Nigel stared at Danil’s pale face—his bloodless expression—and the Character Info Window floating just above it.
Character Info Window
Name: Danil
Occupation: Servant
Level: 2
HP: 14/14
MP: 8/8
< View Stats >
< View Skills >
Honestly, Nigel would’ve preferred if the window had listed something like “Spy” as Danil’s occupation. But there was nothing of the sort. His job and status effects were clean—completely normal.
Nigel had never been especially attached to Danil. Still, from his perspective, he had taken in a struggling boy purely out of goodwill and kept him close. Whatever the case, they’d been together for several months since last year. So of course it was a shock. Of course it felt like betrayal.
“Danil.”
“……”
“Did someone pay you off?”
That was the most plausible explanation. Danil looked frozen—white as a sheet, paralyzed. He’d poisoned the heir to a ducal house. No matter what, that was a death sentence. The only difference was whether he died quickly or after a long, torturous interrogation.
“Talk to me. I might be willing to show some leniency.”
“I—I’m sorry…”
Poison, as repayment for kindness. The fact that Danil couldn’t say anything in his own defense made it clear—there was nothing he could say. Nigel sighed and rubbed his throbbing temple.
“I’m disappointed. I treated you with kindness…”
But instead of shrinking away at those words like he’d expected, Danil’s eyes suddenly lit with fury. Just moments ago, he had been trembling like a frightened animal. Now he was glaring at Nigel with cold, sharp rage—as if he were someone else entirely.
“Kindness? Is that what you call it?”
“Danil. What are you—”
“You beat me. You tormented me. And now you call that kindness?”
The white had vanished from Danil’s face, replaced with the flush of fury. No—hatred. Nigel stood frozen in disbelief, stunned by the intensity of Danil’s loathing.
He beat and tormented him? That was insane. Completely absurd. Nigel despised violence, especially senseless violence. He’d never once raised a hand against someone without reason—and never, never against a vulnerable child.
“What are you even saying? I never—”
He was about to argue when he saw Inas, his face filled with visible displeasure. It looked like Inas might kill Danil on the spot. Nigel quickly stepped in to stop him.
“Inas. Stand down.”
“……”
Inas quietly met Nigel’s eyes. A dark premonition struck Nigel like lightning. His heart began to pound violently. He had dismissed Danil’s words as nonsense—but what if they weren’t? A creeping, impossible fear took root.
Nigel stepped forward, meeting Danil’s blazing gaze head-on.
“Tell me, clearly. What exactly are you saying I did?”
“Why are you pretending not to know? Is it because Master Etna came back?”
“What does my brother have to do with this?”
“He’s the one who stopped you! The one who saved me when you were beating me!”
“What the hell… are you talking about?”
Danil’s words made no sense. Nigel didn’t even know where to begin. Him beating Danil? Etna stepping in to stop it?
Though now that he thought about it, Etna had treated Danil with an unusual level of kindness—too much, really. He’d openly shared his identity, gone out of his way to be considerate. Even for someone like Etna, who was naturally kind to subordinates, his behavior toward Danil had always seemed oddly excessive. Nigel had assumed there was some secret between them.
And now, that “secret”… was his own wrongdoing?
Nigel turned as pale as Danil had been moments ago. He felt like ice water had been dumped over his entire body. Shivering, he shook his head and opened his trembling lips.
“…I never laid a hand on you. Harold was the one who hit you.”
“At first, Harold was only following your orders! You both tormented me together. And now you kick him out and pretend like nothing happened? Pretend to be kind? I… I…”
“No!”
Nigel cut him off with a shout. What the hell was this lunacy? If he’d actually done it—if he’d really hit Danil—then at least he wouldn’t feel so helpless.
His head throbbed as if it would split. Nigel clutched it with both hands, trying to make sense of the madness he was hearing.
< system: Loading memory of Nigel Grau Montstein >
Without warning, the memory flooded his vision.
It was the dead of winter, the world frozen in snow and ice. Nigel stood in a heavy fur coat, looking down at Danil, who wore only a thin, torn shirt.
Danil looked wretched. His shirt was shredded and filthy—beyond repair. Bright red wounds were visible beneath it, where the cloth no longer covered his skin. Jagged, raw gashes left by something sharp. Just looking at them made Nigel’s stomach churn.
“Young master, let’s stop here and go inside.”
