“Everyone seems to believe that I am the culprit who poisoned His Highness……. But in truth, I am merely another victim who ingested the poison alongside him.”

At Mokyeong’s words, the expressions of Taylor and the other personal guards stiffened, but they quickly concealed their reactions.

Meanwhile, the Emperor frowned and questioned her.

“You are also a victim?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I merely awakened sooner because I have developed a resistance to the poison His Highness ingested.”

“What do you mean? Are you saying that you know what poison the Prince consumed?”

It was the question Mokyeong had been waiting for.

A faint smile curved her lips as she answered.

“Yes. I know that poison extremely well. I was poisoned with it several times during my childhood.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

“Whenever I disobeyed my stepfather as a child, he would brew a diluted infusion of a poisonous herb and force me to drink it. It would put me into a deep sleep, leaving me unable to bother him.”

Upon hearing Mokyeong’s revelation, the chamber erupted into murmurs.

For generations, the title of House Oult had been passed down through the female line.

The reason was remarkably simple.

In that poison-infested land, women had a higher survival rate than men.

Consequently, most heads of House Oult had married within the family. Roanne’s mother, the current Marchioness of Oult, had also remarried after her first husband died.

However, according to Roanne, that second husband had dared to *buse the heir of House Oult.

Although House Oult had been reduced to a shadow of its former self, it was still a marquisate, a title bestowed by the Emperor himself.

The heir had been poisoned to put her to sleep.

This crossed far too many boundaries to be dismissed as a mere family matter.

The murmuring throughout the chamber grew even louder.

However, what confused everyone more than the revelation that the Princess Consort had suffered *buse was what she said next.

“Did you just say…… a deathlike sleep?”

The Emperor asked again in a trembling voice.

The Emperor sprang to his feet without concealing his shock, forcing his aide to hurry forward and support him.

“Yes, Your Majesty. It is such a deep sleep that one cannot tell whether the person is dead or alive.”

“Are you saying…… that the Prince is…… still alive?”

Silence instantly descended upon the enormous audience chamber, which was large enough to accommodate hundreds of people.

Even the nobles who had been murmuring moments earlier fell silent.

As though savoring the silence, Mokyeong answered clearly in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.

“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

At that moment, Taylor’s expression twisted ever so slightly, but the change was too subtle for anyone to notice.

The Emperor looked back and forth between his son’s coffin and Mokyeong, his face filled with utter disbelief.

“If Your Majesty does not believe me, I can awaken His Highness immediately. Will you permit me to do so?”

“W-What are you waiting for? Awaken the Prince at once! If my son returns to life, I will absolve you of all charges!”

Those were the words she had been waiting for.

Mokyeong clenched her teeth to keep her expression from relaxing and approached the Prince.

As she neared the coffin, the man’s face came into view far more clearly than it had from a distance.

‘He truly is the greatest beauty beneath the heavens. Even Namgung Hwan could not surpass him.’

The man lying in the coffin, surrounded by pure white lilies, was so beautiful that he appeared almost otherworldly.

Even his lashes, resting gently against his eyelids, were golden. Beneath his straight, high nose, his pale, perfectly shaped lips were closed neatly.

When he opened his eyes, he would surely appear even more dazzling.

However, he was a poisonous flower.

Mokyeong recalled the man from Roanne’s memories, who had always looked at her with cold, distant eyes.

“The tea has a wonderful fragrance. You should try it.”

Yet several days earlier, the Prince had personally brewed tea for Roanne, claiming he had procured it himself.

She should have realized something was suspicious then. But his smile had been so sweet that Roanne had merely stared at her husband in a daze like a fool.

“……I hear you possess a rather unusual constitution, my lady?”

Roanne’s heart plummeted at the man’s casual remark.

“I heard that you have a strong resistance to poison……. Just how strong is it? Does poison have no effect on you whatsoever? Or does it merely cause you a little pain?”

How did he find out?

When had he learned about it?

Did the Empress know that the Prince had discovered her secret? What would happen to Roanne if she found out?

“I-I am not certain. I do not understand what you mean…….”

Terrified, Roanne hurriedly raised the teacup to her lips, trying to hide her panic.

At that moment, his eyes, like jewels, curved into a dazzling smile.

Then his powerfully built body collapsed to the floor.

Even as he hit the ground, he never took his eyes off Roanne, murmuring,

“I see……. So poison truly has…… no effect on you.”

