190 - Pieces of the Broken Glass Slipper
Shattered Glass Slipper Shards 190
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The Crown Prince frowned as if he couldn't believe it. And he opened his mouth as if to say something. But as soon as the physician came in, he took a step back, leaned against the wall, and slowly crossed his arms.
It was not an appropriate conversation to have in front of a third party, so his mouth had no choice but to close again. Perhaps that was why the Crown Prince frowned and stared at me the whole time, as if his pride had been hurt.
The physician trembled noticeably, thinking that the Crown Prince's low mood was because he was late. And he carefully made the excuse that he was late because he was trying to find the wine glass I had drunk from.
"There was no poison in it."
Then, the physician mentioned that I had been recuperating several times last year, and carefully suggested that I was originally weak, and that I had reached my limit this time due to my father's death. In the midst of all that, I even drank alcohol, so a sudden heart attack occurred.
But the recuperation in the past was a ploy to protect myself, and my health was always good. So I was very suspicious of the physician's diagnosis.
I asked him how he knew that the wine glass was the one I had drunk from.
"A servant happened to have taken care of it. It's a fortunate thing."
"But I'm very healthy."
"Everyone I examine thinks so. Above all, weakness is a virtue of a lovely lady in society, so you don't have to be too ashamed."
The physician did not consider the possibility that the glass had been replaced with another, and insisted that everything was due to my physical weakness.
So he examined me very carefully, as if he were dealing with a newborn baby. He asked me several times if the bowl containing the medicine was heavy to hold in my hand, and if it was okay to swallow, which made me embarrassed.
"Did you really not find anything?"
"That's right. Perhaps the Young Lady doesn't trust my skills?"
As a royal physician working in the imperial palace, there was no need to talk about his skills. If I told him here that I didn't trust him, it could be taken as an insult.
I put my hand on my chest, made a rather sad expression, and shook my head. And I quietly continued, feigning a faint voice that seemed to sink in.
"Forgive my rudeness. It's just that I haven't been able to calm down because this has never happened before. I couldn't possibly doubt your skills. So I hope you understand. Ah, I still feel a little shaky."
Only then did the physician's face brighten. He spoke gently and kindly, as if trying to reassure me.
"Oh dear, so you must be careful, very careful in the future. You've just taken your medicine, so you should get a good night's sleep. I'll send someone to your mansion later to tell you what Medicinal herbs I used, so don't worry."
"Yes."
After that, the physician repeatedly told me what foods to avoid and to walk slowly enough not to strain my heart for the next few months, and then got up from his seat. And he politely greeted the Crown Prince and asked if he could leave now.
The Crown Prince quietly nodded to the physician.
As soon as the physician went out of the room, I spoke to him in a quiet but firm tone.
"My heart is not that weak."
The Crown Prince raised his eyebrows as if asking what I meant.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not so weak that my heart would stop just from drinking a few glasses of wine. Someone did something to me."
"How can you be so sure?"
When I hesitated for a moment at his question, the Crown Prince sighed softly and told me not to be so sensitive.
"Aren't you at all suspicious that I, who was having a good conversation with Your Highness, suddenly collapsed and almost died?"
"There was a woman who died because she tightened her corset too much to make her waist slender and broke her ribs. And another woman took medicine that was bad for her body to make her skin white, and suddenly vomited blood and died on the day of the ball. There are many women who have died from such trivial things in society. Everyone was just surprised that you were the first to come back to life."
He also seemed to think that I had collapsed because I had done something to make myself beautiful, like the women in the examples just mentioned.
I was about to protest in a fit of anger, but my lips only twitched silently. I had a suspicion, but no evidence, so I was just frustrated. I would have retreated helplessly like this if it hadn't been for one voice that flashed through my mind.
'Thank you so much for the advice that makes me think dark thoughts. I didn't realize that the Young Lady was experiencing these feelings, so I committed a great rudeness. As a token of apology, I will send you a glass of wine later, so please don't refuse.'
"He said he would send wine. Yes, he did."
"What did you just say?"
I let out a low scream, as if screaming, and said again.
"A man named Bitrice said he would send me wine. And I saw the woman who was with him before I collapsed."
"Bitrice?"
"The man who said he would make me a Countess."
The Crown Prince stared at me blankly, as if he couldn't understand. He couldn't understand why someone who had approached me wanting to join hands with me would try to kill me. Instead of answering him, I sank back into thought and quickly racked my brain.
Okay, let's say Bitrice sent me wine with a suspicious drug in it. To do this, he poured only that one glass of wine on a tray full of empty glasses, so I had no choice but to drink it. I was naturally sipping wine while talking to the Crown Prince, so he must have thought it was the perfect time.
Now, let's calmly organize it again. He knew that I would stop breathing for a moment and then wake up again. No, he induced it to happen.
Why? Because he expected the Crown Prince to meet a woman who had come back to life from death. So he took a beauty who claimed to be a resurrected Witch to meet Madam. But suddenly he changed his mind and did something to me.
Then that means he knows the prophecy that the Crown Prince and I heard, which is based on the story that Jack told me.
'I heard this story from someone who had contact with the Witch. It seems to refer to the person who protects her, and I thought it might be helpful. He grumbled so much about that person that I can't forget it.'
'He's covered in burn marks on his hands, which is disgusting, and he keeps asking me to make burn ointment for him, which is hard for me. That's how he grumbled.'
And I saw the burn marks on Bitrice's wrist as I fastened his cufflink. So it must be that man.
"Did that man expect me to come back to life?"
The Crown Prince scoffed at my listless muttering, as if I were out of my mind. He said it was ridiculous.
