Episode 102
‘Poison…’
The Crown Prince frowned, recalling their conversation from a few days ago.
‘The hunting competition is the most pressing matter. Why does she want me to check something and postpone that?’
Jet-black eyes looked at him, and her lips moved, giving him the answer.
‘Whether His Majesty has been poisoned.’
He burst into laughter at her words. It was amusing. If what the Duke’s bird said was true, the Emperor’s fate would be no different from his mother’s.
His eyes gleamed, as red as blood.
“What about the Empress’s movements?”
“They’re strangely quiet.”
“So she’s suddenly become calm after her usual hysterics.”
Aaron looked at a perfume bottle emitting a faint glow in a corner of the room and then stood up.
“I’ll go see His Majesty.”
“Are you really going to visit him?”
Aaron, stopping at Arenz’s question, replied calmly,
“Is it strange for a son to visit his ailing father?”
Arenz, sensing the unusual atmosphere, corrected himself,
“…I misspoke.”
“It’s fine.”
Aaron knew why Arenz had said that. What was his father, the Emperor’s, attitude like when his mother, the Empress, died due to the Empress’s schemes?
‘I told her she wouldn’t survive in the Imperial Palace if she was too soft. And this is what happened.’
Even when he was abused afterward, the Emperor’s gaze had been indifferent.
He didn’t encourage the abuse, but he did nothing to stop it. He just watched as a child suffered.
The position of Crown Prince had been given to him when the incompetent Second Prince fell out of favor, and his potential as a future emperor became evident.
But what good was it? The Emperor had handed over the authority of Petri to the Empress. His position was constantly under threat.
Walking towards the most radiant place in the Imperial Palace, where the Emperor resided, he imagined himself there.
That deceitful bird, who claimed to know the future, had said he would become Emperor, but… having always lived under threat, it was difficult for him to imagine such a future.
So he had asked her,
‘You said I would become Emperor, but the future you foretold has already changed. If the future changes, does it mean the future where I become Emperor also changes?’
As he pressured her for an answer, the bird, glancing at Duke Clovis, replied,
‘Perhaps. But the current situation is better than the predetermined future. Because Duke Clovis has decided to side with you, Your Highness.’
‘Was there ever a predetermined future? In the end, your prediction was wrong.’
‘…If I hadn’t intervened, things would have unfolded as I foretold. I might seem like a liar, Your Highness, but this much is true. So before the future changes any further, please visit His Majesty and confirm it, even if he dislikes you.’
‘Why should I?’
‘I know you don’t trust those who have betrayed you. But…’
Her eyes, looking at him, were clear and innocent.
‘Please believe me, just this once. The people around you are precious to me, too. I don’t want to see them get hurt.’
It was the same for him. The people around him were precious. That was why he hadn’t readily dismissed her words when she mentioned his aide, Arenz, getting injured.
He should have dismissed someone who had betrayed his trust, but strangely, her words had moved him.
‘It’s a good thing her words turned out to be true.’
But the nagging unease remained.
“Enter.”
With a brief word of permission, the Crown Prince entered. He saw the Emperor sitting on the bed, pressing his temples as if he had a headache.
“It seems your condition hasn’t improved.”
“Are you here to mock me?”
It wasn’t a friendly joke; their relationship wasn’t close. The Crown Prince just bowed his head and denied it.
“Of course not.”
“Then what is it?”
The Crown Prince, looking around the Emperor’s bedroom, suddenly spoke,
“There’s a sweet fragrance. Has the Empress been here?”
“Is it a problem that I cherish her?”
At his words, the Crown Prince smirked. A chuckle escaped his lips.
“It’s just amusing. You, Your Majesty, who always said no one in the Imperial Palace should be trusted and that we shouldn’t show any weakness, trust the Empress?”
“I’ll have you removed if you’re just here to complain.”
Looking at the Emperor, who still didn’t seem to understand his intentions, he realized that the one who wouldn’t survive in this Imperial Palace was the Emperor himself.
“Did you know that certain fragrances, when mixed, can create a deadly poison?”
The Emperor’s expression changed.
