TPOTLPIM Chapter 8

For a brief moment, several thoughts swirled through Cecilia's mind.

If he drank this medicine, he would lose his memory of the love potion. Then he would no longer pressure her with the court-martial, and there would be no justification for forcing the marriage through.

But for six months, he would yearn for her without understanding the reason behind his emotions.

Just thinking about deceiving him made an inexplicable guilt wrap around her heart like a snake, constricting tighter.

No, let me think this through properly. Six months later, when the love potion's effects disappeared, Teros too would laugh off his current feelings like a midsummer night's dream.

A marriage made while not in one's right mind could become a shackle for not only Cecilia but Teros as well.

Sorry as she felt for Teros, it might be best for him not to remember the love potion to prevent the already tangled situation from becoming even more twisted through marriage.

From across the way, Hadel was directing persistent looks at her. His whole face was saying that if marriage was so distasteful, she should urge him to drink the antidote.

As Cecilia's silence lengthened, Teros lowered his head to meet her gaze.

"What should I do?"

At this question asked once more, Cecilia briefly held her breath and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. Without knowing it, she gripped her dress hem so hard it wrinkled.

"I... I don't want to solve this problem with medicine!"

She had blurted it out. Opening her closed eyes slightly, she could see Hadel's face across from her, turned red and blue with rage.

In contrast, right beside her was Teros's face, brightened as if moved. His icy mask had melted away completely.

The moment she saw that expression, Cecilia was certain her choice was right. She remembered Teros by the lake, thinking she had lost her memory, showing his despair and emotions across his entire face. She couldn't make him drink medicine that would erase his memories.

"If that is your will, then gladly."

Teros opened the medicine bottle cap and slowly spilled its contents onto the floor.

Glug glug - why did she feel it was such a waste watching the medicine fall making those sounds? Cecilia tried to comfort herself that it was a good choice.

As he poured out the medicine, Teros wore a slanted smile while gazing at Hadel. As though this action was meant to be shown to Hadel.

He could have ordered a servant to throw away the bottle entirely or told Hadel to take it back as it was, but he chose the method of discarding the medicine directly in front of everyone's eyes.

This was both humiliating Hadel and warning him never to even think of making such things again.

Watching the medicine drip drop by drop, Hadel wore an expression stained with humiliation.

Teros paid no mind and spoke distinctly.

"As you can see, my fiancée doesn't want to take the antidote. It's unfortunate that the medicine you worked so hard to make won't be used."

Hadel's face burned with humiliation, but he soon replied with his usual polite words.

"Not at all. When this is your mutual wish, how could I argue? My thinking was shallow, and I nearly caused trouble between you two."

"Well then, though we had a brief commotion, let's finish the tea we couldn't drink properly."

Teros recommended tea with a peaceful expression, and the three of them awkwardly drank their tea.

Hadel, as if there was nothing more for him to see here, barely wet his lips with tea before immediately standing up from his seat.

"Leaving so soon? I won't escort you far. I want to spend time alone with my fiancée."

Though his pride seemed wounded, Hadel displayed his distinctive radiant smile.

"Of course you would. Please, may you both spend a good time together."

His lips were smiling, but Hadel's eyes weren't smiling—instead they looked at Cecilia once with force.

After Hadel departed, only Cecilia and Teros remained in the reception room.

With just one person having left, the air inside the room already felt weighty. Cecilia touched and fiddled with her teacup to overcome the awkwardness.

"Ah, well, since Lord Hadel has gone, I'll go to the seat across from you."

Finding it awkward to sit lined up next to Teros on the same sofa, she suddenly thought of it and hurriedly lifted her teacup to rise.

At that moment, Teros's large hand grabbed her arm and seated her back in place.

"Don't go. It's fine to stay like this."

Uh, I'm uncomfortable though. Cecilia swallowed her inner voice and smiled awkwardly.

Because Teros turned his body toward Cecilia as he sat, the two ended up facing each other directly.

Looking at each other silently for several seconds was enough to make her break into a cold sweat.

Then Teros leaned toward her.

Huh, why are you doing this? Cecilia instinctively flinched backward, but Teros approached faster.

He gently embraced her with both arms. Her small frame fit completely within his broad shoulders. The large hands encircling her shoulders felt warm.

Teros rested his chin on top of her round head.

"You smell wonderful."

When she felt his breath as he took a deep breath in and out, she felt flustered yet somehow ticklish in her stomach.

