Episode 8

“Did not the princess say she likes me?”

It was really out of the blue.

I tilted my head, puzzling over it, but decided to stick to the concept anyway.

“Yes? Oh! Well, of course. The fact that I like you, Duke, is known by the heavens, the earth, and even the chandeliers of the Imperial Palace. I do like you, Duke.”

I replied like a parrot in the tone of a seasoned counselor proclaiming, ‘Dear customer, I love you.’ It was a strong appeal that I was not in a relationship with you for any other purpose.

“But why do you say I don’t need to attend as a partner?”

At that moment, I felt a chill down my spine.

A chilling thought crossed my mind that perhaps this man had noticed something. After all, it was related to the person he had killed, so there might be something there I wanted to hide.

He was incredibly quick to catch on. I hid my confusion and quickly made up an excuse.

“I don’t like it when you, the Duke whom I admire, have to do something you dislike because of me.”

“It’s not really… something I dislike.”

At my answer, his frowned brow seemed to relax a bit.

Could it be that he really intends to attend as a partner for my sake?

I again gently dissuaded him.

“But since it’s not something you enjoy, there’s no need to go to the debutante ball for my sake….”

“I am planning to attend Miss Mosston’s debutante ball. And, if I do not accompany my fiancée as a partner to the ball I attend, my reputation in society would be terribly tarnished.”

Ah, of course, that’s it.

It was ultimately about saving his own face in front of others.

Having said this much, further refusal seemed like it would only arouse needless suspicion, so I decided to agree.

“Yes. Then I shall understand that you will attend as my partner, Duke. Thank you.”

“There is no need for thanks.”

He turned his head coldly away.

However, if he was to accompany me to the debutante, there was something I had to warn him about in advance. Just thinking about having that conversation made my face heat up.

“Actually… I have something to tell you about the dress I will wear at the ball.”

“The dress… you say?”

He tilted his head as if puzzled.

“So… would it be alright if… on that day, my dress reveals a bit of my chest?”

“Pffft! cough cough.”

He let out a loud cough. With his face turning red from coughing, he looked at me.

“Again, the, the chest… you say?”

“I apologize if you’re startled. But I thought it best to tell you in advance. It so happens that my dress is like that.”

“So, in front of everyone else at the ball, you intend to wear a dress that is, ahem, revealing… indecorously so?”

Displeasure surfaced on his face.

He seemed already angered at the thought of being embarrassed in society because of a partner dressed in frivolity.

“The truth is… the budget of the Princess’s palace is a bit short to buy a new dress.”

I answered in a disheartened and gloomy voice.

It’s not like I want to wear a dreadful dress in front of everyone.

He clenched his mouth shut without a reply. And seemingly quite offended, he did not say a word to me until the end of our walk in the garden.

It was clear he was also angry at my unrefined attitude.

*

The next morning competition came around quite quickly.

Martha, who escorted me to the competition venue, cheerfully encouraged me.

“Your Highness, do well again today!”

“Yes! Don’t worry!”

From now on, the goal was to regain even a little of the Emperor’s trust to secure an additional budget for the Princess’s palace.

I was fed up with the meager budget that was barely enough to buy a single dress.

The plan was to give a good answer in today’s competition to prove that the last one wasn’t just a fluke, and in doing so, to gain the Emperor’s trust.

With that firm resolve, I entered the competition venue and saw my siblings already seated.

“Camilla, Frederick, Felipe, have you all been well in the meantime?”

Believing it polite to greet them, I spoke first, but they ignored my greeting and turned their heads abruptly away.

After my greeting was cruelly ignored, I sat down feeling awkward.

Sitting down and looking around the table, my eyes suddenly met a pair of blue ones.

Startled, I also gave a light nod to Duke Adler.

I braced myself to be ignored again, but surprisingly, the Duke nodded back in acknowledgment of my greeting.

Soon after, the Emperor entered the competition hall with a leisurely stride.

He opened his eyes wide upon seeing me not late for the competition, and soon a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

It wasn’t a bad start to gaining the Emperor’s trust.

As the Emperor took his seat, delicious-looking pancakes laden with almonds were placed before the attendees.

The sight of white sugar powder sprinkled over the elegant porcelain plates whetted the appetite.

As I picked up my fork, ready to indulge, Camilla sharply scolded her maid.

“What is this? The head chef of the Imperial Palace should know about my nut allergy. Take it away immediately.”

“I’m, I’m so sorry. The head chef had to leave due to a family matter….”

The maid incessantly bowed her head in front of Camilla, nervously biting her nails.

Regardless, today as well, Count Laienback conducted the competition with his monotonous voice.

“Eh… So, we must explore the impact of the disappearance of magic stones and magicians on our Empire, and the direction we should take going forward.”

What? Ma, magic? No one said anything about this world having such a thing.

