After I died, Everything Changed - Chapter 62

It took me a long while to finally rise from my seat in the council hall.

I’d worried I might stumble from the shock, but I managed to walk away with surprising composure.

As I walked the quiet corridor, Elliot began reporting.

“Lord Abel has disappeared from the estate. Officially, he’s on an assignment dealing with the private soldiers.”

“Did anyone actually see him leave?”

“No one.”

“Something is happening on that end. Chloe wouldn’t be taking these kinds of risks without a reason.”

“I’ll have someone planted to investigate.”

“And the poison? Any news on what it was?”

“The doctor says it’s unresponsive to every known reagent. At the very least, it’s a poison we’ve never encountered in Mergen.”

I let out a sigh.

I hadn’t expected this to be easy, but hearing it confirmed made things feel all the more tangled.

“We have to save Grandfather.”

By then, my feet had brought me to the door of his room.

Unlike earlier, the area was quiet.

“We’ve restricted access to ensure his rest. Only the doctor and a few servants are permitted inside.”

“Good. That was the right call.”

I opened the door and stepped inside.

In the dim, flickering candlelight, the room held only two figures—my grandfather, and the physician seated quietly nearby.

“He’s one of ours,” Elliot whispered.

I nodded and approached the bed.

A strange, faint scent lingered in the air—familiar somehow, though I couldn’t quite place it.

“What’s his condition?”

“The poisoning is clear,” the doctor said gravely. “But we haven’t identified the compound. His body temperature spiked dramatically, then plummeted. Right now, all we can do is keep him alive.”

“Is there any chance he could recover naturally?”

The doctor exhaled bitterly. “That’s… extremely unlikely.”

“I see.”

So we needed an antidote.

“Who knows poisons well enough to help us?”

Elliot frowned thoughtfully. “Beyond Mergen… I’d say there are only two likely sources.”

“Which are?”

“The Imperial family… or House Bahel. Bahel, in particular, has access to toxins from other continents.”

“Bahel, of course.”

Why did he always show up at moments like these—when I was cornered?

Whether it’s fate or something crueler… well, that’s his call, not mine.

I tucked Grandfather’s exposed hand beneath the blanket.

His skin was cold.

“…”

Looking down at his pale, fragile face…
The man who had always been like a mountain to me, now lay crumpled and still.
It felt wrong.

So this is what misfortune in Mergen looks like?

All the resentment I’d once held for him felt like it had nowhere to go anymore.

“Not yet.”

Grandfather, you don’t get to rest yet.

Not until the name “Irene” is the one that sits atop Mergen’s legacy.

You, me—none of us are allowed peace just yet.

“Please… live.”

Because that seat cannot go to Chloe’s son.

“Irene.”

I turned.

Standing at the doorway was Vincent, my grandfather’s aide.

“There’s something I believe you should see.”

He’d waited until no one was around to approach me like this—
which meant it had to be something sensitive.

I nodded and followed.

Vincent led me not to his office, but to Grandfather’s.

There, in the corner of the room, was a large chest.

“What is this?”

He gestured toward it.

I opened the lid— but it was empty.

Just an ordinary, empty box.

Surely this wasn’t what he’d brought me here for.

Then Vincent spoke.

“This chest used to contain the documents for the heir designation.”

“…”

The timing…

The poison and the disappearance of this document…
There was no way it was coincidence.

“Has anyone else seen it before now?”

“I didn’t think so… but…”

His voice trailed off.

The man who always had answers… Now looked genuinely unsure.

“…I understand. Thank you.”

It was a predictable setup.

Chloe must have found out about the document one way or another.

She must have gotten angry after reading its contents.

And then, driven by impulse, she likely devised this plan.

“If that’s the case, there must be a flaw.”

As with anything driven by emotion, there are always cracks.

“It’ll be difficult to retrieve the missing document.”

Chances were high it no longer existed in this world.

“Also, this.”

