“Forget it, what can I do about something that’s already happened. Just make sure the servants keep their mouths shut and come right back in.”

“Yes, understood.”

‘If it weren’t for the banquet, I would’ve torn into Mael.’

She would have screamed all sorts of things along with curses about not doing her job properly.

Yes, right now she felt like only that would relieve even a bit of this suffocating feeling.

After glaring at Mael, the empress turned back toward the banquet hall.

The sound of her shoes striking the marble floor was loud. At the empress openly displaying her anger, Mael let out a scoffing laugh.

Then the empress’s steps stopped abruptly.

“…Did you laugh?”

Eyes revealing killing intent different from before turned toward Mael.

Normally, Mael would have been scared and cowered at this level, but the Mael before her eyes wasn’t like that.

Rather, she smiled brazenly.

Her provocative attitude was irritating. How dare she—was she trying to climb above her station?

Mael, to me?

The empress strode over and stood before Mael.

Even though the empress’s gaze in heels was much higher, there was no wavering in Mael’s eyes.

That gaze looking straight at her. It grated and grated on her nerves.

Had Mael always been like this?

“What exactly are you trying to do with me right now, Mael?”

“It’s a kind of deal.”

“A deal? Haha! You’re asking me to make a deal?”

At her clearly dismissive attitude, Mael frowned.

But the empress didn’t care.

“Ahahaha… So, what kind of deal do you want to make?”

“I want to know about the raw materials for the drugs the Arpi ducal household makes.”

“What would you do with that information?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

The empress burst into even louder laughter at whatever she found so amusing. It was contradictory how she laughed like a madwoman when just moments ago she’d said there were many listening ears.

“What could an illiterate like you possibly do? Explain it verbally and report it? Who would believe you?”

“……”

“You, a commoner from the slums who can’t even read, could become head maid thanks to me, nanny. You should be grateful.”

White, delicate fingers caressed Mael’s chin.

“Know your place. Do you understand?”

“Haah……”

Seemingly angry, Mael ran her hand through her hair and sighed.

But at the sigh that came in a low voice rather than Mael’s usual calm tone, the empress’s fingers froze.

“Are you finished?”

“Done. Good work, young master.”

Done? What was?

When Mael removed the necklace, the transformation magic broke and Cardel appeared.

Tall and wearing a black uniform, he was clearly the second young master of Radelica, obviously a Magic Swordsman.

“It’s been a while, Your Majesty.”

“You……”

Behind him appeared Astrian holding a magical device that could record images.

At the unexpected appearance of the two, the empress staggered backward.

“You, why are you two here……!”

“To think you’d fall for such low-level magic—your cognitive abilities must have declined considerably.”

At her son’s scathing criticism, the empress’s face reddened.

She was ashamed that her own son had discovered she was doing drugs.

Moreover, Astrian was the Crown Prince. In other words, the only heir who could act with the emperor’s authority in the emperor’s absence.

As it happened, the emperor was currently absent to handle urgent matters.

It was too exquisitely timed to be coincidence.

“You must have conspired with His Majesty.”

“Well, something like that.”

“Just to catch me?”

She knew there was nowhere to run and no reason to run, given that her status as empress was most important—so why go to such lengths to secure evidence by deceiving her?

“It was suspicion at first. You weren’t even our target, Your Majesty. You’re just bait that happened to get caught at the starting point.”

“I’m… bait.”

At the word choice that scratched her pride, the empress’s voice trembled.

For her, a ruler who always had to reign above others, being looked down upon was intolerable.

Eventually, just as Astrian expected, the empress couldn’t suppress her emotions and exploded.

“I, this I! The mother of the empire and the empress who bore legitimate children! How dare you disregard me so. As a child’s duty, the duty to serve one’s parents—such a trivial thing could be overlooked as a transgression……!”

“Did you say ‘duty’?”

At Astrian’s sharp gaze, the empress flinched.

“You should have first fulfilled your duties as a parent and as empress before saying that, Mother. Then your claim just now might be accepted as valid.”

“……”

The empress averted her gaze. She answered with silence. Her trembling body looked more frail than usual today.

“Imperial guards, take her away immediately.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The sight of the empress being dragged away powerlessly contrasted sharply with the marchioness who had twisted her whole body in resistance.

“…Mael. Where is Mael?”

“Three hours ago, she was found as a corpse in the river. They said the cause of death was a kitchen knife that pierced deep into her lungs.”

Kitchen knife. Lungs. River.

Hahaha! The empress laughed like she’d lost her mind. Yes, I was the crazy one. Yes.

“I thought it was a dream. I thought it was a dream……”

“……”

The muttering purple irises were murky. Eyes that had emptily lost their light.

It was the ending of a loser who’d lost something long ago.

“……Haven’t they come out yet?”

“Not yet. Looks like it’ll take a while before they talk.”

“D*mn it……”

Without the empress opening her mouth, there was no justification to issue a warrant for the Arpi ducal household.

That meant they couldn’t learn the ingredients of the poison used on the marquis.

“Isn’t there another way?”

“Not at the moment. We’re doing our best but… we’ll have to see how long Dame Evolaine can hold out.”

The fact that everything depended on Evolaine was despairing.

What good was being a Magic Swordsman with compatible magic power when there was nothing he could do to help?

Then he sensed a presence behind him.

“Who’s there?”

A thin neck touched the side of the drawn blade.

At the sharply honed sword that would draw blood with the slightest movement, the owner of the presence gulped.

“……”

“……”

It was a woman he’d never seen before. An excessively thin frame. The woman with long sky-blue hair and pale blue eyes wore only a slip with a thin robe hastily thrown over it.

Her appearance in the middle of evacuating people was suspicious.

As Cardel’s eyes sharpened, the woman opened her mouth to speak.

“I am, cough, gasp……”

But the moment she spoke, she clutched her throat.

Between her thin fingers, a black tattoo was briefly visible. It was a tattoo shaped like a bizarrely formed goat glaring with an evil expression.

Then a memory from the past surfaced.

The day Evolaine had unintentionally stayed out overnight.

She’d said she saw a woman who looked like this that day…….

“…Your Highness the Second Imperial Consort?”

“……The Second Imperial Consort?”

Astrian broke the silence, Cardel questioned.

This person was the Second Imperial Consort? Her shabby appearance made it hard to believe.

The woman nodded, seemingly pleased that Astrian recognized her.

Purity could be felt in her brightly smiling face.

Somehow feeling he’d seen her somewhere before, Cardel carefully retraced his memories.

And soon realized the source of the déjà vu.

‘They’re similar.’

Evolaine and the Second Imperial Consort. The way the two smiled was similar.

‘No way.’

An uneasy speculation muddled his mind.

While Cardel held his head and made deductions that led from one thing to another, Astrian spoke to the Second Imperial Consort.

“Where have you been until now?”

“I was in the palace.”

“In the Second Imperial Consort’s palace?”

“Yes.”

Though she occasionally grimaced in pain from her throat, conversation seemed possible.

As the Second Imperial Consort answered slowly, Astrian continued the conversation.

“You’ve grown a lot. You’ve become a monarch.”

“……Yes.”

“I don’t have much time.”

“Time?”

“Yes, so it’s a request—will you deliver this?”

What the Second Imperial Consort held out was a small pouch.

Made of purple silk fabric, apparently handmade, with sloppy stitching.

Though he didn’t know much about the Second Imperial Consort, he could tell that her sewing skills were extremely poor.