Chapter 57: A Kind of Warning

The head maid sliced the orange tart. Damian waved his hand lightly, indicating he didn’t plan to eat.

As if she’d expected it, the head maid placed the orange tarts only in front of Princess Charlotte and Edelweiss.

“Wow, it looks delicious! Sis, do you like orange tart? My brother doesn’t.”

“Ah, y-yes, I do.”

“Then you go first!”

The well-baked tart crust looked thin and crisp, and glossy orange slices were laid over moist cream.

A sweet and tangy aroma gently wafted to her nose.

Edelweiss picked up the fork in front of her and cut a piece.

Crack. The tart sliced through softly.

She lifted a piece with the fork and took a bite.

The rich flavor of butter and the tartness of the orange melded on her tongue.

The creamy texture spreading in her mouth, combined with the crunchy fruit, was pleasant.

But—

Right after.

A strange bitterness spread on the tip of her tongue.

At first, she thought little of it and swallowed the bite.

Was it the orange peel?

But the increasingly sharp bitterness clung to her tongue and wouldn’t go away.

This was—

Her chest tightened. Her heart skipped a beat.

A shallow breath caught in her throat, and she couldn’t breathe.

Her hand convulsed, and the fork she was holding slipped from her fingers.

A faint clink of metal rang out, but all the surrounding noise began to fade.

A muffled ringing filled her ears.

Something was spreading inside her.

“I want some too!”

Edelweiss stopped Princess Charlotte from eating the orange tart. She snatched the plate and pushed it aside.

Princess Charlotte widened her eyes in shock at Edelweiss’s sudden action.

“There’s poison in the orange tart.”

The moment she realized it, Edelweiss suddenly coughed up dark red blood.

“S-sis!”

As her strength gave out and she began to collapse, Damian—his pupils dilated—caught her.

Her eyelids felt heavy. Her lips were parched.

“Edelweiss!”

“Sis, what’s wrong—!”

She tried to stay conscious at Damian’s urgent call and Princess Charlotte’s frightened sobs,

but her body, like it was sinking in water, grew heavier.

It was hard to keep her eyes open.

Darkness crept into her vision, swallowing everything.

***

Her body sank heavily.

A suffocating pressure made it hard to breathe.

Cold wind brushed past her, and her fingertips reached out for empty air.

–Crash!

The railing grew distant. She was falling. Her whole body thrown into the void.

Looking down at her was Rosemary’s face.

With a sneer curled at her lips, Rosemary laughed as Edelweiss plummeted.

“……!”

Edelweiss jolted awake.

Her blurry vision slowly focused.

She looked around instinctively for Rosemary.

She was nowhere to be seen.

More than anything, an unfamiliar ceiling filled her gaze.

“…You’re awake.”

“…”

“What kind of dream did you have?”

As Damian’s voice reached her, her ragged breathing began to settle.

The chilling air that had pierced deep into her lungs faded, replaced by a strange warmth.

Why did it have to be a falling dream…

Her entire body was damp with sweat.

She trembled slightly, still caught in tension.

All her senses remained vivid.

Damian sat in a chair beside the bed.

His gaze darker than usual, he stood and approached.

“Your fever’s gone down a lot.”

He brought the back of his hand to Edelweiss’s forehead.

She tried to speak, but her throat burned.

‘My voice…’

No sound came out.

Swallowing her panic, she tried again.

But in the end, only her lips moved.

Her throat stung, and she wrapped her hand around it.

Damian’s brows furrowed slightly at the sight.

“Does your throat hurt?”

Edelweiss couldn’t respond and only gave a weak nod.

“…The palace doctor said it won’t be life-threatening,

but you’ll have difficulty speaking for a while.”

He let out a short breath and lowered his gaze briefly, murmuring in a low voice.

Edelweiss’s memory returned belatedly.

She had eaten the orange tart brought by the head maid—

and soon realized it was poisoned.

Princess Charlotte…!

Edelweiss flailed in panic.

She needed to ask if Princess Charlotte was okay,

but it was frustrating that she couldn’t speak.

“Why?”

Damian held out his palm, as if telling her to write on it.

Edelweiss wrote, “What about Shasha?” on his hand.

He clenched and released his palm once.

His stiff expression softened slightly.

“You stopped her from eating it. She cried and fell asleep. She’s fine. Worry about yourself, not Charlotte.”

“……”

It was a good thing she ate before Princess Charlotte. Even if her life wasn’t in danger, just losing her voice made it feel like she’d been burned—it hurt and was uncomfortable.

If the young and frail Princess Charlotte had eaten it instead, her condition could’ve been worse.

“I locked up the head chef, everyone who was in the kitchen at the time, and even the head lady-in-waiting in the underground prison.”

“……”

Since she couldn’t speak, Edelweiss nodded instead. Damian’s expression remained grim the whole time he spoke.

“The chef said he accidentally added a poisonous fruit while making the tart.”

“……”

“Even if it was a mistake, I plan to punish him severely.”

Was it really a mistake?

Did the chef actually do it?

Her life wasn’t in danger, but she had temporarily lost her voice.

This was more of a warning.

‘…Baroness Simon.

Catherine Simon.’

She remembered that the head lady-in-waiting of Calliope Palace disliked her.

‘Come to think of it, she looked grim when she saw me earlier.’

It must have been the head lady-in-waiting who brought the tart. A warning.

And the message of that warning was clear—

If she stayed by Damian’s side, something even worse would happen.

‘She might’ve pressured the chef into making a false statement.’

The head lady-in-waiting seemed to know Damian wouldn’t eat the tart.

‘Even Princess Charlotte said so—Damian doesn’t like orange tarts. There’s no way the head lady-in-waiting didn’t know that.’

Thinking back, there had only been two forks on the tray.

If punished severely, the chef would likely be executed.

Edelweiss shook her head.

Nothing good would come from rumors spreading that she had collapsed from poisoning in Calliope Palace, Damian’s residence, just before their wedding.

Even though she had woken up safely, if it led to a cruel execution despite being “a mistake,” it would only damage Damian’s reputation.

‘Besides, my aunt’s already ill—everyone’s on edge. I don’t want to cause more concern.’

She didn’t want the Marquis and Marchioness of Blossomweaver to know either.

After a long argument with him, Edelweiss managed to settle the matter with just removing Baroness Simon from her post.

Damian reluctantly agreed to release the chef when she asked.

“If you want, we can fill Ruer Palace—the one we’ll live in after marriage—with Blossomweaver’s servants. I’ll leave the ones at Calliope Palace here.”

“……”

“Get more rest. I’ll take you back once you feel better.”

Damian gently forced Edelweiss to lie back down. She couldn’t resist his strength and sank into the bed again.

‘What if I dream of falling off that railing again?’

She was afraid to fall asleep.

A dream was just a dream, but it had felt so real—like she’d lived through it again.

“Sleep without worry. I won’t let anyone come in.”

It was strange.

At his words, drowsiness immediately overcame her.

Just like how she had calmed down in his arms during the coming-of-age ceremony, being with Damian always seemed to soothe her anxious heart.

The drowsiness lasted, and the scent of a cool sea breeze lingered nearby.