Ghislain's voice echoed through the room.
"You don't want to live like this forever, but the thought of dying terrifies you. That's only natural. With a half-hearted resolve like that, any swing of your knife will only graze the surface."
"...You damn quack with a big mouth."
The butler, overhearing their conversation, turned red with rage and shouted,
"You're speaking out of turn!"
Ignoring him, Ghislain continued.
"Are you really so worried you might die?"
"Enough! Baron!"
"If you can't make a decision, let me decide for you. If you're going to die anyway, why not hold onto that last sliver of hope and see if the treatment works?"
"Baron Fenris!"
The tension in the room reached a breaking point. The butler and knights bristled with hostility, and Ghislain's entourage mirrored their stances, readying for a standoff.
Just then, the Marquis Branford and Knight Commander Toleo pushed their way through the crowd.
"Lord Marquis!"
The butler greeted him eagerly, bowing his head.
He had just confessed to the Marquis that recommending Ghislain had been a mistake and had urged him to come, fearing that the young lady's life might be in danger. The Marquis, after hearing this, had come to see the situation for himself.
Surveying the scene with a stony expression, the Marquis asked,
"What in the world is going on here? Is this some kind of witch hunt?"
Rozalin's hair was disheveled, and her dress was stained with blood. Even the bed was soaked in blood, lending a grisly appearance to the scene.
"Father…"
Rozalin did not look the slightest bit happy to see the Marquis.
He was the one who'd ordered the treatment without so much as asking her opinion.
As a member of a noble family, she was bound to follow the family head's orders, but her anger burned beyond control.
"Did you come to watch your daughter cough up blood? Or just to check on the 'merchandise' you're planning to send off in marriage?"
Seeing her gripping a dagger with a wild look in her eyes, everyone in the room held their breath.
"Young lady! You can't speak to the lord like that!"
The butler stammered in shock.
Once so kind and dignified, now she seemed utterly transformed. Her illness had certainly sharpened her temper, but Ghislain's influence seemed to have pushed it even further.
The Marquis's eyebrows knitted slightly, and he replied in a low voice,
"The butler was right; you seem in poor condition. If you wish, we can stop the treatment."
Stunned, Rozalin momentarily looked dazed.
Ghislain clenched his teeth imperceptibly, hiding his reaction.
She had finally shown some resilience, but if he stopped the treatment now, all progress would be lost. Given Rozalin's resistance to the treatment, she would likely accept the offer to stop.
'Is this the end?'
Without a strong resolve on her part, she would never make it through the treatment. In her past life, she had endured because of an iron will to survive, but this time, things were different.
'I'll have to find what I need elsewhere.'
There were favors he had hoped to ask of the Marquis, but those plans would have to be scrapped.
At that moment, Rozalin finally spoke.
"What happens to Baron Fenris if I stop?"
The Marquis, still impassive, replied,
"If you refuse, he has no grounds to stay. He'll leave."
Hearing this, the butler looked slightly regretful, while Ghislain's followers sighed in relief.
A man of the Marquis's standing would not go back on his word.
But Rozalin held her mask and let out a bitter laugh.
"This one or that one… you're all just doing as you please… You hurt me, humiliated me, and then you'll just walk away?"
She trembled, her shoulders shaking with something between laughter and despair. She raised her head, fixing Ghislain with a piercing glare.
"I really don't like you. The way you act like you know everything, the way you insist you're the only one who's right."
Unable to tell her about his past life, Ghislain remained silent.
"And this half-baked treatment—how can this be called healing when it could kill someone?"
"It's over anyway, isn't it? Even if you don't trust it, what's the point of saying so now?"
Rozalin gritted her teeth in frustration and spat out her anger.
"Over? You and Father started this without asking me, and now you'll just end it as you please? Do you think I'm a puppet who stops and starts on command?"
'Huh?'
Clang.
She threw the dagger to the ground and turned to the Marquis.
"I'll continue the treatment."
"Young lady! But it could kill you!" the butler cried out in alarm.
Others were equally shocked. She'd been so adamantly against it—why the sudden change of heart?
Ignoring their reactions, she continued.
"If the treatment fails, you'll ensure that this quack doesn't get away, right? I'll decide how painfully he dies."
The Marquis, his face still expressionless, nodded.
"As you wish."
"And if I die from this treatment, please tear him apart."
"I will."
Everyone swallowed nervously at her chilling words.
Only Ghislain, struggling to suppress a grin, bit his lip.
'Perfect, perfect. That's the fire I needed. I almost forgot whose daughter she is.'
A brilliant reversal.
