Episode 4

Regef considered his words, and his expression became slightly twisted.

“But Kayena, surely you realize that you nearly died.”

Kayena nodded her head slightly, acknowledging his statement. “That’s right.”

Because of you.

Knowing the truth, Kayena could see clearly how Regef carefully weaved his words.

“Are you perhaps afraid of retaliation? If so, please don’t worry. I’ll ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.”

Kayena tiredly shook her head. Because she hadn’t completely healed yet, it was quite burdensome for her to have such a difficult conversation. She had already spent a lot of her energy talking with her ladies-in-waiting.

Though Kayena would have liked to rest, this was a conversation she had to finish, even if she passed out at the end. Finishing this conversation was her intent.

“No. I’m not afraid.” She exhaled, a feverish breath spilling out of her mouth.

Regef and the ladies-in-waiting in the room held their breaths. This sadness was something they hadn’t expected from the usually outrageous Kayena.

“There’s no need to play a game that you’ll lose, Regef.”

Regef couldn’t understand her words.

He was the one who had arranged for the poison to be used, and he had also established himself a suitable alibi. He had already selected which targets he would be able to frame for the incident, and all he had to do was to send them to the guillotine. The game was completely set in his favor; there was no way that he couldn’t win.

At least, that’s what he thought.

“Everyone, please leave the room for a little while,” Kayena said.

At her request, everyone left. The only ones left in the room were Kayena and Regef.

“Regef,” Kayena called. She spoke so calmly and was so composed that Regef felt strange. “You can’t forget that there are more things happening than what you can see with your eyes.”

“What are you…?”

“Do you know how many people I’ve danced with in the banquet hall? And how many people brought me food and drinks? Because of those circumstances, it will be far too difficult to determine who poisoned me. On the other hand… These circumstances are perfect for picking the culprit.”

Kayena struggled to quickly recall what had happened regarding this incident in the novel.

Regef could have never predicted this would happen to his plan.

“There was a young nobleman who was obsessed with me, wasn’t there?”

She recalled the person that Regef had led to the guillotine. It was her previous husband. She remembered that Viscount Gillian had yet to receive his inheritance, so she merely referred to him as a ‘young nobleman.’

“That is…”

“Do you intend to execute him and destroy his entire family? Good. He’s one of Kidrey’s vassals. It’s not a bad choice.”

That was the whole reason Regef had concocted this plan.

The Gillian family was renowned for keeping splendid horses. The price of a single one of their horses surpassed that of a mansion. And the Kidrey duchy had the Gillian family as their vassals.

The Kidrey family was militant, holding the largest and strongest army in the empire that they used to protect the western border. They stood in the way of Regef’s path to the throne, and he was eager to reduce their influence in any way possible.

Even if the Kidrey duchy wasn’t directly implicated in the crime, the word that one of their vassals had attempted treason would cause them great embarrassment.

Gently, persuasively, Regef replied to Kayena. “There must be some misunderstanding, Kayena. That isn’t…”

Kayena wasn’t about to let him interrupt her. Despite her throbbing headache, she pressed on.

“However, Regef, poisons obtained on the black market may change hands many times. It’s clear that there will be a couple records from the black market in their accounting books, but can you really condemn them on such flimsy evidence?”

Regef had thought that Kayena was going to say something amazing, but now, he barely stopped himself from laughing at her.

“I’m not sure what you’re trying to say, Kayena. It’s already obvious how the poison came to the imperial palace. I only need to publicize this affair to take care of the issue, and then it will all be over.”

Though I don’t know how she knew I was trying to implicate the Kidreys, he thought, her way of thinking is still simple.

Speaking admonishingly, like Kayena was dumb, Regef continued, “Are you acting like this because of Raffaello Kidrey, perhaps? If so, you have nothing to worry about.”

Kayena almost bit her tongue. Raffaello had been her first love. He was also the male lead of the novel.

Regef thought that Kayena was dissuading him from his actions because of Raffaello, that she was trying to protect the man she loved. This was how he was rationalizing her actions. He was able to believe that she wasn’t acting so differently, after all.

But though it was true that Raffaello was Kayena’s first, and long unrequited, love, that had been a long time ago.

Kayena had lived far too long to feel that sweet excitement anymore.

