Chapter 7

Chapter 7

This was the third time Nina had thought about it.

If the Duchess were to try and poison Adrian, this would be the perfect time to do so!

So of course, she still followed him there.

‘Cooly and calmly, I am going to get rid of the poisoned food. This is poison! I can hear him shouting…’

In the end, without realising, I ended up drinking it.

Well, there was no way they would have been able to get out of there without drinking.

“Nina. Nina. You’re alive, aren’t you? Don’t you dare leave me behind.”

Nina tried to answer in a vague voice.

It was an unusual voice, one that had already lost its composure and did not have anything else to care about.

Adrian was afraid of Nina who was now cold.

If she were to die like this… If she were to leave him behind…

He may be big and tall, but he was still a sixteen-year-old boy. He continued walking through the snow. The exhausted horse long left behind.

Night, it was his first time praying for the night to come.

There was no shadow or darkness as bloodied snow surrounded them.

The sun reflected off of the snowfield and all that was left behind was just blinding light.

As the sun began to set, the shadows grew longer and he managed to plunge into the darkness.

This was his first time walking into the darkness by himself, but there was no other way.

“Oh darkness, where neither the light nor the road is useful, lead me to a place of peace.”

Running in the dark, he thought of the Knights. The only place in the world that has his side.

Jumping out of the darkness, Jin, who was making a bonfire, opened his eyes wide.

“Chief?”

“Krill! What about Krill?!”

Krill, a doctor, quickly got up from where she was seated.

“What’s going on?”

Adrian gently held out Nina towards him.

“Nina, Nina drank poison. Nina, she…”

Krill laid Nina down on the floor and said,

“Poison? Let me take a look.”

Her attitude was so calm that Adrian thought Krill was unaware of the importance of such a situation.

“To vomit blood, not be breathing, and she’s too cold.”

The Deputy commander, Louis, grabbed a hold of Adrian’s shoulders.

This was a first for Adrian, as someone who was always smiling calmly and leisurely, he was now talking so much gibberish.

“You’ll be fine soon. By the way, did you guys get caught up on the road during the night?”

Adrian nodded his head.

Krill looked around at the limp Nina and laughed.

“What?”

Louis bites his lips as Krill commented,

“I’m over forty-years-old yet I’ve never seen anything like this before. Should I say that it’s pretty amazing or spectacular?”

“Tell me, quickly.”

At Adrian’s urging, Krill merely shrugged her shoulders. Already at her mid-40s, she had her white curly hair tied together at the back of her head.

Everyone would point towards Krill if asked who had been in the Dark Knights for the longest.

“I’ve slowed the spread of the poison by dropping her temperature. Her heart is beating slowly. She’s like a hibernating animal, I did not think humans were capable of performing such actions. I have yet to find out what kind of a poison it is but for now, I’ll give her some fluids first.”

Krill looked around.

“You’d better bring her to a safer location before I start treatment. It will be quite painful for her if I were to start treatment and her body begins to function normally.”

The group quickly packed up their luggage and Nina’s detoxification started at a nearby village.

When Krill started detoxing, the spirits withdrew. At the same time, the poison began to circulate as well.

Nina’s body twisted and scratched the ground with her fingernails before throwing up more blood.

It was a terrible night for Nina. Similarly, the group did not have an enjoyable night, even more so for Adrian.

***

After Nina’s condition somewhat improved, they moved to the Violet Forest in which the base of the Knights Division was located.

Her mouth, neck, and stomach were all injured and torn with jaundice still remaining. Nina was suffering, but she managed to survive.

After two months, she became so cheerful that Krill was impressed.

On the night where everyone raised a toast to congratulate Nina who was now fine, Adrian visited Nina’s room.

“Master?”

She mumbled groggily and rubbed her eyes. The room was dark, making it hard for her to see him clearly. There Adrian stood in the doorway without a word.

“Why did you do that?”

Adrian’s voice was cold. Nina flinched and instantly straightened up. She tried squinting, still unable to see his face well.

