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“I’m sorry. I was so surprised…”

Raphael gently brushed over her fingers. He was consoling her, as if saying that everything would be all right. His hands warmed her. Gradually, her reason returned.

“I’ll prepare the carriage.”

“Thank you.”

Cayena was about to pull out her hands, but Raphael would not let go.

“I will go with you.”

She raised her head in surprise.

She couldn’t tell him that he didn’t have to come with her. To tell the truth, she was relieved that he would be nearby.

In the end, Cayena headed for the palace with Raphael by her side. They didn’t talk with each other on the carriage ride to the castle.

Lost in thought, she stared out the window.

What she could do now.

What she could do in the future.

What she had to protect.

Cayena definitively organized her thoughts.

Her court ladies received her as soon as the carriage stopped. Vera had been unable to sleep after hearing about the second abduction attempt last night.

“How is your body? How could such an unsavory thing happen again…?”

Vera, on the verge of tears, looked at Cayena.

“I’m fine. I was ready for something like this.”

By their side was Olivia, whose face did not look good either. Cayena reassured them, “I’m really fine. You have nothing to worry about. Rather, I heard that the emperor coughed up blood—what happened?”

“The doctor is with His Majesty now.”

“And Rezef?”

“He’s gone out to investigate your incident. He will likely hear the news soon and come back to the palace.”

Cayena felt her head throb.

‘It really isn’t easy.’

She had already experienced the loss of her father. She thought that with her two previous lives, she had become numb to it. But unlike the objective mind, the body reacted to death.

‘Henverton Gillian is also dead and gone. I just have to get rid of the things that threaten me.’

Cayena said to the ladies, “Olivia, assist me. Everyone else can follow Vera’s lead to hold the fort.”

“We heed your command.”

“I’ll go to His Majesty.”

Cayena hurried to the emperor’s quarters. Raphael wordlessly followed her steps.

When Cayena arrived in front of the bedroom, a doctor was exiting. Cayena asked him right away, “How is His Majesty?”

The doctor bowed to the princess and replied, “After taking his medication, His Majesty expectorated blood while he was rinsing his mouth with tea. His condition isn’t critical, but he must rest.”

Cayena knew that the emperor’s symptoms from being poisoned had worsened.

‘This is also Rezef’s deed.’

She replied that she understood and sent away the doctor.

Cayena looked back at Raphael before entering the emperor’s bedroom. Raphael opened his mouth as soon as their eyes met.

“I will be here, waiting for you.”

Cayena nodded and entered the bedroom. Inside were the two main pillars of the imperial family: Chancellor Debussy and Commander Jed, leader of the knights.

They curtly bowed to Cayena.

The emperor was conscious. When he saw that the princess had arrived in the bedroom, he said scoldingly, “Everyone’s making a fuss about nothing. I was informed that you were at Duke Kedrey’s mansion.”

“I came as soon as I heard. I apologize for not being by your side.”

The emperor shook his head. “What could you have done? It is my fault for sending you off though one of the accomplices remained uncaught.”

It wasn’t that Cayena had taken a small number of escorts. It was Yester’s arrogance that resulted in the attack at the temple annex.

The church, which was obviously angry about this incident, would be sure to search the whole capital for the perpetrators. The paladins, the knights of the temple, now had a reason to act. It would be quite noisy for a while.

That could intimidate Rezef and other nobles who might be suspected of attacking Cayena. They would be moving carefully and quietly for a while.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I didn’t think that they would dare to enter the temple.”

Emperor Esteban leaned against the cushion. Supported by Chamberlain Luden, he looked like he had aged a lot.

The chancellor read the mood and said, “His Highness, Prince Rezef will expose the one who dared to harm Her Highness and undermine the authority of the temple. You needn’t worry, Your Majesty.”

The emperor nodded and asked, “Is Rezef re-investigating the incident?”

“Yes.”

Cayena went to her father’s side and held his hand.

