I Narrowly Escaped Being Poisoned to Death
The forest had fallen into complete darkness. We arrived at a clearing spacious enough to serve as basecamp.
“Unload the baggage here. Set up the tent.”
I dropped onto a rock with a heavy thud and issued the order. I wanted nothing more than to sprawl across the dirt, but I couldn’t afford to show a single opening in front of an assassin.
“Yes, understood.”
Seria set down her pack and began assembling the tent in silence. Inside my head, I ran through a meticulous calculation.
I have to drain every last drop of that girl’s stamina.
Tent setup, chopping firewood, hauling water—by dumping every menial task on her until she was dead on her feet, she wouldn’t have any strength left to come for my throat in the middle of the night.
“Once the tent is finished, fetch some firewood. We need a fire.”
“Yes.”
“And plant the barrier stones properly while you’re at it.”
“Yes, Young Duke.”
Even my absurd tyranny drew no protest from Seria. On the contrary, every command sent her racing into the forest with a flushed face.
She’s my favorite character, but damn, her mental game is on another level. To put up with being treated like garbage and still wait for a chance to kill me…
Yet inside Seria’s mind, thoughts were spiraling in a completely different direction.
The Young Duke… entrusted me with building our nest all by myself.
The same man who would have discarded anything touched by a lowly worm. Yet here he was, showing her a body so weak he could barely stand without coughing blood, relying on her and her alone. The realization sent a sharp thrill through Seria’s lower belly.
I have to become even more useful. So useful he can’t last a single day without me.
Tasks that would have taken anyone else an hour, she finished in fifteen minutes flat and completed the basecamp setup.
“……”
Watching the campfire roar to life in an instant, I was utterly speechless. What the hell was that monstrous stamina? She had pitched the tent, hunted a magical beast, and still wasn’t even breathing hard. My brilliant plan to exhaust her had failed completely.
“I will prepare the meal.”
Seria pulled a mess kit from her pack. In that moment, the memory of the deadly herb she had gathered earlier—Poison Snake Herb—flashed through my mind.
She’s finally showing her true colors.
I narrowed my eyes and watched her every move. With her back to me, she sliced something into the pot and set it bubbling. A strange, fragrant, slightly bitter aroma stung my nose.
“Please eat.”
Soon after, Seria held out a bowl of warm stew. I didn’t take it. I simply stared at her with icy contempt.
“You eat first.”
“Pardon?”
“Isn’t it basic etiquette for a slave to taste the master’s food before he does? Eat it.”
Seria studied my expression for a moment, then parted her lips.
“This… is the bowl the Young Duke will use. Are you certain it’s acceptable for someone like me to put her mouth on it?”
“Stop babbling and drink it!”
When I barked at her, she gently pressed her lips to the rim and swallowed.
I’m sorry, Seria. Forgive this pathetic piece of trash for making his favorite character act like a food taster. But I need to survive first, don’t I?
I crushed the sting of conscience and waited for her to collapse. One minute. Two. Five minutes passed.
“……Why is she perfectly fine?”
The words slipped out before I could stop them. Far from foaming at the mouth, Seria was blushing shyly beneath my gaze.
“I’ve… finished everything. You may eat now, Young Duke……”
The bowl she offered me. Was it my imagination, or had she deliberately turned the exact spot her lips had touched toward me?
With a vague sense of unease, I snatched the bowl. I had already confirmed it wasn’t poisoned. The moment I cautiously took a spoonful—
Huh?
The savage pain that had been ripping through my stomach like it wanted to tear it apart subsided as if it had never existed. Instead, a gentle warmth spread through me, chasing away the chills.
This is fucking delicious. And what the hell is this comforting feeling in my gut?
“Ha, haha. Not bad at all for a commoner.”
Forgetting all dignity, I scraped the bowl clean. With a full stomach, I finally felt like I might live.
Seria took the empty bowl and, with her thumb, secretly stroked the exact edge her lips had touched.
After the meal, silence settled between us with the campfire in the middle.
“Go into the tent and sleep first. I’ll take the first watch.”
Seria’s head snapped up in alarm.
“That won’t do! The Young Duke must be exhausted, so I should—”
“Shut up. Don’t you dare talk back to my orders.”
When I cut her off sharply, she gave up arguing and slipped inside the tent. Only after I heard the zipper close did I let out a long breath of relief.
To keep my favorite character from slitting my throat, I have no choice but to stand guard myself.
I hugged my sword and crouched in front of the fire. But once the tension drained away and my belly was full, crushing drowsiness slammed into me.
