IWBAACTWITOS Chapter 40

When Matilda suddenly started coughing and complaining of stomach pain, Philius, who'd been observing the interrogation, raised his hand to stop it.

"I said not to touch her internal organs."

The guard protested with an aggrieved face that there was no reason for her to feel stomach pain. Meanwhile, Matilda continued crying and begging them to call a doctor, saying her stomach hurt too much. It didn't seem like acting to escape the situation, so Philius sighed.

"...Call a doctor."

Before long, the imperial physician came down to the underground prison. He looked at Matilda's condition, frowned slightly, then quickly regained his composure and examined her.

"She seems to be poisoned with the same toxin as the Prince. It appears she made a mistake while handling the poison. The dose wasn't lethal, so the reaction appeared late."

The imperial physician explained that it was probably a powder poison meant to be inhaled rather than ingested.

Philius scratched his disheveled hair with an annoyed expression. If she'd used a poison that easy to accidentally inhale, she wouldn't have failed to take an antidote. But if she was poisoned anyway, that meant the antidote was fake.

'Right, she planned to die together from the start.'

He couldn't help but be appalled by the Queen of Celis's actions, but that wasn't the urgent matter. They needed to at least identify the type of poison.

"So what happens now?"

"If we don't expel the poison, she'll gradually weaken and die."

At the mention of gradually weakening and dying, Matilda grabbed the imperial physician's arm. As she opened and closed her mouth trying to say something, Philius asked if there was a way to force her back to consciousness.

"It's not a very good method, but... understood."

After putting a black pill in Matilda's mouth and making her drink a sip of alcohol, before long Matilda screamed and rolled on the floor.

Noticing Philius's mood growing increasingly foul, the guards lifted her up and sat her in a chair. After thrashing for a while, when the pain subsided slightly, she regained consciousness and begged for water.

"Is there any poison left?"

"Please, water first."

"If you want water, you need to talk first."

"Save me, please."

It was funny how she, who'd endured torture fairly well, crumbled in an instant.

'Did she think the Queen would rescue her to the very end?'

Philius threw a basin of water on her and pressed her to answer. Matilda chewed her already burst and bleeding lips, then answered honestly.

"J-jewelry box. The pearls, the necklace..."

The moment her statement fell, knights rushed off carrying the imperial physician. Philius released Matilda's restraints and gave her water. Once she'd regained her senses somewhat, he continued with the next question.

"We didn't let you near the Prince, so how did you poison him?"

"...Wasn't that what you knew about?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking."

"Then why on earth did you..."

"The Prophetess prophesied that the Prince's safety was in danger. The gods know what you did."

"The Pro-Prophetess?"

Matilda repeated it as if she couldn't believe it. Even for the three families, this was the first time the Prophetess had intervened in an individual's life or death.

"A prophecy came down that the Malevolent Wraith would return."

"Th-there's no guarantee Prince Rayan will awaken an ability."

At those words, Philius let out an empty laugh. It sounded like she was saying those who didn't awaken abilities could die.

"If the Prophetess, who conveys the gods' will, wants to save the Prince, there must be a reason."

He couldn't be certain, but Philius could guess who would awaken abilities in the remaining two families.

The first prophecy that only Thaleia received, the Prophetess's intervention in this matter, the fact that those three children were born within months of each other—it all felt like that damned gods' will.

As Philius was resenting the gods, Matilda let out a laugh that sounded like she was scraping out her own life.

"What's so funny?"

"Then isn't the Prince being critically ill also the gods' will?"

"What?"

"The gods know everything, so why didn't they stop it beforehand?"

"..."

"Isn't it the gods' will that that brat should just die? To punish you people who are naturally worshipped as guardians or whatever. The Wraith? What even is that Wraith? You people enjoy every privilege from the moment you're born, don't you? Unlike me, you don't even get punished for your crimes. Because you're those great guardians who protect the world!"

Noticing Matilda's eyes looked dangerous, the knights pinned down her body, worried she might rush at Philius. But the one who wanted to rush forward was Philius.

While he was agonizing over whether he'd have to put weapons in his son's hands starting tomorrow to somehow increase his survival chances, this woman apparently couldn't stand her situation feeling unfair.

'Disgusting.'

Not just Matilda—this entire reality made him want to vomit. He didn't want to teach his son to sacrifice himself to save people like this.

My body shook along with the horse racing at a mad speed. I clenched my teeth to avoid biting my tongue and tightened my arms wrapped around Roxana. After riding like that for about thirty more minutes, the horse slowed down as if reaching its limit, and a stable appeared.

When we dismounted to change horses, the world felt like it was spinning. I held my breath tight to avoid showing I felt sick.

"Tilly, are you okay?"

