Chapter 26

In the dream, the room was filled with test tubes that contained different colored liquids. On the main table, two flasks were used to boil some kind of liquid which was connected to the distillation flask by a condenser. The entire wall inside the room was full of scribbles of calculations and there were also some written words which were in a foreign language. This made it hard to decipher the meaning behind those words. It seemed like this place was a lab.

Behind the curtain and on the other side of the door, two mysterious shadows were seen discussing something about the experiment. "Good job, you gave me the very good stuff." One of the mysterious men spoke and the sound of rattling coins was heard as the pouch was seen handed over from one person to the other from their shadows.

The dream suddenly ended and was followed by another dream. In this second dream, she was brought to another room. In comparison to the previous dream, this room looked rather luxurious, which meant that this place belonged to the noble people. In the room, a pregnant woman was seen laying on a bed and in active labor. A midwife with the assistant of many maids tried to help the pregnant woman give birth. Screams were heard throughout the room which showed her struggle and the pain she had to endure to bring a child into the world.

After a few screams and tears that came from the pregnant woman, the sound of the child's cries replaced the pregnant woman's tears. "You are very lucky, madam. You have given birth to a son." The midwife congratulated her as she lifted the baby up. The baby was still covered in some of the mother's blood. The midwife caressed the child as she cleaned his body from the blood with a wet towel. "What a beautiful child." The midwife then left the child to his mother.

Then, the dream suddenly shifted to another, this time it was a place inside a forest. In that forest, there was a carriage that was damaged due to a fire. In addition, there was a severely injured nobleman who was stabbed in the chest by the sword he held in his hands. Furthermore, there was also another dead man nearby who looked like a knight. The reason behind his death was unknown. "Promise me, that child must be protected no matter what because… he will lead the future…" The injured man said these words to someone as he coughed blood. The injured man grabbed the clothes of the person he spoke to in order to bring their face closer to him. "Remember that you still owe me something." The injured man warned her before he took his last breath.

Suddenly, she was awakened from her dream by a being with sharp red eyes. She was then brought to the darkness. The blood-red eyes she witnessed were ten times bigger than the human body and appeared without a bodily form stared at Tiara with such a powerful aura. "Because you belong to me." An eerie voice suddenly came from the direction of the blood-red eyes to remind Tiara. Confusingly, this scene was automatically repeated countless times like an infinite loop. This scene was also repeated at a pace that turned faster and faster which made anyone who witnessed it felt sick.

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Tiara was awake and gasped for air. She looked at her surroundings and it looked like she was in her bedroom. Her bed looked wet since it was saturated with her sweat. On her right side, Eliza quickly poured a glass of water and assisted Tiara to drink it. "I want to throw up." With a weak voice, Tiara rejected the drink from Eliza. Perhaps this was the aftereffect of the poison she got from Ivy. Tiara tried to move her body but her body was in a bad state. Her body was covered with bandages after she was attacked by Ivy.

"You cannot force your body." Eliza placed the glass of water on the table and quickly supported Tiara as she tried to move. Eliza prepared a bucket for Tiara to vomit inside of. "My lady, you can't force your body." Eliza slowly rubbed Tiara's back and comforted her.

After Tiara vomited a few times, she felt relieved and proceeded to get more rest. All of a sudden, Tiara heard someone whimpered from behind her. She looked behind and saw Eliza in tears. "Are you alright? Tell me what's happening?" Tiara seemed confused as she did not know what had happened. "We almost lost you. Look at you, look at all the wounds inflicted upon you, and you almost died because of the poison. You did not have any idea how worried I was." Eliza's eyes were filled with tears and she could not stop her crying.

Tiara caressed Eliza's head. "Thank you for your concern. Next time I will not do that again." Tiara tried to cheer Eliza up. Eliza took her words as a promise as she nodded her head in agreement. Eliza removed the bucket that was filled with Tiara's vomit away from her. "I called the physician to check up on you." Eliza then proceeded to leave the room.

After that, Will and the physician entered Tiara's bedroom. The physician quickly examined Tiara's condition. "Her condition was stable and there were no signs of infections after she was poisoned." The physician gave the good news to Tiara. "How about my son, Alan?" Tiara was more worried about her son. "Don't worry; your son is also in good condition." The physician gave Tiara a warm smile. "You need to be wary of your health. You need more rest for recovery and don't stress too much." The physician advised Tiara for the sake of her health.

