Chapter 17

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: A Peculiar Gift
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It had been foolish.

The royals, the nobles, herself… all of them. They had overused the medicine, thinking only of its benefits.

“It’s absurd for me to criticize His late Majesty when I can’t even manage my own affairs. I should have stopped my daughter the moment she started slathering that medicine on her face.”

Rutherford murmured in a self-mocking tone, pressing a hand to her forehead.

Her perfectly coiffed hair was, as always, flawless, but the leisurely smile that usually accompanied it was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s a relief to finally know the cause, but I still question whether this medicine can truly be a cure.”

“Indeed. I happened to overhear some of the gentlemen talking, and they said most of the herbs are common things you can easily buy at the market. Can something like this really be effective…?”

“Well… I suppose we’ll have to wait and see. For now, I must return to my estate.”

A fool might doubt it, but unless the king was mad, he wouldn’t have given them a recipe for poison. The recipe’s efficacy was questionable, but she would know if it worked once she tried it.

The thought of her bedridden daughter gave her a small burst of energy. As Rutherford rose from her seat, Viscount Comte scurried after her.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

An autumn rain poured over the training grounds, where patches of green still peeked through. The rhythmic calls of the soldiers echoed faintly through the sound of the downpour.

Lying by the window and listening to the rain, Lucy stared at the ceiling with drowsy eyes and spoke.

“So the soldiers train even on days like this.”

Walter, who was scribbling at his desk, replied in his usual calm tone.

“Normally they wouldn’t, but we’ve raised the alert level and ordered daily training to prepare for any contingencies.”

Any contingencies.

It meant they were on high alert because they didn’t know how the other lords who had turned their backs on Lucy would react. Knowing just how awful training in the rain was, Lucy offered a silent prayer for the soldiers.

In contrast to the lavish appearance she had flaunted before the lords, Lucy, now sprawled on the floor, was dressed casually in just a shirt, pants, and hastily pulled-on boots.

Following the immutable law that beautiful people look good in anything, even her disheveled attire looked quite fetching, but it was a far cry from her elegantly dressed appearance of a few days prior.

“What is it?”

At her listless question, Walter’s eyes widened slightly. Only then did he realize he had been staring at her for too long, and he unconsciously shook his head.

“It’s nothing. I was… thinking about the medicine.”

“Ah, the cure?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust His Majesty, but…”

Sensing the meaning behind his trailing words, Lucy let out a sigh.

“Many of the nobles were suspicious, too. It would be nice if everyone just accepted it.”

“That medicine… is it truly effective?”

Lucy rested the back of her hand under her chin and put on a magnificent expression.

“Of course. When it comes to this disease, there’s probably no one who knows more about it than I do right now.”

“How did you learn about the disease?”

Lucy paused for a moment, wondering how to explain.

The cause of the epidemic wouldn’t be discovered for another decade or so. Because the disease didn’t cause a person’s condition to deteriorate rapidly but rather infiltrated the body slowly, leading to death by poisoning, it took that long to identify the source.

But she couldn’t just say that.

*How should I spin this?*

Lucy sat cross-legged, stroking her chin with a slight slouch.

“When I was young, I was often summoned by the official queens. At some point, their faces started turning deathly pale, and I thought it was strange.”

The first queen, who the servants used to mock as a drunk because of her perpetually flushed cheeks, had one day begun to walk around with pale skin.

That alone was odd, but it didn’t end there.

“But it wasn’t just them. The other princes and princesses also started to grow paler and paler.”

“Was that, by any chance…”

“Yes. Their faces were white and smooth, but they didn’t look healthy. Then I noticed a common factor—the silver medicine.”

That strange liquid the ladies-in-waiting would cherish and spread on the queens’ faces.

She remembered what the first queen had said with a snort when she had carelessly asked what it was.

“It’s something base creatures like you and your mother could never hope to use in your entire lives.”

And she was the one slathering on a poison she knew nothing about, all because she was jealous of the pale skin of ‘base creatures.’

The first queen probably never imagined her arrogant greed would be her own undoing.

They were women more avaricious than the king, so she had expected them to die much sooner than him… then again, they had all died in quick succession not long after, so perhaps it amounted to the same thing.

“To keep a poison so close just to become prettier…”

Lucy had known from the start that the rumors were false, but she had simply let it be. Why should she stop those wicked people who had tormented her and her mother when they were so eagerly finding their own way to the grave?

No, to be honest, she had fanned the flames to help the rumor spread even further. She found a way for them to absorb the poison more potently and leaked it through the servants.

Inhaling the vapors would make the symptoms worsen much faster. The servants actively spread the rumor, and the foolish royals diligently followed the method, believing it to be a health regimen.

Even as she spread the rumor, she had wondered if it would have any real effect, but everyone met their end much sooner than expected.

Of course, she felt no pangs of conscience.

They were people who had tormented her while they lived and cursed her and her mother until their dying breaths.

