Contract Marriage Rewritten
Chapter 7
The Imperial Palace was thrown into total chaos.
Knights of the palace stood guard everywhere, their faces taut with tension.
Whenever more than two people gathered, they whispered among themselves, wondering what on earth had happened.
“When the imperial physician examined the three princes, dark red marks were already all over their skin….”
“Then does that mean it was poison?”
“All three of them at once? But I heard they were all in different locations….”
Grim rumors flew back and forth. Word spread that the Empress had screamed until she collapsed, fainting several times in the midst of it all.
Amid the chilling atmosphere of the Imperial Palace, Laniakea had no choice but to hold her breath as well.
‘The princes are dead? And all three at the same time?’
It was something she had never once imagined.
Even if one of them were to pass away from an accident or illness, there were two other princes left.
Technically three, but Hyperion was always excluded whenever the succession was discussed. Laniakea herself had never particularly considered him either.
Yet all three heirs to the throne had passed away at once.
In the wake of this catastrophe, every servant in the palaces of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Princes was immediately dragged away. Naturally, the princes’ consorts were no exception.
In the eye of the storm, the people of Laniakea’s Detached Palace kept their heads down, quietly watching the situation outside unfold.
Fortunately, they had very few servants to begin with, and none of them had much contact with the outside world beyond what was strictly necessary.
Even so, an investigation was inevitable, so Lucy and Laniakea represented their household to be questioned by the Imperial Guard.
The interrogation ended in less than an hour.
Having maintained zero presence and no interaction with anyone else for three whole years, the 1st Prince’s Consort had not a shred of circumstantial evidence connecting her to the incident.
Moreover, an absurd amount of evidence was pouring out from the servants of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Princes’ palaces.
“The 2nd Prince told us that once this succeeded, we wouldn’t have to worry about a thing! Th-then he gave us the medicine, and….”
This was the testimony of a servant from the 2nd Prince’s palace, accused of poisoning the 3rd Prince’s meal.
“The 3rd Prince told me all I had to do was mix it into the tea leaves. I truly didn't know it was poison!”
This was the testimony of a maid bribed by the 3rd Prince’s palace who had tampered with the 4th Prince’s tea leaves.
“The 4th Prince was always looked down upon by the 2nd and 3rd Princes! They ridiculed him constantly! I only wanted to help him. He promised to make me his empress once this was over!”
And this was the testimony of a maid who was having an affair with the 4th Prince.
After the Empress personally interrogated every suspect to the point of brutal torture, the uncovered truth was both horrific and baffling.
The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Princes had all used poison against one another.
To make matters worse, by pure coincidence, their plans were all executed on the very same day.
Each of them had taken neutralizing agents beforehand or prepared antidotes in case they fell under suspicion, but those only worked against the specific poisons they themselves had concocted.
Having ingested two different kinds of poison at once, combined with the neutralizing ingredients they had taken for their own concoctions mixing disastrously in their bodies, all three princes died before anyone could do a thing to save them.
Their motive was easy enough to understand. Since the 1st Prince was effectively nonexistent, each had believed that once his other brothers were dead, he alone would become the next emperor.
Even if the truth came to light later, by then the culprit would already be the Emperor, making it entirely possible to bury the whole affair.
With no other heirs left, the ministers wouldn’t be able to do anything either.
The only problem was that all three princes had shared the exact same thought.
The funeral that had been prepared for the dying Emperor was hastily repurposed for the princes instead.
People were rushed off their feet having to suddenly commission two more lavish coffins, but such things were hardly the main concern right now.
“This can’t be! This is impossible! Why are my sons all dead?!”
The Empress rampaged like a madwoman. Perhaps she had already lost her mind entirely.
She was a woman who had always looked down upon others with haughty, unflinching poise.
Now, her hair was a disheveled mess, and without even properly donning her mourning attire, she collapsed on the floor, wailing.
The consorts of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Princes were in a similar state. The 3rd and 4th Princes’ consorts had fainted, leaving only the 2nd Prince’s consort holding her ground.
At the funeral, the nobles whispered among themselves with somber expressions.
“What happens now?”
“Indeed. It is impossible for His Majesty the Emperor to produce another heir at this point, is it not?”
“Then from among His Majesty’s siblings….”
It was right as everyone was calculating which of the collateral branches was closest in line to the throne.
“You!”
The Empress, who had been panting with ragged breaths as her maids held her back and begged her to calm down, shrieked sharply toward Laniakea, who was standing in the corner.
