Chapter 25: Unexplainable Seizure

[The host’s wife: Monica Ragnar is experiencing a seizure!]

Seeing the orange system screen, Elias’s heart sank, and his eyes widened.

He immediately rushed up the staircase.

Benjamin, who had been standing nearby, watched him hurry away with a confused expression before quickly following behind him.

"My lord?" Benjamin called out worriedly.

Elias didn’t stop as he rushed down the corridor, his mind filled with confusion.

’What is going on? Why is the system telling me about a seizure?’

The system had never warned him about Monica’s seizures before. Every previous seizure had occurred while he was feeding her, yet this time, he had been away from the manor for several hours.

He didn’t understand what could have changed.

As Elias approached Monica’s room, his Shadow Ghost Poison Resistance suddenly activated.

A faint chill spread across his skin.

The farther he walked, the colder the corridor became, until the warmth seemed to disappear entirely.

By the time he reached Monica’s door, Elias could feel the cold prickling against his skin.

He quickly pulled the key from the pouch at his waist and inserted it into the lock.

"What is the issue, my lord?" Benjamin asked worriedly from several steps behind him.

Elias raised one hand toward him without turning around.

"Stay there," he said strictly.

Benjamin’s expression became more worried, but he didn’t question his master’s command and remained where he was.

Elias stared at the door for several seconds.

Something was wrong.

The cold coming from the room was far beyond anything he had experienced during Monica’s previous seizures.

He took a deep breath before turning the key.

The lock opened with a click.

He pushed the door open, stepped inside, and immediately closed it behind himself.

The moment he stepped in, a biting cold struck him like a blizzard.

His body reacted instinctively, and his eyes nearly closed from the sudden assault. He forced them to remain open as his teeth began clattering together and his skin prickled beneath the freezing air.

The entire room was filled with the dark, shadowy smoke that always came out of Monica’s body during seizures.

Still, it was a mind-boggling amount.

It rolled across the floor, clung to the walls, and twisted through the air like countless black serpents. The smoke pressed against Elias’s body with such force that it felt as though heavy weights had been wrapped around his limbs.

’What the hell happened in those few hours?!’ Elias thought as he gritted his teeth.

He raised one arm and began waving the smoke away from his body, forcing himself forward.

Each step felt heavier than the last.

The cold continued biting into him, while the dark smoke resisted every movement he made. But he kept moving.

After several minutes of struggling through the smoke, he was finally able to take a glimpse at Monica’s bed, and the instant he saw it, his expression immediately changed.

His face went pale, and he whispered, "What the fuck..."

The magical formations that kept Monica stable and safe from the poison were no longer glowing blue. Instead, they were dull like life had been sucked out of them.

Elias’s breathing became unsteady as he stepped closer.

Something had terribly gone wrong.

He pushed himself through the smoke and cold and reached Monica’s bedside. Then he glanced at her and his face twisted in horror.

"W-What is happening?!"

Monica lay motionless on the bed.

Her mouth and eyes were wide open, while her jaw appeared unnaturally dislocated, opening far beyond what should have been possible. Dark smoke continuously leaked from her mouth, spreading into the already suffocating room.

Her eyes had turned completely black, resembling polished obsidian, while dark, shadowy lines covered her pale body and stretched across her arms, neck, and face.

"Monica!" He called out.

He grabbed her shoulders and shook her body, but she gave no response.

"Dammit!" he growled, his voice strained.

Elias quickly reached into his pouch and pulled out one of the antidotes. He brought the pill toward Monica’s lips, but the moment it approached her mouth, frost rapidly formed around it.

The medicine froze before it could even touch her.

Elias stared at the frozen pill for a moment before tightening his grip around Monica’s arm and shaking her again.

"Monica, wake up!" he called out urgently.

There was still no response.

Her body remained completely still, with the dark smoke continuing to pour from her mouth.

Elias gritted his teeth before trying another method.

[Monica!]

[Can you hear me?]

[Wake up!]

He repeatedly sent the thoughts through Mental Whisper, but Monica showed no reaction.

Not even her eyes moved.

Elias’s heart pounded heavily against his chest as he stared at her helplessly.

He clenched his fists before whispering, "What do I do..."

No matter what he tried, Elias couldn’t see a way out of the situation.

He stared at Monica, his mind desperately searching for something he could do to help her, but nothing came to him.

’Is there really nothing I can do to help her?’ he asked himself, his expression becoming increasingly serious.

His gaze then dropped toward the hand he had used to bring the antidote toward Monica’s lips.

Unlike the medicine, his hand hadn’t frozen.

Elias narrowed his eyes as he slowly examined his fingers.

’Is it because of the skill?’ he wondered.

His Shadow Ghost Poison Resistance had protected him from the poison before, allowing him to enter Monica’s room despite the dark smoke. Perhaps the same resistance was also preventing the cold from affecting his body.

His gaze slowly shifted toward Monica’s mouth.

The dark smoke continued leaking from between her open jaws, while the strange blackness in her eyes remained unchanged.

Elias stared at her for several seconds before his expression gradually hardened.

If the antidote couldn’t reach her through normal means, there was one more way left to try.

"That is the only way..." he whispered, hardening his resolve.

He didn’t wish to do what he was about to, but he had no other choice.