"...Yeah."

It was me who'd insisted on coming along when I heard Rayan was in danger. Roxana was already slowing the maximum speed to accommodate me, and the more I showed I was struggling, the more the schedule would be delayed.

Roxana, who'd been watching me quietly, took me to a corner and started patting my back. At the churning feeling, I hurriedly covered my mouth with my hand.

"Half a day more and we'll arrive. If you're going to throw up, you need to do it now."

At those words, I removed the hand covering my mouth and threw up freely. The knights following behind also watched me with worried expressions.

"Shouldn't we rest a bit?"

"At this rate, the young lady will collapse first."

Roxana also asked if I wanted to rest a little before continuing, but I firmly shook my head and said to keep going.

"But..."

"I'm fine. I can go."

I rinsed my mouth with water and wiped away the tears that had come out physiologically from vomiting. I couldn't say I wasn't resentful of my young body, but self-recrimination could wait until after things were over.

"Ten minutes. Let's rest for just ten minutes."

"...Okay."

I held Roxana's hand and took deep breaths following her guidance. Once my breathing stabilized, Roxana asked:

"Tilly, can you tell me what the first prophecy was?"

"I said it's something only I should know."

"Did the Prophetess say that? That only Tilly should know?"

"...No."

"You decided it should be that way?"

"Yeah."

"Then is that prophecy related to Yan?"

She meant whether the reason I was pushing myself this hard was because of the prophecy. I moved my lips, then avoided her gaze as I answered.

"...It's not unrelated."

"Okay, I understand."

Fortunately, Roxana didn't ask anything more. The hellish ten minutes ended, and Roxana put me back on the horse.

"We're going to ride faster. Can you hold on?"

"Yeah, let's hurry."

Back then, I was so focused on looking only forward that I didn't notice what feelings Roxana had as she indulged my stubbornness, or what kind of eyes she was looking at me with.

Aegis, who'd entered the room filled with burning detoxification herbs, draped a blanket over Mia's shoulders. He crept up onto the bed so as not to wake her, then lay down next to Rayan and closed his eyes. Rayan's breathing was so faint that unless he lay beside him like this, it was hard to hear his breath.

Several days had already passed since Rayan lost consciousness. Everyone was praying that while Rayan held on, the doctors would create an antidote as quickly as possible. Unable to bear that atmosphere of thin ice about to crack, Aegis had fled to quiet Rayan's side.

"Yan, wake up soon."

Aegis kept whispering things that might cheer Rayan up. Tilly would arrive soon, and then the three of them could play together again. Cruelly, Rayan showed no reaction at all.

As the memory of when Rayan collapsed came back, tears flowed from Aegis's eyes. Clear, blue eyes dropped tears that rolled down and soaked the blanket.

As Aegis was sobbing quietly, Mia, woken by the sound, called to him.

"Your Imperial Highness?"

"...Mia."

"Why are you crying?"

"...Because I'm scared."

"What are you so afraid of?"

"It feels like Yan won't ever wake up again."

At Aegis's honest words, Mia made an expression that was neither smiling nor crying. The one who was most afraid of that was Mia.

"He'll wake up again soon. The imperial physician said the Prince is bravely fighting off the bad poison."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. So don't cry."

"...I stayed by Yan's side the whole time like Tilly said. But I couldn't stop it. We ate the same things, but only Yan got sick."

At those self-blaming words, Mia sat Aegis up. Then she spoke in a firm voice.

"It's not Your Highness's fault. It's the fault of the bad people who tormented the Prince."

"Why do people bully Yan?"

The adoption talks had the Queen actively supporting them, so there was no reason to suddenly kill Rayan. Besides, now that adoption had become impossible, even if Rayan survived, nothing after that could be guaranteed.

"I don't really know either."

Thaleia and Royna, and Aegis right in front of her—nothing could be guaranteed for any of them. Mia finally let out the tears she'd been holding back. When Mia started crying, Aegis got up and comforted her.

"Mia, don't cry. You said Yan would wake up. Mother is crying too, and our nanny is crying."

"I'm sorry, Your Highness."

"Mother said a long time ago that if we pray, the gods will listen. So stop crying and let's pray together. Okay?"

'No, Your Imperial Highness. The gods don't grant our prayers.'

If they did, she could have held onto the life of the small child who'd been in her arms. But Mia couldn't bring herself to tell Aegis she wouldn't pray. Mia swallowed her tears and took Aegis's hand.

"Shall we pray together then?"

"...Yeah."

Aegis clasped his hands in front of Mia's and looked at Rayan. As he listened to Mia's prayer for Yan to wake up safely, Aegis made one more wish.

'Please share the pain with me so Yan can endure it.'