Alice’s mind sputtered. It was like a candle placed in front of an open window during a windy night, she couldn’t even claim that her thoughts were flickering. No, everything simply stopped dead in its tracks after Gabriel spoke. It was like he took a hammer to her head, she could feel her skull ringing as the tingling resonated down her spine and throughout her entire body.

Her hands simply froze dumbly, Nergal’s tendrils still squished between her fingers. Her body was as frozen as her hands so she could do nothing but sit there and look straight at Gabriel, who matched her gaze.

Violet eyes that were a delightfully deep shade. They reminded her of nightshade, not just because of the colour but also because she felt like she had swallowed poison whenever she looked at them for too long. The heat that always rose… The gnawing thoughts and twitching of her hands… Those eyes were poison to her.

And right now she was frozen, gazing into those eyes, drinking deep of the sweet poison until she could feel it in her every breath. The ringing grew louder, twisted itself into words that played again and again in her head. His eyes were poison, but the words he spoke that now repeated themselves in her head were nails in her coffin, a gentle hammering that unfroze her body.

"Sit down. Right here."

She removed Nergal from her lap and pat the side of the bed next to her. Quick taps and an intense gaze, it was as if she was an empress tossing around orders. And if there was one thing Gabriel was good at, it was following orders.

He sat down next to her, but Alice didn’t stay put. She got up from the bed and turned around before sitting down on his lap, facing him as she rested her arms on his shoulders.

"Secure me."

She didn’t give any specifics, but she used the arms resting on his shoulders to prod him, gesturing that he should use his arms. Considering the position they were in, there was really only one way to stabilise and secure her. Except, there was one problem.

"With the state of my hands, I would be doing a pretty terrible job of securing you."

His hands were wrapped in bandages and casts, even if he did as she asked he would scarcely be able to secure her should something actually happen. Well, that was assuming he didn’t use Nergal or some magic. But clearly, she wasn’t asking for that.

"You’ll manage, I trust you."

Her voice brooked no room for discussion, her eyes a bit bloodshot as she looked straight at Gabriel, her gaze never once leaving his eyes. Alice ordered, well requested was more like it, she never really ordered him to do anything. And thus, Gabriel naturally acknowledged.

He raised his arms and wrapped them around her waist so that she could sit on his lap without worrying about falling. But well, he could forget about clasping his hands behind her. Still, she didn’t seem to mind.

"Good. Now, say it again. What are you planning?"

She still heard it, reverberating in her head like a celestial bell. But the voice in her head, it was only a replication of his. No, she had to hear it with his voice, with his words. She had to drink deeper of the poison.

"During the investiture, I intend to propose to you. Naturally, it’ll have to be in front of the emperor and the other nobles."

Gabriel repeated his plans. This plan relied entirely on the two of them so there was no way he could not inform Alice in advance, especially since it required her co-operation. And judging by the pair of cherry-red lips that were twitching into an involuntary grin, it seemed that his initial guess was correct, it would be easy to get her co-operation.

"I see, I see. Good, that’s very good. Why are you going to do that, Gabriel?"

Alice felt like giggling, she just barely managed to swallow down the maniacal giggle. The deeper she drank of the poison the lighter her head got. She felt her fingers tremble, quivering as she fought to keep them still. She was looking straight at him, and he too looked right back at her as he answered.

"I have no interest in marrying one of the people set up by the emperor, and you too said that you did not wish to marry the ones they offered. In that case, if the two of us get engaged publicly then it would be the easiest way to solve both of our problems."

He gave a… straightforward? Answer. Well, could he even call it straightforward? No, it felt a bit wrong to him when he thought of it like that, the reasoning he used felt a bit skewed. Hmm… Where was the error?

Alice could see it in his eyes. She looked at them every day, she lost herself in that sweet poison time and time again. She could see his confusion, that pondering expression. Ah, this devious fool of hers.

"Hmm… Gabriel. Tell me, how do you feel about me marrying either one of the princes or someone from the Sorin family?"

She questioned with a soft voice. Her breath was warm as it reached the tip of his nose, almost scalding. The veins in her eyes only seemed to grow larger with each passing second. She was struggling.

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"Unacceptable."

The answer came almost instantly. Ah, there was the error. Right, it wasn’t just because Alice said she didn’t want to marry them, it was because he didn’t want her to marry them.

The smile on Alice’s face only grew larger, the quivering of her fingertips growing in intensity. She cocked her head slightly. She wanted more. More. She drank of the poison without end, and the more she drank the thirstier she got. More, she needed more.

"Good answer. But why is it unacceptable, Gabriel? A prince, or someone capable of inheriting a ducal family, would they not be the optimal marriage targets to raise my standing and position? Thinking about it logically, it would be a mistake to not marry one of them."

The knight she picked up from the orphanage, the little child who orchestrated events so that she could gain more fame and standing. He fought in places she couldn’t see so that she could rise higher. He even risked his life and cut his own lifespan short to take care of her brother. The things he did, he did to increase her standing. Or at least, he used to.

"Maybe it is. But they are not worthy. From what I’ve gathered about them, they don’t have the personality, standing, strength, will, nor capability. They are not good enough."