"There's no such drug. If you could manipulate death, it would have been rumored by now. There are so many foolish perverts in society who dream of tragic love."
But the man who was thought to be the Grand Duke used me to create a miracle. As if he knew that the Crown Prince would be shaken by the prophecy. Why on earth?
I swallowed the rising sigh and listed the things I knew in one word.
Grand Duke. The Emperor's very young half-brother. The sun approaching death. The next Emperor. Rebellion. ......Rebellion?
"Ah!"
"Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"Your Highness."
Suddenly, my body trembled like an aspen tree. A deep fear, even worse than when I was caught by the Crown Prince earlier, was rising rapidly.
Could it be because of that? Is it real?
......What on earth are you trying to do with me? Why don't you leave me alone?
I wrapped my arms around myself and muttered helplessly like a broken doll.
"I want to go home, back to the mansion."
I didn't want to be here any longer.
The Crown Prince raised his voice slightly at my words, as if he were dumbfounded.
"In that state? You'll collapse on the way. You might not wake up again. So rest here and go back to your house tomorrow morning."
"No. I'm going now."
"Don't be stubborn."
"You're the one being stubborn, Your Highness."
I pushed the blanket covering my body aside and struggled to get out of bed. And I shook off his hand as he strode towards me and shouted sharply.
It was too rude to do to the Crown Prince of the empire, but my excited head didn't realize it.
"If I rest like this, strange gossip will spread. Then it will be as Your Highness wishes. I can't let that happen."
"Young Lady!"
"Let me go. Your Highness, please just let me go. I'd rather collapse and die on the way. You said that one of the few people you trust is Sir Ayres. You can't force me for his sake."
The hand holding my wrist began to lose strength. But he was still holding on.
"You have a very good skill at shaking your weaknesses."
"It's proof that the days I spent by Your Highness's side were not in vain."
Rebellion. Yes, Michael Ayres is needed by the Crown Prince even to suppress the rebellion. So the importance of me, who is known to be his lover, is bound to increase.
Not only that. Lustewin Halberd, who is known to be an even greater force, is also attached to my hand, who has taken control of the Bishvarts Family. Besides, I am also the woman referred to in the prophecy.
In fact, when I only had the first condition, I was pressured to leave Sir Ayres under the guise of a test.
At that time, the Crown Prince saw me as a useless woman. But suddenly I had the second and third conditions in succession, and naturally my own importance, which I didn't want, increased. To the point where the Crown Prince threw subtle words of seduction at me.
Yes, all of this was work for the next imperial power. The despicable test that made me angry, the fact that he casually asked if he wanted the Knight of Clear Hearing as a birthday present, and the fact that he attached a scarecrow to me to help me take control of the Bishvarts Family.
In fact, all of this could have been easily noticed if I had only thought about the prophecy I heard at the Founding Day, but why was I missing it so easily?
The Crown Prince seemed to realize that I would not give in, so he sighed softly again. And he spoke in a very gentle voice, unlike his usual self, as if trying to appease me.
"I'll prepare a carriage for you. But do you really believe that a man named Bitrice gave you the drug?"
"No, I think I was mistaken. But it's true that strange things are happening after I met him."
"......The Young Lady seems to want me to find out about that person."
"If you're interested in me, shouldn't you be able to do that?"
"Do you know? You're the first person to shout at me and still have your tongue and throat intact."
"Hearing that, I can believe for the first time that Your Highness wants me."
"How generous of you."
The Crown Prince chuckled and firmly supported me. And he called a servant to prepare a carriage. Before long, the carriage was ready, and the Crown Prince didn't even pretend to hear me when I said I would walk, and picked me up as he had when he came to this room.
"Give in this much. To the poor man who longs for your virtue."
I was dumbfounded by the man who was suddenly acting like a friendly man, but my body, which had run out of strength, creaked like a doll with its strings untied, so there was nothing I could do. So I tried to ignore the rapidly rising revulsion and accepted his help.
It was very late at night, so the hallway was quite deserted except for a few servants. But judging from the surprised expressions on all of their faces as they looked at the Crown Prince and me, I had an ominous feeling that the rumors would spread faster and more widely than I thought.
"Your Highness."
"Speak."
"Please promise me that you will protect my honor, no matter what rumors spread."
"Will anything change if I promise?"
"Of course. That alone is enough to deal with it. I don't know if Your Highness knows, but I'm a really vile and evil woman. So as soon as I realize I'm in a superior position, I'm recklessly wielding Your Highness without knowing how scary it is. So I can just pass over this without any problem."
"Ha, superiority...... You're really spouting arrogant words."
"Isn't that right?"
The Crown Prince carefully lowered me into the carriage and clicked his tongue briefly, as if he were dumbfounded. He was confident that he could seduce me - I must have been prostrating myself so much in the meantime - so he had an expression that he didn't realize that the weakness he had carelessly shown would come back and grab his ankle like this.
But that's why his competitive spirit is boiling over, and he shows a generosity that takes a step back, showing a fairly human expression.
"I admit it. Okay, I'll do as you wish. But don't believe that your superiority will last forever."
Ah, of course. When the rebellion is successfully suppressed and he ascends to the throne like the future I know, Sir Ayres and Sir Halberd will all leave my hands. Because he will make it so.
"I will keep that in mind."
The man smiled contentedly when I answered in an obedient voice. And as he gently closed the carriage door, I had a strong conviction that he would call me back to the imperial palace on some pretext in the near future.
When I came to my senses, I was standing in the middle of a swamp. Tragically, that's exactly what I am now.
