The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 39
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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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Chapter 39.
***
Fortunately, Barkan’s wounds were not as deep as they might have been.
The stone wall and floor bore the brunt of the impact, pounded into deep gouges, while his own body bore only shallow lacerations scattered across the surface.
Though he bled freely from multiple wounds, none of them were fatal.
‘All that destruction, and he gets away with just this.’
People from the Northern Region must have tough skin. Note to self.
I clicked my tongue inwardly and retrieved the Handkerchief and emergency Hemostatic Medicine I’d kept in my pocket.
Then I soaked the Handkerchief in the medicine and pressed it carefully against Barkan’s torn skin.
The moment the salve touched his wounds, his shoulder flinched slightly.
‘It must sting.’
The Hemostatic Medicine I’d formulated worked quickly, but the pain was equally intense.
It pushed both hemostasis and disinfection at once, so even I had to grit my teeth when using it.
But then.
‘Wait a moment…….’
I stopped.
‘If he’s inhaled Sleep Powder, he shouldn’t react to any ordinary pain at all, should he?’
Yet his body just flinched.
Surely not.
‘……He can’t be awake, can he—.’
Just then, Barkan’s head, which had been hanging low, snapped up.
“Ugh!”
Startled, I instinctively stepped back.
‘Good heavens, he scared me half to death!’
Barkan had a talent for alarming people in all sorts of ways.
I gripped the Handkerchief smeared with medicine tightly and approached him cautiously.
“Hey, are you awake? Do you recognize me?”
Then I held up the Handkerchief and began explaining myself in soothing tones.
“This is Hemostatic Medicine, you see. It’s definitely not poison or anything, so don’t worry. I didn’t expect to find myself in a situation like this either. I couldn’t sleep, so I was taking a walk, and I noticed this door was slightly open. I came in just meaning to have a quick look around, but then I found you like this, and so I was just checking your wounds. They’re not so severe as to require immediate treatment, but…….”
I rambled on with whatever came to mind, watching Barkan’s expression closely.
Thanks to the Sleep Powder, he looked far gentler than when I’d first encountered him.
At least he wasn’t baring his teeth and growling at me.
I approached again and gave the Handkerchief a slight wave.
“Do you understand what I’m saying? Can I finish applying the medicine?”
“…….”
His eyes, which had been fixed on me, suddenly wavered.
The dangerous upward curve of his eyes softened and sagged, and then the sinews in Barkan’s forearms, bound by the Iron Chain and spread wide, began to bulge with tension.
Then came a dull crack—ka-chunk-chunk-chunk-chunk!
“What?”
Clang! The iron anchor bolt that had been firmly fixed to the wall was torn clean out.
‘Huh?!’
How did that come loose?!
Bang-clang! Crash! Clang! Boom—!
The heavy, thick Iron Chain crashed to the ground with a dull thud.
The sight of the deeply embedded iron rod pulling free like a branch from sand was so surreal that I couldn’t even cry out—I just stood there with my eyes wide open.
But Barkan gave me no time to be shocked.
With both arms now free, he wrapped them around my waist and back, pulling me into a tight embrace.
“Gasp!”
The air was knocked clean out of my lungs.
Then Barkan, still holding me, collapsed to the ground.
I found myself falling with him, still locked in his arms.
As I struggled to break free from his embrace, he spoke in a voice edged with a sigh.
“Just let me……die.”
“…….”
“This time, if only you could live…….”
“…….”
“Don’t die for me…. Serena.”
“…….”
What in the world was that supposed to mean?
‘Who’s dying for whom?’
Serena? Who was Serena?
“Ah, listen…….”
I tapped his shoulder lightly and spoke up.
“Your Highness, I think you might be confusing me with someone else…….”
“…….”
“Excuse me? Grand Duke?”
“…….”
“Your Highness? Surely you haven’t fallen asleep? Now of all times?”
“…….”
His breathing had grown even and rhythmic. He really had drifted off.
“Sigh…….”
Held fast in Barkan’s embrace, I found myself staring blankly at the torch flame flickering against the wall.
Though it was absurd to be mistaken for someone else, I felt a strange urge to comfort him.
This Grand Duke, separated from the woman he loved, forced to lock himself away in the depths of this underground prison, consumed by Berserk Madness—his plight stirred something in me.
Instead of pushing him away, I gently patted his back as he slept, still holding me close.
There, there. You’ve been through so much. That was the gist of it.
‘In any case,’
I rolled my eyes while trapped in the embrace of this enormous man.
‘Once we’re out of here, I’ll have to develop a stronger Sleep Powder.’
A Demonic Beast falls, yet a single Grand Duke won’t? That made no sense.
It was a matter of professional pride for someone of my herbal expertise.
‘Do the people of the Northern Region have a resistance to Sleep Powder?’
Like a summer bamboo wife trapped in Barkan’s arms, I began mentally recalculating formulations, using him as my new baseline.
***
Barkan’s eyes opened in the darkness.
The prison ceiling came first into his blurred vision. With each flicker of the torch, shadows danced across the stone walls.
‘Has a week already passed?’
The fact that he was still in the cell suggested that another week had passed safely.
Barkan closed his gritty eyes, then opened them again with a shallow sigh.
A week he could not remember.
That week when he’d lost all reason and rampaged like a Demonic Beast—it was hell to him.
But…….
Today, his mind felt unusually clear.
It was far more than just the return of reason.
Normally, after a week of Berserk Madness, excruciating pain should follow—as if every bone and muscle were shattering—along with ravenous hunger.
But not this time.
His body was light, unbelievably light, with only a lingering drowsiness.
That was when it happened.
“There.”
A voice came from beneath his chin.
“Now that you’re awake, would you mind letting me go?”
“……?”
At that clear voice, Barkan instinctively lowered his head.
And he found himself meeting a pair of blue eyes bright with the flicker of the distant torch.
It was the Princess.
‘……The Princess?’
Something had felt wrong all along.
That warmth covering his chest and abdomen, so utterly different from the cold stone floor pressing against his back—he’d found it strangely unfamiliar.
She was lying prone across his body against the hard stone floor, gazing up at him intently.
‘Why on earth is this woman…….’
Still not entirely himself, Barkan stared blankly down at the Princess like someone witnessing an illusion.
Then the Princess smiled faintly.
“Don’t just lie there staring. Now that you’re awake, would you please let me up? It’s getting a bit warm, and I’m starting to feel hungry too. And Celin might come looking for me. I can’t have her think I’ve run away, can I?”
“…….”
Let me go? Celin is looking for me?
‘What do you mean?’
Barkan’s brow furrowed deeply.
Then, quite suddenly, he understood.
The fact that he had the Princess locked in his arms like she belonged there.
“What on earth—!”
Barkan jerked upright reflexively. The Princess, who had been clinging to him, tumbled down with a roll.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow!”
Barkan’s face drained of color.
“This is—… this is—… what in the world has happened?”
The Princess rubbed her lower back and looked up at him. Her expression was one of sheer exasperation and disbelief.
“Honestly.”
She pushed out her lower lip.
“Anyone who saw this would think I threw myself at you!”
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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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Lyncdtxo
Wait so first of all who is serena? Did i miss smth and i lwk feel slowly bad for the fl Imagine having to go through all that bs i would have taken myself out a long time ago