I Was Told to Drink Poison, So I Drank It - 26 - Trap Underground ②

“People of victory…? Is that about Victoire?”

“If we take the words literally, I suppose so…”
“Prince Lawrence!!”

Prince Lawrence fell to his knees and collapsed in front of the stairs leading underground.

A spear had flown up from below.

Three of them. Each one stuck into his back and lower back.

(An enemy!? But from where!!)

I turned my gaze toward the stairs going underground.

There was no sign of anyone.

Only a deep and terrifying silence spread across the stairway to the basement.

I stared into that darkness for a moment, then quickly turned my eyes toward the collapsed Prince Lawrence.

(…Right now, his wounds are more important.)

I dropped to my knees in front of him and instinctively reached for the spear handle—then stopped.

Something slimy touched my hand.

(Bl00d…)

I gasped.

He was wearing a black robe, so it was hard to tell. But bl00d was flowing out from the three places where the spears had pierced him.

It soaked into his robe and dyed my hand red as I touched it.

My head was spinning with confusion, panic, and fear.

(Why… Why did this happen)

He must have protected me.

With his reflexes, he could have dodged them… I’m sure he could have.

But still, why?

My head pounded loudly.

The liquid was warm and sticky.

My palm was stained red with his bl00d.

As I stared, frozen by the bl00d on my hand, Louis said to me:

“Lady Chalize! Don’t pull out the blades! He will bleed to death!”

Those words snapped me back to myself.

…Yes. This isn’t the time to be stunned.

I don’t have time to be in shock.

Only Louis and I are here.

I have to do what I can now.

(…Get a grip!)

I used to be the queen of Victoire.

How can I lose my composure at a time like this?

Prince Lawrence took the fatal hit to protect me.

There’s only one thing I must do.

I am a Saint.

What I can do is purify magical energy.

And use holy power to heal and cure wounds.

I took a deep breath on purpose and held my hand over Prince Lawrence’s wounds to heal him.

Snap!!

“……!?”

I felt something push my hand away.

Startled, I looked at my outstretched hand.

A strange numbness ran through it as I tried to gather holy power.

In that moment, I understood.

(I can’t use my holy power…?)

I was stunned for only a few seconds.

(Why I couldn’t use it—I’ll think about that later!)

I must not let him die here.

He’s a prince of the Arcana Empire, and he saved my life.

Even now, the relationship between Victoire and the Arcana Empire is bad. There’s a ceasefire in place, but if Prince Lawrence dies here in Victoire—it will surely lead to war.

To prevent that, I must keep him alive no matter what.

(Stay calm.)

(Think clearly.)

I took several deep breaths and forced my trembling hands to stop.

Then I spoke to Louis.

“We need to stop the bleeding. I can’t use my holy power. Louis, I need cloth!”

Louis’s eyes widened when he heard me say I couldn’t use my holy power.

I looked down at the hem of my dress to find cloth.

I thought I could use Louis’s sword to cut it and make bandages—when suddenly…

…I heard a groan.

“Ugh……”

“Prince Lawrence!!”

When I looked at his face, his eyelashes trembled slightly.

His face was pale—no, beyond pale, almost blue.

He always had fair skin, but this was clearly not normal.

“Prince Lawrence!! Can you hear me? Are you conscious!?”

I called to him. His silver eyelashes trembled again—then slowly, his eyes opened.

Sky-blue eyes appeared.

He looked at me vaguely, then gave a small breath as if he remembered something.

“Ah… I see. Yeah, I’m fine.”

He could still answer.

That alone made me breathe a deep sigh of relief.

He’s still okay.

We might make it in time.

No, we will make it in time.

Right now, I need to keep him conscious.

As I tried to speak to him again, Prince Lawrence said something I didn’t expect.

“Can you pull these out? I can’t move my strength… Probably poisoned. I think it’s some kind of nerve toxin.”

“─”

Poison. Louis and I looked at each other.

The spear tips were coated with poison—

We didn’t know what kind it was, but we had to remove it fast.

Before it spread through his body, we had to either pull it out or neutralize it.

There’s a spring behind us.

It’s not much, but we can get some water from there and have him drink it.

And we need to leave this forest quickly.

This isn’t the time for simple first aid—we need to take him to the right place, with the right care.

Even for the sake of Victoire’s name, I will save Prince Lawrence.

Every second counts.

I nodded at Louis—then spoke to Prince Lawrence.

“Your Highness. …I’m going to pull the spears out.”

As soon as we remove the spears, we must tie the wounds.

Then give him spring water—and get out of here right away.

Louis seemed to be thinking the same thing.

We each grabbed a spear handle, exchanged glances, and pulled them out in one go.

“…!”

Prince Lawrence let out a short breath.

Louis removed the third spear, and I ran toward the spring.

I pulled out the flask I had in my pouch and filled it with water.

When I came back to Prince Lawrence, Louis had opened his robe and shirt.

He was still lying face down, just as before.

His pale skin was exposed, but there was bl00d all over it.

…There was a lot of bl00d. Louis’s hands and clothes were stained red.

He had been trying to stop the bleeding, holding a cloth in his hands—but for some reason, he was frozen in place.