He spoke strongly, with immovable determination. They were words that the child she picked up should never have been able to speak. But turn by turn, just as he twisted her, she too twisted him. And in the end, the twisting of the gears made them jump out of the machine, no longer little parts of a whole.

"A prince and a possible future duke aren’t good enough?"

She leaned closer, her breath hotter. She had lost control of her fingers now, she could feel them clasping onto him, digging into the fabric and flesh behind his shoulders. Like a vice, they gripped on. And her knight did not move to escape her grasp.

"Then tell me, Gabriel. Who is good enough? In this great big world, if the ones at the top aren’t good enough, then who could possibly be?"

Closer. Closer. Closer. She leaned closer with each breath, each exhale feeling like fire as it rose up her throat. She was burning. The poison was burning her, scarring her with permanent marks.

Violet eyes, as deep as the ocean, glittering like stars. Her nose touched his, her skin felt hotter than the fire rising from her lungs. In his eyes, she saw only herself, reflected with perfect clarity. And there, in that reflection, she saw what he was looking at, her own eyes. A deep crimson, like stains of blood. And reflected in them, only him. One reflection responded to the other.

"I am."

He. Him. Only him. There was no one else in this empire, no one else in this world. No one had fought for her like did, no one had bled for her like he did, no one had cared for her like he did, no one had helped her like he did, no one had thought of her as he did. Only he was worthy. Only he was good enough.

Alice drank deeper of the poison, until she reached the bottom of the cup and there was no more poison to imbibe.

She leaned forward further, but their noses were already touching so there was nowhere to go but down. She pushed against him until he fell back onto the bed, and since she had been sitting on his lap she fell onto him.

The fire that rose from her lungs, she blocked it with his lips. She didn’t allow a single spark to leak out into the surroundings, each tongue of fire that rose from within was poured into him through their connection. She burned from within, and she gave that fire to him.

Her hands, trapped between his shoulders and the bed, clasped at him. She scratched at his skin as if she wanted to dig into him. The poison scarred her for eternity so wasn’t it just fair that she left scars of her own? Markings for all who would try anything foolish.

She burned. She gave him all the fire she had, but more just kept rising from the depths. Heat accumulated without end, filled her very being from the tips of her toes to the tips of her fingers. She couldn’t stop burning.

She pulled back for a second, unaware of how long she’d been sharing the fire. Breath, she needed to breathe. At first she had tried to breathe through her nose to keep going, but she gave more air and fire than she took in so she needed to pull back for a breath. But the moment she sucked it in she leaned back down again, blocking the leaking fire.

And then, after a gods know how much time passed, a small pang of pain flashed in with the fire. A metallic taste mixed with the heat and the taste of his tongue. She was familiar enough with it to recognise it straight away, blood.

She pulled back again and found the culprit. They were bleeding. She had gnawed at his lips, and he had returned the favour. But they’d gotten too engrossed so their teeth had punctured skin. His blood lingered on her lips and dyed them a deeper red, and his blood lingered on hers, a few drops of blood still dripping onto him from her mouth.

She was above him, looking down at him. At some point she had placed her knees on the bed so that she could lean on him with more ease. Her hands had left his shoulders, a few bits of fabric clinging to her nails as she pushed against the bed on either side of his head.

She was looking straight at him, and he too was looking straight back at her. Violet and crimson swirled around each other, reflecting only each other.

The taste of blood, the light pang of pain, they helped Alice pull herself back to reality, at least slightly. Her own reflection, dyed in violet, her bloodshot eyes looking down.

"Don’t propose to me after you’ve received your title."

She spoke softly again, scalding breath falling down on Gabriel. She breathed heavily and quickly stood up, greedily swallowing air to block out the fire. She looked straight at Gabriel, whose breaths came as gasps. She licked her lips, her tongue picking up whatever blood of his still lingered on her.

"I will give you a signal during the investiture, you won’t be able to miss it. You are forbidden from proposing to me before I give you that signal, understood?"

She couldn’t see her own expression now that she took some distance, but she felt that if she did she would see that her own eyes had become so bloodshot that hey were beyond human. Her fingers twitched, recalling the sensation as they clawed against his skin.

She swallowed another deep breath and then quickly left the room, hurrying through the hallways. Along the way, she encountered Teresa, who seemed to have come looking for her.

"Ah, My Lady. I’ve started to prepare for the purchase of the Eye of Rostam, but it seems there are some other peop…"

Alice cut her off before she could finish her sentence. There was something else she needed now, otherwise the poison would make her lose all control.

"Teresa, I’m going to the baths, please prepare them post-haste."

Teresa naturally saw that Alice was far from normal right now so she dropped the previous topic and nodded. But the moment she gave her suggestion, Alice shot it down.

"Very well. Give me a few minutes to warm the water and then I’ll have it ready for you."

"No need. I need it cold, as cold as you can get it."

Alice was already striding past Teresa as she spoke, fingers quivering as she kept glancing back. Naturally, Teresa was well aware of what room laid further down this hallway. Thus, she decided that quietly following Alice was the sensible option.

"…"