“Hmm.”
“Why, why are you doing that?”
“How can you be so shameless?”
“…Pardon?”
“You agreed to present evidence. Serving me comes after that.”
I had been so focused on preventing William from eating the food that I completely forgot I needed to show proof that I wasn’t on the Crown Prince’s side. But what should I do? I had planned to prove it with the secret letter, but that paper had already been torn to shreds in Kalroy’s hands…
As I pondered how to handle this situation, a good plan came to mind that would allow me to deal with both matters simultaneously. For now, I began carefully arranging the food I had brought on the table without saying anything to William.
The surface of the utensils I touched felt rough rather than smooth or cold. As expected, my suspicion was correct. If the Prince’s food had indeed been poisoned, they wouldn’t have been able to use silver utensils.
Pretending to place the utensils on the table, I scratched the surface with my fingernail. A long line appeared where my nail had passed.
Wooden utensils! They had carved wood into the shape of silver utensils and painted them! Perfect! This should be enough to prove my innocence.
With that thought, while I felt relieved that I could prove my innocence, I also felt sorry for Behern and the Prince, who hadn’t even noticed that the utensils had been switched to wooden ones. The design was crude to begin with – how could they not recognize this?
William probably never even imagined that servants would dare serve him food containing poison. Yes, I understand that… But still, in a situation like this, he should have at least been suspicious about what he was eating.
To detect the poison, I needed tools. I looked around to find them. I noticed silver accessories attached to the Prince’s clothing.
“What are you doing right now? I clearly told you to present evidence and then attend to me!”
I was confident in the scenario I was thinking of. That’s why there was no hesitation in my words and actions.
“I’m trying to prove it right now, so please wait just a moment.”
I boldly reached my hand toward the Prince’s chest. The startled Prince hesitated and stepped back.
“Why, why are you doing this?”
“I’m doing this to prove it. Just a moment.”
I grabbed the Prince’s shoulder to keep him from moving, then pulled out the accessory attached to his chest. The Prince looked surprised for a moment, then immediately hardened his expression. Even in this situation, seeing him try not to show that he was startled was cute.
“You insolent—! What are you doing?!”
“Please wait. I’ll show you something that will surprise you.”
Ignoring the Prince’s glaring gaze, I put the silver accessory into the soup. If that soup contained poison, the color would turn pitch black.
However, even after time passed, the silver accessory maintained its brilliantly shining appearance.
No. That can’t be right.
If the silver isn’t changing color, then there would have been no need to switch the utensils to wooden ones, right?
Even though I was confident that this food contained poison, my heart raced with the slightest doubt. If nothing happened, not only would I fail to gain the Prince’s trust, but I would obviously be driven away and might even meet my death at the Crown Prince’s hands.
As I looked back and forth between the silver accessory and the Prince’s face with a bewildered expression, the Prince sighed and said:
“It seems you believe there’s poison in my meal. What’s your basis for that?”
“This can’t be right. Surely…”
“Surely?”
I couldn’t say anything in response to William’s words. It was a low-ranking servant who had informed me that the Prince’s food was poisoned. Due to my rash actions, that servant might end up being punished.
In a situation where everyone ignored me and wouldn’t even speak to me, the one person who had talked to me and satisfied my curiosity might be put in danger. I quickly racked my brain to solve this problem.
There’s definitely poison in that food. I just used the wrong method to find it. If I think calmly, I should be able to find a way.
First, why did they specifically change only the Prince’s utensils? That’s right! Corrosion. It might not be a substance that reacts with silver, but one that reacts with copper, iron, or even glass.
Having thought that far, I quickly looked around. I was searching for something to test for poison. The Prince’s room had many decorations, so it wasn’t difficult to obtain various metals and even glass.
The Prince followed my movements with his gaze while waiting for me with patience unbefitting a child.
I grabbed whatever I could find and returned to the table. Praying as I put each item into the soup one by one, an iron object began turning red.
“Wh-what in the world…”
The Prince, who had shown little reaction until now, was startled and his shoulders trembled. Seeing it confirmed right before his eyes seemed to shock him. Well, if even I’m shocked watching from the side, how much more so for the Prince who’s the target?
