Venom Core is a poison that’s more effective the higher the tier. At Tier Nature, it’s difficult to see any great effect from this poison.
It wasn’t a poison to be used against Lily, who was externally known as Tier Nature.
“Even my wife said that.”
Lilian cautiously raised the possibility that it might be an attempt to stir up a conflict between the emperor and the crown prince faction.
“Her Highness’ guess is correct. I don’t know who it is, but I think we should be careful not to play as they intended.”
“But someone must be held accountable for attacking my wife.”
There has already been an internal change over this matter. Thanks to this, the knights protecting the Grand Duke’s family became more vigilant than ever before.
However, Damian had no intention of stopping after cracking down inside the manor.
Rather, he intended to use this as an opportunity. A chance to teach the whole world that if they wanted to die gracefully, they shouldn’t touch the Grand Duchess.
Of course, Lilian tore off such Damian and stopped him. Damian, at his wife’s persuasion, reluctantly gave his nod, but he didn’t mean to remain silent.
“The corpses of those assassins.”
“Your Highness, please…”
Ivan’s expression contorted at the ominous foreboding. Damian smiled and nodded his head.
“Let’s send them to the imperial family. So that my older brother knows that a wretch pretended to be the emperor and touched the Grand Duchess.”
Due to Claude’s personality, there’s no way he’d overlook the attempt to impersonate himself.
He’d promised Lilian that he wouldn’t come forward himself, but he didn’t give up on the method of having someone else do it.
Damian clasped his hands and leaned back on the chair. Then he muttered contentedly.
“I’ll have to watch how second brother kills that high-ranking criminal.”
***
The next morning.
The heads of the assassins were delivered to the Emperor. The unprecedented situation enraged the emperor.
He couldn’t help but wonder why it was sent to him. Because…
“Did you move two of the best assassins I’ve cultivated with great care?”
It was because the assassins were the limbs he had secretly cultivated since his days as a prince.
Raising an assassin wasn’t easy. Finding the right person was a series of difficulties.
To lose two such precious resources!
“There’s a level of greed to make a move! Sending an assassin to the Grand Duke’s mansion on your own? Are you making fun of me?”
“Y-Your Majesty! I’ve been wronged!”
Claude’s confidant in charge of the assassins, Viscount Modsul, dropped to his knees.
“This decision! I swear to heaven that I’ve never done such a terrible thing! It’s all what you instructed me to do! It really is!”
“What about Rachel?”
The Emperor’s suspicious gaze turned to his mistress. But Rachel wasn’t surprised. She only sneered, as if rather astonished.
“Viscount Modsul, it’s funny that you’re telling such an obvious lie. No matter how urgent the situation is…”
“Madam!”
“Your Majesty, as you know, this Rachel is not that kind of idiot.”
Rachel sighed and folded her red fan.
“If it were me, I would have dragged the Grand Duchess to the imperial palace instead of attacking the Grand Duchess in front of the Grand Duke.”
“Hah, but I’m sure you advised me to infiltrate their mansion and use Venom Core…!”
“I wouldn’t have used a poison like Venom Core to attack a Tier Nature. I don’t know if you decided to betray His Majesty.”
“Are you betraying me?”
“You already know, Your Majesty.”
Rachel smiled coquettishly and fanned her fan again.
“Everyone else knows that I will never betray you, Your Majesty. Even if it’s not the cunning Viscount Modsul, I can only survive if Your Majesty is alive and well. Everyone except His Majesty hates this Rachel.”
It was true. If Claude lost his power, Rachel would never be able to get out, even if no one else knew about it.
“I offered myself to be an arrow holder for Your Majesty. Please don’t forget that fact.”
“You’re right.”
The two were accomplices and destined for each other.
But Modsul, what about this guy?
Since he had taken a man who was originally an assassin and made him his subordinate, loyalty could not be expected. In addition, it wasn’t the first time or two that he tried to earn points with excessive loyalty, perhaps because he’s very proud of having obtained a title with his own abilities.
He’d rather use an incompetent person, so he can’t appoint a person who acts like this anymore.
Claude waved his hand in disgust.
“Drag him out.”
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
Sensing that it was time for the hunting dog to be killed, Viscount Modsul begged.
“I’m being framed! Truly, believe me…uh! Please…!”
