring barely fit onto Louid’s little finger.

“You can’t die, Louid.”

Whispering softly, Emilia lowered her head and kissed his lips.

“Goddess Herr, please help us.”

Exhausted, she too slowly began to lose consciousness. Her vision grew hazy.

‘What’s happening to me?’

Cold….

Her body trembled with a severe chill. Burying her face in Louid’s chest, Emilia lost consciousness.

Early the next morning.

Louid laid Emilia, whom he had been holding in his arms, down on the bed. His expression was as cold as ice.

“Your Highness, His Majesty is in critical condition.”

Adam, who had rushed to the Crown Prince’s palace upon hearing Louid had returned, reported to him. Louid looked down at Emilia, who was sleeping as if dead. As he reached to brush away the hair falling over her forehead, he suddenly stopped and pulled his hand back.

“Call the physician, have her treated, and keep a close watch on her.”

“Yes, understood.”

After giving instructions to the maid, he hurried to the separate palace where the Emperor was.

***

“Your Majesty.”

William lay straight on the bed, unconscious. The Emperor’s complexion was pale without a trace of color.

“What happened?” Louid asked the physician standing beside the bed.

“He has been poisoned. Serot poison was mixed into the tea. Your Highness must also receive treatment quickly.”

“Hah…, the culprit?”

Letting out a deep sigh, Louid asked through gritted teeth. His own condition was not normal either. He was only enduring because he had been exposed to countless poisons since childhood.

Adam, standing nearby, answered, “We investigated the attendant who was in charge of the tea yesterday afternoon, but he knew nothing. It seems someone secretly added poison to the teapot. The culprit appears to have fled.”

“Call the Marquess of Carrion.”

“…The Marquess of Carrion, Your Highness?”

At the unexpected order from the Crown Prince, Adam showed a puzzled expression. As far as he knew, Louid disliked the Marquess of Carrion greatly and even avoided brief encounters with him. Yet he was now summoning the marquess, and at a time when His Majesty was in critical condition.

“That’s right.”

“Yes, understood.”

Unable to disobey the Crown Prince’s command, Adam quickly instructed a soldier to contact the Marquess of Carrion.

Not long after, the Marquess of Carrion arrived at the imperial palace.

“You called for me, Your Highness?”

The marquess watched Louid carefully, his face looking as if he might faint at any moment. His plan to eliminate both the Emperor and the Crown Prince had failed, his mistress was dead, and Lina was in a coma, leaving him in a state of shock. Upon hearing Louid had summoned him, he came trembling in fear that his treason had been discovered.

“What happened to Lady Lina?”

“My daughter was injured and is receiving treatment.”

After being found by the soldiers last night, Lina had been taken to the marquess’s residence and was being treated.

“I will send a royal physician to your residence. Make sure she is well cared for.”

Louid spoke as if reciting lines from a play while staring into empty space. His eyes were unfocused.

“…Thank you, Your Highness.”

The marquess’s response came a beat late. His pale expression gradually loosened, and his head tilted slightly.

“Follow me.”

Just as he began to think something was off about the Crown Prince, Louid started walking.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Saying he had something to discuss with the marquess alone, Louid dismissed those around them and remained inside the audience chamber with him for quite some time.

“What kind of injury did Lady Lina suffer?”

Once they were alone, Louid asked with a solemn expression.

“This morning, Lina briefly regained consciousness and told me something. According to her, Her Highness the Crown Princess suddenly released snakes, and before she could even avoid them, her legs were bitten.”

Although Lina had never regained consciousness, the marquess calmly recited the excuse he had prepared.

“Mm….”

Louid slowly nodded. It matched his memory.

The marquess carefully observed the Crown Prince with a sharp gaze. He had also prepared a false explanation about Della. But unexpectedly, Louid didn’t ask a single question about her.

‘Della must have taken some measures. Then there’s no need to bring it up.’

Della’s body had already been removed by Jack before it could be discovered by the soldiers. Besides creating fire, her specialty was manipulating memories. The Crown Prince must have been affected by memory-altering black magic.

The marquess hid a sinister smile and listened quietly to Louid’s words. What Louid said next was so shocking that even someone like him, who had spent his life plotting schemes and conspiracies, was taken aback.