I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 198

“Prince Camus?”

“If it’s too difficult to talk about, you don’t have to say anything,” Rufus quickly added, fearing that he might dredge up painful memories for Sarubia.

However, she didn’t seem bothered by it. Instead, she responded in a calm, almost detached tone, as if recounting a historical fact.

“Prince Camus was torn apart by the monsters.”

Sarubia’s indifferent response caught Rufus off guard.

Usually, Sarubia’s emotions showed vividly, like the changing seasons. She laughed heartily like a child when happy and shed endless tears when sad—a transparent woman.

But the Sarubia sitting in front of him now seemed entirely unlike herself.

“What… kind of monsters were they?” Rufus continued to study her expression carefully.

“Toads. Red toads, but their blood was blue.”

Red toads. They must have been the same toads he encountered the night he sought out the witch Odr. With their high reproduction rate, they multiplied excessively, taking over entire areas. Apparently, they also inhabited the forests near the royal palace.

“So, those toads didn’t attack you.”

“Yes, that’s right. Thanks to that, I survived.”

“Why didn’t you die?”

“What?”

At Rufus’s unguarded remark, Sarubia looked at him with wide eyes. Realizing that his words had come across poorly, Rufus quickly clarified.

“What I mean is… why did the monsters only attack Prince Camus and not you?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure about that myself.”

Though she said that, Sarubia had a suspicion.

‘Was it… because of this ring?’

Sarubia’s fingers instinctively touched the ring on her left ring finger.

At the moment when Prince Camus tried to kill her, this ring, with its red magic stone, had glowed. At the same time, the entire forest had trembled, and hundreds of toad monsters had appeared.

For some reason, she felt she shouldn’t reveal this. Even if the person in front of her, Rufus, was the one who had given her the ring.

Or perhaps, especially because it was him, she should keep it hidden.

“However… the toads did say something strange to me.”

“What did they say?”

Recalling the toads’ words, Sarubia let out a small chuckle.

“They called me a witch.”

A witch—how absurd. For them to call her, a human, a witch.

“They called… you a witch?”

“Yes. I think it might have been because of this ring you gave me. Since I had a magic stone, they probably mistook me for a demon.”

Sarubia nodded and spoke casually. But Rufus couldn’t simply dismiss this as trivial.

“…!”

Something was off.

The last time, those toad monsters had referred to him as the Demon King. And now they had called Sarubia a witch.

A single strange incident could be dismissed as a mistake. But when such a thing repeated itself, it became a different matter. After all, toad monsters were known never to lie. If it wasn’t a mistake and it wasn’t a lie, then how could he explain this phenomenon?

‘What is going on…?’

Rufus unclenched his fist and adjusted his collar with a trembling hand.

What was happening? Was this another effect of the heart implanted in him by Demon King Audixus? Just as the monsters had mistaken him for the Demon King, could they have mistaken Sarubia for a witch because of the ring?

Yes, that must be it. They were thoroughly mistaken. There was no way Sarubia was a witch. She was human, and so was he. Both he and Sarubia were born as humans and would die as humans…

Suddenly, his chest tightened. The wound hidden beneath his clothes began to sting again.

Lost in thought, Rufus grimaced slightly as he clenched his teeth. A gentle voice cut through his tension.

“You look serious again.”

It was Sarubia.

“Why are you making that face? Are you feeling unwell?”

“No.”

Finally, Rufus relaxed his expression. Even if it meant spending sleepless nights wrestling with his thoughts, he didn’t want to worry Sarubia at this moment.

With narrowed eyes, Sarubia leaned over and laid her head on his lap.

Rufus flinched at the sudden move. It wasn’t because of the physical contact with Sarubia but because he worried she might notice his chest pain.

“…Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you lying down like that?”

“Just because I felt like it. Why, Rufus, don’t you like it?”

Lying on the sofa, Sarubia looked up at Rufus and smiled. No matter how much he tried to hide it, Sarubia could sense it. Rufus’s darkened expression wasn’t improving. The reason, no doubt, was some unspoken secret he kept buried deep inside.