Vincent took something out from inside his coat.

“This is…”

“It’s the bottle that was lying in the corner of the room where the Lord collapsed.”

“Why are you giving this to me…?”

“Lady Irene, I ask you to find the culprit behind this incident.”

Vincent’s face was filled with grim determination.

I took the bottle from him.

Inside the clear glass was a small amount of liquid that hadn’t been completely emptied.

“Why entrust this to me?”

“Mergen is full of Chloe’s people. Even if we had evidence, we wouldn’t be able to identify the culprit.”

“…”

Vincent clearly suspected Chloe.

In the end, I nodded.

The next day, I went to see Lahan.

“So you’re saying this is the poison that Lord Mergen consumed.”

Lahan brought the bottle up to his nose.

“Wait, be careful…!”

“It’s fine.”

Startled by how recklessly he held the bottle up to his nose, I stood up, but Lahan raised his hand to stop me.

He sniffed the liquid inside.

“There was a strange scent coming from the old lord’s body. It smelled like a very strong perfume… but it also felt oddly familiar, like I’d smelled it somewhere before.”

I recalled the scent I had picked up the night before.

After smelling it, Lahan placed the bottle down on the table and stroked his chin.

Then, his brow twitched slightly.

“It definitely smells familiar.”

“If the scent had only come from the bottle, I’d think something was added to mask the poison. But the lord’s body had the same faint scent.”

“Hmm.”

The Grand Duke leaned back in his chair, pausing in thought.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, as if something clicked, he let out a small exclamation.

“Do you have an idea?”

At my question, the Grand Duke rose from his seat.

“Rather than explain, it’s better if you smell it for yourself.”

“Pardon?”

Here? Now?

The Grand Duke grabbed my arm.

“Wait! What are you doing all of a sudden…”

I didn’t even have time to protest.

While I barely managed to tuck the bottle into my coat, we were already heading out the door.

We arrived at none other than the laboratory.

I hadn’t expected to return here so soon.

“We weren’t even talking about weapons. Why are we here all of a sudden…?”

“You said you’ve smelled that scent somewhere before.”

“It’s too familiar to be foreign… but too strange to be familiar…”

“A scent like that isn’t easily forgotten.”

The Grand Duke strode over and opened a box in the corner of the lab.

“…!”

Immediately, a smell very similar to the one from the bottle wafted out—only much more pungent.

“It’s a sample of monster blood. What do you think?”

“Blood?”

“It reeks in this raw state, but diluted, it could resemble what was in the bottle, don’t you think?”

“You’re right… it does.”

I remembered now.

It was similar to the stench I’d smelled while slaying monsters near the Hecla border.

“Then are you saying Chloe used monster blood to make the poison?”

“It’s a grotesque preference, but honestly, nothing makes a better undetectable poison than this.”

“It’s an overly bold method.”

“Using monster blood is certainly not something most people would think of.”

People tend to rely on what they already know.

So why would Chloe—who had no known contact with monsters—suddenly decide to use this?

It didn’t add up.

“Could Abel be involved?”

If anyone were familiar with monsters, it would be Abel.

“That might be the case.”

At the Grand Duke’s response, my expression stiffened.

“Can you make an antidote?”

“Hmm. I’m better at making things that kill people than save them, to be honest.”

“Grand Duke.”

Now wasn’t the time for jokes.

“Someone’s life is on the line.”

“And with it, the fate of House Mergen.”

The simplest way to resolve this crisis was for Grandfather to awaken and testify.

It was also the only way.

“If I help you, what will you offer me in return?”

“What?”

“You always prefer fair trade, don’t you?”

The Grand Duke gave a sly smile.

He always said I was too cold and calculating—yet here he was, talking about deals.

“What do you want?”

I assumed he’d ask for shares in the munitions business.

“Come to the island with me.”

“…What?”

His completely unexpected proposal left me speechless.

I might’ve even let out a disbelieving laugh.

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