I Slept with the Villain Holding My Hand Chapter 134

At the voice calling out to him, Reukis glanced over.

As if waiting for his attention, Riley immediately locked eyes with him.

Flushed cheeks and glistening pupils. Catching a glimpse of the emotions rising in her eyes, Reukis stiffened slightly.

He was not one to show interest in others, especially not in noble ladies of his age.

Yet, for a moment, he even wondered if he had met Riley somewhere before. The look in her eyes as she held his gaze was simply too intense.

 

Meanwhile, Riley was unable to contain her emotions, like someone whose carefully built dam had just collapsed.

At most, she had only seen him in passing at banquets.

But upon hearing that Reukis was at the estate, she couldn’t stop herself from rushing over. Her gaze seemed to ask, Did you call for me?

Riley shyly smiled and lightly lifted the hem of her dress.

“Ah, I’m Riley Magner. Your Highness.”

 

As she spoke, a faint hope lingered on her face—perhaps he had come looking for her. But when she realized Reukis was standing in front of Shannon’s room, the corners of her lips stiffened.

The affection that had peeked through was once again twisted by her conflicted heart. She didn’t want to admit that the Grand Duke had come for Shannon.

Forcing a smile despite her hardening expression, she asked, “Did you have an appointment with my father?”

 

As if unwilling to hear that he had come to see Shannon.

When Riley brought up an entirely different topic, Reukis bowed first in greeting.

“I apologize for intruding unannounced due to urgent matters. I will meet with the Count later to properly settle this.”

 

Reukis had no time for idle conversation with Riley.

From behind her, the murmuring of approaching footsteps could be heard.

Likely the Count and his wife. He turned his steps in the opposite direction before Count Magner could reach him.

 

“Your Grace! Just a moment—”

 

Riley nearly ran as she chased after Reukis.

Yet, beyond the corner, the figure of the one she longed to see was nowhere in sight.

 

The Count, spotting Riley standing blankly, approached and asked, “Riley, weren’t you conversing with His Grace, the Grand Duke?”

 

Contrary to Reukis’ concerns, the Count showed no displeasure at his unannounced visit.

If anything, he seemed slightly exhilarated. 

 

Lately, Imperial Consort Helena had been refusing private meetings with him.

Though, in Helena’s mind, it was to secretly prepare for the ambush planned during the hunting tournament.

But to Count Magner, it felt as though she were deliberately cutting him off.

 

Thus, he attended more banquets and gatherings, listening closely to people’s words.

Who did what, who bought what, who met whom— Even if it all seemed utterly useless, every piece of information could turn into money or power.

That was what Count Magner pursued.

 

He believed that as long as he held onto everything and waited for the right moment, it would eventually prove useful.

Wasn’t the Grand Duke one of the key figures steering the empire, acting as the Crown Prince’s right hand?

If someone like Reukis had come in person, it must have been an extremely grave matter.

 

An ordinary person would assume it was about investigating the explosion in the forest.

But Count Magner, lacking self-awareness, indulged in the delusion that the Grand Duke had come to recruit him.

 

Yet, before they could even hold a proper conversation, Reukis had already left.

 

“What did he say was the reason for his visit?”

When Riley kept her lips tightly sealed, the Countess pressed further. She wore a slightly uneasy expression.

Unlike the Count, she had a more rational grasp of the situation.

 

Ignoring the Countess’ words, Riley turned on her heel and strode straight to her room.

 

“Riley! What’s gotten into her…?”

The Countess muttered as she watched Riley’s retreating figure disappear swiftly. She had rushed out of the dining hall upon hearing the Grand Duke had arrived mid-meal, and now she wouldn’t even heed her parents’ words.

 

Reukis’ brief visit left the three at the Count’s residence each lost in their own troubled thoughts.

 

💫

 

After failing at the ducal residence, Reukis threw himself into a full-scale search.

Starting from the Etowas Forest, where Merria’s last traces remained, he pursued every possible lead in all directions.

From the checkpoints leading outward to the back alleys of the shopping districts—even the threatening red-light district.

Places impossible to cover in a single day—Reukis visited and searched every one of them himself.

 

The moon rose, then hid behind the clouds.

Until the sun rose again.

Forgetting to eat or sleep, he repeated teleportations without rest. Reukis expended more magical power than he ever had on the battlefield.

 

Yet, despite his efforts, no trace of Merria was found by dawn.

If she had been kidnapped, it was well past the time when a ransom demand should have arrived.

But no word came from the ducal residence.

Where in the world had she disappeared to?

 

‘Merria is gone.’

That heavy sentence gnawed at Reukis’ heart. The more time passed, the more his mind filled with regret.

Why hadn’t he embedded a tracking spell in the magic stone as well?

He had carelessly dismissed it, saying the protection magic was enough—that since she was always by his side, what was the problem? He couldn’t forgive his own complacency.

 

By then, everything from last night began to weigh on him.

He shouldn’t have rushed to the forest after the explosion that struck the Emperor and Crown Prince.

No—at the very least, he shouldn’t have gone to the temple to save the Emperor.

Had he not, he would have noticed Merria’s absence sooner.

