I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 197
At first, Rufus gave Iruel a vial of the Hiramith poison and ordered him: challenge Prince Camus to a duel, coat the rapier with the poison, and strike him.
It was a meaningless command.
Rufus never actually believed Iruel could kill Prince Camus. Camus was not only powerful in magic but also an exceptional swordsman. And he was perpetually suspicious, taking care to be overly cautious in all matters. Killing someone like Camus was no easy feat.
So, Rufus decided to turn Camus’s own traits against him.
He created a situation where Camus would feel confident enough to engage in a duel.
Of course, he didn’t act directly. There was ample motivation for Camus to duel with Prince Tarek. After all, Rufus had repeatedly incited Camus’s anger using Iruel, who was posing as Prince Tarek.
Once Camus decided to accept the duel, the rest was easy. Rufus anticipated that Camus would likely switch swords with Prince Tarek during the fight—such was his nature.
Everything proceeded as Rufus had foreseen.
Camus, now holding the poisoned rapier, naturally ended up stabbing Prince Tarek, and Iruel, exposed to the poison, reached a state resembling ‘death’. Afterward, Camus was doomed to face severe punishment for the crime of killing a member of the royal family.
Up to this point, everything was perfect.
Everything was under Rufus’s control, and nothing deviated from his plan.
However, Rufus had overlooked one thing.
Camus had fled with Sarubia.
It had been a grand banquet. With numerous esteemed guests invited, the guards were on high alert, with many eyes watching and many ears listening. Yet, amidst the crowd, Camus had seized the Saintess and escaped.
After meeting with the Crown Prince, Rufus returned to the banquet hall, expecting the death of Prince Tarek—rather, that damn drunkard, Iruel.
And just as he had anticipated, Prince Tarek was dead. He was reveling in the thought that he had finally gotten rid of Camus when the pale-faced Baroness Inferna rushed over to him, urgently saying that Camus had escaped with Sarubia.
At that moment, it felt as though the entire world had stopped.
He couldn’t clearly remember what happened after that. He had chased after her traces like a madman.
When he found Sarubia in the forest, she was, unexpectedly, standing there alone. Her feet, which had been touched by monster poison, were a complete mess. Fortunately, thanks to Rufus’s prompt treatment, she had since healed without a scar.
Meanwhile, the prince who had abducted her, Camus, was already dead—his body in a gruesome, unsightly state.
According to the official report from the royal mages, Camus had been killed by monsters.
But a question lingered.
Why?
Why had Camus died, while Sarubia survived?
Not that he wished for Sarubia’s death, but it was incomprehensible. Prince Camus, bearing royal blood and endowed with formidable magical power, had succumbed to the monsters’ attack. So how was it that Sarubia, a commoner with not an ounce of magical ability, had survived?
‘The Saintess is blessed by the gods, of course she would have been spared from the monsters,’ people would murmur to each other. But the logic didn’t sit right.
Iruel had once stated that a demon’s touch wouldn’t harm a Saintess. If that was true, then monsters shouldn’t have been any different.
Thinking about it, there was no reason for the monsters not to attack Sarubia. In fact, it would have made sense for them to strike at both her and Camus simultaneously. Yet, aside from the injuries caused by the poison seeping into the ground, Sarubia remained unharmed.
Why?
No matter how he tried to shake it off, Rufus couldn’t rid his mind of this lingering question, despite telling himself repeatedly that it didn’t matter as long as Sarubia was alive and by his side.
Rufus carefully studied Sarubia’s expression as he finally spoke.
“Sarubia, I have a question.”
“Don’t bite me.”
“What?”
“It hurts if you bite.”
“…”
“Chomp.”
“…Stop that.”
“It was just a joke. Smile.”
Smiling, Sarubia playfully pinched Rufus’s cheek, just as he had teased her earlier. Watching his face stiffen helplessly in response to her little prank was endlessly entertaining to her. His consistent reaction every time only added to the amusement.
And, more than anything, it made her heart flutter to know that this stoic man loved her, and her alone.
With a soft sigh, Rufus caught her hand as it playfully pinched his cheek.
“Sarubia, I genuinely have a question.”
“Alright. Ask me.”
“How did Prince Camus die?”
At Rufus’s unexpected question, Sarubia’s expression subtly darkened.
