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Late at night, work started.
The knights, led by Caesar, headed to the residence of the empress dowager. Following the instructions of the cavalry commander Garmal, the knights of each order surrounded the residence of the empress dowager.
Caesar, Hamilton, Leonard, the imperial bodyguards, and I entered the palace.
I stood near Caesar, armed, not in a dress.
“What is this!?”
“No matter how much you despise Her Highness, how could you trample the dowager’s residence
?!”
The empress dowager’s servants blocked us from the entrance. But Caesar had no mercy.
With a single gesture, the imperial bodyguards who followed swung their swords to subdue the servants.
“Kyaaaa!”
“Your Majesty, stop this! No other emperor has ever trampled his mother’s place with his feet like this!”
“Mother?”
Caesar looked at the old attendant who was shouting. He just stared, and the servant’s face turned blue. That servant had been ready to stop this rude intrusion a little while ago, even if her neck fell.
“My late mother will rise from her grave and laugh.” The air cooled down in an instant at Caesar’s growling voice.
Was there anyone here who didn’t know that the empress dowager might have assassinated Caesar’s biological mother?
“S-Save me!”
As the attendant judged, ‘Oh, this won’t work,’ she immediately fell flat on the floor.
However, Caesar did not glance at the attendant and went straight to the room where the empress dowager was waiting.
“Drag them all away.”
The bodyguards tied the servants and dragged them away at Leonard’s order. The servants were dragged out without making a sound, lest their necks would fall.
‘I don’t know if he’s overdoing it when he’s still sick.’
I, immediately following Caesar, thought as I gazed at his upright back. It still took more time for the poison to be completely detoxified. He was supposed to stay in bed.
As I stood at the door, I drew closer to Caesar and whispered in an audible voice only to him, “Your Majesty. Do not overdo it for the sake of your body.”
At my whisper, Caesar smiled faintly and glanced at me, “Are you worried?”
“I don’t want to see you again lying sick.”
“I see. I’ll remember that.”
Caesar turned his head toward the tightly closed door.
“So, Helena. You will protect me.”
At those words, I couldn’t help but smile.
I felt that he trusted and depended on me.
“I will be behind Your Majesty.”
Of course.
Because I promised to make you emperor.
“All right. Open the door.”
At Caesar’s command, the knights opened the door.
Finally, we arrived before the empress dowager.
***
The empress dowager was sitting in a chair covered with purple velvet.
On either side of her stood women of noble families with their arms outstretched as if guarding her. Naturally, both were women of the Valer side.
As Caesar drew closer, the women gasped and turned white.
The empress dowager’s expression was the same as usual. She was in this room alone, like a good person, and she was smiling softly.
How long had she been rotting in this castle that she could smile like that, even in this situation?
“Empress Dowager.”
Caesar bowed his head in a somewhat exaggerated gesture before the dowager.
The empress dowager greeted Caesar with a smile on her face.
“Your Majesty must relearn his visiting manners.”
“Oh, are you disappointed because it’s too shabby? I should’ve cut off the heads of your servants and brought them as gifts.”
Caesar drew his sword. Then, with the tip of the sword, he pointed at the women standing next to Empress Dowager.
“Or should I get you a present right here, right now?”
“Y-Your Highness!”
“Hiiiiy!”
The women sat on the floor as if their legs had loosened.
“You’re such a tyrant. I can hear the talk outside about deposing you.”
“Listen a little more. You will also hear them talking about your peculiarities.”
“You’re saying something that I can’t understand. What did this mother do wrong?” Empress Dowager said with a smile.
“We can talk about it slowly.”
Caesar beckoned, and the knights brought a chair. Caesar sat in the chair, and Leonard and I stood on either side of him.
“Viscount.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“The empress dowager is curious, so let her know.”
Hamilton nodded, then took a step forward.
“Your Highness. Yulika Brande has been arrested for attempted poisoning.”
“Oh my. Brande is not like that,” Empress Dowager said naturally. But it was not meant to defend Yulika. There was no such urgency.
It sounded more like a courtesy rather than claiming her goodness and innocence.
“There is evidence and witnesses. This is the poison that Lady Brande intended to feed Princess Peresca.”
Hamilton showed the tea leaves wrapped in paper.
“That
 such a pity.” The dowager covered her mouth with one hand. “Young Brande was jealous of Princess Peresca. I understand her feelings, but why did she make such a choice?”
“Empress Dowager, do you really have no idea?”
“Of course not. How would I have known?” The empress dowager, who said so naturally, looked at me and said, “You almost got into trouble, Princess. Young Lady Brande was someone I cherished. I should’ve comforted you earlier, but now I will apologize in her stead.”

 Wow. What?
How could she still smile like that?
Slowly, my hand reached for the handle of my sword. Without realizing it, I grabbed it tightly. My palms were sweating because I wanted to cut off that heinous neck right away.
‘Such a person.’
Such a person had tricked me?
Such a person had almost killed Caesar?
I took a deep breath and opened my mouth, “
 Your Highness. This poison is not of this continent. How did Yulika Brande get her hands on something like this?”
“I do not know. I have no way of knowing.”
“Is that so? But, I know.”
“
 How?”
As if asking “how do you know that?”, the empress dowager raised her eyebrows.
“The smuggled poison that Valer had confiscated from Horio.”
“
 What are you saying?”
The empress dowager’s brow furrowed.