“Louis? What’s wrong?”

I asked, but Louis remained stunned and didn’t answer.

He had his eyes wide open, staring at something unbelievable. His gaze was fixed on Prince Lawrence’s back—where the blades had struck.

I followed his gaze out of curiosity—

“Huh……”

The words escaped my mouth without thinking.

The area where he had been badly wounded by the blades was healing—so fast that it could only be described as unreal.

Just like Louis, I widened my eyes.

“What… is this…”

My voice was shaky.

What… is happening?

It didn’t feel real. I dropped to my knees in front of Prince Lawrence, sitting down hard.

After a few seconds—

His wounds had completely vanished, as if nothing had ever happened.

We both sat there in shock, but I snapped back to my senses and said to Louis:

“…At least, it seems like his wounds are healed… I think.”

“Most likely…”

It still didn’t feel real, but Louis nodded in agreement.

(I’m still confused about what just happened… But right now, his condition comes first.)

With that in mind, I gently touched his shoulder.

It was warm. …He’s alive.

“Prince Lawrence! Can you hear me? It’s me, Chalize!”

I raised my voice and shook his shoulder.

As I tried to turn his body over, Louis helped me, and together we laid him on his back.

As I tapped his shoulder again and again, Prince Lawrence eventually let out a small groan.

I was truly relieved.

Then, as I looked at his face—

I noticed it.

Something like fangs peeking out from under his thin lips.

(Canines…? But normal ones aren’t that long… right?)

The long, sharp teeth looked more like fangs than anything else.

As I stared in confusion, Prince Lawrence slowly opened his eyes.

I held my hand over the stone tablet.

There was no reaction… but I slowly poured in holy power.

Then, there was a clear response.

From the center of the tablet, a ripple spread out, as if a raindrop had fallen.

“…!”

Was it showing something? Or waiting for something?

One by one, ripples spread across the stone tablet at intervals.

“What is this…?”

I couldn’t help but mutter.

At that moment, Prince Lawrence stood beside me.

Then, he also held his hand over the tablet.

(What is he doing…?)

Wondering, I looked at him. Prince Lawrence quietly began to release some kind of power.

“─”

But it wasn’t holy power.

It was a completely different kind of power.

I could tell it was not holy power, but I didn’t know what it was exactly.

At the very least, it was a power I had never seen since becoming a saint.

(What is this power…?)

In the moment I felt confused—

The stone tablet began to shine brightly with a Paaah…!

“Ah…!”

It was so bright I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

I squinted my eyes, and the next moment—

Zuzuzu… came a deep sound.

It was the sound of something heavy moving.

After a while, the light slowly faded.

When I opened my eyes—I was speechless from what I saw.

The stone tablet was moving.

It had slid back, and a staircase… leading underground had opened up.

The staircase was long, and the ceiling looked high.

But from here, I couldn’t see what was down below at all.

As I stared in silence, Louis, who had been watching from behind, spoke.

“A path has opened.”

“What kind… of mechanism is this…?”

It was hard to believe.

What was written on the tablet was: “People of victory, here is the proof of it.”

But all Prince Lawrence and I did was pour in our powers…

Just then, I snapped out of my thoughts.

Still overwhelmed, I turned to Prince Lawrence and asked,

“That power earlier… what was it, Your Highness? I don’t think it was holy power.”

When I asked, Prince Lawrence, still looking at the stairs, turned to me and answered,

“It wasn’t holy power. What I have… is magic power.”

“Ma…!?”

It was a word I had never expected.

When I heard ‘magic power,’ I thought of words like magical beasts or demons.

But Prince Lawrence looked completely human—he didn’t look like a magical beast at all.

Demons were supposed to be legends or made-up stories.

Prince Lawrence himself also said he wasn’t a demon.

Then I suddenly remembered—

Prince Lawrence never clearly said ‘I’m not a demon.’

What he said was—

“So that’s how people in Victoire think. It’s not really like that…”

(Such vague words…)

Was it just his habit to speak unclearly, or was there truly something he couldn’t say?

I felt like it was both… but I still couldn’t tell who he really was.

As I was watching him carefully—because of that—

I reacted too slowly.

“Lady Chalize!!”

Louis suddenly shouted loudly.

Looking forward, I saw something coming toward us from the underground stairs.

No—something had jumped out.

A dull glint caught the sunlight.

It was—

A spear-like blade.

“…!!”

It was too close to dodge.

It came straight for Prince Lawrence and me.

It was going to pierce us—at that moment,

My upper arm was grabbed tightly and I was pulled in.

“!?”

It was Prince Lawrence.

He quickly turned his body and wrapped me in his surcoat.

It all happened in just a moment.

“Lo—…!!”

Just as I started to say his name,

A strong impact traveled through the body that was holding me.

Thud! Thud!—the sound of spears piercing something.

“─!!”

It wasn’t just once.

There wasn’t just one blade that came flying.

Two, three…

He must have taken them in his back and waist.

Prince Lawrence let out a short, pained sound.

“No…!!”

I let out a broken voice.

My eyes opened wide.

Because he was holding me so tightly, I couldn’t even move.

Prince Lawrence had protected me—

He had taken the blades into his own body.