Teros tightened his arms to embrace the fidgeting Cecilia more firmly.

The desire she felt was so intense that his initial gentle embrace seemed like acting.

A low voice settled over her head as she froze in panic.

"Thank you. I'll do well from now on."

What do you mean you'll do well? Cecilia, who had been frozen like stone in Teros's embrace, suddenly came to her senses and lifted her head up.

Peck.

At the same moment, Teros brought his lips to her neat forehead.

'Uh, ugh!'

Cecilia, who had been frozen for a moment, began fluttering about in panic as if released from a spell.

"Te, Teros! What do you mean you'll do well?"

"I mean I'll become a good husband."

Teros gently released the struggling Cecilia from his embrace and spoke with a composed face.

"I have no intention of marrying Teros!"

"You told me not to drink the antidote. Didn't you also resolve to take responsibility for me?"

"Th, that was!"

Cecilia tried to answer hurriedly but shut her mouth.

She couldn't bring herself to say that it wasn't an antidote but another medicine. She was frightened of what kind of aftermath might occur if she spoke, and she could be misunderstood as having schemed together with Hadel.

'Ugh, the Odik siblings have twisted the situation right to the end!'

Cecilia pressed down her boiling anger toward the Odiks and strived to regain her composure. She expressed her will as calmly and coherently as possible.

"Teros. I simply didn't want to solve this with medicine—I haven't accepted marriage with you."

"Then you'll need to accept it going forward."

"Pardon?"

Teros's thick fingers interlaced with Cecilia's small hand.

"I told you. Marriage wasn't a proposal but your duty. Unless the antidote restores my sanity, the marriage will proceed. And this was clearly your choice."

Cecilia barely suppressed the urge to scream. At this rate, she would inevitably end up marrying him.

"You must be tired, so go in and rest now. Though parting is regrettable, let's have breakfast together tomorrow morning too."

Teros's eyes, holding a trace of yearning, tenaciously gazed at her eyes.

Was what was contained in those eyes affection, obsession, or neither of those things? Cecilia somehow felt like she had become a sinner as she avoided that gaze and hurriedly stood up from her seat.

As Cecilia tried to leave the reception room, Teros turned her around once more.

"Please give me a farewell greeting, Cecilia."

At the touch that gently embraced her again, Cecilia had no will to push him away and could only entrust her body to him.

She returned to the guest room with a trudging gait, feeling that whatever would be, would be.

Under the blankets, Cecilia found it hard for sleep to come. The pure white moon visible outside the window seemed to have already moved that far away. She couldn't even guess how much time had passed staring with wide-open eyes.

"There's no way sleep would come."

As if she couldn't endure it, Cecilia shot up and began circling around the room.

The twisted situation. Should she accept marriage with Teros? Even if this matter hadn't happened, someday she too would have had a political marriage like ordinary nobles. Something she would do eventually—doing it now wouldn't be entirely bad either.

What weighed on her mind was how Teros would change after the love potion's effects disappeared.

'I might go from a beloved wife to a mortal enemy in an instant.'

Becoming family with Dmitri and having to watch him and Rosaine squabble from close up was also still difficult to accept.

Most of all,

'I feel like I'm deceiving Teros.'

When she had this thought, her heart felt heavily pressed down.

Just then, a strange sound was heard from somewhere in the room.

Crackle-, crackle-

"Young lady, if you can hear me, please respond."

Cecilia looked around her surroundings like a rabbit startled with shock. She thought someone had secretly snuck into her room.

After barely settling her pounding chest, she remembered the round orb that Hadel had forced into her hands.

'A magic communication device!'

She pulled out the orb from her handbag. Because Hadel had forcibly pressed it into her hands, she couldn't throw it away and had put it in her handbag.

Hadel's voice continued flowing from the orb.

Cecilia was about to respond to the communication device but hesitated.

She should have thrown away the orb as soon as she received it! Nothing good had come from getting involved with the Odiks.

Hadel's voice continued flowing from the communication device.

"Young lady, it would benefit you to get up immediately and listen to what I have to say."

'Let me pretend I didn't hear. It's bedtime for everyone anyway, and it's not strange that I'm not responding to the communication device.'

"Ah, young lady. Do you know what happened to me today?"

'What happened... almost being bitten by Rox? Being humiliated when you brought up the antidote?'

She didn't know what Hadel was talking about, so she just listened silently.

"That marquis bastard... he's a truly vicious bastard. You don't know how much blood I shed today."