William stared at the iron that was gradually turning redder with a disbelieving expression, then collapsed heavily onto the spot. The fact that the Prince, who always kept his back straight while being conscious of others’ gazes, had crumbled and fallen meant that his heart was too pained to support his body.
Watching that made anger surge within me too. They had clearly said they would only add small amounts so it wouldn’t be noticeable. However, the iron I put in the soup changed color in no time at all.
For iron to corrode this severely. How much poison did they put in?
Could it be that until now they were satisfied with just disrupting hormones, but today specifically they intended to kill the Prince?
Since the Emperor, who had been leaving William in the Prince’s palace, suddenly summoned him, did Kalroy’s side feel a sense of crisis?
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind, and I quickly asked the Prince:
“Excuse me, Your Highness… What did His Imperial Majesty say?”
The Prince’s shoulders, still not recovered from the shock, trembled violently.
“Your Highness.”
When I called again with force in my voice, William looked at me with eyes full of fear.
“Well… His Majesty was pleased when he saw that although I had gone into a rampage, I was quickly showing the characteristics of a Dominant Alpha. He also approved of bringing in an Omega… He smiled and said I should start learning imperial studies in earnest, but could it be because of that? So this is why…”
William looked confused. Sitting collapsed on the floor, he covered his face with both hands and couldn’t continue speaking for a long time.
Hearing this, I thought I understood why this had happened. Until I had looked around the dining hall, there hadn’t been any atmosphere suggesting something would happen, and the servant who had told me everything, including about putting in poison, wouldn’t have lied about the amount.
The plan changing from putting in a small amount of poison to putting in a lethal dose must have happened after the contents of the private meeting between the Emperor and Prince William were conveyed.
It was truly terrifying. A Prince poisoning incident… Was there such an event in the original work too?
I don’t think Crown Prince Kalroy, who hasn’t even become an adult yet, planned such a major incident alone. There must definitely be someone behind this!
The conditions for the mastermind were simple. Someone with enough power to move the Crown Prince to attempt the Prince’s assassination, while also having much to gain from the Crown Prince’s succession.
“I don’t want the Emperor’s throne. No, actually I do want it. No, I don’t want it.”
William trembled as he muttered incomprehensible words. I could fully feel the shock and fear that the Prince, who always tried to show a composed appearance, couldn’t hide. He probably caused his rampage in a similar situation. It was obvious without even seeing it.
I decided to put aside investigating their conspiracy for now and focus on calming William first. I dug through the information about the book in my head to think of a way to soothe the Prince.
The book with information about the Prince stated this: The Prince grew up without receiving his mother’s affection and was always starved for love… Not only his mother, but even the wet nurse who raised him never properly gave William a warm touch because she was too busy watching the Empress’s mood.
Although I’m not a woman, couldn’t I still provide some small comfort to a young child who longed for parental love?
Even while I was contemplating, William was trembling while curled up. There was no time to waste thinking anymore.
I slowly approached William.
“Your Highness.”
When I called him, his unfocused eyes turned toward me. My heart ached seeing his trembling lips and pale face. With the feeling of wanting to cry, I tightly embraced William’s small, delicate shoulders.
I thought he would refuse, but he didn’t push me away and instead leaned his forehead against my shoulder, resting his body against me. If only my body were a little bigger, I could have hugged the Prince more tightly, but unfortunately, with my body as small as the Prince’s, it was difficult to embrace him properly. Still, I did my best to stroke his back.
“It’s alright. I’ll protect you.”
It was a promise that wouldn’t amount to anything coming from a powerless lower-class Omega, but I could feel William in my arms nodding his head. My heart stung and tears flowed down.
While I was fortunate that I could dispel William’s suspicions toward me through the Prince poisoning attempt incident, somehow I felt even more disgusted. Did I have to gain trust by stabbing a blade into the young Prince’s heart?
I felt doubtful. Even if William had eaten the poison, since he was the protagonist of the original work, he would have survived somehow, but it would have been agonizingly painful.
Although all I have is the rationality of someone in their thirties and the ability of a mysterious book whose effects I can’t properly grasp, if I can use these to prevent the Prince’s fate of becoming a tyrant and protect him, the thought naturally came to me that I would do my absolute best.
That would also be the path to saving myself, so I no longer had anywhere to retreat.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