At this point, Rozalin had completely dismissed the idea of the treatment as healing.
She was filled only with the certainty that Ghislain would fail and a burning desire to make him suffer for it.
But that poison in her heart was exactly what would keep her fighting through the pain.
Rozalin's eyes glinted as she looked at Ghislain.
"Ten days left, right? I'll endure this, and then I'll kill you."
"If you live to see it, you'll be able to watch me die. So, feeling more motivated now?"
"There's no way you'll die easily. That, I guarantee."
Ghislain shrugged with a smile.
"If I fail, I'll accept whatever you wish. I like that fire in your eyes."
Seeing his calm demeanor, Rozalin sneered and turned to the butler.
"Every time we start, tie my arms and legs to the bed."
"W-What?"
"And prepare a gag for my mouth as well."
"Is that… really necessary…?"
"Unless you'd prefer I thrash around like a madwoman every time he treats me? If we're doing this, we're doing it properly."
The butler, visibly unsettled, nodded.
Watching this unfold, Ghislain couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration.
'Impressive spirit. As they say, the cub of a lion can only grow to be a lion. Come to think of it, the Branford family's crest is a lion. Fitting.'
Even for someone consumed by anger, staking one's life was no easy feat.
Especially with an option to escape still within reach.
But Rozalin was not ordinary. Once she had made up her mind, she would not waver.
She turned her gaze back to Ghislain.
"Let's see this through to the end."
There was a glint of lethal determination—she was planning to survive only so she could see him dead.
Ghislain, however, was unperturbed.
"Good. I'll do my best, so I hope you'll follow through. Now, I can focus on the treatment without worry."
He shrugged with a smile, as if this was the best outcome.
***
"Aaargh!"
From that day forward, Rozalin endured with fierce determination.
Ghislain felt like he owed her an apology for having underestimated her resolve.
Her newfound will made the treatment somewhat easier, but it didn't remove all challenges.
"Baron, can't you go a little easier?"
"Baron, is there really no other way?"
"Baron, the young lady's face seems to be getting worse!"
'Ugh, this old man…'
As Ghislain strained his focus, the butler's daily criticisms gnawed at him.
After a week, Ghislain's patience wore thin, and he finally snapped.
"Everyone out."
"What?"
"Get out, all of you. You're making it impossible to concentrate."
The butler, taken aback, protested.
"But if we're not here, we won't be able to react if something goes wrong—"
"Just get out. Before I throw you out myself."
Ghislain dropped all pretense of politeness, letting his true nature show.
The butler and knights bristled but were silenced by Rozalin herself.
"Everyone, go. I don't want any excuses about interruptions later."
Everyone, from the attendants to Ghislain's aides, were promptly removed from the room.
In the now-empty room, the life-or-death treatment continued.
"Aaargh!"
'Just a little more!'
Rozalin spat blood nearly every day, her body wracked with pain.
And though Ghislain wasn't enduring the same physical agony, the strain of his constant concentration left him in a weakened state as well.
'I'll have to push a little harder.'
Rozalin's already weak body deteriorated further with each session, and the gradual process of unblocking her mana pathways was too slow.
'As long as she doesn't die…'
Not dying meant that she could be pushed to the brink as long as she stayed alive.
If they didn't finish in time, both he and Rozalin would die anyway.
'What a pain. When has anything ever been easy?'
Ghislain chuckled wryly and cracked his neck.
'I'll break through all at once.'
He focused on the strongest area left and forced the blocked mana through, tearing it apart.
Snap! Crack! Crackle!
Rozalin's mana pathways, unable to withstand the shock, shattered under the force.
"Urgh!"
Her eyes rolled back as blood spilled from her mouth, restrained by the gag.
But she held on, refusing to give in.
Ghislain was impressed. A woman with no experience wielding mana had endured this far.
'I'll give her that—she's got spirit.'
With renewed resolve, he maneuvered his mana through her body with even greater intensity.
"Grr…!"
A treatment hinging on life and death.
Ghislain showed no mercy, and Rozalin gritted her teeth, pushing through.
Both grew increasingly haggard as the days went on.
And on the fifteenth day, the day Ghislain had promised the Marquis…
Rozalin, in sheer defiance, survived.
The moment Ghislain released her, she managed a triumphant smile.
"You… you're dead…"
And with that, she passed out.
"Phew…"
Sighing, Ghislain wiped her face clean and replaced her mask.
Then he sat in a chair beside her, closed his eyes, and waited out the night.
When morning came…
Clunk!
The door burst open as the Marquis and his knights entered at dawn.
[T/L: Please support me and read extra chapters here: https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]