Blood? What does that mean? Hadel's voice seemed to be trembling faintly. It was also strange to hear the word "bastard" from his usually refined mouth.

Cecilia couldn't hold back any longer and brought the communication device to her mouth.

"What happened?"

"As I thought, you weren't sleeping. Phew..."

Though invisible, she could almost feel Hadel letting out a faint sigh of relief beyond the communication device. Though it felt unpleasant to be caught again by a man who used clumsy schemes, Cecilia asked again about what she was curious about.

"You left right after having tea with us, Research Officer."

"Didn't that marquis bastard say anything? Well, of course it would have been something he did without letting you know."

The more Cecilia listened to Hadel's words, the more a strange uneasiness crept over her body.

"Listen well. After I left the reception room, the butler saw me out to the front door. But as soon as I stepped outside the entrance, didn't those black knight bastards jump on me? I briefly lost consciousness, and when I came to, I was in what appeared to be the mansion's basement, and that marquis bastard was coming down the stairs with a wicked smile."

What Hadel explained afterward was shocking.

The place where Hadel came to his senses was a basement where a damp atmosphere could be felt. When he was looking around trying to grasp where this place was, cold footsteps were heard from above the stairs.

Soon the hem of someone's pants coming down the stairs became visible, then broad shoulders, and finally what appeared was Teros's pale face.

What surprised Hadel even more were Teros's eyes—by his account, they held such abnormal killing intent that he seemed to have gone mad somewhere, to the point where it looked disturbing.

The moment he saw those eyes, Hadel instinctively felt all the hair on his body stand on end and began backing away, but soon had no choice but to stand face-to-face with Teros in the narrow basement.

["Y-Your Lordship. Why am I in a place like this...?"]

He could only display a servile smile. It was such a terrifying atmosphere that his facial muscles trembled.

["I apologize for bringing you to such a place, Research Officer. But I couldn't spill blood in front of my fiancée."]

["Bl, blood?"]

["The medicine bottle you brought. How can I believe it was an antidote? Come to think of it, it could have been poison. Since I have the Odik family's weakness with the love potion incident, you might have tried to eliminate me."]

["Po, po, poison? How would someone like me dare harm a member of the Jeminick family? Moreover, how could someone as inadequate as me even think of killing Your Lordship who has been through all kinds of battles in war!"]

["Your sister was brave enough to drug me, wasn't she? I was properly caught off guard. You could do the same. You can use magic, after all."]

["Th, that was just a foolish child's mistake. It wasn't done with intention, please forgive me. And you know yourself, Your Lordship. The Odiks only use magic for the empire's benefit, not to harm people."]

["Well, whether you'll use magic to harm people or not—I'll find out by cornering you."]

Teros took a dagger from his pocket and removed its sheath.

Seeing the blade gleaming blue in the dark basement, Hadel gasped and trembled.

Soon Teros's sword drew an elegant arc as it flew toward his neck.

Clang—

The protective barrier Hadel hastily formed around his neck blocked his sword.

Teros slowly ran his fingertips along the blade to check if there was any damage. Hadel also turned pale seeing the fine crack in the protective barrier he had created.

["Come to think of it, even this kind of protective barrier isn't approved by imperial law. So you could certainly use magic to harm people too."]

When Teros charged again, the frightened Hadel formed a protective barrier around his entire body and ran to a corner of the basement, lifting up one of the lumber pieces piled up carelessly.

With trembling hands, Hadel rushed at Teros and brought the lumber down on him.

Because Teros avoided it by a hair's breadth, the lumber only sliced through empty air and struck the basement floor.

Bang!

When the smoke that rose with the thunderous sound cleared, a large hollow dented into the basement floor was revealed.

Teros lifted one eyebrow as if scowling.

["You used strengthening magic. This is why even if Odiks are weaklings, you can't be careless around them. The protective barrier can wrap around your whole body, but the duration is short, isn't it? Seeing how you're attacking so hastily."]

Teros nodded to himself as if remembering something. Then he rushed toward Hadel at rapid speed as if to finish him off.

Hadel tried to form a protective barrier again, but Teros was faster.

Slash—

Along with the pain of flesh being torn, blood gushed out from his hand. Because Teros's dagger sliced across Hadel's hand, a long gash formed on the back of his hand.

["Aaaaagh!"]

Hadel glared at Teros while wrapping his bleeding hand with his other hand.

When he muttered ancient language under his breath, yellow light endlessly flowed out from the hand wrapped around his wound.