If he had realized her disappearance earlier, if he hadn’t sent her away like that the previous day—

 

As he drowned in endless what-ifs, Reukis slowly felt the ground sinking beneath him.

Yet the only reason he didn’t collapse right there was because of Merria.

 

Only then did Reukis truly understand Merria’s words.

‘Resentment and forgiveness… I think those are only possible if you’re alive.’

 

Please…

 

“Even if you never hold my hand again, that’s fine. So, please…”

 

A thought flashed through Reukis’s mind as he clenched his eyes shut. Merria, who came to me last night… If someone targeting me had lured her again…

 

As he slowly retraced his memories, someone came rushing toward him in a hurry.

“Your Highness!”

 

Reukis slowly lifted his eyelids.

It was a knight from the Grand Duke’s household, who had gone to meet the checkpoint commander.

The knight strode straight to Reukis and spoke in a hushed voice.

“This is from the Vice-Commander.”

 

While Reukis, whose range of activity was vast, investigated the roads leading out of the capital, Kalix had been diligently carrying out last night’s mission.

Reukis gave a short nod.

 

Standing in a deserted pathway, he held out his hand.

As if waiting for this, the knight retrieved something from his coat and handed it over—a familiar medicine bottle and a paper envelope.

Reukis immediately opened the envelope and read the brief message.

 

“Of all times…”

Muttering under his breath, he tucked the paper and the medicine bottle into his coat before speaking.

“I’m heading to the Ministry of Magic. Tell Kalix to prepare the detention room at the estate.”

“Understood.”

 

Reukis quickened his steps. 

 

The small clue he had mentioned had finally fallen into his hands.

 

💫

 

The Ministry of Magic’s building was enveloped in a barrier—meant to protect the personnel and resources inside.

But Reukis, the continent’s only dark mage, was unaffected by such things.

He easily bypassed the barrier, one that even most high-ranking mages could not penetrate.

 

If word of this got out, there would surely be an uproar.

But if it meant finding Merria, he could endure even that.

After all, how could he let the culprit slip away when they were right before his eyes?

 

Having entered the Ministry using teleportation magic, Reukis scanned his surroundings to determine his exact location.

Unlike the wary Count’s estate, where outsiders were closely monitored, the Ministry—frequented by both outsiders and nobles—drew little attention from its occupants.

 

Naturally blending into the scenery, Reukis headed toward Deston’s office, just as he had remembered from before.

Reukis touched the vial and paper tucked inside his coat.

 

It was the poison that a rat, who had secretly infiltrated Frederick’s barracks the previous night, had tried to feed him.

Since that night, Kalix had been tracing the ingredients used in the poison. He divided the liquid inside into two, sending each half to be analyzed—one to a mage who had fought alongside them in the war, and the other to the Grand Duke’s personal physician.

 

The reason for choosing close confidants to handle this unofficially was simple:

There was no telling how far the involvement went.

 

The short message sent by Kalix contained details about the rare ingredients in the poison and the purchase history of the buyer.

 

[According to the physician, the poison contains the root of Gennil.’

Gennil is a plant whose flowers and roots each have different properties.

The flowers have a pleasant fragrance and are often used in perfumes, but the roots emit a foul odor and can cause dizziness, so they are usually discarded.

We also uncovered information about someone who requested Gennil roots last month—an employee of a supplier that delivers ingredients to the House of Count Hasliter….]

 

By the time he read that far, Reukis couldn’t help but frown.

 

Deston Hasliter. That man again.

 

At first, he didn’t like how Deston smirked in front of Merria. Then, running into him a few more times had been grating.

On top of that, that eccentric mage was also in contact with Shannon.

 

Deston, who had procured the poison’s ingredients.

Shannon, who had vanished after her last meeting with Merria. He couldn’t tell what connection lay between the two.

 

All he could do now was what was within his power.

 

BANG—

 

The door was flung open violently, and his eyes immediately met Deston’s.

Deston was sitting awkwardly on the floor. With a hardened expression, Reukis strode toward him.

Deston looked quite startled by Reukis’ sudden appearance.

 

“What brings Your Grace here…?”

 

Reukis was just about to speak. He could feel the flow of magical energy twisting.

Though it happened in an instant, Reukis drew his sword without delay. And finally, the silver-haired woman he had been searching for so desperately appeared before his eyes.

 

Perhaps it was the aftermath of letting the culprit escape last time, or perhaps it was the sharp tension left in Merria’s absence—

Without hesitation, Reukis pressed his blade against Shannon’s neck.

 

‘This… is it teleportation magic?’

Reukis’s eyes narrowed slightly. He had never heard any information suggesting this woman was a mage.

But hadn’t she just appeared out of thin air?

Even as he pondered, he didn’t withdraw the killing intent from his sword.

If she so much as turned her head, the blade would slice through the veins in her neck.

 

In the frozen tension, the first to break the silence was Shannon, who had been stiff as a statue.

“Deston!”

With a face full of shock, Shannon screamed the name of the man she had stumbled upon and immediately clung to Deston in a fierce embrace.

Deston blinked in bewilderment, his lips parting slightly.

 

‘…What, just happened?’