In the end, the knights knocked him out by hitting him in the vitals. Only then were able to drag him out.
Claude looked at the unconscious Viscount Modsul, who was being dragged away, in a somewhat unrefreshed mood.
The circumstances were clear, so he decided to throw him out, but it bothered him that this guy accused Rachel.
‘Besides, her attitude has been a bit strange lately. Surely…’
Then Rachel suddenly opened her mouth.
“This is all my fault.”
“What?”
When Claude looked up, his mistress was suddenly biting her lip with a look of hurt pride.
“You’re the only one who can treat this Rachel carelessly, but those who don’t know…”
When Rachel started to cry, Claude was taken aback.
“What the hell are you crying about?”
“I gave up on the Marquis to remain by His Majesty’s side!”
Rachel’s husband couldn’t handle his wife, who became the Emperor’s mistress.
Contrary to her vigorous shouting, Rachel soon began to cry again while pounding her heart.
“I can’t stand it any longer. Look at my condition! I’ve dedicated so much to His Majesty, but I can’t even get the self-commissioned title that guy received, so I’m being ignored…”
“Stop, stop.”
Claude had a headache. Anyway, thanks to that, one question that had been bothering him all along was resolved.
“Is that why your attitude has been such a mess lately?”
Rachel sniffed away her tears but still bluntly responded.
“Your Majesty is the emperor that everyone fears, so you won’t know how I feel when I’m ignored.”
Claude clicked his tongue. It was a cheeky act, but thinking that she had suffered quite a bit in the past, it was both cute and pitiful.
Come to think of it, it seemed like his mistress not having a title is also a problem for the prestige of the emperor.
“Yes, yes. I didn’t understand your heart.”
“Your Majesty…!”
Rachel hugged Claude. Claude casually calmed her down, but he was filled with a sense of superiority when he saw Madam Rachel clinging to him as if he were her lifeline.
‘It’s easy to appease a girl like this.’
“Since Modsul was a Viscount, I’ll give you the title of Count. And let’s throw a very grand celebration party.”
“Your Majesty…! Are you sure?”
Rachel looked up at Claude as if he were a God.
“Yes, I have been so indifferent to you all this time.”
“Your Majesty…!”
Claude was intoxicated with the role of being a generous emperor for the first time in a while.
***
That night, Lilian had another dream of the palace’s western villa.
‘That’s where I met the injured child.’
The memory of her first dream, which she had long forgotten, came back.
When she realized that she hadn’t healed his wounds yet, Lilian recklessly started moving again in search of the child.
But unlike the first time, when she followed the footsteps, she didn’t hear even the slightest sound this time.
Like a patient person, Lily began searching the palace room by room.
But the child was nowhere to be seen.
How many times did she open an empty room? She had reached the top floor before she knew it.
There were no unopened rooms. But for some reason, it was hard to shake off the vague premonition that there might be a child around here.
Lilian decided to search the attic one last time.
The stairs to the attic were in a remote location. The stairs, used only by servants, were narrow and made of wood, so they even creaked.
Fortunately, there was the child Lilian was looking for.
“Here you are.”
The child looked back.
She was heartbroken by his messy, overgrown hair and skinny looking back. Besides, his little feet were also covered in blood.
“Your wound hasn’t healed yet.”
The child stubbornly bowed his head. Lilian didn’t hesitate and crouched in front of him.
“Would you like to come with me and get treatment?”
“…I can’t go.”
Suddenly, the surrounding landscape began to fade. Lilian suddenly realized that she was waking up.
She can’t, she couldn’t wake up yet. Lilian hastily said.
“If you can’t come, then I’ll go to you. If only you could tell me where it is…”
“I am in the mirror.”
The child replied with a resigned look. Now even the child’s appearance has begun to distort. Lilian desperately asked once more.
“Where is that mirror…?”
The moment the child licked his small lips.
“!”
Lilian woke up.
Rather than waking up from a dream, her whole body tingled as if she had been forcibly dragged from another world. Even the sunlight shining in the attic and the dust floating around the child were so vivid.
And if Lily’s memories were correct, at the end…
“He said Zagreb.”
Hearing the name of the ancient weapon that hacked Damian’s mind, she had a strong feeling that this dream was not just a dream.
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