Dark green eyes fixed sharply on me.
As I let my body hang limp, the priest spoke as though he understood what I intended.
“In any case, I must burn you for the Young Master’s sake.”
“No!”
“Young Master, if you move while vomiting blood, your airway could become blocked. I will replenish your vitality with Divine Power-”
“I said no! Don’t take Paul away!”
Ruperi did not care that he had vomited blood or that his pajamas were soaked with it.
He broke away from Duke Kreuz, who was trying to restrain him, and lunged at the priest.
“Ruperi!”
It all happened in an instant, leaving Duke Kreuz startled.
But the priest was tall. When he raised his arm, Ruperi could not reach me.
“He’s mine! He’s my friend! Give him back right now!”
“Ruperi! What do you think you are doing? Stop this at once!”
“Father said you bought him as my friend! You bought him to be my friend, so why are you trying to take him away now?!”
“That teddy bear is dangerous to you! They say it carries the aura of Miten, so of course I must take it away from you!”
“No! You can never take Paul away!”
Ruperi jumped up and down, but he could not reach me.
Tears spilled from his eyes as he desperately begged for me, but the priest did not lower me.
The priest’s pure-white robes became stained with Ruperi’s blood. Even as Ruperi stretched out with all his strength, the priest only watched him quietly.
In the end, Ruperi buried his face in the priest’s robes and pleaded.
“Please, don’t burn him.”
“……”
“He’s my friend. If I don’t have him, if I don’t have Paul, I can’t…….”
“……”
“So…… please don’t take him away.”
Ruperi’s shoulders shook. Seeing him weep so pitifully, the priest let out a sigh heavy with exhaustion.
Then he knelt and met Ruperi’s eyes.
“Very well. I will not take your friend away.”
“Didike!”
“He is the Young Master’s friend, after all. I cannot take him away by force when he is begging like this. And seeing how much the Young Master cherishes him, it seems the teddy bear truly has remained by his side as a friend.”
At those words, Duke Kreuz fell silent.
The priest placed me in the arms of Ruperi, who was wiping away chicken-dropping-sized tears.
“Paul…….”
Once I was back in Ruperi’s arms, warmth filled my body, which had gone cold. As the stiffness left me, tears surged up for no reason.
As I held them back with all my might, unwilling to cry, the priest spoke to Ruperi.
“But this friend is dangerous. Do you understand that?”
Ruperi did not answer. Seeing him stubbornly keep his mouth shut, the priest smiled faintly.
“So you do not agree. Very well. However, I believe he is dangerous, so I will cast Divine Magic on the teddy bear.”
“……Divine Magic?”
“It is a spell that prevents malicious energy from entering the Young Master’s body. It is only a temporary measure, so I will come to see the Young Master every day.”
At the coaxing voice, Ruperi nodded.
The priest reached out, and I had to endure Divine Magic that stung—no, Divine Magic many times more agonizing than before.
Only after the Divine Magic had been cast did Ruperi seem relieved. He slowly collapsed against the priest’s shoulder.
‘Corpse Poison? If it’s Corpse Poison, there’s no one it could be but me.’
Even after Ruperi opened his eyes, I could not escape my confusion.
The situation made no sense no matter how I thought about it.
No matter how much Necromancy I had cast, I had never used a spell so saturated with Corpse Poison that it would make Ruperi vomit blood.
It had only been fifth-tier magic.
A basic spell.
How could Corpse Poison cling to a spell like that?
Ruperi even played with small Wraiths from time to time, yet I had never seen him show any sign of Corpse Poison poisoning.
‘Yet he’s been poisoned by Corpse Poison.’
As I trembled and desperately racked my brain, Ruperi, who had already been changed into clean clothes, held me warmly.
“It’s okay, Paul. It’s not your fault.”
[But…….]
“It was an accident. I got poisoned because I’m weak, so it’s not your fault, Paul.”
No. Ruperi had been poisoned by Corpse Poison because I was by his side.
If I had not been near him, Ruperi would never have been poisoned by Corpse Poison.
‘It’s my fault. Because I stayed by his side…….’
“Paul, it’s okay. I’m only poisoned, that’s all. Don’t worry.”
Everything before me turned dark. I could not think of what to do. As I stiffened, Ruperi gently stroked my back.
‘Could Priest Didike have diagnosed him incorrectly?’
I wanted to believe that instead.
That Ruperi vomiting blood was caused by another problem, not Corpse Poison.
I wanted to examine Ruperi’s body, but I could not even bring myself to reach out.
“Paul?”
I wanted to confirm it.
But I was too afraid that it truly was Corpse Poison, or that my aura would affect Ruperi’s body while I examined him.
‘What should I do?’
As I hesitated, Ruperi took my stuffed hand.
“You want to check, don’t you? Whether I’m really poisoned by Corpse Poison.”
[Ruperi.]
“You’ll be able to check better than Priest Didike. Anchina has stepped out, so check while you can.”
[You might vomit blood.]
At my concern, Ruperi smiled faintly.
He seemed to smile brightly, but his sickly complexion kept it from looking that way.
“It’s okay.”
[It’ll hurt.]
“Even so, it’s okay. Because it’s you, Paul.”
Even then, he did not let go of my arm.
After hesitating, I finally reached out with my small hand.
The moment I touched Ruperi’s arm—
“Ugh!”
[Ruperi!]
“……How is it? Am I really poisoned by Corpse Poison?”
I could not say anything.
As I withdrew my trembling hand, Ruperi seemed to understand and stroked my head.
“It’s okay. Everything will be all right.”
[…….]
“So don’t cry.”
It felt as though the world had collapsed.
Ruperi—the child who held me so warmly—really had been poisoned by Corpse Poison, just as the priest said.
After receiving that final confirmation, I tried to keep my distance from Ruperi.
Even with the priest’s Divine Magic cast on me, simply staying beside Ruperi could affect him.
But whenever I moved even a little farther away, Ruperi frowned and refused to let me go.
It was the same even while he was coughing up blood.
Because of that, I could not avoid the droplets of blood, and red stains spread across my body.
[If you keep holding me, your condition will only get worse.]
“Then should I stay somewhere else?”
[You should.]
“What if you run away? What if Father or Priest Didike burns you?”
[Of course I’d run away.]
“Liar.”
[…….]
“You’re trying to get away from me even now. You’d happily follow if I left, wouldn’t you?”
That was not true.
I had escaped House Teneris with such difficulty. There was no way I would let anyone burn my body.
I only wanted to move away for Ruperi’s sake, but he stubbornly refused to let me go.
‘Would it be better to find a way to cure the Corpse Poison poisoning instead?’
However, just as the priest had said, Ruperi’s Corpse Poison poisoning was not normal.
As a Necromancer, I could not possibly be unfamiliar with Corpse Poison.
When someone was poisoned by Corpse Poison, their body darkened, they developed paralysis, and eventually they suffered severe hallucinations.
But Ruperi—
‘His body hasn’t darkened, he isn’t paralyzed, and he isn’t hallucinating?’
Moreover, how could someone be poisoned by Corpse Poison merely because a Necromancer was nearby?
‘Then would everyone be poisoned if they stood beside someone who uses poison magic?’
It was absurd.
I could not understand how Ruperi had become poisoned by Corpse Poison.
‘In any case, I need to find a way to cure the Corpse Poison poisoning.’
To be honest, finding the cause was easy. The problem came afterward.
Corpse Poison was not easy to cure, even for someone with poison resistance or a strong body.
In other words—
‘There’s no way.’
Even House Teneris treated it as a poison to be wary of, so there was no method to cure Ruperi’s Corpse Poison poisoning.