I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 29
“You might end up harming yourself at this rate.”
Sarubia received the water from the maid and handed it to Rufus.
“Is my own condition really that important right now?”
“Rufus…”
Sarubia looked disconcerted.
In the end, Sarubia didn’t tell Rufus about the details of Baroness Inferna’s impending death today, excluding that part of the story.
While Rufus found it frustrating that Sarubia was withholding this information, he could somewhat understand her intentions.
Baroness Inferna wouldn’t meet a peaceful death.
Sarubia was willing to talk about Rufus’s death without any reservations, as long as it wasn’t a terrible one. But when it came to Baroness Inferna’s death, she remained silent.
“Thank you for bringing the water.”
Rufus handed the empty glass to the maid.
“If you need anything else, please let us know.”
“No, go and rest.”
“Then I shall take my leave.”
The maid, at Rufus’s command, curtsied and withdrew. As he watched her receding figure, a thought suddenly struck him.
“By the way, where did that maid with freckles go?”
“Which maid are you referring to?”
The maid turned around.
“The one with freckles.”
Rufus recalled the maid he had given cookies to a few days ago.
The maid who had been instructed by Princess Sordid to clear away the cookies and take them home for her family because she couldn’t eat what the princess had given.
Since that day, however, she had strangely disappeared.
Suddenly, a response he had never anticipated came.
“The girl passed away.”
What did she say?
Rufus, who had been sipping his drink, froze.
She’s dead? Why did she die?
“The girl didn’t show up for work for a while, so I went to her house to check, and she was found dead.”
“What happened?”
“Pardon, but I don’t know the details, Milord. However, I think it might have been something like accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms, given that the entire family is said to have died.”
The maid finished speaking and bowed, then left. She seemed to be shaking as she left, as the shock of losing her colleague hadn’t faded.
Rufus stood there, deep in thought, pondering the words the maid had just conveyed.
Dead.
Not just one person, but the entire family.
Then something passed through Rufus’ mind.
‘Princess Sordid’s cookies.’
When the princess had handed him the cookies, he had been reluctant to take them and gave them to the maid. At that moment, when the maid hesitated, he distinctly remembered that he said something like this,
“If you’re afraid they’ll catch the princess’s attention, take them home and share them with your family secretly.”
But the maid was dead. Her entire family was dead.
Could it be?
“Rufus? What’s wrong?”
Sarubia grabbed Rufus’s arm. His complexion was not good at all.
“It’s… nothing.”
Rufus held Sarubia’s hand.
No, it can’t be.
Rufus was a hero of the kingdom, and the princess wouldn’t be foolish enough to harm a hero who had the support of the people.
No, she wouldn’t be so foolish, not even for the sake of the kingdom’s security.
‘No matter how much I’ve fallen out of favor with the princess, she wouldn’t try to kill me.’
Rufus cleared his mind of the horrifying thoughts that had briefly crossed it.
To suspect others so recklessly, how unbecoming. The maid’s words from a moment ago, while tragic, were likely more reasonable. Unfortunately, she probably died from accidentally consuming poisonous mushrooms.
As he attempted to calm himself, Sarubia’s voice reached him.
“Rufus, I’ve been thinking about something for a long time… Can I ask, even if it’s a strange question?”
“Of course.”
Hearing Sarubia’s voice provided some comfort, allowing him to regain some composure.
“It might be a really strange question, and please don’t get angry with me for asking.”
“I won’t.”
“Okay, so, if Baroness Inferna and I were both drowning at the same time, who would you save?”
“You.”
Rufus answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Me? Why? No, that’s not right!”
Sarubia hurriedly tried to correct him.
“Why would you save me? You should save your family, that’s only natural!”
“My grandmother is a good swimmer.”
“Ah… I didn’t think of that. Then, let me rephrase.”
Sarubia cleared her throat.
“If, for some reason, both Baroness Inferna and I were unable to swim, and both of us ended up in the water and you could only save one person, then who would you save?”
