AWWEWNR Chapter 33

“Delphiter? That’s a sleeping pill.”

 

Tharrott stared at Rosaryn in surprise. Rosaryn took a sip of her tea without changing her expression and looked at him.

 

“If you want to marry Hanaella most surely, this is the only way.”

 

“…!”

 

“Delphiter is a drug that doesn’t stay in the body, so even if we get caught later, there will be no evidence.”

 

Rosaryn put down the teacup she was holding and looked at Tharrott. Her eyes told him that she meant every word she was saying.

 

“The Crown Prince is more in love with Hanaella than I thought, and I can’t see a chasm between them.”

 

“…”

 

“So there’s only one way for Tharo to make Hanaella his woman, and that’s to invite her home and feed her Delphiter at every opportunity, and all Tharo has to do is make no mistake with her.”

 

Gulp— 

 

Tharrott swallowed dryly. Even as he thought to himself, ‘Isn’t this a crime?’ the thought of having Hanaella made his loins rise taut.

 

“If the person with whom she spent the night was Tharo, wouldn’t it be difficult for both the Crown Prince and Hanaella to keep their love for each other any longer?”

 

“…Is it possible…?”

 

“Don’t just pretend. If Hanaella has already slept with the Crown Prince, and she lies and says she spent the night with him, it will be difficult if she is a virgin.”

 

The mere mention of the word made Tharrott’s loins grow tighter than they had been earlier. 

 

To avoid giving Rosaryn any indication of his condition, Tharrott pushed himself up and walked toward the window. 

 

Mistaking his distress at having to leave her and hold another woman, Rosaryn walked over to him and hugged him, saying, 

 

“You only need to close your eyes once. I hate the thought of Tharo embracing another woman besides me more than I can bear.”

 

“…”

 

“But this is for our future. You know that, right?”

 

“…I know.”

 

Tharrott turned and embraced Rosaryn. And then he captured her lips with his own. 

 

Rosaryn loved him to death, tormented by the thought that he must sleep with another woman, unaware that it was all an illusion on her part.

 

💫

 

This dream was quite vicious. 

 

The High Priests of the Cathedral, Rosaryn, and Emperor Lionel urged that Hanaella should be burned at the stake for practicing forbidden magic.

 

With the High Priestess, who hated Rosaryn so much, at her side, the witch begged Lionel to disband the Knights and destroy the entire House of Ariel. 

 

There was a triumphant look in Rosaryn’s eyes as she said that the witch’s father should be poisoned to death and the witch burned at the stake in front of Hayden’s people.

 

Lionel listened with a clenched jaw, and when the High Priestess sided with Rosaryn, he motioned for her to leave, as if to say that it was a nuisance. 

 

Enraged that her father and herself had been condemned to death for nothing more than the words of Rosaryn’s mouth and the annoyance of Lionel, Hanaella cursed them, but it was a dream, and her voice did not reach them.

 

‘Yes, it was.’

 

Even though I dabbled in forbidden magic, I thought it was too much to kill my father and destroy my family, let alone disband the Knights. 

 

Rosaryn Ezy Thearine. She had used the Knights to make Lionel Emperor, and when the Knights were no longer needed, she took the opportunity to decimate them.

 

‘The people who would be most happy to see the Knights gone would be the High Priests, so she’d ask them to lend her their power to dismantle them. It’s a theory, but it’s a good enough one for now.’ 

 

Hanaella struggled to contain her simmering anger. 

 

The mere presence of the siblings of House Thearine had brought down House Ariel, the Darkness of Hayden, in one fell swoop.

 

Until the moment when her father drank the poison at the Emperor’s behest, he had pleaded to spare only his daughter, but his pleas had fallen on deaf ears. 

 

And as Hanaella was burned at the stake, Rosaryn stood behind Lionel and smiled upon her, seemingly invisibly.

 

Hanaella couldn’t understand why Rosaryn hated her so much, not because of the man she loved, but because she had set her up to marry him. 

 

Not for turning him into a monster, for she had abandoned him in a swift turn of events and was living well as the wife of the Duke of Delioffe.

 

Sure, she might have been angry that she’d made the man who loved her do that, but she’d left Tharrott’s side too quickly for that. 