“At first, it’s just a headache and fatigue, but one day, you’ll suddenly collapse unconscious. And by then, the poison will have spread through your body, making it too late to do anything.”
Such rare poisons were difficult to acquire, even for most nobles.
But it was possible if it was the Empress.
‘…Please check if you have any red spots on your body, like hives.’
“One of the symptoms of this poison is red spots appearing on the body. But surprisingly, they disappear when the fragrance fades.”
The Emperor was now touching his legs.
“Your physician probably dismissed it as fatigue. The symptoms disappear when you’re away from the strong fragrance.”
It would have been easy to bring the poison into the Imperial Palace since it was relatively unknown and only reacted to certain fragrances.
He had discovered the type of poison used on the Emperor after investigating the items entering the Empress’s Palace. He hadn’t realized his past experiences, constantly threatened by poison, would be helpful.
“If you’re suspicious, why don’t you investigate the ingredients of the food the Empress personally ordered for you?”
The Emperor, who had been silent, shouted angrily,
“Are you trying to get revenge on me? To make me doubt the woman who killed the Empress?!”
It seemed like his judgment wasn’t completely clouded. He had seen through his intentions.
“As you age, your judgment becomes clouded, and your resolve weakens. A woman driven by ambition is a dangerous thing, Father.”
“Leave! I don’t want to hear any more of this!”
“I’m just concerned about you, Father, Your Majesty. Wouldn’t it be ironic if you died the same way as my mother?”
The Crown Prince smiled, even as he was being dismissed.
He had planted the seeds of doubt in the Emperor’s mind, who trusted the Empress, and it was likely to work in his favor.
It was a shame he hadn’t been able to see the Emperor, who had ignored his mother’s death, being killed by the woman he trusted, but he was satisfied with being able to disrupt the Empress’s plans.
At least the Emperor wouldn’t be an obstacle.
‘Did the Crown Prince believe me?’
I tilted my head, puzzled by his reaction. He didn’t seem to believe I could see the future anymore.
I was about to discuss it further with him when Cesar suddenly pulled me into a hug and dragged me away, cutting our conversation short.
‘That possessiveness.’
Even after returning to the Dukedom, I was bombarded with questions from Cesar about the things I hadn’t told him.
I omitted the part about begging him to save his life by saying I could see the future, because it was embarrassing. Cesar would surely tease me if he knew.
“Sigh. I’m glad the original story hasn’t changed too much.”
At first, I thought I had changed the original story with my intervention. But I didn’t think the Empress’s actions would suddenly change without any reason, since I had never met her before.
So I reviewed the parts I might have misunderstood. And I remembered the description of the Emperor’s health before the poisoning incident.
“It was kept secret, so from Sylvia’s perspective, he must have seemed healthy.”
Thinking about that, I remembered asking Cesar about the poison.
‘Cesar, there’s a poison called the Devil’s Gift, right? Do people die instantly if they drink it?’
Cesar had frowned at my question and looked at me suspiciously. I had to explain myself and reassure him before he finally answered.
‘It depends on the dosage… but it’s not a lethal poison.’
I had found that strange.
If he was already poisoned, and the plan was to frame the Crown Prince’s faction and eliminate them after the hunting competition, when their power waned…
And if the Devil’s Gift was used as a cover for the actual poison… my misunderstanding was understandable.
‘It’s a good thing the name of the poison used as a cover was mentioned in the original story.’
Based on that assumption, I asked him to check on the Emperor’s condition. In the original story, the Emperor had red spots on his body, but that wasn’t a symptom of the Devil’s Gift.
It might be a symptom of a different poison.
‘The Crown Prince’s side would know more about poisons. They’ll find something if they investigate the Empress.’
I decided not to worry about it anymore. The male leads in the novel were the smartest, so they would figure it out without my help.
As I was relaxing, worrying about the hunting competition, my vision suddenly shifted. I looked around, confused, and then heard a voice I wanted to punch,
“It seems the teleportation magic I cast on you is still active.”
The Tower Master, whom I had been searching for, finally appeared before me.