TMLP Ch. 74 — The Fall of the Enemy

My boundaries had been constantly breaking down because of Yulika Brande.

That look of victimhood. Tears. Weakness that was hard to consider as an enemy. Delusion of victimhood. A poor life that was lost by people around her.

Those things used to undermine my hatred for her.

“… It can’t be.”

Until Rowena’s answer came back, Yulika was locked up in a room with me.

When I explained that the tea was actually poison, Yulika looked as if she’d never heard of it. “I-I’ve been drinking that tea for days, but there’s no problem. I didn’t feel anything.”

“That’s normal. It’s a very small amount,” I said, sending my contempt toward her without hiding it. “It’s not the kind of poison that kills you instantly when you eat it. There are more types of poison that can kill people slowly, little by little, and inconspicuously.”

“Th-Then, why would the empress dowager want to kill me?!”

“I don’t know whether the empress dowager was trying to kill you or you were trying to kill me.”

“… What?” Yulika asked with a puzzled expression.

“You’re the one who gave the poisoned tea to me, right?”

“Ah… N-No. I didn’t think of that. I sincerely…”

“Sincerely?”

Ha! I snorted unconsciously.

“Did you give the empress dowager the pattern found on the monster as evidence of treason because of sincerity?”

Yulika’s lips trembled at my rebuke.

The back of her hand gripping the hem of her skirt was pale. Her shoulders trembled so much that she looked pitiful.

“I’ve never heard… about the poison.”

In the end, she kept her head down like a broken toy and repeated the same thing.

“You misunderstood. Nonsense. There can be no such thing.”

How long has it been since I sent the teapot to Rowena?

As it was getting dark outside the window, someone knocked on the door.

At the sound, Yulika raised her head in shock. Soon after, the door opened, and after confirming that it was Rowena and the cavalry commander, we got up from our seats.

“D-Duke Garmal…” Yulika called out the commander’s name with a trembling voice.

I exchanged her eyes with Rowena. Rowena just fixed her glasses without saying a word.

The cavalry commander, Garmal, was one of the three dukes and had great authority, and above all, was neutral, not belonging to either faction.

Perhaps that’s why he was chosen on purpose.

“Both of you, please sit down,” Garmal spoke in a rather calm voice and made a gesture to sit down with both hands.

Yulika staggered and sat down, and I also sat down slowly.

After the two of us were seated, Rowena and Garmal each sat on the chairs brought by the attendants.

When there were only four people left in the room, Garmal opened his mouth with a sigh, “At the request of Ms. Evergreen, I urgently called an expert to find out. Let’s check with both of you again. Is this the right tea you had?”

I opened the lid of the teapot that Garmal brought and showed it to Yulika. We both nodded in affirmation at the same time.

“I-It doesn’t look like poison, does it? No matter how you look at it, it’s just an ordinary flower tea, right? Right?” Yulika asked with a smile, raising only the corners of her lips while her brows raised in an arc.

“Young Lady Brande,” Garmal called Yulika in a soft voice. He sounded like he would forgive Yulika for whatever she had committed.

“This is a poison called ‘Ferbaus’. It is not toxic to the lethal dose, but if it is consumed continuously, it accumulates toxicity and is fatal to the body.”

“Th-That’s-!” Yulika covered her mouth with both hands. “N-No… There must have been some misunderstanding. It can’t be.”

“This is not poison from the empire. It’s something from across the continent across the sea. It cannot be used by mistake unless it is intentionally obtained.” Garmal’s speech was still soft, but only the content of his words was relentless, “Excuse me, but is it true that the empress dowager gave this tea to you?”

Yulika didn’t answer his question. All sorts of thoughts were running around in her head.

If the empress dowager’s name was spoken here, the empress dowager would be in danger. Then her father would not forgive her.

“Young Lady, please tell me.”

“I-I don’t know. I don’t know anything…!”

“Haa. Is that so? Well, since all the involved servants have been caught, I think it will be revealed eventually…” He scratched his forehead with his index finger as he said the difficult part, “In any case, it is true that you served this to the princess, so I have no choice but to detain you until you prove that you have nothing to do with this poison.”

“… What?”

“Don’t worry. We will investigate without any unfairness.”

With those words, Garmal got up from his seat. Flustered, Yulika followed but fell to the floor as her legs lost strength. 

But no one supported her.

Yulika crawled onto the floor and grabbed Garmal’s trouser leg.

“I-I-If my innocence is not proven, what will happen to m-me?”

“The death penalty.”

The answer came from Rowena, not Garmal.

Everyone turned to Rowena. She continued like a machine, with an emotionless expression that was very much like her, “It is an unforgivable felony for trying to kill the daughter of the duke.”

“What?! But it’s not even a lethal dose!”

“I will take that into consideration and investigate closely, so don’t worry too much, Young Lady,” Garmal cut and spoke coldly, and called the knights who were waiting outside the door.

The knights grabbed her by both sides, lifted her up, and dragged her out of the room.

Yulika almost fainted.

“Call Father! This is absurd treatment! I’m His Majesty’s fiancée! I’m his fiancee!”

I heard Yulika’s voice disappearing to the far end of the hallway. When her screams ceased to be heard, Garmal let out a long sigh, “I don’t know what the fuss is about. I will report to His Majesty immediately.”

“Duke.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“If possible, could you please investigate so that this does not get into empress dowager’s ears?”