And so, this man, as beautiful as a flower, had willingly consumed poison.

Right in front of his wife, who was unaffected by it.

All to make her appear unquestionably guilty of poisoning him.

‘What a ruthless man.’

It seemed Roanne had still kept this terrifying man in a corner of her heart simply because he was her husband.

‘Foolish woman……. Men are so plentiful that one practically trips over them.’

Mokyeong clicked her tongue in sympathy, finding herself thinking about the lovers she had left behind in the Central Plains. She quickly pushed these thoughts aside.

If there was one thing she had come to understand with painful clarity over the past two days, it was that this was not a dream.

This world was her new reality, and the martial world was a place she had left behind.

Mokyeong was not foolish enough to cling endlessly to something that had slipped beyond her grasp.

Besides, Namgung Hwan was not the only lover she had left behind.

The person she worried about most was Soye. However, if Mokyeong’s assumption was correct, Soye would be safe.

‘For now, I must concentrate on my current situation.’

Casting aside her distracting thoughts, Mokyeong addressed the Empress in a clear, ringing voice.

“Your Majesty, could you have the items I name prepared for me? I need to purge the remaining poison from His Highness’s body. None of them should be particularly difficult to obtain.”

All she had to do was press his acupoints and channel her internal energy into him.

The problem was that it would undoubtedly appear to be a mysterious trick to the people of this world.

The Emperor and Empress, along with numerous high-ranking nobles and priests, were gathered before her.

She had survived, and there was no reason to risk being branded a witch.

‘Even if it is troublesome, I should at least make the procedure look convincing.’

She would also need to establish a plausible explanation so that using her own methods in the future would not appear suspicious.

It would be bothersome to go through this charade every time.

Soon afterward, the Empress’s maids brought the ingredients Mokyeong had requested.

Some of the herbs were difficult to obtain through ordinary means, but this was the imperial palace.

There was virtually nothing here that could not be acquired with the empire’s wealth and authority.

Mokyeong inspected each of the ingredients they had brought.

‘Their condition is not bad.’

She ground several herbs together in a mortar, then set the mixture over a small brazier and lit it.

Pale smoke rose into the air, filling the audience chamber with the bitter fragrance of medicinal herbs.

From outside, it appeared to be a convincing detoxification ritual.

After placing the mixture beside the prince’s head, Mokyeong reached out as though examining his complexion, then pressed one of his acupoints.

She channeled an exceedingly thin strand of energy through her fingertip.

Twitch.

Carden’s fingers moved.

‘It worked.’

Mokyeong inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

At this point, he should awaken without difficulty in a few moments.

And yet…….

“Princess Consort.”

More than half the herbs had burned away, but the Prince still had not opened his eyes. Growing impatient, the Empress spoke first.

“The herbs are nearly burned to ashes. Why has the Prince not awakened?”

“……That is precisely what I am wondering.”

Mokyeong was also beginning to find it strange.

Tilting her head slightly, she carefully examined the prince’s condition.

He was still lying as motionless as a corpse, but color had returned to his face, giving him almost a normal complexion.

However, she could barely hear him breathing.

Mokyeong leaned closer and placed her ear near his face. Then her eyes widened in surprise.

‘This man is deliberately suppressing his breathing.’

She could only sense his breathing because she was standing so close, but it was quiet and almost imperceptible.

Come to think of it, the Third Prince was renowned throughout the Empire for his extraordinary abilities.

After all, he bore the title ‘Inversio’, bestowed only upon one who had slain a dragon.

Then it made sense.

By suppressing his breathing to the barest minimum, he could prevent anyone from knowing whether he was breathing at all at a glance.

However, when it came to the human body, Mokyeong was one step ahead.

No matter how formidable he was, there were certain signs he could not conceal without an intimate understanding of human anatomy.

His eyes.

Even through his closed eyelids, Mokyeong could see his blue irises shifting ever so slightly beneath the thin skin.

Mokyeong narrowed her eyes.

‘This man…… He is deliberately refusing to wake up, is he not?’

The sheer absurdity of it all almost made her laugh.

Then again, he was a man who had willingly poisoned himself.

Waking up like this was certainly not part of his plan.

But Mokyeong could not afford to let him have his way.

Her life depended on it.

‘Let us see how long you can hold out.’