I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 196
“For now, yes.”
With that short reply, Rufus took Sarubia’s hand.
Her hand was filled with warmth. He found himself longing for her to touch him, anywhere. It didn’t matter where—he just wanted to keep feeling her. He wanted to savor the feeling of being connected to her endlessly.
“As I thought! I knew it!”
Having received confirmation from Rufus that Iruel was alive, Sarubia finally seemed to relax a little.
“So, where is the real Sir Roroel right now?”
“The real Iruel? What do you mean by that?”
“Well, Prince Tarek is currently in a coffin and buried underground. Surely, the one in the coffin can’t be Sir Roroel, right?”
Sarubia asked, looking to him for reassurance. But Rufus simply stared at her in silence.
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“There’s only one Iruel in this world.”
“How can that be? The person buried as Prince Tarek is… wait a minute.”
Realization dawned on Sarubia, and she gasped.
“Rufus… don’t tell me Sir Roroel has been buried alive?”
“Yes.”
Rufus nodded lightly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Rufus!”
Sarubia sprang to her feet, horror spreading across her face like a toxin.
“W-What have you done to Sir Roroel? Don’t you feel any pity for him?”
“Why?”
Why? How could he ask such a thing! Sarubia felt close to tears. She knew Rufus didn’t particularly like Iruel, but she hadn’t thought Rufus would actually bury him alive.
However, that wasn’t the real issue. There was a more urgent problem at hand.
“We need to go right now!”
“For what?”
“What do you think? To dig him out!”
Sarubia urgently grabbed Rufus’s sleeve. They had to rescue Iruel, who was trapped underground!
“Even if we go, it’ll be pointless. Do you plan to dig up a grave in front of the guards?”
“Then what are we supposed to do? Sir Roroel must be down there, terrified, screaming in fear!”
“That sounds great.”
“Rufus!”
Sarubia gripped his shoulders, distressed by his indifferent response.
“Sir Roroel is suffering! We have to get him out!”
“I don’t like hearing another man’s name coming from your lips.”
“Stop being possessive all of a sudden, Rufus! Come on!”
Tears began to gather at the corners of her eyes. Seeing this, Rufus quickly dropped his stoic expression and softened, attempting to soothe her.
“I was joking. Don’t cry. Iruel is safe.”
Though his desire to have her to himself made him act a bit stubbornly, seeing her cry because of him broke his heart.
“Sir Roroel… he’s so pitiful…”
“Sarubia.”
Rufus gently held her cheeks in both hands, pressing his forehead against hers.
Sarubia’s golden eyes, glistening with tears, looked up at him, blurring his face. The sight made his heart ache, as if he were lying on a bed of nails.
“I’m sorry. It was just a joke.”
“Since when do you even make jokes?”
Sarubia pouted.
“After sunset, I was planning to retrieve Iruel. I swear.”
After hearing his repeated reassurance, Sarubia finally relaxed and let out a shallow sigh.
“Alright, then explain everything to me now.”
Sarubia returned to the sofa and sat down, looking expectantly at Rufus, who took his place beside her.
“When Prince Camus stabbed Sir Roroel with the rapier, the poison must have spread through his body, right? So how is it that Iruel survived?”
“I had anticipated that Prince Camus would try to kill Prince Tarek… or rather, that idiot Iruel.”
Rufus admitted calmly, feeling relieved that this explanation might prevent Sarubia from bursting into tears again.
“Judging by Prince Camus’s previous actions, I suspected he might use poison. So, before the banquet began, I cast a spell on Iruel to prevent the poison from spreading through his body.”
“I’ve never heard of a spell like that before. Well, I am just a powerless commoner, so I suppose it’s natural I wouldn’t know…”
Sarubia gave a sheepish smile, prompting Rufus to continue his explanation to satisfy her curiosity.
“However, there is one side effect to that spell.”
“What is it?”
“Depending on the strength of the poison, the body enters a state of apparent death.”
In other words, the body stiffens and breathing becomes so faint that it appears as if the person has truly died.
Rufus continued his explanation. Although Iruel hadn’t died thanks to the pre-cast spell, the poison Camus used was potent. Thus, when Iruel was exposed to it, he reached a state where he seemed truly dead from the shock.
“Can’t you just tell everyone that Iruel is actually alive?”
“As you said, it’s not practical to keep pretending that Iruel is Prince Tarek forever. I figured this was a good chance to let him ‘die’.”
“I see… But, then, why hasn’t anyone realized that Sir Roroel is actually alive? Wouldn’t the royal mages be able to tell?”
“No, once someone is in an apparent death state, even the most skilled mages find it difficult to detect.”
“Hm…”
Sarubia seemed dissatisfied with Rufus’s explanation but eventually nodded, indicating her understanding.
“Alright. So, we’re going to dig up Sir Roroel tonight, right?”
“Yes.”
Rufus stroked Sarubia’s hair.
In truth, everything he had just told her was a complete lie.
A spell to stop poison from spreading? Such a thing didn’t exist.
Magic is not omnipotent. There are limits to what it can do, boundaries humans cannot cross even with the greatest of efforts.
The real reason Iruel hadn’t died when he was stabbed with Camus’s poisoned rapier was simple.
Iruel was half-human, half-demon. As the royal mages had mentioned before, Hiramith is a poison that reacts strongly only to demons. It’s deadly to demons but merely causes mild paralysis in humans.
What reaction would it cause if it came into contact with a being who had both human and demon blood?
‘The effects would mix.’
The fundamental structure of demons and humans differs, allowing for such an outcome.
His breathing and heartbeat had completely stopped, making him appear dead, but in reality, his entire body was just paralyzed. That was the current state of Iruel, buried underground.
‘Thank you for dying, false Prince Tarek.’
Thanks to him, the king’s face had contorted most beautifully.
As Rufus brushed his hand through Sarubia’s hair, he allowed himself a hidden smirk.