My head nodded. My eyelids grew impossibly heavy.
No… If I fall asleep, I die.
In the end, I lost the fight and plunged into unconsciousness.
I don’t know how much time passed.
The tent zipper opened without a sound. Seria approached the sleeping Demian, whose head had drooped in front of the campfire.
“……”
Even in sleep, his brow was tightly furrowed from the effort of suppressing the poison. Seria knelt carefully and reached toward his forehead. His skin burned like a living coal.
From her pocket she drew the pure extract of Poison Snake Herb root she had ground earlier. The amount in the stew hadn’t been enough. To completely quench the terrible fever, he needed the undiluted essence.
But he slept like the dead, mouth clamped shut, only occasionally leaking bloody fluid. Without hesitation, Seria took the extract into her own mouth. Her fingers gently lifted his chin.
Like a predator about to tear into the throat of unconscious prey, her shadow fell across his face. Their lips were about to meet—
“……!”
The spasmodic agony of the poison ripping through my chest miraculously dragged me back to the edge of consciousness. Through blurred vision I saw cold fingers gripping my chin, silver hair inches from my face, and black eyes gleaming with feral hunger.
No matter how much I love my favorite character’s lips, if they’re carrying deadly poison, that’s a whole different story, you bitch!
The assassin’s posture, fangs bared at my windpipe. An unidentified blue liquid glistened at the corner of her mouth.
She waited until I passed out so she could force the poisonous extract down my throat!
The stew had been clean because the real trap was meant for when I collapsed.
“Ugh…!”
I twisted my head on pure instinct and swung my arm with everything I had.
Thud!
Caught completely off guard and startled by my sudden awakening, Seria lost her balance and tumbled across the dirt. The extract she had been holding in her mouth sprayed out as she coughed violently. Blue herbal liquid dribbled down her chin.
I scrambled backward, breathing hard. A second later and that poison would have slid down my throat.
“You… What the hell were you trying to do to me?!”
I roared at the girl collapsed on the ground. The terror of nearly dying for real had short-circuited my reason.
“Cough— Y-Young Duke, that’s not— this is……”
Seria tried to explain through her coughing.
“Shut your mouth! You dare try to feed your master poison while he sleeps?!”
“It’s not poison! It’s to cool your fever—!”
“I said shut up!!”
I drew the dagger from my belt and pressed it against her throat. My shaking hand made the sharp tip graze her skin, drawing tiny beads of blood.
Threatening a monster with nothing but a dagger—I know it’s insane, but I have no other choice if I want to live.
“If you come within one meter of me again, I will carve open that pretty throat of yours for real.”
Even to my snarling threat, Seria didn’t retreat. She simply looked up at me with an expression so heartbroken she seemed on the verge of tears.
Don’t fall for it. That’s just an assassin’s performance.
I forced strength into my trembling grip and kept the blade steady.
“Turn around. Get back in the tent. If you take even one step outside before dawn… consider the academy festival and everything else finished.”
At the lethal warning, Seria glanced at the blood on her throat, then at me, then lowered her head in resignation and walked back to the tent.
The zipper closed with a soft rasp. Only then did my legs give out and drop me to the ground.
“Haa… haa… Fuck. I really almost died.”
I roughly wiped the cold sweat from my neck, checking whether life still clung to me. If the poison hadn’t woken me, I would have been paralyzed and butchered without resistance.
I can’t close my eyes now.
I stabbed more branches into the dying fire with irritated jabs. I would have to stay awake until morning.
Damn it… Just to survive, I ended up pointing a blade at my favorite character’s throat with my own hand.
“You rotten system bastard. You really are determined to drive me to my grave.”
At the same time, inside the tent.
Seria crouched in the darkness, wiping her mouth. She licked the bitter extract from her lips, eyes gleaming like a predator’s.
“I was too hasty.”
It was only natural he would suspect her. After all, he had willingly taken on the role of villain for her sake and endured every ounce of hatred. Even the way he bristled like a wounded beast… was heartbreaking.
Seria gently touched the shallow cut on her nape where Demian’s dagger had grazed her. The wound didn’t hurt. On the contrary, the mere knowledge that his blade had touched her sent an electric thrill racing down her spine.
Gazing at his trembling shadow standing guard outside the tent, Seria whispered sweetly into the darkness.
“If you suspect me… I’ll make sure you can never suspect me again.”
Her voice was endlessly sweet.
“I’ll make it so you can’t even breathe without me. I’ll make you depend on me completely.”