Chapter 17
#17
It was foolish.
The royals, the nobles, even herself… all of them. They just thought it was good and overdosed on the drug.
“It’s ridiculous that I, who can’t even take care of myself, am criticizing the late King. I should have stopped my daughter from applying that drug from the start.”
Rutherford muttered in a self-deprecating tone, touching her forehead.
Her perfectly styled updo was as flawless as ever, but the relaxed smile that always accompanied it was nowhere to be seen.
“It’s fortunate that we found out the cause even now, but I doubt this drug can really cure it.”
“Indeed. I overheard the gentlemen’s conversation, and most of the herbs are common ones that can be easily bought in the marketplace. I wonder if these will really be effective…”
“Well… we’ll have to wait and see. I should return to the mansion for now.”
A fool might doubt it, but unless the King was crazy, he wouldn’t give out a poison recipe. The efficacy of the recipe is questionable, but whether it works or not can be known by trying it.
Remembering her daughter lying in bed, she felt a little energized. As Rutherford rose from her seat, Count Comt followed her at a trot.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Autumn rain poured down on the training ground, where green was sparsely visible. The sound of soldiers’ commands echoed softly amidst the sound of rain hitting the ground.
Lucy, who was lying in front of the window listening to the rain, looked at the ceiling with drowsy eyes and said,
“Even on days like this, the soldiers are training.”
Walter, who was sitting at his desk scribbling on documents, replied in a calm tone.
“We usually don’t, but we’ve raised the alert level and made them train every day in preparation for any unforeseen events.”
Any unforeseen events.
It meant that they were on alert because they didn’t know how the other lords who had turned their backs on Lucy would react. Knowing how terrible rainy weather training was, Lucy internally offered her condolences to the soldiers.
Unlike the extravagant appearance she had flaunted in front of the lords, Lucy, sprawled on the floor, was dressed very casually, wearing only a shirt, pants, and roughly shoved-on boots.
According to the immutable law that beauty suits everything, even her disheveled appearance looked quite good, but it felt very different from her beautifully dressed appearance a few days ago.
“What’s wrong?”
At the indifferent question, Walter widened his eyes slightly. Only then did he realize that he had been staring at her for too long and unconsciously shook his head.
“It’s nothing. I… I was thinking about the drug.”
“Ah, the cure?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust His Majesty, but…”
Lucy, who noticed the meaning mixed in the vague ending, sighed.
“There were many people among the nobles who doubted it. It would be nice if everyone accepted it willingly.”
“Is that drug… really effective?”
Lucy put the back of her hand under her chin and made a grand expression.
“Of course. At least for this disease, there’s probably no one who knows it as well as I do right now.”
“How did you know about the disease?”
Lucy pondered for a moment how to explain it.
The cause of the epidemic will only be revealed in about ten years. Because the disease itself does not worsen people in a short period of time but slowly penetrates and kills people with addiction symptoms, it takes that long to find out the cause.
But she couldn’t say that as it is.
How should she explain it?
Lucy sat cross-legged and stroked her chin in a hunched posture.
“When I was young, I was often called to the consorts. From some point on, their faces turned pale, and I thought it was a bit strange.”
The First Queen, who was always ridiculed among the servants as a drunkard because her cheeks were always flushed, began to walk around with white skin from one day.
That alone was strange, but it didn’t end there.
“But it wasn’t just them, other princes and princesses were also getting paler.”
“Could that be.”
“That’s right. Their faces were white and smooth, but they didn’t look healthy. Then I found a commonality, and that was the silver drug.”
The strange liquid that the maids cherished and spread on the faces of the consorts.
When she casually asked what it was, she remembered what the First Queen said with a sneer.
「Something like you and your mother, who are vulgar, will never be able to use in your entire lives.」
Being so jealous of the white skin of vulgar people that they applied poison they didn’t even know well.
The First Queen would never have expected that her arrogant greed would backfire.
They were women who were more greedy than the King, so she was sure they would die faster than the King… well, they did die one after another not long after, so is that the same thing?
“To be so close to poison because they wanted to be pretty…”
Lucy had known about the false rumors from the beginning, but she just stood by. The bad people who tormented her and her mother were finding their own way to die, so why bother stopping them?
No, honestly, she fueled the rumors to spread further. She found a way to consume the poison more strongly and leaked it through the servants.
Inhaling the vapor is much faster at worsening the disease than eating or applying the poison. The servants actively spread the rumors, and the foolish royal people diligently followed the method known as a health regimen.
While spreading the rumors, she wondered if this was meaningful, but everyone met their deaths much faster than expected.
Of course, there was no pang of conscience.
People who tormented her when they were alive and cursed her and her mother until they died.
She had been unfairly killed three times against her will, but they had lived as they pleased and died, so wasn’t it a peaceful death in its own way?
Lucy, who was frowning and chewing over her life, realized that this kind of thinking was eating away at her and erased the memories.