I blinked rapidly. I hadn’t even read the original, so I couldn’t have an opinion about the magic of this world. It was also a subject that my knowledge from a previous life couldn’t help with.

Just as I was thinking of cleverly skirting around by referencing the answers of my siblings,

“Princess Charlotte, please speak first.”

Count Laienback appointed me as the first responder.

I looked at the Count with panicked eyes. Frederick, who had been watching my expression, let out a meaningful laugh.

It was clear he thought my answer in the last competition was a fluke, so he must have suggested to the Count to question me first in the competition.

I broke out into a cold sweat from the panic.

“Um… So… That is….”

The competition participants didn’t even glance at the pancakes on their plates; they just stared at me.

However, I could only hesitate, unable to find an answer.

It was a perfect situation to view not only the failure to earn the Emperor’s score but even the last competition as mere fluke.

Disappointment soon clouded the Emperor’s face.

Frederick lifted the corners of his mouth in what seemed like schadenfreude.

Just as I tightly shut my eyes, bracing for more points to be deducted.

“Aaagh!”

Camilla let out a piercing scream.

All eyes in the competition hall that had been on me turned in unison towards Camilla.

Camilla trembled violently, her face turning pale as she looked at the floor.

“What, what’s going on? Why all of a sudden?”

Where Camilla’s gaze fell, the maid who had just been scolded by her was now collapsed, convulsing violently.

The participants of the competition were shocked and gasped or rose from their seats at the sight of the maid foaming and seizing.

Instinctively, I jumped up from my seat and ran towards the fallen maid.

Camilla, flustered by my action, shouted.

“What are you, what are you doing?”

Instead of answering, I knelt down to check on the maid. The maid had already stopped breathing.

The bitter almond smell in the mouth, the bright pink spots on the exposed skin, the lips and nails that had turned purple.

I had conducted dozens of post-mortem examinations over the years. The implications of this were clear.

The image of the maid biting her nails flashed through my mind. And as my thoughts reached the white powder liberally sprinkled over the pancakes on the plate, my neck stiffened in an instant.

“From now on, do not touch anything in the dining area. Especially, do not bring anything close to your mouth or nose!”

I shouted sharply to the people in the competition hall. There was no time to mind etiquette or tone due to the urgency.

The sudden thunderous reprimand froze all the participants and servants like ice.

Fear-filled gazes converged on me. In response, I stood up and scanned around the competition hall.

Unconsciously, my gaze first stopped on Duke Adler’s face. His sharp eyes were also slightly disarrayed at this moment.

Perhaps, unconsciously, I thought this incident could be related to him. But neither the method of murder nor the circumstances pointed to him as the culprit.

Having thought that far, I quickly averted my gaze from him and spoke in a composed voice.

“It’s cyanide. Someone tried to poison the competition participants.”

*

The inclusion of the Emperor among the intended victims of the poisoning was a tremendous incident.

In an instant, the Emperor’s guards stormed the competition hall, and the palace was locked down.

It was natural that all kitchen staff who had come to work that day were arrested, and everyone at the competition hall was called in for questioning.

Suddenly, the imperial guard investigator who was questioning me extended his gratitude.

“Thanks to you, Your Highness, a great disaster was averted. As you said, the white sugar powder sprinkled on the pancake plates was mixed with cyanide. We’ve confirmed the poison in the kitchen’s sugar bowl as well.”

“I was just lucky.”

Someone had mixed a deadly poison into the sugar powder and sprinkled it on the food and plates. The cyanide that had gotten onto the maid’s hands as she carried the plates entered her mouth when she bit her nails, cutting off her breath.

I explained the method of murder to the investigating officer, and after the scene was examined, the officer confirmed that what I said was true.

To the investigator who was curious how I could identify the maid’s cause of death so quickly, I lied that I had recently read a book on the symptoms of cyanide poisoning.

The fact that I had been visiting the imperial library frequently was already well known throughout the palace.

“Therefore, the sous chef of the kitchen is being investigated on suspicion of attempted regicide.”

“Could it be that the sous chef is a prime suspect?”

I raised my eyebrows at the investigator’s words.

“Yes, the head chef was absent due to personal matters, so the sous chef prepared today’s meal. He keeps denying any wrongdoing, only repeating that he doesn’t know anything, so we are forced to make him speak.”

I crossed my arms in displeasure. It seemed they were resorting to torture or the like to extract a confession. What archaic methods of investigation….

“Have you separately investigated the head chef?”

“The head chef didn’t have a hand in today’s cooking, so he is not a major suspect. However, he will be questioned as a person of interest as soon as he reports to work tomorrow.”

I squinted at the investigator’s answer and looked at him with a slanted eye.

“I think the culprit might be the head chef.”

The investigator’s eyes widened at my words.