When she turned her head towards that cheerful voice, she could see Fania waving his hand in big motions while scuttling over to her. Following behind him were two guard knights who were trying to catch up to him.
âOnly two knights on guard, Alfred has become lax.â The words leaked from her mouth that was hidden behind the folding fan, voicing her surprise.
It was four years ago that Fania collapsed from consuming the poison. It was an incident that happened during her sonâs âSword Bearing Ceremonyâ. She admired the boy to be able to live through it.
Until that incident, she only thought Fania was just someone her son favoured the most at the time. Like a very close friend or so. But when she saw her son bawling and falling apart due to the incident, she immediately noticed that their relationship was not that simple.
The perpetrator who poisoned the confectioneries that was meant to be the Kingâs bestowals was quickly apprehended. The route where the poison was obtained was also discovered, and confession was coughed out from the perpetrator himself. Based on these, they found all the related people in succession.
However, it was only to that point.
There was no evidence that could lead to the suspected mastermindâthe Second Consort Algarina, and his father, the Grand Duke. There was only the self-confession by the perpetrator, but self-confession was not enough to be an evidence on itself. If they claimed it was all lies, the matter would reach an impasse. In the end, the whole investigation resulted with only cutting off a lizardâs tail.
Of course Alfred could not accept it, so he petitioned directly to His Majesty the King many times. Nevertheless, His Majesty didnât actually command anything to address the matter. He was not able to do so.
â
â
When Alfred came to her to ask for help, it was nearly half a year after Fania was poisoned. When her son was crying in front of her out of frustration, she was astounded but seeing him distraught with grief, she sucked a breath at the scene.
Alfred held a grudge towards the one who let Fania be poisoned. Yet, he could only grit his teeth out of his powerlessness to do anything about it. Even so, he didnât give up and depended on his birth mother, Princess Consort Jane.
Jane had deep affection towards her own son, Alfred. It was a rare bond between a royal mother and son.
âAlgarina really is a foolish woman.â Jane hid her mouth behind the fan, and talked to herself.
If only that woman didnât lay her hand on Janeâs precious people, she wouldnât meet a terrible end. Jane was not such a lenient lady that would let someone who tried to harm her son go unscathed.
Jane was born as a royalty, and she obediently accepted her fate to be married for political reasons. The man she was married to originally had a fiancee since their childhood, and not even three months into his marriage with Jane, he wanted to take that woman as the Second Consort without second thought.
Jane finally managed to give birth to a son with her husband who only came to her for night visits out of sense of duty, so she was relieved to have fulfilled her role. By the time Jane was pregnant with Alfred, Algarina had given birth to three princesses and also the First Prince. Jane who was thrown with smug gazes from Algarina could only muse,
Why hasnât Algarina noticed? A prince born from a mother from an aristocrat belonging to this country would not be able to succeed the throne.
When Jane came here for the marriage, there was a secret agreement between the two countries; the next King would be the child borne by Jane, it was a predetermined matter. The next King must have the blood of the Sotis Kingdom; that was the condition in forming the alliance between the two countries.
Alfred was mad in rage, and he believed that Algarina shouldâve originally aimed to kill him, so in return, he insisted to poison Prince Andrew to death. Obviously, Jane remonstrated Alfred for that. So she told him that even if he killed Prince Andrew, he wouldnât succeed to make Algarina experience something more terrible than death.
Before a mother, Algarina was a woman. Even if she lost Andrew, she would figure out that she could still give birth to another prince. She was still in her 30s, it wasnât too late yet.
More than that, what she feared more was losing His Majestyâs deep love for her.
Aside from Princess Consort Jane, the King had three side consorts. Among them, there was one that was so young one could even call her a girl. The thing that Algarina feared most was losing her beautiful look rather than aging itself.
The revenge must be carried out by Alfred himself. If it was not so, the wound in his heart would remain abscessed. Jane granted Alfred with the financial means to enact the revenge.
Algarinaâs most trusted lady-in-waiting was the daughter of her wetnurse a.k.a her milk-sister1. They were together from when they were children, and once she grew up, she became Algarinaâs lady-in-waiting. In order to serve Algarina, she gave the marriage matter a pass. She might be highly competent in her job, but she was ignorant about the world.
The marriage swindler, Gwynne did a really great job. He approached that lady and they instantly became intimate. To Gwynne, a spinster like her might be so easy to take care of, like taking a candy from a baby.
Next, they tricked her by saying Gwynne had a job of procuring medicines, and gave her an opportunity to try a special cosmetic. Recommended by her beloved man, she delightfully used it. This cosmetic was actually a product from Janeâs motherland, a very rare and luxurious that not even royalty could easily get their hands on.
Jane spared no expense in obtaining this cosmetic. The money came from selling off the precious gems she received from His Majesty the King. She lost the gems bestowed by the King, but she still possessed loads of them from the ones she brought over from her country during the marriage, so she couldnât care less about it.
Once the lady-in-waiting started using the cosmetic, she gradually appeared more beautiful. This was also due to her giving more attention to her appearance after she was infatuated with Gwynne, but the usage of the cosmetic did contribute to make her skin look more translucent and fair.
Undoubtedly, Algarina was baited by this.
She asked her lady-in-waiting about the cosmetic and commanded her to hand it to her too. Gwynne pretended to be reluctant at first, but he still passed the cosmetic. Of course, there was no poison or whatsoever in that one. The first cosmetic that was handed over underwent strict checks. If it was poisoned, it would be discovered immediately.
After a while, Algarina had been using it on a regular basis, and from that period, they were gradually infused with poison. By this time, the cosmetics were no longer inspected, they were directly passed from the lady-in-waiting to Algarina by hand.
The poison had a delayed effect, so it didnât kick in instantly. It slowly seeped into the body, and once they had absorbed to the bone marrow that the effect was visible. By the time it was discovered, it could not be cured no matter what means were tried. It was that kind of poison.
By now, she must be thrashing around with her badly inflamed face.
It had been nearly two years that Algarina had not appeared in front of people with the reason of undergoing medical treatment. She refused night visits by His Majesty and secluded herself in the depth of the Inner Palace, not going anywhere. From the information passed by the people planted in her place, she had attempted suicide multiple times already.
Algarina mustâve believed she was miserable enough, but she didnât know any better. If Alfred really died from what she did, Janeâs mother country, Sotis would take that advantage to initiate a war with this country. So even if Prince Andrew ascended to be the next King, it was not sure whether this country could still stand by then.
Jane concealed her face behind her folding fan, and smirked. Thereâs no chance for victory for Algarina. She had lost from the very beginning.
authorâs note: It feels lonely without flirting scenes. Next chapter Iâll let them flirt.