CH 21

[Empress Dowager Golderia’s POV]

Empress Dowager staggered and said.

“Explain the situation in more detail.”

“The dessert she had after the meal was poisoned. Fortunately, the doctor said it wasn’t a deadly poison, so if she drinks warm water and rests for a few days, she’ll be fine.”

“… …”

In this place where one another dies and kills, poison is more common than water.

So, in fact, such a weak poison is almost ineffective.

This is because the imperial family is trained to adapt their bodies to poison from a young age.

Siana continued with a dark expression.

“But Princess Aris hasn’t received such training, so she is hardly seeing any improvement.”

Empress Dowager’s wrinkled hands began to tremble.

I remembered my dead daughter.

Her daughter also died like that.

She drank the poison from the teacup, dried up day by day, and one day she didn’t open her eyes.

Then came a feeble voice.

“……ndmother.”

Empress Dowager quickly raised her head.

Aris, her eyes half-opened, was looking at her.

Empress Dowager hurriedly approached Aris.

There were many things I wanted to say.

Are you okay, are you in a lot of pain, and why did you hide it without telling me.

But no words came out.

It is because the moment I speak, I feel like I will forget my face and cry.

Looking at the Empress, Aris said in a feeble voice.

“I’m… sorry.”

“… …”

“I couldn’t be honest with you. I’m afraid you’ll be worried if you know I’m sick…….”

I couldn’t take it any longer.

Empress Dowager collapsed.

Tears began to form in the wrinkled eyes of Empress Dowager, who knelt on the floor.

I was so sorry that I doubted such a good child. At the same time, she felt guilty about her daughter, whom she had left behind for a long time.

Empress Dowager held Aris’ hands with a tearful face.

“There is nothing for you to be sorry about. It’s all this grandmother’s fault.”

“… …”

“Don’t think like that, just get healthy quickly.”

If you do, I will give my all to protect you.

***

[Aris’ POV]

Empress Dowager changed completely after that day.

She came to Ruby Palace every day and took care of Aris with utmost sincerity.

“Aris, it’s a soup made soft with milk. Go ahead and try it.”

“Aris, it’s tea boiled with medicinal herbs. Take a sip.”

The appearance remained unchanged after Aris recovered.

Aris shouted as if she couldn’t stand it any longer toward Empress Dowager, who visited the Ruby Palace every day.

It was Aris’ first tantrum to the Empress.

“I’m all better now. You can stop coming!”

Instead of scolding her for daring to get angry at her, the Empress said with a restless face.

“I, I am so worried about you…….”

“I don’t know. Just go today. I’m so tired that I want to rest.”

Empress Dowager hesitated, then lowered her head and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll go. Make sure you eat this instead. It’s a juice made from ground fruit.”

Aris frowned.

“Ugh, it’s bitter.”

It was the juice that Empress Dowager gave her.

Siana also made the same expression as they drank together.

“It’s really bitter.”

It’s not just a juice made by grinding fruits. It was clear that the Empress Dowager had put in the herbs she had been saving for.

In the end, Aris, who couldn’t drink it all, said.

“These days, she acts as if I have a fatal disease. She always comes to me and asks me how my body is, and she keeps trying to feed me this.”

Siana lowered her eyebrows and smiled.

“Because she saw that a few days ago, she was worried about the princess.”

Aris simply didn’t understand.

In fact, what happened a few days ago was something that Aris and Siana decided and planned to do.

Aris deliberately took a weak poison.

But it was a really weak poison.

The poison was so weak that it was like eating spoiled food.

Actually, the only place Aris was sick was her stomach. I had a lot of diarrhea.

The doctor who came back by order of the Empress Dowager certainly said so.

[If you take a day or two off, you’ll be fine].

Even so, the Empress Dowager did not know what to do, as if Aris would die at any moment.

Siana said.

“Because trauma is a scary thing.”

Empress Dowager watched as her daughter died. It would have left a deep scar in a corner of her soul.

Having touched it, the Empress was not in a position to make a rational judgment.