“What is the reason?”

“If the real culprit is the empress dowager, she will hide the evidence and cut off the tail as soon as the investigation begins.”

Garmal was silent for a moment. He just stared at me. With that gaze that seemed to judge me, I didn’t even bother to look away.

After a while, Garmal opened his mouth again, “I am His Majesty’s knight. I do not obey the orders of others.”

“… All right.”

“But I have a feeling that he would say the same thing.”

Garmal nodded at me and left the room. The upright back made me feel somewhat relieved.

***

The interrogation of the servants who had been secretly caught for several days began. At the same time, a traceback of the poison Caesar had consumed was also underway.

And, ironically, they met at one point.

“Young Lady Brande would often share refreshments with His Majesty. The poison His Majesty took was detected there.”

It was Hamilton who had told me that. He had a gloomy expression on his face as if he was blaming himself for not knowing.

“In the end, in all of this and that case, Young Lady Brande was the culprit. Haha, such a naive person could do such a clever thing…”

“Do you really think so?”

“What?”

“Brande said that the tea she gave me was the tea the empress dowager gave her. The same goes for the tea served to His Majesty.”

“But shouldn’t she know everything and participated in it? She’s from the dowager’s side.”

“That’s what I would’ve thought… normally.” I bit my lower lip lightly. “But the poison wasn’t directed at me. It was directed at Yulika Brande.”

Perhaps it was an unexpected situation that even the empress dowager could not have predicted that Yulika served it to me.

She’d never thought that Yulika would invite me to drink tea.

“She couldn’t have eaten it knowing it was poison herself, right?”

“Are you saying that Young Lady Brande was also used?”

“I think so.”

“It’s embarrassing. However, based on the current evidence, we can only think of it as the guilt of Young Lady Brandel. It is not enough to bring the empress dowager down.”

I laughed at the words.

“No, we have more evidence.”

“… What?”

“I’m planning on tying up Horio on this occasion and sending him out properly, Viscount.”

Horio’s poison smuggling.

Valer, who had noticed that fact, had threatened Horio and taken advantage of it.

And the poison of this continent that had fallen into the hands of Yulika Brande.

“I never move until I can cut their heads off,” I said with a smile, reassuring Hamilton.

***

I visited Yulika, who was imprisoned in the depths of the Imperial Palace.

Her room was small, but she had everything she needed, so she didn’t feel uncomfortable.

However, only five days had passed since we’d last met, but she looked lifeless and emaciated as if she had been imprisoned in a cold dungeon.

“You’re about to die.” I sat down in a rather arrogant position and notified Yulika.

Yulika only bowed her head like a sinner without a reaction.

“There is no evidence to prove your innocence. On the contrary, there were only a lot of disadvantages.”

“… I cannot admit it,” Yulika said in a crawling voice without raising her head.

“What do you mean?”

“It was given to me by the empress dowager. The empress dowager gave me… there is no way she could have given me poison.” Yulika’s withered voice still insisted on the innocence of the empress dowager. “I’m on the side of Her Highness the Empress Dowager. A person who will never betray her. How could she poison me? There’s no way…”

“Look here. You do know you’re the one who’s about to die now, right? Not the empress dowager.”

“Die? Don’t make me laugh! I’m innocent! The empress dowager will rescue me, for sure!”

You’re still delusional, kid.

“… The poison called Ferbaus is not intended to kill people.” I let out a long sigh. “The poison doesn’t kill people, but it destroys the body. It damages organs and weakens the body. Over a very long period of time, slowly.”

“S-She tried to destroy me…?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t make me laugh. Don’t be ridiculous! Why would the empress dowager do that to me? Why?!”

“Because Ferbaus is usually used as a fertility drug.”

“…!” Yulika’s eyes fluttered violently.

She would have realized what that meant no matter how stupid she was.

I continued to explain to her, even though I knew it was cruel. “The empress dowager gave the tea you’ve given to His Majesty so far, right?”

“… No way.”

“There was also poison in there. If His Majesty had continued to eat it, he would have passed away in two or three years.”

Yulika stared at me. I continued to explain slowly and again and again.

The young emperor dies prematurely.

His fiancée, who he might have married in a few months and become the empress, is unable to conceive.

Since there is no successor, there is only one person left to succeed him.

“The empress dowager has only one purpose. To make her own son emperor.”

I’d never thought she would be that obsessive.

I’d thought that she’d given up on giving Prince Fran the throne since Caesar became emperor. That she’d just do her best to make Caesar a puppet.

But the empress dowager hadn’t given up.

“No one will come to rescue you.”

For Marianne Valer, Yulika Brande was just a nice pawn to use. She wasn’t just a pawn to throw away, but one that’d be thrown into a gutter after being destroyed.

“Uh… Ah…”

Tears welled up in Yulika’s eyes.

“Ahhh…!”

She hadn’t cried even when she was dragged away for poisoning me. She was the woman who hadn’t cried even though she was slapped, humiliated by her father.

“Aaaaah! Aaaaaaaah!!”

Yulika sat down on the floor and began to cry.

Her voice rang in the whole room. She screamed until hoarse. The cry-like scream shook the air.

The significance of her existence was non-existent from the beginning.

She was alone— no, she had been alone from the start, but now she realized that.

I found it funny that there was only me standing by her, but I just moved my gaze to the air.