“My maternal grandparents are involved in the black market. If you try to attack the Kidrey duchy with their connections to the black market, it’s likely that they will counter-attack.”

Regef started in surprise. This was reasoning that Regef could have never predicted from Kayena.

The Kidrey duchy would not be quiet if they saw the destruction of one of their vassals.

While investigating, he would discover that Count Hamel, a relative of Kayena’s mother, the late empress, was embezzling the emperor’s property. That would lead to the downfall of Count Hamel, and Regef was suspected for a time to have manipulated the evidence and led a biased investigation.

You can’t let that happen, Kayena thought. Count Hamel will be an important bargaining chip for me.

After losing her connection to her mother’s family, Kayena had lost all her power, unable to do anything without Regef by her side. Thus, her obsession with Regef had continued to grow, and Regef was able to control her more easily.

Tampering with the evidence and the investigation isn’t a big problem. The poisoning case, too, will end up fizzling out on its own.

Kayena did not want the Hamels to lose their power, thus being unable to help her, but she didn’t want the poisoning incident to have been in vain.

She exhaled, exhausted, and looked at Regef. “Do you really need to put yourself at so much risk for just this one small opportunity?”

Regef’s expression turned completely stiff.

Loosening the tension, Kayena said, “Have you heard the fable of the wind and the sun? The wind was unable to blow away a man’s coat by force, but the sun was so warm that the man had no choice but to shed his coat.”

“Yes,” Regef replied, wondering why Kayena was suddenly speaking of storybooks.

Kayena smiled gently as she met his eyes.

It was a face that believed that the dynamics of the room were shifting.

...This doesn’t make sense, Regef thought to himself.

It really didn’t. Regef felt pressured by her, as if he needed to avoid her gaze. He felt like a child who had been caught red-handed by an adult while pulling a naughty prank.

Regef bit the inside of his mouth.

This was the first time that he realized that Kayena was truly his elder sister, a princess of the imperial bloodline.

“Don’t try to bring down the Kidrey duchy. Instead, make them one of yours.”

Regef sighed inwardly with the thought that he wanted that more than anyone else.

Regef had long attempted to use Kayena’s beauty to lure in Raffaello, the Kidrey family’s next duke. However, though Kayena had fallen in love with him, Raffaello remained unmoved. Regef had already given up on manipulating Raffaello through Kayena.

“Kayena, I’m not sure what you are talking about. What does that dukedom have to do with me?”

Kayena paid no attention to his words and continued to set guidelines for how to make use of the poisoning incident.

“Doesn’t this incident give us the pretext to do many things?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I want a lady-in-waiting from a trustworthy family. Someone whose identity I know and who will not hurt me.”

Regef was surprised by Kayena’s sudden remark.

What exactly are you thinking, Kayena?

“What about Lady Olivia Grace?” Kayena added.

“You mean the lady who is sponsored by the Kidrey family?”

Was she being serious? Regef knew how much Kayena hated Olivia, having watched her from the sidelines. The fact that Duchess Kidrey chose to sponsor Olivia herself had offended Kayena and made her jealous.

There was nobody involved in high society who didn’t know that Kayena hated Olivia.

“Yes. Lady Grace is of a mid-ranking nobility.”

It technically wasn’t high enough to be the court lady of a princess, but Olivia had more than enough talent to make up for it.

“Her family is also deeply intertwined with the Kidrey duchy, which may as well be an iron fortress.”

It was actually unclear how much the Kidrey duchy valued the Grace family, but the social world did acknowledge that the two families’ relationship was unusual.

Kayena used that point to persuade Regef. But Kayena had her own reasons for wanting Olivia as her lady-in-waiting.

If this world follows what I know of its future, this is the woman with whom Regef will fall in love.

It would be the same as the novel as well as in Kayena’s first life.

Regef would want Olivia this time, too. And if Olivia chose Raffaello over him, he would try to kill her.

Kayena continued talking, pretending that she only wanted to win over Olivia for Regef’s sake.

“Society will interpret the Grace family’s actions as an extension of the Kidrey duchy’s intentions.”

“...Is this really all right?” Regef asked, suspicious.

Kayena replied with a calm smile. “I can’t do everything simply to appease my own interests. That would be selfish, wouldn’t it?”

This was what she had foreseen, and it was more efficient to keep Olivia close by so that she could deal with the situation as it progressed.