140. The Intruder

The poisoning incident of Grand Duchess-to-be Katarina caused major ripples in the noble society of the Grand Duchy of Hersen.

Not only was someone trying to harm the sovereign’s consort, but when it became known that she had switched cups with Klavdia right before the ceremony, the issue grew larger.

The culprit who poisoned the cup had targeted the life of Klavdia, who was both a Princess and the future Imperial Princess of the Charmente Empire.

‘Who put poison in that cup?’

One thing was clear: it wasn’t the Grand Duke.

The prevailing view was that if Nikolai had poisoned the cup targeting his sister, he wouldn’t have let Katya die when she tried to switch cups.

The nobles staying at Hersen Palace knew well how precious he held his wife, having seen it firsthand.

Moreover, since poisoning itself carried great risk, it would have been better in many ways to stop the operation if they couldn’t kill the original target.

Since Nikolai was on the platform together, if he had foreseen the operation’s failure, he could have handled it without causing a big commotion, like accidentally spilling the cups.

If he had done that, he could have hidden the fact that there was poison in the cups and let it pass without anyone knowing.

But the Grand Duke didn’t do that.

Nor did Nikolai have any reason to kill Katya.

She was the bride he personally brought, he had worked hard to arrange the royal marriage, and only the wedding remained.

If the relationship between them had soured or if the Grand Duke no longer wanted his bride, he would have chosen to quietly break off the engagement rather than let her become involved in such a serious incident as poisoning.

For these reasons, Nikolai was completely excluded from the list of suspects among the nobles.

Thanks to this, Oksana’s plan to frame Nikolai fell apart.

“That woman interferes with me until the end! What grudge does she have against me to do this!”

When her carefully built tower crumbled, an enraged Oksana threw a vase as soon as she returned to her room and screamed.

She recalled how Katya had met her eyes before drinking the wine.

“She knew everything……”

She had stared at Oksana right after turning around with the cup.

When she saw the cups had been switched, Katya noticed from Oksana’s shaking eyes that there really was poison in this cup.

She drank the poisoned wine knowing this to completely overturn the scenario Oksana had set up.

To prove Nikolai’s innocence and shatter the nobles’ thick and solid trust in the former Grand Duchess.

In the end, Oksana had fallen into the trap she herself had set.

It was an assassination attempt she had decided on boldly after carefully waiting for an opportunity.

However, due to Katya’s unexpected action, she neither killed Klavdia nor managed to dismantle Nikolai’s support base.

Though she survived, she remained unconscious.

If only Katya had died, the meddler would have disappeared, and they could have struck Nikolai from behind while he was deep in grief over losing his wife.

In the end, far from breaking even, it turned out to be the worst move.

Pavel immediately searched for that knight with his subordinates, regretting having reported to Katya about the circumstances of Oksana bribing the Grand Duke’s knight.

The knight who had prepared the cups had already taken his own life.

A s*icide staged to look like murder. A typical cutting of loose ends.

Whether he was actually bribed or an innocent person caught in a trap could no longer be determined.

Just when Oksana thought she would escape from this incident, she was mistaken.

“I know it was you who ordered poison to be put in my cup.”

“What? Are you really out of your mind?”

“I thought about who would benefit most from my death.”

“That applies to Nikolai too!”

“No! With my death, the Charmente Empire and Grand Duchy of Hersen would be in a state of tension, and by pinning the cause on Nikolai to remove him from the Grand Duke position, only Mikhail would remain. Isn’t that exactly what you want?”

When one of Princess Klavdia’s maids overheard her arguing loudly with Oksana, this fact spread widely among the nobles.

That the Princess who was the assassination target suspected Oksana.

It was the moment that cracks appeared in the reputation Oksana had so carefully maintained while hiding her claws for many years.

Starting from this, the nobles’ distrust toward Oksana’s faction began to spring forth.

The Grand Duchy of Hersen was a country with vast territory.

Due to its long, vertical shape, the distance between north and south was quite far.

So historically, unless it was a major national event, northern and southern nobles rarely gathered together.

Unless one was a boyar, a great noble, or belonged to a specific faction, they usually only frequently interacted with nobles living nearby.

This was why Nikolai had risked going incognito to the south.

These nobles who had been like that were now unusually staying together at the Spring Palace for a long time due to successive events, mingling regardless of north or south.

Socializing naturally makes people strengthen their bonds.

And sometimes being part of a group gives courage.

It gives belief that things that were difficult to do alone or with just a few people are now possible.