Harold, sleeves rolled up, spoke cheerfully. Though still a teenager, he was larger than most twelve-year-olds, and in his hand he held a riding crop. Blood dripped from its tip, staining the snow below. Nigel clicked his tongue.
“I’m still annoyed.”
“Any more and people will start to notice. You know that.”
“Tch… Annoying.”
Nigel frowned but stepped back. Harold pulled Danil’s shirt off his limp body and began applying ointment. As the salve—infused with divine energy—touched the boy’s skin, the wounds began to fade.
This wasn’t treatment. It was cover-up.
Danil sobbed, utterly broken. His pale face blurred… then slowly overlapped with the Danil of the present.
“Ah…”
A sharp stab of pain hit Nigel as the memory ended. A groan escaped him as cold sweat poured down his cheeks like tears.
Even with the memory in full view, he couldn’t believe it. Beating a child. Erasing the evidence. That… he had done that?
“No. No, that’s… that’s ridiculous. I would never…”
“Nigel. Don’t listen.”
Inas’s voice cut through the chaos like a lifeline. Nigel turned toward him, barely able to lift his head from the weight crushing his skull.
“Inas…”
“Don’t listen to him. Everything Danil said is nonsense.”
“But I saw the memory.”
“That memory could be an illusion. You can’t trust it completely.”
Eyes as black as the abyss, holding the weight of every secret in the world. Calm and unwavering, Inas’s presence crushed the wild, spiraling thoughts that had unmoored Nigel. Gasping, Nigel clung to him.
“I-Inas… Do you really think that?”
“Of course I do, Nigel.”
“……”
“The Nigel I know would never hurt someone without a reason. You know that, too.”
“Ugh…”
Tears filled his eyes. As Nigel sobbed openly, Inas gently embraced him, patting his back. Slowly, that impossible memory began to recede beneath the surface. After a long while clinging to Inas, Nigel lifted his tear-streaked face.
Danil was collapsed on the floor, lying on his side.
“I just put him to sleep. Don’t worry.”
Inas spoke before Nigel could ask. He pressed a kiss to Nigel’s cheek and ear, then gently wiped his face with a handkerchief.
Nigel lay still, unmoving, then finally pushed Inas away and went to the bathroom. He washed his face with cold water. Only after that did his head clear. His chest still raced with anxiety, but he forced himself to ignore it.
The system window had definitely appeared. The memory had felt real. But Nigel knew—swore—he had never hurt Danil. Still, it was hard to dismiss such a vivid hallucination completely.
He needed more information. For now, that was the only way forward. Nigel glanced at Danil, still slumped on the floor.
“Wake him up, Inas.”
“If he wakes up, he’ll just spout more nonsense.”
“I can’t just leave him like that. I have questions.”
“Nigel…”
“I’ll be fine. Do it.”
“…Understood.”
Inas made a reluctant gesture, and Danil twitched. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open. He blinked blankly, then jolted upright.
“Danil.”
Nigel called his name with an icy voice. Danil glared at him with open hostility. Nigel curled his trembling hand into a fist and forced himself to speak calmly.
“Whatever your reasons were, you tried to kill me—the second son of the Magnus Duchy. That’s a capital crime. Even if you failed, even if I stopped you at the last second, you can’t escape execution. But Danil… I can protect you from punishment.”
Danil looked up at that. The rage and hatred that had driven him to scream—born from the belief he was already dead—flickered. The faintest spark of hope dulled his fury. Nigel saw him shaking with tension and expectation and spoke slowly.
“Where did you get the Tijet Poison?”
“T-Tijet Poison?”
“I’m talking about the poison you used.”
Tijet Poison was so rare it was practically a myth. Even as a Duke, Nigel had never managed to get his hands on it. If Danil had it, someone had to have helped him. Judging by Danil’s reaction, he didn’t even know how valuable it was.
“Tell me who gave it to you. If you do, I’ll bury this incident. You’ll lose your position as my servant, but that’s probably a blessing for you.”
“I-I don’t know who it was…”
Terrified, Danil spoke quickly.
“It was someone I barely knew.”
“You just… took poison from a stranger and used it?”
“T-They said all kinds of things about me… and I… I couldn’t take it anymore…”
“What kind of things?”
“…They knew everything. That you hit me. That Master Etna knew about it, too. They asked if I wasn’t angry… said they’d help me get revenge if I wanted. The way they talked… I believed them.”
“Tell me everything you know about them. Do you know their name?”
“Kay…”
Danil’s voice shook as he whispered:
“His name was Kay.”