“It was you! You wretched wench! Living quietly as if you were dead was all to deceive me! You conspired with that bastard Hyperion to kill my sons, didn’t you?!”
With that, she lunged frantically at Laniakea.
“Your Majesty the Empress!”
“Please, calm yourself!”
Yet the maids only shouted their pleas; they made no move to hold her back.
They had already spent the entire day trying to restrain the unhinged Empress, and they were utterly exhausted.
Whenever they blocked her path, the Empress threw violent fits, slapping their cheeks and raking them with her nails.
Naturally, the maids were worn to the bone.
‘I wish she would vent her rage on someone else instead of us.’
Now that the Empress had picked an easy target, they had no reason to stop her.
“Bring my sons back to life!”
Screaming, the Empress flailed her arms wildly, trying to grab Laniakea.
At that moment.
“Stay back!”
Standing behind Laniakea, Lucy stepped forward to block the charging Empress and thrust out her arm.
To Lucy, it was likely nothing more than a light shove.
However, that was strictly by Lucy’s standards. With a single gesture of her hand, the Empress’s body lifted into the air and went flying backward before crashing to the floor.
“Heavens! Your Majesty!”
“What on earth do you think you are doing?!”
The maids, who had been watching lazily, turned pale as sheets. Unhinged or not, the Empress was currently the highest authority in the Imperial Palace.
She was virtually the Emperor herself, yet someone had just sent her flying.
One of the flustered maids spotted Laniakea standing there in stunned silence and yelled out at the top of her lungs.
“Her Highness the 1st Prince’s Consort! How dare you commit such an outrage?!”
If it were reported that the Empress had been injured because the maids failed to attend to her properly, they would be in serious trouble. Thus, they had to shift the blame to someone else immediately.
Naturally, that someone was Laniakea.
“Me?”
Laniakea was dumbfounded by the maid’s outburst. It was absurd enough that the Empress had charged at her, but what had she done?
Just then, the Empress’s knights came rushing over.
“It’s a Lupin maid!”
“She has monstrous strength! Everyone, be on your guard!”
On the outside, Lucy looked like nothing more than a petite, cute girl.
Yet burly imperial knights quickly surrounded her. In an instant, a tension entirely different from before settled over the funeral hall.
Lucy looked around at the knights pointing the tips of their swords at her, then scoffed.
“Pathetic bastards. I’ll kill you all.”
Unlike her usual broken speech, fluent Imperial language flowed smoothly from Lucy’s mouth.
Hearing those words, Laniakea clutched her head.
Lucy could read fairly well, but she struggled with speaking. Worried about Lucy’s lack of conversational progress, Laniakea had suggested practicing simple phrases together.
Then, Lucy had brought over a book from who-knew-where, asking to practice this specific line.
“I don’t think you’ll ever have an occasion to say this in your entire life….”
“Learning. Important. Must!”
Usually, Lucy looked dejected whenever it was time to study. When she made a rare request with sparkling eyes, Laniakea couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
So Laniakea had pronounced the line Lucy wanted over and over, teaching her.
“All right, repeat after me. Pathetic bastards. I’ll kill you all.”
“Pa-thetic? Pa-tetic bas-tards….”
Unlike other words, Lucy had picked up that sentence remarkably fast.
And that… was the very line she just used.
“She attempted to assassinate Her Majesty the Empress!”
“Seize the traitor!”
Before anyone knew it, Lucy had been branded a traitor. If she resisted any further in this situation, she really would become one.
In her madness, the Empress might even pin the deaths of the princes on her to vent her fury.
“Lucy! No! Stand down!”
Lucy, who looked ready to tear into the knights at any second, stopped in her tracks at Laniakea’s cry.
Just then, the Empress, having been helped up by her maids, let out a monstrous shriek.
“Aaaaargh!”
Unable to contain her rage, she thrashed about before charging straight at Laniakea once more.
Lucy moved to block her, but Laniakea shook her head, telling her not to come.
Letting the Empress grab a handful of her hair and hit her would be the quickest way to end this situation.
It was right as the Empress finally reached out toward Laniakea.
Thud!
With a heavy, blunt sound, the Empress’s body went flying through the air once again, tumbling across the floor.
“Huh…?”
Laniakea, who had squeezed her eyes shut in preparation to have her hair yanked out, opened them in shock.
Lucy was standing several paces away, completely surrounded by knights.
So it hadn’t been Lucy’s doing.
‘Then who?’
Who could have protected her in this situation?
At that moment, an unfamiliar voice drifted down from above Laniakea’s head.
“Are you all right, wife?”