She will only be filled with the desire to protect Aris.

“The Empress Dowager will never be able to treat the princess recklessly anymore. She’ll be afraid that if she touches it, you will disappear.”

That meant Aris had the upper hand in her relationship with the Empress Dowager.

Aris said with a snort of excitement.

“That’s great. I’m not particularly happy.”

It was natural.

No matter how sad the Empress Dowager’s heart was, it was only looking at her daughter.

And the same goes for Aris.

She had no affection for the Empress Dowager.

Aris lowered her eyes and said.

“I’ll use it until it’s available. And I’ll say it when I don’t need my grandmother’s strength anymore. Why didn’t you help my mom then. Why did you leave me alone……I hate you. “

Of course, it wasn’t all that comfortable.

There was also a hint of guilt about cheating on an old woman who was thinking of her long-dead daughter.

But Aris decided to ignore it.

For what I want.

Aris looked at SIana and said.

“I’m so mean, right?”

Sienna smiled and said.

“You’re not a good kid.”

“… … .”

Siana said, stroking Aris on the head.

“That’s why I like the princess. The palace is not a place where you can survive just by being kind.”

Only then did Aris laugh.

It was a pitiful smile, tinged with a bit of sadness.

Side Story 3

[Yvette’s POV]

In the darkened palace, Yvette’s face was grim. Even her little hands were shaking.

Because today I was humiliated again intolerably.

While walking around the palace, one of the princesses I met saw Yvette and stopped walking.

Then she lowered her eyebrows and murmured.

‘What shall I do, Yvette.’

It was not sympathy for the sister whose position was narrowed due to being stamped out by the Empress Dowager.

It was an outright mockery.

Yvette returned to the palace without making a sound and screamed loudly.

“Shit!”

Even more miserable was the fact that even at this moment, I couldn’t throw a single object in the room at my disposal.

After being stamped by the Empress Dowager, the supply of goods distributed in the castle suddenly ceased.

Even the bribes that came in to my biological mother from time to time.

Yvette was completely thrown to the bottom.

Yvette muttered, biting her lips.

“This is all because of Aris.”

She was hated by the Empress Dowager because of the girl’s dirty tricks.

However, the situation was not good.

As the days passed, it was heard that the Empress Dowager cherished Aris. She cared for her granddaughter to the point where she looks ridiculous.

It was obvious what would happen if she touched Aris in this state.

This time, she will be trampled to dust by the Empress Dowager.

Moments later, Yvette’s eyes flashed.

“Then you can touch the maid next to her instead of Aris.”

Yvette’s memory was still vivid.

The way Aris cried when she hit that cheeky maid.

There was no doubt that the maid was special to Aris.

When the thought reached that point, the corners of Yvette’s mouth went up.

Vicious methods began to flood Yvette’s mind like waves.

It was a pleasure I hadn’t felt in a long time.

A few hours later, Yvette’s thoughts were organized.

‘Let’s go to the Ruby palace and lure the maid out.’

No matter how much she was loved by Aris, she will not be able to disobey the princess’s orders because she is a low-ranking maid.

After meeting the maid, I will slap myself on the face and scream.

‘The servant maid hit me as a princess! Even if the host she serves is getting a lot of love from Empress Dowager these days, isn’t this too much!’

Evenfor those who ignored Yvette, the fact that a single maid dared to touch the imperial family would make them squirm.

Especially if it was Aris’ maid who started to annoy them with the momentum of the Empress Dowager on her back.

The maid will be severely punished.

She may be kicked out of the castle.

‘If I do well, I might get her throat cut.’

Of course, Aris would cry out for me not to do that, but what can she do.

When the imperial family rises up, the Empress Dowager is just a weak old woman.

It was just that much power.

Yvette chuckled.

I was confident that this plan would succeed perfectly.

“Hmm~”

Yvette hummed and went out of the palace.

It was to go to the Ruby Palace to meet Siana.

She prepared words to lure Siana.

‘Let’s say you want to apologize for hitting earlier.’