She was not aware of much but one thing she did know was true was how her eyesight had worsened due to an after effect of the poison.

‘It’s not simply night blindness.’

Anyways, her eyesight definitely got worse.

‘I can see why Adrian’s life was short-lived. It was a terrible poison.’

“What do you mean?”

“Tea.”

His answer was quick and concise as Nina asked again.

“Are you angry?”

“‘Are you angry?’”

Her voice sounded ridiculous.

“‘Are you angry?’ you say. Am I? Am I angry?”

His last few words held no colour, as if reading from a book.

Adrian approached Nina slowly. No, is he moving faster than she had thought?

He stood in front of Nina. His face reflected in the light was as cold as a statue.

“Why should I be angry? My loyal servant drank poison in my stead. Is that not enough to garner a compliment from me? Today’s a day for me to celebrate too.”

“You’re angry.”

“Don’t talk like that.”

Adrian grabbed Nina’s shoulder.

“That way, you’ll react to nothing at all, as if all this were nothing to you.”

“Adrian.”

Nina called out to him. He did not reply. His dark hand still lingering on her shoulder.

Nina said.

“When I had drunk the tea, I knew it was poisonous, considering that fact it smelled fishy but I couldn’t help it.”

“But!”

“But Adrian was about to drink it.”

Adrian looked as though he had just been hit. The pressure he was exerting disappeared from his hand and Nina jumped out of her seat.

“You knew about it the moment you got into the car, right? That’s why you refused to give me a hint.”

Adrian was pushed backwards.

Nina stood up sharply and crossed her arms around her chest.

“Don’t think that I’m a fool, Adrian.”

“I never thought of you that way.”

He looked down at her with a pale expression.

Why on earth would he think of Nina in that way.

Why would he?

“I don’t know why you were going to drink it but you’d better be prepared in future. If you’re planning to drink poison, I’ll drink it in your stead. If you’re going to get stabbed, I’ll take the hit instead.”

“Nina!”

Adrian who was now in a corner shouted as Nina turned to face him with an expression that seemed to ask, ‘Why? What?’

He ruffled his hair.

‘Swallow your saliva and calm down.’ After swallowing, he chose a knight. No, he could not make a decision.

He opened his mouth as if he were about to speak and reveal himself.

“Nina, if you were to drink poison or get attacked and injured by a knife, I will be the one who pays for it.”

His eyes looked deeply into Nina’s.

Noticing how tired he appeared to be, Nina opened her mouth instead.

“I know, maybe I thought it was the best way to get out of there. Although, Adrian, I do have to say that I’m a little bit resistant to poisons.”

She wanted to soften and reduce the surveillance the Duchess had to keep watch on Adrian.

Adrian’s eyes widened in surprise.

Nina laughed.

”What? I like Adrian and all, but that does not mean that I’m blind. I also know that Adrian is not such an innocent lamb either.”

Are you not the one who thinks that I am a fool?

She squinted her eyes and he shook his hand hurriedly.

“No, it’s not what you…”

Such a reply was completely unexpected.

Nina, who had originally known that he was such a person, was still surprised.

He was so shallow that he thought that her affection was due to “sympathy for the poor old master”.

Nina cut in quickly.

“But don’t be reckless and search for ways to hurt yourself. What if I were to die young?”

“What about you?”

Adrian asked abruptly.

“What about you, Nina.”

‘And without you, what about me?’

Adrian swallowed another mouthful of saliva with difficulty as he looked back at Nina.

Politely raising up her hands, she replied.

“I’ll act carefully too.”

Although Adrian’s face was still plastered with doubts, Nina comforted him again.

“Really. Well, you can think of it in the best possible thing a member of the Dark Knights can say in the Violet Forest where the Bellacs are flourishing.

Reaching out one hand, Nina held both hers and Adrian’s hand together.

“Promise.”

Nina smiled and he swallowed a sigh.

“Yes, please.”