 

As she wondered why she had to kill her, and then dissolve the Knights, she blinked up at the sight of herself writhing in agony in the fire.

 

“Ugh…!”

 

With a short scream, Hanaella woke up, her body and face covered in sweat. 

 

She had already been through this once before, and the pain was so intense that she remembered it from her dreams.

 

Hanaella called urgently for Belle. Horrified, she told her to take a bath and drank the water the maid brought. 

 

When she emerged from the bath, Gemma was waiting anxiously.

 

“Miss.”

 

“It’s nothing, Gemma. I just had a nightmare.”

 

Sitting on the couch, Hanaella sipped the tea Belle poured for her.

 

“Phew, not me again. I thought you’d be surprised to hear that Lady Mediola has been kidnapped.”

 

“What, kidnapped, Mediola?!”

 

Hanaella’s eyes widened at the news that her relative, Mediola, had been kidnapped. 

 

Gemma looked confused, wondering if she hadn’t heard yet, then nodded that she had.

 

“Why, there was a Marquis who was courting Lady Medulla a few years ago.”

 

“…Oh, was there such a thing…?”

 

“That Lord saw Lady Mediola dancing with another Lord in a social gathering and kidnapped her for fear of losing her to him.”

 

“Fear of being taken away, you say. Isn’t there something wrong with that man’s head?”

 

“So?”

 

“He said that Lady Mediola was in love with the Marquis, and that she had decided to marry him…”

 

“What, she’s going to marry the criminal who kidnapped her? Does Mediola have any sense?”

 

“It was a kidnapping, but she says she was much more valued than she was back home.”

 

“No matter how you slice it, he kidnapped her!”

 

Hanaella cried out in exasperation, and Belle said with an understanding look on her face.

 

“Maybe she didn’t want to lose someone she really liked, so she went to such lengths. I’m not saying that Marquis Young Master was a good man, but it’s understandable.”

 

“What do you mean it’s understandable, common sense…”

 

A moment. Pausing in mid-sentence, Hanaella’s face paled. Kidnapping. It was a very real possibility.

 

“Miss?”

 

“…Belle, I need you to go to the Knights’ Lair right now and fetch Lord Shia.”

 

“Shah… who?”

 

“The next Legionnaire. Tell him I’m looking for him urgently.”

 

“…Yes, my lady.”

 

“My lady, is something wrong?”

 

At Gemma’s question, Hanaella didn’t answer, but instead walked briskly to her desk, pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, and scribbled something quickly. 

 

Placing it in an envelope, Hanaella stamped it, and held it out to Gemma.

 

“Gemma. I need you to go to Norwen’s office right now and find a man named ‘Ron’ and give him this.”

 

“…?!”

 

“Of course, he mustn’t know, and you can’t send anyone else.”

 

“…Miss, what the hell is going on…”

 

“It’s urgent, hurry.”

 

“…Yes, miss.”

 

Once Gemma was out of earshot, Hanaella let out a long sigh and pressed a hand to her forehead. She had overlooked the Thearine siblings, it would be easy enough for them to kidnap her if they so desired.

 

One way or another, she’d be forced to marry Tharrott.

 

‘Don’t underestimate the power of the dark powers. They are the ones who have destroyed me and my family in the past, so I must make the first move.’

 

Hanaella needed to know what they were thinking, who they were seeing, what they were up to. 

 

To do that, she needed Ron.

 

A man whom Tharrott had spoken of in the past. She’d never seen his face, but she’d once been referred to him by the Empress, and she’d said offhandedly that he was quick, neat, and reliable. She had to admire her memory for remembering that now.

 

With a short sigh, Hanaella ran a hand through her hair.

 

‘I’ll have to hurry up and finalize the continuation agreement with Shia.’ 

 

For a moment, she thought about putting it off until after she became Head of House and Shia became Head of Legion because of the way the contract was written. 

 

She remembered that the contract would allow the Master to find the contractor no matter where they were, so she decided it would be best to do it now.

 

It also said that their lives would become one, so if either of them were in danger, they could respond to screams and travel in dark magic. 

 

With no way of knowing what Thearine would do, I felt that a contract with him was essential.