Then the stupid maid would jump out at the thought that she might get an apology from the princess.

It might break the lifeline

However, Yvette did not arrive at the Ruby Palace.

Because of the large figure standing in front of me.

Yvette stared blankly at him.

Silver hair glistening in the sunlight and vivid purple eyes poking through the long eyelashes.

The bewitchingly beautiful face was definitely Rashid.

‘Oh my god.’

Yvette and Rashid were siblings with the same imperial lineage, but from completely different positions.

Rashid at the top, Yvette at the bottom.

So Yvette had never seen Rashid face to face.

I just glanced at it from afar.

When I met Rashid’s face in front of me, I couldn’t think of anything.

Then, a soft voice was heard.

“You laid your hand on that child.”

It was a clear, cold voice like the morning breeze.

Yvette blinked slowly.

‘That child?’

Yvette didn’t know who the hell he was talking about.

Rashid continued talking to his confused sister.

“The reason I didn’t come after you right away the day I saw her scars weren’t because I forgave you. I’ve been waiting. Until she does everything she wants to do.”

“… …”

“The child’s revenge is over.”

Rashid lowered his eyebrows and murmured.

“With only one beating from Empress Dowager.”

“… … !”

Yvette’s eyes widened.

It was because Rashid’s words were put together like a puzzle and I realized who ‘that kid’ was.

‘Don’t tell me you’re talking about Aris’ maid…. ?’

Rashid continued.

“She was so nice that she was satisfied with the work being done like this. But not me, Yvette.”

“… … .”

“I’m not nice at all.”

“… … .”

“My heart is not at all warmed up.”

The beautiful face looked gentle. His voice was kind.

Still, Yvette felt a fear she had never felt before.

The hair all over her body stood on end, and her fingertips began to get cold.

It was instinct.

I don’t want to die.

Yvette fell on her face with a pale face.

“I, I was wrong!”

“… … .”

“I was all wrong. Please forgive me. Mai, if you ask me to beg the maid, I will. Please, brother….”

Tears flowed from the little girl’s eyes.

Rashid, who was looking down at his sister with a beautiful face, opened his mouth.

“No.”

“… … !”

Yvette opened her eyes wide.

Because Rashid pulled out the sword from his waistband.

Chaang-!

Rashid’s voice continued.

“You hit her on the legs, so give me both your legs, too.”

Yvette screamed, looking at the flashing blade of the sword.

“Kkyaaag!”

[Sol’s POV]

Sol has arrived.

Sol looked at the little girl lying on the floor.

Yvette, who had lost her mind, was not hurt anywhere. Both legs were fine.

‘But at that moment, you must have really felt the fear of being cut off.’

Sol said while looking at Yvette’s tear-stained face.

“Anyway, Your Highness overlooked this which was unlike you .”

Rashid was not someone who only used verbal threats.

Those who were classified as enemies were killed unconditionally.

Whether it is a young child, a beautiful woman, or an old man whose days are not long to live.

‘To think someone like that finished without seeing blood. No matter how much they don’t have contact, he seems to have weakened his heart because she’s a younger sister by blood.’

But Sol’s idea was wrong.

Rashid said with a serious look.

“Siana is quick-witted. No matter how hard I try to hide it, she might notice I killed Yvette.”

“… … !”

“……Then she’ll be afraid of me. I don’t like that.”

Rashid, who said so, seemed like a completely different person from the one who threatened Yvette earlier.

He seemed genuinely concerned.

The reaction of a low-ranking maid from a defeated country.

Sol was stunned.

Anyway, it’s my fault to expect ordinary feelings from him. He’s the one I serve, but he’s really crazy.’

Sol clicked her tongue and held Yvette in his arms.

“Then I’ll take her to the palace.”

“… … .”

It was a little disappointing, but this was enough.

Yvette won’t be able to go anywhere near Siana anymore.

So Rashid smiled softly, bending his eyes.

“Okay.”

He had an innocent face like a child who protected his precious doll from a vicious devil.