Chap 6

Adelin tightly shut her eyes.

In a situation where she couldn't act or escape, turning away was the only thing she could do.

Just as she braced for death, a sound broke the silence.

"Ugh…."

The cold sensation at her throat vanished, accompanied by a single groan near her ear.

Adelin felt the man's hot body temperature spreading from her waist up to her neck.

After a suffocating moment, the grip that had fiercely bound her loosened.

Just as Adelin tried to turn around and free herself, a dull thud echoed. The man who had been blocking her behind collapsed suddenly, holding her in his arms.

Pinned down by his sturdy build, Adelin couldn't move.

Struggling to reach a shelf, she managed to light a candle after several attempts.

The dim candlelight revealed the figure lying before her.

The man who had held a knife to her throat lay bloodied on the floor.

Adelin swallowed hard at the sight of the crimson blood seeping into the pristine carpet.

"Hey, are you okay? Are you, dead?"

She cautiously approached and checked on him. He was still breathing, though unconscious and unlikely to pose a threat as before.

'If I leave him like this, he might die.'

Adelin was conflicted.

After all, Duke Torpheo was both her hope and her lifeline.

However, her doubts only grew after meeting him, as he had immediately threatened her life.

'Why did that reader call this man the main character?'

Could saving this man truly change her fate of dying young?

Her dilemma deepened as she watched the Duke coughing up blood.

"Hey, come to your senses."

Adelin kneeled down to check on him.

If left untreated, he would surely die from excessive blood loss. She considered fleeing from the momentarily weakened Duke, but…

If he really was Duke Torpheo, could she plead for her life in exchange for saving his?

Whether she fled or stayed, death seemed inevitable. But with the Duke, there might be a chance for survival.

Swallowing her fear, Adelin resolved to do her best to save this man.

In the bedroom, Adelin glanced at the worn clothes on the bedside table.

Seeing the Duke's seal on them, she believed this man was indeed Duke Torpheo.

She looked down at him.

His body was radiating heat, but his skin was deathly pale.

He was teetering on the brink of death.

Sweat dripped from his damp hair down his thick neck.

Just moments ago, this was the man who had threatened her life.

'Is it crazy to find him sexy in this state?'

The previous night.

After moving the unconscious Duke to the bed, Adelin promptly called a doctor.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"It seems he's lost consciousness from a poisoned arrow, but I can't identify the poison. Besides that, he only has bruises."

Responding to Adelin's question, the doctor replied indifferently.

"There's nothing more I can do. Without knowing the poison, there's no antidote. Leave it to fate. I'll give you a general antidote; use it. Hm. Well then, I'll be going."

The doctor left, and silence filled the room.

Adelin had noticed before, but the Duke's physique was immense.

Every four hours, she struggled to prop up his large body and feed him medicine.

Supporting him with her slender frame was no easy task.

"Hey, you. I mean, Duke."

Though he couldn't hear, Adelin kept talking to him.

"I'm saving your life, the one who tried to kill me. Don't forget this, okay?"

Struggling to administer the medicine, Adelin gazed at the Duke thoughtfully.

'Who could have done this to Duke Torpheo?'

The sole Duke of the Empire supposedly dying alone in his mansion was exactly as the comment had described.

Adelin found it hard to believe, even seeing it with her own eyes.

The Torpheo Ducal family had always been deeply connected to the royal family. The former empress was from the Torpheo family, and so had been the one before her.

The current royal family would not dare to treat the Duke's family lightly.

Who in the Solitarius Empire could threaten a man of such stature, if not someone of immense power, comparable to the Emperor himself?

'…Could it be the royal family?'

Being chased by the Crown Prince herself, Adelin thought the person targeting the Duke might be someone of equal or higher status.

A sense of unease began to creep up from her toes.

Gripping her pounding heart, Adelin hoped desperately that the man before her would become her winning gamble.

On a hot summer day, contrasting the cold winter, Crown Prince Trashy of the Solitarius Empire unusually proposed a hunting trip to Duke Torpheo.

The Empire, with its distinct seasons, held an official hunting contest in the royal hunting grounds once a year during winter, distributing the game's meat to the people in a significant event.

"Duke, this sweltering weather is draining. Let's liven up with a hunt in Sahalan. How about it?"

Usually, the royal family did not go on private hunting trips, especially not to Sahalan, located outside the capital.

The Duke found it strange but dismissed it as another whim of the unpredictable Crown Prince.