Chapter 226
The former princess’s room—
In the empty room, a woman dressed in palace maid attire stood guard.
Moving busily, the maid stopped beside the bed.
Then, she lifted the mattress, revealing a crumpled leather pouch hidden inside.
She looked around.
Once she confirmed no one was there, she opened the pouch.
Inside was a strange herb.
Its handling seemed anything but ordinary.
After opening a window to check the surroundings and peering outside the door, the maid finally resumed her actions.
She stoked the fire in the fireplace and threw the herb into the flames.
At that moment, Ombre began to thrash wildly.
The maid frowned, waving her arm.
“Why is the smoke so thick today?”
Mistaking Ombre’s presence for smoke, the maid coughed repeatedly.
Despite the irritating smoke, she didn’t leave the room or open more windows.
Only after the herb had burned completely did she open the window to ventilate.
Thanks to that, Ombre was able to slip out.
‘Hah…!’
A dizzying sensation came over me, and my vision began to blur.
After some time, my focus returned, and the lakeside came into view again.
This was the hidden ability of a shadow monster, unknown to the world.
‘The power to share memories.’
I was very surprised when I first discovered this ability.
‘I’d expected a monster that feeds on fear to have some kind of fear-inducing ability for humans, but…’
I never thought he had such a handy power.
Because shadow monsters are so rare, even scholars know very little about them.
Of course, this ability came with many restrictions.
1- Ombre needed to be in a familiar space where he could move easily.
2- He had to be within a day or two’s distance from me, as he would feel too anxious if we were apart for too long, which weakened the ability.
3- There could be no protective barriers in the location.
4- He had to be able to slip in undetected.
5- Spaces with strong winds or bright light were unsuitable.
…
A multitude of other conditions had to be met as well.
‘This time, it was only thanks to Hilda, a senior servant of the duchy, that we managed to meet these conditions.’
In any case, I now knew the truth thanks to Ombre.
“They used that herb to make Ragon aggressive.”
Ombre had gone wild the moment he inhaled the herb’s smoke.
I could clearly sense how much pain he had been in.
‘Ragon must have felt the same.’
Ombre had suffered terribly from just a small handful of herbs.
The pouch was quite large, so they must have used much more on Ragon.
‘That’s why he went on a rampage.’
Because of the pain.
The unbearable pain.
And yet, even then, Ragon didn’t attack the maid.
‘Because that’s how I trained him.’
As I bit my lip hard, Ombre squirmed as if whining.
“Oh, you’ve become such a needy little one because of all that pain.”
Now that I knew the truth, all that remained was to act.
I activated the communication stone.
“Conrad, it’s me. Pass on the message to Hilda.”
After giving my orders, I quietly gazed at the calm lake.
I was furious.
Even when people misunderstood me in my first life, thinking I had pushed Dalia down the stairs, I hadn’t felt this level of anger.
Back then, I had only felt sadness and injustice.
But now… do I feel wronged?
‘No.’
For the first time in my life, I knew what it was like to feel such cold, steely anger.
It was a terrifyingly calm sensation.
‘I’ll get my revenge properly this time.’
***
The Duke’s office.
Only the sound of the Duke flipping through papers broke the heavy silence in the office.
Viscount Debussy, seated on the sofa, stole a glance at the Duke.
As he reviewed the documents, his demeanor was frighteningly composed.
‘I have no idea what he’s thinking…’
Even after nearly forty years of knowing him, there were times like these when the Duke’s thoughts were a complete mystery.
The Duke hadn’t shared any updates about the situation with him, either.
‘It seems the intelligence department is on the move.’
When he entered the office, he’d noticed the head of Astra’s intelligence department leaving the room with a grim expression.
Debussy let out a deep sigh.
Just then.
A small, yellow-haired head appeared by the window.
Viscount Debussy felt a moment of déjà vu.
He had seen that little yellow head seven years ago as well.
Back then, her hair had been tied up on both sides like a little squirrel.
Thinking of the past, he let out a small chuckle.
“Why do you always stay outside the window instead of coming in?”
“Because Grandfather’s working. I don’t want to interrupt!”
Despite saying she didn’t want to disturb him, her little yellow head bobbed around outside the window.
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