She tried to remember how the emperor was around this time in her original life. Her memories were not very clear. She didn’t know how he had looked before he died, how wrinkled he was, or how raspy his silver hair had turned.

It was understandable since she didn’t visit him often. Had she seen his face when she laid flowers on his well-groomed corpse in the temple?

At that time, she had shed a few tears, swept up by the atmosphere. But the corpse had made her uneasy, and she left almost immediately. She didn’t know how much she was criticized for being a bad daughter. She didn’t even care.

Was it because she had returned after living a hard life? Her father, who weakly leaned against the bed, was neither as scary nor as hateful as before.

‘How did things turn out like this?’

Then, a servant quietly tried to remove the cup of tea. Cayena looked toward that movement and saw that the teacup was still nearly full.

There was poison in there.

She asked the servant, “Were there any problems with the medicine?”

“No, Your Highness. The medicine was properly mixed.”

“What about the tea? Was there no discoloration on the silver spoon?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Cayena laughed inwardly. It was a blatant lie.

“How do you know from just that? What if it’s a poison that can’t be detected by the spoon?”

But in this case, the issue wasn’t the poison that did not react to silver, but rather the spoon that wasn’t silver.

Cayena took the teacup from the servant’s hands.

“You can’t tell with just one person.”

She drank half of the remaining tea. The servant was startled and shocked.

“Y-your Highness?”

Cayena checked the remaining tea. She held out the cup to the servant, whose eyes were squinting with apprehension.

“Just in case, you should try this, too.”

“……”

“I told you to drink!”

The servant was frozen stiff.

He knew that the tea contained poison.

‘There’s no way he wouldn’t know.’

She stared at him head-on, as if she would never look away until he finished drinking.

The servant eventually drank the rest of the tea. His face turned dark, like a person who was about to fall over and die. When he emptied the teacup completely, he had an expression like he wanted to throw up.

Cayena looked at him grimly then turned away.

“You seem fine, so it’s probably all right.”

Of course the servant was fine. The poison Rezef used wasn’t a poison that killed people immediately. It was something that killed by gradually making the body sick.

“Check how the medicine is made again, just in case. And make sure there is no abnormality in the tea.”

Emperor Esteban silently watched this all happen. He feebly patted the back of his daughter’s hand.

“I had thought your temper had died.”

Despite his words, he didn’t seem to be finding fault with her.

“It’s at times like these we must regulate Your Majesty’s surroundings.”

“That you know how to think like that shows that you’ve become a proper adult of the imperial family.”

“Please don’t say that. I still have many things I need to learn from you, Father.”

“That’s right. How did you like taking care of the internal affairs for ten days?”

‘…Why is he asking me this?’

Of course, as soon as she had the power, she inspected the various departments, rooted out corruption, and repaired the leaking treasury.

While that certainly had helped set the imperial household on the right track, it was no longer under Cayena’s jurisdiction. It wasn’t something to be discussed in this situation.

“It was my first time doing work like this, so it hadn’t gone smoothly,” she responded humbly.

“No need to be so modest. Taking care of the leaking treasury is not easy work.”

“You flatter me.”

“I am very old now. Every day, I feel that my body is not the same as before.”

“Your Majesty…”

“But now that the princess is grown up and doing well as part of the imperial bloodline, I’m relieved.”

Cayena felt more and more puzzled as he continued to speak. The emperor was talking like someone who had something to give.

“I recall that I haven’t given you compensation for your work as the princess.”

Cayena looked at the emperor with a slightly surprised expression.

She had already received the letter to appoint Raphael as the military ruler of the west in exchange for her governance of the internal affairs.

It was true that few people were aware of it, but the emperor seemed to be presenting something to her officially with the chancellor and the knight commander as witnesses.

The emperor opened his mouth.

“From today, I grant Princess Cayena Hill the same authority as the chancellor to work as my regent.”

Everyone in the bedroom was thunderstruck.

~~~