Cracks appeared on the expression.
I raised one corner of my lips and smiled. “I have not forgotten how you used Sir Horio’s weakness to play with my brother. Thank you for giving me good information.”
“What kind of conspiracy
” Her eyes shook, judging whether I was talking with the proper evidence or just guessing.
Hamilton nailed the fact for her. “We have searched and investigated Horio and have obtained all the evidence. Evidence and witnesses show that so much poison has flowed into Valer, Your Highness.”
Horio’s evidence of smuggling was already in our hands. My prediction that this handle would be a weapon to pierce Valer was exactly right.
Horio would have been better off choosing to be Valer’s enemy than being charged with poisoning the emperor.
Eventually, he accused Valer of stealing all the evidence.
“Shouldn’t we listen to both sides? Call Duke Valer. I will listen, too,” the empress dowager said, the smile no longer on her face.
I was amazed at her words and burst out laughing.
“Usually, only the disadvantaged side would pull out the saying, ‘You have to listen to both sides’.”
The empress dowager stared at me at my sarcasm. Of course, I glared at her, too.
What? Did you think I’d be scared if you stared at me?
“Duke Valer is currently under arrest,” Hamilton calmly explained.
“Under arrest? This is absurd. It’s not like someone has died, and you’re arresting a duke?”
“Your Highness, the princess isn’t the only ones who’s been poisoned. Someone tried to poison His Majesty too.”
“Someone? Do you mean Valer? That’s ridiculous! This is a setup!”
“Y-Your Highness!”
The dowager jumped up from her seat. Caesar, without a smile on his face, just quietly watched what her.
“It must have been Young Lady Brande’s stupidity!”
“Even if that were the case, she had no way to get hold of the poison without going through Valer.”
“Your Majesty, tell me. Are you thinking of abandoning Valer? Which family do you think has helped you the most? You want to abandon the Valer after their kindness, Your Majesty?!”
Caesar crossed his legs, clasped his hands, and leaned against the chair.
“It looks like you want to protect Valer, Empress Dowager.”
“That’s-!”
“But their crime is clear, and there is no way for me to turn back.”
“Your Majesty!”
“But
 if you put your head before me and beg, I may consider it.”
“
 What?!” The empress dowager’s lips trembled. “Are you saying you want this mother to bow her head before her son now?”
“No way.” Caesar raised one corner of his mouth and smiled. His eyes weren’t smiling at all. “You’re asking your lord for forgiveness.”
The ruler of this empire. The pinnacle. The lord of all.
The empress dowager’s body trembled.
It was she who had looked down on Caesar for years. She was the one who had said out loud that he was nothing more than a baby wolf.
How insulting was this moment?
And was Valer worth enough for her to bear the insult?
“
 Your Majesty.” The empress dowager, whose body had been shaking, opened her mouth with a slightly softened voice. “How can I kneel for Valer, the enemy of Gray?”
‘
 She even threw away Valer.’
Somehow, I knew it was going to be like this.
As her declaration fell, Leonard blinked at the guards standing by. They marched forward and mercilessly pulled out the women of Valer who had been guarding the empress dowager.
They screamed as they were dragged away, their face paled, and they could not walk on their feet.
“Your Highness! Your Highness, please save us!”
“Are you abandoning us?! Your Highness!”
This woman
 was all alone.
Seeing the empress dowager standing all alone, I thought so.
I was excited. She looked pitiful.
“What a pity. My heart ached for your family as well,” Caesar said naturally. The empress dowager gritted her teeth. There was a sound that made me wonder if her tooth was broken.
“By the way, Empress Dowager. It is strange to hear that you are of Gray family.”
“
 What do you mean?”
“Well, you are not ‘Marianne Grey’. You’re still ‘Marianne Valer’.”
She entered the imperial family but did not abandon her former surname.
Many women kept their previous surnames after marriage, but it was rare in the imperial family.
It was proof that Valer’s force was so strong. However, that powerful force grabbed Marianne’s ankle at this moment.
Eventually, Marianne sank to the ground. Her knees, which she had protected even by cutting off Valer, were bent too easily in the face of her crisis.
“Your Majesty, this is coercion
!” Shaking, the empress dowager said as if appealing, “I didn’t know anything. What could I have known when they did it behind me?”
“You didn’t know what Valer had done?”
“I know you have a deep grudge against me. But not this time. I’m innocent, Your Majesty.” The empress dowager sat on the floor and raised her head to look at Caesar. “There is no evidence. What would the world say about His Majesty if this mother were punished without evidence? Do not stigmatize yourself as a tyrant, Your Majesty.”
“You seem to want my mercy.”
“Don’t be angry with the innocent.”
The innocent.
In fact, Marianne’s expression was no different from that of an innocent person.
Those kind and earnest eyes. The face of an innocent person.
Poisoning someone was something she had never thought of in her life. She was just a weak and innocent person.
But I knew.
She was a person who could kill people with that kind of expression. Not only her enemies but also her own entourage.
Caesar stood up. He slowly approached the empress dowager, kneeling in front of her on one knee.
The empress dowager hastily bowed her head.
Caesar whispered into her ear, “You look like a cuckoo. A bird that pushes other people’s eggs down to protect their own.”
And finally.
The paper in question was held out in front of the empress dowager.
The very plain and trivial piece of paper on which the brewing tea method was written in her handwriting.