I Proposed to My Childhood Friend After Regressing - Chapter 41

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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After My Return, I Proposed to My Childhood Friend
Chapter 41
‘All right, Clyde. I can’t deny it anymore. You’re right. Someone is interfering.’
‘That’s what I said.’
‘But there’s no evidence that this “someone” is my family and the Cult, as you claim. Regardless, so what am I supposed to do now?’
‘While I draw attention from within and assess the situation, I’d appreciate it if you could monitor things from the outside to see if there’s any unusual movement.’
‘So you’re playing the fool while dumping the work on me?’
‘If you find that unfair, we can switch. Particularly, I’d like you to quietly investigate whether there are any changes happening inside the Dark Mountain Range.’
After parting with the Crown Prince, Clyde decided to wait until he had a decent hand to play.
‘My Lord.’
‘What is it?’
‘I apologize in advance, and if necessary, please submit the costs to His Highness the Crown Prince. For safety’s sake, I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your distance from my location.’
‘For safety’s sake? What are you planning to do, you bastard!’
‘What am I planning? A demonstration. Proof of what kind of power Orchalcon displays when it detonates.’
Not until Beatrice discovered the dangerous Orchalcon hidden inside the doll and interfered, causing the game to shake far more violently than anticipated.
At that moment, Clyde’s plan—which had been meant to move quietly beneath the surface—changed.
Since the other side’s existing plan had fallen apart just as much, this was an opportunity for him to induce their next move.
But more important than that was…….
‘If this continues, Lia Kruger—no, Beatrice—will be in danger.’
Whether by chance or design, her eyes, which saw through and categorized their plans, would grate on them.
‘In the current situation, only His Highness can draw more of their attention than Beatrice. So…….’
Clyde quickly reconstructed the game, incorporating the situation unfolding before his eyes and the newly acquired information.
What he chose was to bring the Crown Prince, whom he’d planned to reveal in the finale, to the forefront from the beginning, and attach Alec, whose allegiance remained uncertain, to the Marquis heading toward the borderlands.
If he was an enemy, it would take time for information to reach him physically, creating confusion; if he was an ally, he would be a force in himself.
‘And just in case, shall I set a trap with some bait?’
If he openly announced that he was touching the mountain range, then the forces that feared that fact would definitely react. For instance, the Kalbaron Cult.
Before they deployed an investigation team, it was unclear whether they would move the Princess who was outside or resort to more drastic measures.
And among those drastic measures, the one Clyde had deemed most unlikely was precisely the situation unfolding now.
Eliminating the Crown Prince and Clyde Dalton, the pillars of the Reform Faction, and creating a massive uproar in the Marquis Territory—such as a monster attack—to erase all traces entirely.
‘I did think it unlikely that His Highness would make a move easily, so they might come after me first…… but I never thought they’d actually do it.’
Paradoxically, falling held no anxiety for him.
Until the moment he closed his eyes, Beatrice would be safe, and the Crown Prince and the arrangements he had left behind would see it through.
Once something is drawn up to the surface, it becomes difficult to hide again.
‘Besides, I don’t know why I feel this way, but honestly, it’s not so bad?’
To be precise, the fact that Beatrice was at his side was strangely satisfying.
He had even gone to the trouble of making the Ring to move with Cassian, and yet he had abandoned that crucial task and come here.
Perhaps it was because she seemed to be absolutely on his side.
The way he was absolutely on hers.
* * *
“Help! Someone! A person is hurt!”
Beatrice’s cry rang through the corridor.
The first to respond to her voice was a maidservant of the Marquis’s household who had been cleaning in the corridor.
“I… is something wrong? Good heavens! M-my Lord, are you all right? What do I… what should I…?”
“First, go tell Nao, the Crown Prince’s head maidservant. Lord Dalton was wounded fighting Assassins and is poisoned.”
“Yes, yes! I know where to find her! I’ll go at once!”
“And if you could bring the Marquis household’s Healer, it would help. Tell him the poison is suspected to be extracted from Tenebrisia.”
“Yes! I’ll be back as quickly as I can!”
The maidservant nodded vigorously and hurried down the corridor.
And it wasn’t long before the head maidservant Nao, Crown Prince Crowell, and the Healer came rushing down the corridor in haste.
Her promise to return quickly was no idle word.
“Lia! Lord Dalton is…….”
“Nao!”
The Crown Prince, who had examined Clyde’s condition with a glance from beside the head maidservant, pressed Beatrice with a grave expression.
“Suddenly poisoned…… How exactly did this happen? Was it from the Assassins?”
“Don’t you know, Your Highness? According to what the Aide told me, you and he were supposed to stay in the Quarters for a while.”
“What?”
“He said you’d forbidden entry for the time being, so I assumed you were also in your room to be prepared in case Assassins appeared.”
“…… The Aide told you that much? Wait—why were you in Clyde’s room in the first place?”
“Ah, I did it again…….”
Perhaps she ought to give this up.
It was just as reason returned to Beatrice’s face that an awkward expression appeared there.
While the three were conversing, the Healer, who had been examining Clyde, interjected urgently.
“Pardon me for interrupting, but the situation is quite urgent.”
“Ah, yes!”
“I was told it’s Tenebrisia Toxin—do you happen to know the poisoning route and dosage? When was he poisoned?”
At the barrage of questions, as if expecting all of them answered at once, Beatrice nodded, then shook her head again.
“I honestly don’t know the amount, but I do know the route. This madman—I mean, Lord Dalton had meticulously applied Tenebrisia Toxin all over his own room. Even the ceiling.”
“What…… why……?”
“And as for when he was poisoned… well, he only collapsed recently, but it seems he’s been staying in that room the whole time. Could there be a connection?”
The Healer’s complexion was not good.
By the way his mouth moved several times over, it seemed he was struggling with how to convey this.
“If that’s the case, then it’s not merely a brief contact but rather prolonged exposure.”
His gaze traced over Clyde’s wounds—from small scratches to injuries that seemed to need swift treatment.
“And if it penetrated directly through those wounds…….”
“Then what?”
“Of course, I did administer a standard Antidote as soon as I examined the patient, but we must consider the possibility that the poison has spread throughout his body. In other words, perhaps already…….”
The Healer trailed off, reluctant to finish his thought.
Yet everyone present understood what he meant to say. Whether they could accept it was another matter.
Beatrice, listening to the Healer’s words, tilted her head slightly.
‘If what the Healer says is true, then Clyde might not wake up again…… but that can’t be.’
It wasn’t mere emotional denial—it was a doubt one might reasonably harbor.
Clyde had done something mad, true enough, but he wasn’t fool enough to fall victim to a trap of his own making.
‘If the other party were Princess Elodie or Miss Baloa, I could write it off as him being blinded by vengeance… but to gamble with his life against Assassins?’
Something about the Healer seemed off.
The Crown Prince and Nao appeared to share the same thought.
Just as the three exchanged glances and were about to confirm the Healer’s affiliation and name, a low, soft voice cut in before them.
“Is that so? Can you really take responsibility for those words?”
“Who…… Your Grace?”
“Not quite as versed as one of Kalbaron Cult origins, but I have some knowledge of my own. If you don’t mind, I’d like to examine Lord Dalton directly.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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