"This is the prescription for you. Take it when you are in pain." The physician prescribed some drugs that were meant as painkillers for Tiara. "Prescription for my son?" Tiara questioned the doctor in regards to medication for her son. "Right now, your son cannot take any drugs because it will damage his body. So I already advised your servants to schedule him to balance meals and make him drink more water." The physician explained the appropriate treatment for Tiara's son to her. "So, I shall get going and I will come again next week for a check-up on your wounds." The physician bowed his head and then made his exit.

"My apologies Lady Tiara, Duke Ruddy wants to visit you to find out more about your condition." Will reported to Tiara about Ruddy's presence. "Did he know about this?" Tiara was shocked after she heard about Ruddy's arrival. Will just nodded his head to indicate agreement. Tiara sighed as in her current condition; she was not able to think of anything. "Bring him in and tell Eliza to prepare tea for our guest." Tiara ordered Will. Will immediately left to fulfill his duty. "Will." Tiara stopped Will by calling his name. "Don't forget to pay the physician handsomely and make him keep my health condition private." Tiara made additional requests from Will. "Understood." Will bowed his head and left the room.

A few moments later, Tiara's bedroom door was knocked by someone. "My lady, I have prepared some tea and I have Duke Ruddy with me." Eliza's voice was heard from outside Tiara's door. She informed Tiara of Duke Ruddy's arrival and waited for Tiara's orders. "Let him come in." Tiara gave permission for both of them to proceed. Following her permission, both Eliza and Ruddy entered her room. Eliza placed the tea she made on a small table and carefully poured it into teacups as Ruddy walked closer to the window in Tiara's room and looked at the scenery outside.

"Thank you, Eliza." Tiara took the cup of tea offered to her and nodded her head to signal to Eliza that she needed some privacy. Eliza understood the gesture and she quietly left the room. Tiara looked calm as she sipped her tea. Ruddy was still looking outside at this point. He neither talked to Tiara nor looked at her. "How much do you know about this?" Tiara questioned Ruddy as she tried to investigate in more detail if he knew about her plans.

"Only as much as I can see." Ruddy told her all he knew was whatever he saw when they worked together. Tiara felt at ease but at the same time, she was also doubtful as to whether Ruddy was someone she could trust or otherwise. "What do you want?" Tiara questioned Ruddy's intentions in coming to visit her. "I came here just to visit a friend." Ruddy looked at Tiara and Tiara returned his stare with hers. Tiara laughed a little in mockery of Ruddy who was seated at the small table having a cup of tea as she suspected he had other motives.

"Thank you for your concern but I want to advise you on the two mistakes you made." Tiara sipped her tea that was already a little cold at this point. Ruddy looked at Tiara as he was confused as to what mistakes he committed towards Tiara. "It is not suitable for a man to come into a lady's house without prior notice and secondly I don't have friends" Tiara bluntly rejected Ruddy as her ally. Ruddy did not respond to Tiara's words but, instead, he just drank his cup of tea until he finished it.

Ruddy stood up and got closer to Tiara. "Look at you, you almost caused your own death, your son's life was almost taken by the angel of death and now a help was offered but you rejected it." Ruddy expressed his anger towards Tiara. When Tiara heard what he had to say, she started to lower her head and her eyes wandered somewhere else. "It's better for you to not involve yourself in my matter." Tiara tried to stop Ruddy from intervening in her affairs.

Ruddy stepped even closer to Tiara. "You are just a pathetic person. Because of your selfishness, you nearly threw your life away and even your own son's life was at stake." Ruddy yet again expressed his anger towards Tiara. Tiara gripped her hands in a fist after she heard Ruddy's words. "You can't say that because you don't understand…" Tiara responded. "Then tell me, don't let your ego get the best of you…" Ruddy quickly interrupted Tiara mid-sentence which made the both of them started to argue. "Because I can't trust you" Tiara refuted Ruddy's statement which caused the argument to stop abruptly.

Both Tiara and Ruddy looked at each other but could not find the appropriate words to express themselves. Ruddy bit his lip and nodded his head in an effort to suppress his anger. "Don't let your sins take over you because one day it will punish you." As Ruddy gave his advice to Tiara, he turned his back against her and walked out the door of her room. He stopped in front of her door for a brief moment. "I thought we were partners." Ruddy said in a heartbroken tone before he left Tiara by herself in her room.