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Chapter 14
Seeing the emperor’s cold attitude, I didn’t feel wronged anymore. Instead, I became calm.
Silence filled the kitchen. The imperial knights held their breath as they listened to our conversation, watching me carefully. But after letting out a small sigh, I smiled brightly at the emperor.
“If Your Majesty thinks so, then I suppose that must be the case.”
It wasn’t even worth getting angry over. When I answered him with a smile, everyone looked flustered, apparently surprised by my reaction. Even the emperor himself twitched slightly.
At that moment, Lana suddenly cried out and interrupted.
“No, Your Majesty! It’s not a staged act! The young lady is truly under assassination threats!”
As she shouted, Lana pulled out all the silver items from the dish basin—the silver rod, silver needle, silver chopsticks—that had become discolored after touching the poison, and held them out toward the imperial knights.
The emperor’s face stiffened again at the sight, but my attention was caught by Lana’s hand holding them out.
“Lana, your hand…”
Seeing her arm up close, mottled red as if burned by poison, made my heart sink.
“Don’t tell me you washed the dishes with your bare hands?”
“Yes…”
Lana answered in a tiny embarrassed voice as she looked down at her arm. The poison was strong enough to discolor silver instantly. Even if there was running water, she had washed poisoned dishes with her bare hands.
Naturally, I grabbed Lana’s arm as if to inspect it, while discreetly taking the evidence from her hands.
“Let’s treat your hand first. Dayvin, we need to take Lana to a doctor.”
I casually slipped the discolored silver tools into the pocket of my skirt and turned toward Dayvin. There was no servant left in the mansion who could fetch a doctor, so we would have to go ourselves.
“You’re personally taking a maid to a doctor?”
The emperor cut in, looking as though he had just heard something absurd. I answered calmly.
“She was injured by poison. She needs treatment quickly.”
“And why should a count personally accompany her? According to your own claim, isn’t she the maid who destroyed the evidence?”
Silence briefly fell between the emperor and me. It seemed he disliked the idea of his fiancée personally caring for a “commoner” maid.
Even though he’s completely useless to me.
Suppressing the anger surging inside me, I replied evenly.
“The fact that I nearly died can be proven without the cup. And injured people should be treated.”
“So you’re saying you’ll personally escort the maid who destroyed evidence of an assassination attempt to a doctor?”
“Didn’t you just say this was all my own staged act?”
The emperor looked dumbfounded at my retort, but I simply pretended not to notice.
What mattered was treating Lana’s arm quickly, and I also wanted to send the emperor back to the imperial palace as soon as possible.
And tonight, I’m packing my things and running away.
“‘The emperor’s fiancée personally attends to a maid’…”
The emperor muttered discontentedly. Then he glared at me and ordered his secretary.
“Summon the imperial physician.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The secretary answered obediently, but I quickly stopped him.
“No, we’ll handle our own affairs. I seem to have detained the busy emperor for too long already.”
As if I could trust you with Lana in this situation.
So hurry back to the palace. I don’t even want to look at you.
I kept a faint smile on my lips as I stared at the emperor. For some reason, that only made him glare back at me even more sharply.
“……”
Everyone in the kitchen remained silent as the emperor glared at me while I merely smiled back wordlessly.
“…So you really do suspect me.”
“Hm?”
How did the logic jump to that? I frowned at his words.
“Surely, Count, you don’t actually think I’m trying to kill you?”
The emperor asked in disbelief, and I found his question just as absurd.
“Your Majesty, weren’t you the one claiming this was my own fabrication just moments ago?”
“How many years do you think I’ve known you? That attitude of yours means you’re genuinely upset!”
The way he spoke, like he was scolding someone close to him, made something flare hot inside me.
Why is he acting familiar now?
Still maintaining a polite smile that clearly drew a line between us, I answered softly.
“I don’t understand why you would say that.”
“If you have evidence, bring it. Stop suspecting people.”
The emperor spoke irritably, while inwardly I cursed him.
“I don’t know what you mean, Your Majesty. I shall excuse myself now.”
As I feigned ignorance and tried to leave the kitchen with Lana, the emperor’s voice rose, apparently truly angered.
“Then are you saying your maid and guard lied to me?”
At those words, I stopped and turned around. The emperor glared at me with an icy expression and threatened:
“Then I suppose I’ll have to arrest them. They dared lie to the emperor.”
Unable to hide my irritation, I frowned deeply.
Why does he keep acting like this?
A thought suddenly crossed my mind. Lana and Dayvin were the only people left by my side now. Had he realized that? Was he trying to cut off everyone loyal to me?
But I couldn’t let the protagonists be dragged away by the emperor like this.
What should I do?
Should I hand over at least part of the evidence…?
As tension hung heavily between the emperor and me, a faint ringing sound began echoing from beyond the still-open kitchen door.
Jingle—
Jingle—
Jingle—
It was the sound signaling that someone had infiltrated the mansion.
Judging by the noise, quite a large number of people had entered from all directions. Reflexively, I turned to Dayvin.
Come to think of it, hadn’t Dayvin disabled all the traps because he feared the emperor might get hurt?
When our eyes met, Dayvin’s expression was grave. He quickly approached me, bowed his head, and whispered:
“…There are many.”
As if proving how serious the situation was, the bells ringing throughout the mansion were louder and more chaotic than ever before.
“What is that sound?”
The emperor frowned as the bells continued ringing noisily from every corner of the mansion. The imperial knights also looked around in confusion.
“Oh, perhaps the neighbor’s puppy wandered into the garden and is playing with the bells.”
Hearing my insincere explanation, the emperor stared at me like I was talking nonsense again.
Meanwhile, I stared back at him suspiciously, wondering if he had personally disabled the traps before summoning assassins here himself. I had never heard the bells ring this wildly before.
It wasn’t impossible.
Narrowing my eyes briefly, I then smiled sweetly at the emperor.
“Very well, Your Majesty. If you remain here, I’ll go fetch the evidence I’ve gathered.”
As I spoke, I tugged on Lana’s and Dayvin’s arms—a signal telling them we needed to flee upstairs immediately.
“Wait.”
The emperor stopped me.
“Is there really any need to drag an injured person along just to fetch evidence?”
Having sensed something suspicious about the situation, the emperor gestured for Lana to come over to his side. I frowned.
I was about to refuse, but Lana was faster than me.
“My lady, I’ll wait here. Please go.”
Realizing the urgency of the situation, Lana hurriedly pushed me away and chose to remain beside the emperor. As I stared at her, about to protest, Dayvin spoke first.
“We should move, Lady Anise.”
It was the first time I had ever heard such anxiety in Dayvin’s voice, and I flinched. The situation must truly be dire.
Having no choice, I left Lana beside the emperor and followed Dayvin. The emperor stepped out of the kitchen and watched as we headed upstairs to the second floor.
I tried to act calm while climbing the stairs, when—
Crash!
The loud sound of assassins smashing through the windows and entering the drawing room echoed through the mansion. I jumped in shock.
They’re already here?
Since the traps hadn’t activated, they must have reached this place quickly.
Dayvin, who had been ascending the stairs ahead of me, abruptly stopped.
Assassins who had entered through the second-floor windows poured out from both staircases, dressed entirely in black with masks covering their faces.
The emperor and imperial knights’ eyes widened in shock at the sight of the black-clad assassins swarming in simultaneously through the windows of both the first and second floors.
