BLMLS~11

Chapter 11

“Huh? That can’t be true. Why would I have any reason to be wary of Your Majesty?”

Startled, I immediately denied it.

I had never lived in a strict class-based society before, but even I knew that openly antagonizing the emperor in an empire was hardly a wise survival strategy.

But the emperor fixed me with a cold stare and pressed on, clearly noticing the panic I hadn’t managed to hide.

“Then why are you acting so awkward today? Don’t you think Count Miller’s behavior is far too different from usual?”

My heart sank.

So that was it.

I had only been trying to be cautious because I didn’t know how Anis normally acted around the emperor… but apparently that caution itself had made me suspicious.

The protagonists had always emphasized how close Anis and the emperor were, so maybe that meant Anis had usually treated him far more casually.

“…Since I got sick, my stamina has gotten much worse. I’ve also been constantly on edge ever since, so I’m rather exhausted.”

I desperately improvised.

After hearing my answer, the emperor’s brow twitched.

“You must have had quite a severe cold?”

“A cold?”

A cold? What cold?

I had never had a cold.

Blinking in confusion at the random comment, I looked at him, and the emperor frowned in displeasure.

His gaze sharpened as he stared straight through me and said bluntly,

“I was told that after falling into the lake while playing in the water, you became seriously ill with a cold.”

So he had heard that I’d been unwell?

Then why hadn’t he contacted me even once?

Something surged bitterly inside me, but I kept my composure and answered calmly.

“It’s true that I nearly died after falling into the water, but I was never sick with a cold.”

“What do you mean, nearly died?”

The emperor repeated my words sharply, then turned a fierce glare toward his secretary.

I caught sight of the secretary visibly flinching.

“S-Such a report was never delivered, Your Majesty.”

“Then it is your responsibility to find out why such a report never reached me. When we return to the palace, I will hold you accountable.”

Reading the emperor’s fury, the secretary turned pale and bowed deeply.

“I-I will investigate the matter thoroughly…”

Watching the secretary’s face go white, I frowned slightly.

Did the emperor truly not know about Anis’s danger?

Or was he merely acting, shifting blame onto his subordinates to excuse why he had never contacted me?

“Then, Count—if you are not wary of me, why insist on personally going to fetch water yourself?”

The emperor pressed me again, and I grew uncomfortable.

I didn’t want to mention the poisoned cup.

If the emperor decided Lana was the culprit, I wouldn’t be able to save her.

But I also didn’t want to be left here alone without Davin.

As I hesitated, unable to answer, Davin—who had been silently standing behind me the entire time—stepped forward.

“Your Majesty, the drink Lady Anis was about to consume earlier had been poisoned. I believe that is why she wished to verify it personally. If Your Majesty had consumed poison, it would have been disastrous.”

I whipped around in shock.

Davin had told him?

When our eyes met, Davin gave a subtle shake of his head.

It was as though he were telling me that we couldn’t hide everything that had happened to me.

The emperor’s expression darkened further.

“There was poison in the drink?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. At present, the situation is too complicated to identify the culprit. Lady Anis, would it be acceptable if I explained everything to His Majesty?”

“Huh? O-Okay…”

Since Davin deliberately avoided mentioning Lana and instead said the culprit couldn’t yet be determined, I decided to trust him and nodded.

More than anything, the emperor’s sharp gaze scrutinizing me was overwhelming.

Given the possibility that he might be allied with my enemies, I had no intention of revealing my memory loss.

But pretending to remember everything in front of someone who knew the old Anis well wasn’t easy either.

In a calm voice, Davin began explaining everything to the emperor, starting from the day of Anis’s lake accident.

“Lady Anis fell into the lake on August 2nd. That day, the maid Miss Lana Hayden discovered Lady Anis unconscious in the water and pulled her out. Fortunately, after emergency treatment, her breathing—though it had stopped—soon returned.”

The emperor immediately demanded angrily,

“A maid rescued her from drowning? What were Count Miller’s escort knights doing while that happened?!”

Rich, coming from the man who hadn’t contacted me once.

I felt a sharp wave of resentment at the emperor’s attitude, but Davin merely bit his lip tightly, clearly pained by the memory.

“The knights assigned to escort Lady Anis had temporarily left their posts that day. They were all dismissed from the count’s household for that failure.”

The emperor looked incredulous.

“Aren’t you the captain of Count Miller’s knights? Where exactly were you at that time?”

“…I was on leave that day. I was at the imperial palace for an interview regarding entry into the Imperial Knights.”

Davin hesitated before answering quietly.

I stared up at him, eyes wide.

This was the first I’d heard of it.

But Davin avoided my gaze.

The emperor repeated the words in disbelief.

“An Imperial Knights interview?”

I was just as stunned.

Wait.

Davin—the man who, in the original story, eventually destroyed the imperial palace—had once tried to become an imperial knight?

That had never been mentioned in the original plot!

While I was reeling internally, the emperor turned to Joshua beside him.

“Sir Joshua. Is what this man says true?”

“Yes. On August 2nd, there was indeed an Imperial Knights interview, and he attended.”

“……”

The emperor glared at Davin with widened eyes.

Davin met that stare calmly.

Then the emperor gave a short, disbelieving laugh and nodded.

“Very well. Continue. What happened next?”

“Although Lady Anis was rescued from the lake, she remained unconscious for quite some time. And during that period, we discovered there were people trying to kill her.”

“How?”

“To prevent Lady Anis from becoming dehydrated, we regularly gave her water. But we discovered that the silver ornament engraved on one of the cups had blackened from poison.”

Bang!

The emperor slammed his palm onto the table and shouted,

“Why was the palace not informed immediately?!”

“We continuously sent people to the imperial palace to report the situation. Every single one of them disappeared.”

At Davin’s explanation, the emperor, his secretary, and the imperial knights all went rigid.

The atmosphere instantly grew grave.

Davin continued.

“The situation was too urgent for me to leave Lady Anis’s side. Since people kept disappearing, I judged that personally escorting Lady Anis along that route was also too dangerous. After that, there were six poisoning attempts and six separate assassin intrusions into the estate. Meanwhile, the servants kept quitting, so eventually there was no one left to send to the palace.”

The emperor tilted his head, digesting this.

“So… you’re saying you protected Count Miller entirely on your own this whole time?”

“Yes. There were no other knights left. Two were dismissed for failing to protect Lady Anis, and two others disappeared after being sent to the palace. After that, I alone remained here to protect her.”

The emperor looked utterly baffled.

“You protected the count alone for over two weeks? Without shifts?”

“Yes.”

Only then did something finally click in my mind.

I stared at Davin in shock.

Come to think of it…

Davin had always been nearby.

At all times.

‘Wait a second… doesn’t that mean Davin has been horrifically overworking himself this entire time?’