Although the Princess Consort’s display was somewhat exaggerated, that very excess unexpectedly moved the hearts of those watching.

Well…… there were still a few murmurs, of course.

“Did the Princess Consort…… truly love the Third Prince that deeply?”

“It seems the rumors that their relationship was cold were completely unfounded.”

“Indeed. Otherwise, how could she possibly weep so sorrowfully……?”

And the person listening to those remarks with the most incredulous expression was none other than Carden.

“What in the world is happening……?”

“This is something one would only expect to read about in history…….”

“Then the Princess Consort truly was not the culprit…….”

The crowd became more confused.

The Empress was not one to miss such an opportunity.

She immediately rushed towards Roanne, wrapping an arm around her shoulders in a gesture of concern. Then, just as Roanne had done, she pleaded passionately with the Emperor.

“My poor Princess Consort! Though you nearly suffered the same fate, all you can think about is the prince. How could anyone possess such a kind and devoted heart?”

Remarkably, despite having recently ordered Roanne to kill herself and handed her one of the deadliest poisons in existence, her tone was affectionate.

Held in the Empress’s embrace, Mokyeong suppressed a hollow laugh.

‘This woman is no ordinary opponent, either.’

Mokyeong herself was rather shameless, but even she would have struggled to change her expression so completely in an instant.

As though she had sincerely worried about the Prince and his wife all along, the Empress even dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief before speaking indignantly to the Emperor.

“The Princess Consort is right, Your Majesty! You must thoroughly uncover who dared attempt to assassinate the Third Prince, whom you cherish so dearly. This is no different from a direct challenge against the imperial family!”

The Empress’s mind raced.

Judging by how events were unfolding, this had undoubtedly been a scheme orchestrated by the Prince himself.

‘No wonder the Prince’s personal guards were calmer than expected…….’

Only now did she recognize the clues she had overlooked in her panic.

If this truly was a scheme devised by the Prince, then the more thoroughly the incident was investigated, the more disadvantageous it would become for him.

‘I cannot let this opportunity slip away.’

Thinking cunningly, the Empress drew the admirable Princess Consort—who had transformed her crisis into an opportunity—even closer.

If the Prince awakened, she had intended to discipline the Princess Consort somehow once again. But now, the situation had changed.

‘She is cleverer than I thought. I can still make further use of her.’

When she fell backwards, the Empress thought she had broken her nose, but then realized that this incident had presented her with an even greater opportunity.

No matter what happened to the prince, people would no longer immediately suspect her or the Princess Consort.

However, Carden undoubtedly knew exactly what the Empress was thinking, and there was no way he would keep quiet.

“……How strange. It was the Princess Consort’s maid who brought the tea leaves, yet you claim the Princess Consort did not prepare the tea.”

“Is that so? That is indeed suspicious. Princess Consort, do you remember which maid attended to the tea?”

Unfortunately, Roanne had no memory of the maid.

Maids were replaced so frequently at the prince’s palace that she never bothered to remember everyone’s face and name.

In any case, the woman would have belonged to the Empress, the Prince, or perhaps even the Emperor himself.

After all, Roanne had never had a single ally or servant who was truly loyal to her in this vast palace.

However, the important matter was not whose side the maid had been on.

What mattered most was that Mokyeong could use this interrogation to get what she wanted.

That alone was important.

“Your Highness and Your Majesty are entirely justified in your suspicions. It is only natural that you would still doubt me. Therefore, Your Majesty…….”

Large tears once again spilled from Mokyeong’s eyes.

Her reddened eyes appeared almost desperately earnest as she gazed at the Emperor.

Her face flushed red from crying, Mokyeong prostrated herself at the Emperor’s feet and swiftly pleaded,

“Until the culprit is apprehended, please confine me to my territory!”

The Empress, who had been embracing Roanne, whipped her head around.

***

The heavy footsteps of several grown men echoed along the long corridor.

After walking in silence for some time, Carden returned to his bedchamber, followed inside by his personal guards in a large group.

Click.

The door closed behind Carden as he came to an abrupt halt.

And at that very moment—

“……Ha.”

Carden dragged one hand over his forehead as a disbelieving laugh escaped him.

“Ha, haha……. Hahaha!”

“Y-Your Highness?”

“Puhahahaha! Hahahaha!”

Once he started laughing, he couldn’t stop, and his laughter echoed loudly through the room.

The knights who had followed him stared at him in stunned disbelief, their faces set in grim determination.

The imperial palace was thrown into further chaos when the Princess Consort volunteered to be confined to her territory. Yet Carden, who had suffered the greatest loss, remained silent on the way back to his bedchamber.

This made his knights even more anxious.

However, the moment the door closed, he started laughing like this.

“Your Highness…….”

Could the failure of his plan have driven him mad?