They’re dead, so it’s over.
This time… she won’t go back again.
There won’t be a fifth life. Now she won’t have to see those people’s faces anymore.
After emptying out the constant suffering, she recalled a calm expression again. Now is the time to focus on the topic.
“Anyway, I thought it was strange at that time, so I looked it up later. When I found out, it was a disease that was once notorious as an epidemic in the northern part of the Empire.”
“The northern part of the Empire…”
“The cure was also found there. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t gone to Pomnos either.”
Lucy lied glibly and watched Walter’s reaction. Walter was fiddling with his lower lip and staring at the edge of the desk with a dark face.
“If we had known the cure in advance, the late King would have recovered, but it’s a pity.”
“…That’s right. It’s a pity.”
It was a pity. The King died too early, so all the plans were messed up.
It would have been nice if he had held on a little longer before dying.
Hiding her ominous thoughts, Lucy expressed her condolences. Walter, who was looking at her melancholic face, put down his pen and got up from his seat.
Unlike his usual self, who always wore his uniform neatly, Walter was also dressed simply in just a shirt and pants.
Walter, who was staring intently at the falling raindrops, sat on a stool, gathered his knees, and spoke in a demure posture.
“I have been avoiding it because it is a heavy topic to talk about… but I think I have to deliver some depressing news.”
“What is it?”
“That is, please don’t be surprised to hear it. After hearing the news that Lucy was being promoted as the new King, the Third Prince…”
“I heard that news too.”
Lucy raised her head and met Walter’s eyes.
The residence had been noisy since morning, and she thought it was strange, but after finishing breakfast, she found out the cause of the commotion from the soldiers’ whispers.
The Third Prince, who could not properly support his body due to lower body paralysis, killed the Fifth Prince and then jumped off the tower himself.
It was a very unconventional death, unlike the human who always looked at her with sinister eyes behind the First Queen.
Was the news that a lowly person he had looked down on had become King so painful and resentful that he was willing to die?
It is unknown. However, she could pretend to be sad about the death of the late King, but this time she couldn’t pretend to be sad at all.
Lucy tilted her head and looked up at Walter.
“I think you were expecting a sad reaction, but unfortunately, the Third Prince was the worst match for me. I’m not very sad.”
“……”
“He would try to take my place, claiming legitimacy or something when his condition improved, but isn’t it funny to feel sorry for such an opponent? It’s better to think it’s a relief that he died.”
Instead of being embarrassed or displeased, Walter stroked his cheek with a face that didn’t know what to do.
Lucy’s words were right. The position she sat in was not a position that she could do as she pleased and come down as she pleased, like the village chief of any rural village.
The only times you can give up the throne are when you die or when you are killed.
You have to desperately endure and fight to protect it. The tacit rule was that anyone who coveted the position, whether it was a blood relative or anyone else, should be defined as an enemy and expelled or eliminated.
And the person who put Lucy in that position was himself.
Walter acknowledged that his thoughts were short-sighted and silently lowered his head.
“That’s right. I’m sorry.”
“It’s a relief that there’s no one left to threaten my position by talking about pure blood anymore. The royal family has been taken care of, so now I have to think about how to deal with the lords.”
Lucy moved to the sofa and reached for the candy on the table. She rolled the strongly mint-flavored candy around and patted the seat next to her.
Walter, who was watching her with troubled eyes, sat next to her with reluctant steps. Lucy, who was reaching for the candy bowl again, suddenly remembered something and put her hand into her pocket.
“Oh, right. Can you give me your hand for a moment?”
“Yes?”
“Your hand. Your hand.”
Walter stretched out his hand, which had been hanging near his thigh, and held it out in front of her.
Unlike the plain back of his hand, the palm of his hand was deeply calloused, typical of someone who had held a sword for a long time.
Lucy gently placed the stone she had taken out of her pocket on his palm. It was the stone that Zen had given her a few days ago, saying that she could see an interesting reaction if she gave it as a gift.
The reaction that followed was surprising. Walter widened his eyes and inhaled, puffing up his chest.
“What is this.”
She thought that slightly raising his eyes was the maximum expression of surprise he could show, but that wasn’t the case.
Lucy looked at Walter with even more surprised eyes and stammered,
“That’s, um. A gift.”
“Are you giving this to me?”
His dark eyes trembled slightly, and Walter stared at the stone with a serious expression, his lips pressed into a straight line.
Lucy began to regret doing something unnecessary. Just as Lucy, who was biting her lip, was about to reach out for the stone again, Walter closed his palm and squeezed the stone tightly.
“Thank you. It’s a stone with a good texture and a very pretty color.”
Lucy opened her mouth without realizing it at the sight of his eyes softening as if he was happy.
Only then did she understand Zen’s words.
She had heard that some old people collect stones, but how could such a young man….
The world is wide, and tastes are diverse.