If this had happened when everyone was in their own territories, it would have been different, but since everyone was gathered, rumors spread uncontrollably fast and they began to waver.

For the first time, they developed resistance against Oksana’s faction, which had been mainstream in noble society.

It was bad news in many ways for Oksana, her natal Borodin family, Duke Oblonsky and their forces.

***

Several days had passed since Katya collapsed at the ceremony.

Every renowned physician in the Grand Duchy of Hersen rushed to treat the Grand Duchess.

Though she was breathing, she remained unconscious.

Those days were like hell on earth for Nikolai.

He locked himself in Katya’s bedroom and wouldn’t budge.

Tension filled Hersen Palace at news that the Grand Duke wasn’t eating anything and wouldn’t leave the Summer Palace.

It was truly the calm before the storm that could explode at any moment.

His father, former Grand Duke Yuri, had been consumed by madness, perhaps due to love and hate after the death of former Grand Duchess Tatiana whom he had driven away himself.

Everyone was busy avoiding him since he tried to kill any noble or palace person who caught his eye when he was in a bad mood.

Nobles who remembered that time began trembling in fear.

Nikolai loved Katya, and she was clearly a victim of an assassination attempt.

So it wouldn’t be strange if he immediately arrested suspicious people and tortured them until they confessed, saying he would catch the culprit.

But the Grand Duke they thought was a tyrant didn’t do that, which made them even more wary.

Nikolai sat at Katya’s bedside, caressing the face of his unconscious wife.

In truth, when he learned his wife’s cup was poisoned, he had the urge to strangle anyone he suspected.

If he couldn’t find the culprit, he could just kill everyone.

But the only reason he didn’t become like his father was because of Katya.

Though she lay there now, he could vividly hear his wife’s voice in his ears.

“Your Highness, you just had bad thoughts, didn’t you?”

“Well, killing them would be simple, right?”

“Then how would you handle the bodies?”

“We could burn them, or bury them in the lake, or—”

“Stop, stop! We’re not plotting crimes here, okay? How can you say such heinous things with that face?”

“I’m trying to take the quick, easy, and sure path.”

“Your Highness, you’re serious. Aren’t you?”

Her image was clear before his eyes as she stopped his impulses saying no bad thoughts.

She also taught him to pray to the gods when he kept having dark thoughts.

“Now, follow after me. Put your hands together like this and close your eyes. Then tell the gods in heaven about your troubles.”

“Impious thoughts keep coming and I can’t control them.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“When I think about the cause, there is one.”

“……”

“There’s a woman who keeps driving me crazy.”

“……”

“So I need to marry quickly. Only then will these impious feelings calm down.”

She had looked at him with round eyes like a rabbit’s, opening them after having them closed.

“That’s why I rushed the marriage. Tia, without you, impious thoughts keep coming again.”

Nikolai muttered in a wet voice while smiling weakly.

“So hurry and wake up to stop me like before.”

Just then, there was a knock from outside.

He ignored the sound and kept taking in his wife’s face.

The door opened from outside without the Grand Duke’s permission.

“I clearly said before not to come in.”

As he raised his head with an icy face, his brother Mikhail stood at the door.

Unable to stand hearing that his brother wouldn’t eat even when his father-in-law, sister-in-law, and Luka came to ask, he had rushed over.

“Brother, want to go eat with me?”

“Not interested.”

“It’s set up nearby so we can eat and come right back, okay?”

“Husband and wife are one body. When part of me lies here like this, how could I put food in my mouth.”

Mikhail finally approached and knelt before him who hadn’t moved.

“What are you doing? Get up.”

“I won’t get up until Brother comes out with me.”

“Mikhail.”

“If you collapse like this too, you might not see when sister-in-law wakes up. To keep nursing sister-in-law, you need to take care of yourself too.”

He had a point.

When it came to matter concerning Katya, Nikolai finally accepted his brother’s persuasion.

Not long after he left the bedroom, the door opened again.

Just then, Katya regained consciousness.

As she tried to open her eyes, she sensed footsteps approaching stealthily from behind.

She could distinguish the footsteps of those close to her.

She knew it wasn’t Nikolai or Brunhilde or family.

As the unfamiliar footsteps drew closer, Katya secretly slipped her hand under the pillow.

The unidentified visitor took something out of their pocket and reached out to turn over the Grand Duchess lying on her side.

Katya quickly grabbed the hand holding her shoulder, pulled it, and threw them onto the bed.

Their positions reversed in an instant.

Katya sat straddling the intruder while pressing a knife to their throat.

“You……”

Her pupils dilated as she recognized the intruder’s face.