Although the question carried that unspoken concern, Carden’s laughter did not cease.

Growing restless, Taylor hurriedly checked the door leading outside once more before cautiously attempting to restrain him.

“Your Highness, you should lower your voice. If someone overhears you…….”

“What does it matter, Taylor? A man who returned from the dead is surely allowed to laugh once he reaches his room. Do you not agree? Ahahaha!”

Still unable to stop laughing, Carden waved a hand dismissively.

Shaking his head, he soon took a bottle of whiskey from the shelf.

Carden poured the dark amber liquor into a silver goblet and drained it in one swallow before his knights could stop him.

“Y-Your Highness. The poison may still…….”

“I ought to commemorate my return from the dead.”

Cutting him off curtly, Carden poured himself another drink.

He closed his eyes and savored the sensation of the strong liquor scraping its way through his empty stomach. The events from moments earlier resurfaced in his mind.

When Carden first awoke from his poison-induced slumber, his mind was not yet fully clear.

His body felt heavy, as though he were submerged in water, and sounds echoed dully in his ears, muffled by a thick veil.

However, the moment he heard the Empress’s voice amid the indistinct noise, he instinctively squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath.

“Princess Consort, the herbs appear to have burned away. Why has the Prince not awakened?”

The Princess Consort, the herbs, the Prince…

This strange combination of words slowly pulled his muddled mind back to consciousness.

That was right.

He had taken the poison with the Princess Consort.

Once the funeral began, Taylor was supposed to revive him with the antidote they had prepared.

Even without the antidote, the poison’s effects would naturally fade after around five days, giving his body time to recover. However, Carden wanted his awakening to be a dramatic spectacle.

Just as in the ancient legend of the Founding Emperor, Taylor was supposed to pierce his vein with a needle coated in the antidote when his coffin was carried into the imperial chapel for the final mass.

This would be the moment when a legend dismissed for hundreds of years would become reality.

Through divine grace, the dead prince would return to life.

Yet, judging by the sounds around him, he was not inside the chapel.

No priest was reciting Mass and no bells were ringing.

Instead, he could hear the empress’s voice and the breathing of countless people.

‘Was Erow’s poison too weak……?’

Had he naturally recovered sooner than expected?

Or had Taylor moved the plan forward for some reason?

As Carden struggled to force his poison-addled mind to work, an unfamiliar voice reached his ears.

“Your Highness, do you truly intend not to awaken? Even when everyone is waiting for you so desperately?”

Unfamiliar.

No, it was familiar.

He had undoubtedly heard that voice countless times before, but it sounded subtly different.

What was different?

Who did it belong to?

As he pondered, a hand as cold as ice touched his cheek and the back of his neck.

He had only just managed to suppress the startled flinch that threatened to escape him when a frigid snowflake settled on his tightly closed lips.

‘……?’

At first, he did not understand what it was.

But it did not take him long to realize that someone else’s lips were covering his own.

“……!”

His lips parted unconsciously in shock as something sweet and fragrant slipped between them.

Only then did Carden realize that it was the woman’s tongue pressing against his lips.

He recognized the madwoman holding his cheek and kissing him: Roanne Oult.

His wife, who had been sent to kill him.

But his realization came too late, for the intrusion had already begun.

Along with the overwhelming sensation of sweetness, as though honey coated the tip of her tongue, an unfamiliar warmth flowed deep into his throat.

By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

Even when he tried not to swallow, the energy that had flowed from the tip of her tongue passed instantly down his throat and seeped into his chest.

At that moment, he felt something abruptly snap within his heavily subdued body.

‘What did she give me?’

Carden’s eyes flew open. Just as he was about to glare at his wife, who was cradling his face, she slowly pulled her lips away from his.

For a moment, his lips twitched involuntarily at the strange emptiness left by her absence.

As the distance between them gradually widened, the woman’s face — previously blurred by the lingering poison — slowly came into focus.

Silver hair cascaded around her like a waterfall.

Between those shimmering strands, her mismatched eyes — one green, the other gold — stared directly into his without the slightest tremor.

For a moment, Carden’s mind went completely blank.

The Roanne Oult he knew had never looked at anyone with such eyes.

She had always avoided his gaze, lowering her head like a guilty criminal whenever their eyes happened to meet.

But the woman he saw when he opened his eyes—

“You are finally awake, Your Highness.”

She was gazing at him with an enchanting smile he had never seen before.

She had become the perfect variable that destroyed his meticulously prepared plan.

And what was more…….

“……What did you do to me?”

“Nothing.”

“I merely awakened the sleeping prince a little sooner than expected.”

Roanne had known with absolute certainty that he was not dead.

Moreover, she had said ‘a little sooner.’

Did that not mean she had even known when he was supposed to awaken?

‘How in the world did that woman know?’