She had died unjustly three times at the hands of others, but they had lived as they pleased and then died. Wasn’t that a peaceful death, in a way?

Frowning as she mulled over her life, Lucy realized such thoughts were only eating away at her and pushed the memories aside.

*They’re dead, so it’s over.*

*This time… I won’t go back.*

*There won’t be a fifth life. I won’t have to see their faces ever again.*

After clearing away the endless torment, she composed her expression once more. Now was the time to focus on the topic at hand.

“Anyway, I thought it was strange back then, so I looked into it later. I found out it was a disease that was once notorious as an epidemic in the northern part of the Empire.”

“The northern Empire…”

“The cure was discovered there, too. I wouldn’t have known either if I hadn’t gone to Pomnos.”

She lied glibly, glancing at Walter. He was toying with his lower lip, his face dark as he stared at the edge of the desk.

“It’s a shame. If we had known the cure sooner, His late Majesty might have recovered.”

“…Yes. It is a shame.”

It was a shame. The late king had died too early, throwing all her plans into disarray.

*It would have been better if he had held on just a little longer before dying.*

Hiding her grim thoughts, Lucy expressed her condolences. Walter, who had been watching her melancholic face, put down his pen and stood up.

Unlike his usual crisp uniform, Walter was also dressed simply in a shirt and pants.

He stared intently at the falling raindrops, then sat on a stool, his knees together in a polite posture, and began to speak.

“I have been avoiding this, as it is a difficult topic to broach… but I’m afraid I must deliver some somber news.”

“What is it?”

“Please, do not be alarmed. Upon hearing the news that you, Lucy, were to be instated as the new monarch, the third prince…”

“I’ve already heard.”

Lucy lifted her head to meet Walter’s eyes.

The lodging had been in an uproar since morning, and she had wondered what was going on. After breakfast, she had pieced together the cause of the commotion from the soldiers’ whispers.

The third prince, paralyzed from the waist down and unable to move properly, had murdered the fifth prince before throwing himself from a tower.

It was a truly dramatic death, unbecoming of the man who had always lurked behind the first queen, staring at her with insidious eyes.

*Was the news that a commoner he’d looked down on had become ruler so agonizing and infuriating that he chose death?*

It was a mystery. Still, while she could feign grief for the late king’s death, this time she couldn’t bring herself to pretend to be mournful.

Lucy tilted her head, looking up at Walter.

“You probably expected me to be sad, but unfortunately, the third prince was a man I was on the worst of terms with. I’m not particularly sad.”

“…”

“If his condition had improved, he would have tried to steal my position, going on about legitimacy and what not. Isn’t it a bit ridiculous to feel pity for an opponent like that? It’s better to think it’s a relief that he’s dead.”

Instead of looking surprised or offended, Walter simply stroked his cheek with an expression of someone who didn’t know what to do.

Lucy was right. The seat she occupied wasn’t like being a village chief in some rural town, a position one could take and leave as one pleased.

The only times one could relinquish the throne were upon death or assassination.

It was a position one had to endure and fight desperately to protect. It was an unspoken rule that anyone who coveted the throne, be it family or foe, had to be branded an enemy, cast out, and eliminated.

And he was the one who had placed Lucy in such a position.

Walter acknowledged his own shortsightedness and silently bowed his head.

“You are right. My apologies.”

“It’s a relief that there’s no one left to threaten my position by harping on about pure blood. The royal family is taken care of, so now I must consider how to deal with the lords.”

Lucy moved to the sofa and reached for a candy on the table. Rolling a strong mint-flavored candy in her mouth, she patted the spot next to her.

Walter, watching her with a troubled look, reluctantly walked over and sat down beside her. As Lucy reached for the candy dish again, she suddenly remembered something and put her hand in her pocket.

“Oh, right. Can I see your hand for a moment?”

“Pardon?”

“Your hand. Give me your hand.”

Walter extended the hand that had been resting by his thigh.

Unlike the back of his hand, which was smooth, his palm was covered in the deep calluses unique to a man who had wielded a sword for many years.

Lucy gently placed the stone she had taken from her pocket onto his palm. It was the stone Zen had told her to give him, saying she’d see an interesting reaction.

The reaction that followed was astonishing. Walter’s eyes widened, and he drew in a sharp breath, his chest puffing out.

“What is this?”

She’d thought a slight widening of his eyes was the most surprise he could show, but she was wrong.

Even more surprised, Lucy stared back at him and stammered.

“It’s, um. A gift.”

“You’re giving this to me?”

His dark pupils trembled slightly, and Walter stared down at the stone with a serious expression, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Lucy began to regret her impulsive act. She was biting her lip, about to reach for the stone again, when Walter closed his hand, gripping it tightly.

“Thank you. The texture is nice, and the color is very beautiful.”

Lucy’s jaw dropped without her realizing it as he smiled, his eyes curving gently with pleasure.

Only then did she understand what Zen had meant.

*I’d heard that some old people collected rocks, but for a young man like him to…*

The world truly is a wide place, and tastes are varied.