Chapter 12

Arthur, who noticed her gaze, pulled out the sword and put it in the ground.

“What are you doing?”

“Let’s go over it first.”

“Sigh.”

Reflected by the light, the blade twinkled. She tried not to care and turned to the contract. But unlike her mind, her nerves were all focused on the sword.

‘What the heck…? I should look at the contract first.’

First of all, she had to know what he was asking from her. She calmly read the contract. It was full of letters as if it would not allow the blank space of the paper.

There were noticeable provisions in the contract.

「Don’t trust anyone.

There should be no dying in Gray’s hands.

Act as usual.

Don’t die, no matter what.」

Don’t die from the time limit? She revealed her increasingly distorted expression intact.

It was strange to call it a contract. This is the condition? Why didn’t he just say he didn’t want to sign a contract?

Holding the contract in her hand, she looked up sharply and saw Arthur sitting face to face.

“Don’t trust anyone?”

“Do not trust the maid of the Emperor or anyone else.”

It was an answer without any hesitation. He answered her as if it had been set and as if he had waited. Warak.

What was trying to hold onto the last reason collapsed.

—teasing her or testing her.

Whatever it may be, it’s evident that he thinks she’s very easy.

“Then I can’t believe you either.”

She tore the documents apart and threw them on the floor. Arthur’s eyes turned fierce by her actions. She turned to the sword next to him.

Shall we test it? Without hesitation, she got up from her seat and grabbed the sword. Blood came out of her hand.

“…….”

She purposely grabbed the blade without holding the handle. Arthur kicked his chair and grabbed her wrist, and took her hand off the sword.

The clear red blood rode her hand and dyed Arthur’s hand red.

“As expected, it must be difficult for the Grand Duke if I die, right?”

“……it doesn’t matter if you die.”

“Then let go of this. You shouldn’t have pushed such ridiculous contracts.”

She tried to pull her hand out by applying force to the hand he grabbed. The more Arthur tried not to let go, the more she twisted it with strength, and more blood flowed from the hand wounded by the sword.

She felt a little, no, a very dizzy.

Arthur let go of his strength with her appearance. Her hands, which fell helplessly, soaking the floor in blood. She saw him without saying a word. He saw her, shaking dangerously, without saying a word.

‘Now he knows. I’m not afraid of death.’

She was already dead once. There was nothing she couldn’t do because she was not afraid of death.

Honestly, it wasn’t that she wasn’t afraid. However, it is not weak enough to be revealed to others.

Silence. Only Arthur’s and her somewhat faster breathing lingered.

“Okay, let’s talk about it properly.”

Arthur smiled faintly as if he finally noticed what she was thinking. Looking at the contract scattered on the floor, he breathed as if he was in despair.

“That’s what you should’ve said earlier.”

She reached out to him with blood-stained hands. Arthur frowned as if he were asking what else this was.

“What are you doing? If I keep bleeding like this, I’ll die if you leave it.”

“Sigh…”

Nervously tilted his head back and exhaled. She didn’t care and didn’t let go of her blood dripping hands.

Arthur tried to stay calm and left the room. She stood still in the place. She just stayed still as if she was protesting.

“It’s not going to come like this, right? Then it’s big trouble.”

She thought it was important to get a head start. She can’t look easy. She meant what she said earlier—she’s not afraid of death. However, she doesn’t want to go through it again.

But the desire to live was nothing more than hopeful torture to her now.

She’s been suffocating again. She clenched her hand, where blood continued to flow. She didn’t think he’d ever come.

She looked around and found something to stop bleeding. She felt pain in her hands, but she didn’t spit it out.

Tak.

“So, who told you to do something that no one asked for?”

Before she knew it, he came in and stood in front of her. She didn’t feel any sign of him again. It was a strange thing.

Arthur put down the treatment box and frowned his eyebrows without fail. She kept her mouth shut. She did it, so it’s best to stay quiet in this case.

‘It’s here. I thought it wouldn’t come.’

She slowly opened her hand. Arthur grabbed her wrist and put it on a chair. Still, the impression was not good. He looked disgusted because he couldn’t show that he didn’t want to do it.

“Arthur, why don’t you say anything when I call your name?”

“It doesn’t matter. Whatever you call me.”

“Is that so? I like it, your attitude.”

When he nodded satisfactorily, he held her hand as if to stay still and looked at the wound. The box was full of drugs that looked different from the treatments she knew.

“I wouldn’t scream because it hurts for what you did.”

“I’m doing treatment.”

She breathed a short breath as he poured it into her blood-stained hands with transparent water. He kept pouring enough to think it was a little too much.

It’s intentional; this is definitely intentional.

‘Oh, this hurts a lot…?’

Her palms were sore. It wasn’t just to the point of being sick. It felt like it was digging through her flesh as if it was digging into a wound, whether it was water or not.

“…Ugh.”

A moan came out of her mouth, unable to bear it. When Arthur saw her like that, he raised one corner of his mouth and poured more.

‘Let’s kill him. Yes, let’s kill him.’

Biting her lips, she stared at Arthur as if to kill him. He smiled even more and began to treat her hands with excitement.

She watched it with a heart of seeing how long it would last. Arthur soon applied something and wrapped a bandage when he saw a cut in a sword on her clean palm.

“Grand Duke Arthur Douglas.”

“Why are you like that? Didn’t you ask for treatment?”

She wondered if she could recognize this as a hand. She looked at her hand. She couldn’t wrap it in a bandage, and it was just a weapon.

“Ah, I guess Archduke is thinking of being my hand?”

“I don’t intend to do that.”

“I can’t do anything like this.”

She waved her hand, wrapped tightly in a bandage, and couldn’t do anything.

“A servant is better than a dog. It sounds fun.”

He folded his eyes and smiled beautifully with a voice full of murder.