Chapter 37: 38

Fortunately, the Emperor did not completely let go of the string, and invitations to the Emperor’s banquet must have arrived every other day. Contrary to what he initially thought, the invitation to the banquet was a type of invitation that was close to a code of ‘attend if you want, don’t if you prefer otherwise’.

Eugène learned of this belatedly and avoided the banquet as much as possible after that. Not only did he dislike the atmosphere of forcing his body to fit into the frame of formality, but he also did not want to waste time on boring entertainment that he couldn’t find interest in. 

However, after wasting several days of time, Eugène had a different thought. Poison never waits. If he kept dragging on the time like this, the situation concerning Louise may go wrong before he could even solve anything. He started to become impatient. Finally realizing that there was no other way, he sent a reply that he would attend the banquet.

***

“It has been a while, Your Majesty.”

Eugène showed the utmost courtesy by bowing deeply. He attended the Emperor’s banquet today for the purpose of carrying the Emperor’s lamp, the highlight of the banquet. There was no guarantee that the Emperor would choose him just because he participated in the banquet, but is it not necessary to raise one’s bow first if one wants to catch a beast? 

Fortunately, the beast he was aiming at was easily caught by the bow. The Emperor looked surprised when saw Eugène at the banquet, and after enduring the torture of a long dinner and entertainment, he was given the glorious task of carrying the lamp.

“Yes, Baron Amieux, who was resting leisurely as he currently has no official position while the monarch was busy to death. What brought you to Our banquet?”

The servants took off the Emperor’s layered pieces of garment and withdrew from the bedroom, putting on only one robe. The Emperor lay long on a chaise with a single translucent cloth draped over his bare body. He was not the type to show any sort of weakness to his subjects, but today, probably since he didn’t have the energy to pretend otherwise, he was clearly showing signs of fatigue on his glabella.

“… Is Your Majesty very busy these days?”

It had been very difficult to see the Emperor lately, and Eugène, who even had a useless suspicion that he was being avoided, looked at the Emperor with a worried look. The listings on His Majesty’s schedule on an ordinary day were too much for the average person. Rather than the person involved, those who followed behind to assist His Majesty were the ones gasping for breath.

However, when it was said that he was moving more tightly than usual, Eugène was genuinely concerned about the Emperor’s health.

“Extremely busy. We were so busy that We only thought of you day and night.”

The Emperor answered, lying languidly with one arm on the armrest of the long chair. Eugène’s eyes widened as he could not understand what the Emperor was saying. 

“Pardon?”

“It means that We were so ashamed of you, who still has no spouse, that We almost got up from work. Why do you think We did not accept your request for an audience? It was because We were afraid that We would catch just about any plain lady who was passing by and force her to marry you as soon as We saw your face.”

The Emperor spoke in a serious tone. As if it were not a joke but something he had seriously considered, his eyes darkened.

Eugène smiled bitterly. For some reason, he heard this every time he had a meeting with His Majesty. ‘Get married quickly. Have a child. That is the most important duty you owe Us!’ He felt just like an old bachelor being grilled by his parents for not getting married. 

How could the Emperor’s greatest concern be his remarriage? Eugène, who had been caught by the imperial law without fail, was willing to hold on to and marry any plain lady who was passing by, if possible. After all, what was the use of a liege if he could not help when needed?

“Well, that is just how it usually goes. Speak, Baron Amieux. What is troubling you so much that you had to pick up the load yourself?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

However, no matter how tired and exhausted, there seemed to be no time when that clever brain did not work. The Emperor fell asleep and, even with his eyes half-closed, recognized at a glance that he had come with an important business. Eugène, now feeling apologetic, slowly began to report on the matter he had brought to the Emperor.

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“Is what you are speaking of right now about the incident in which the Duke of Fernand was kicked in the bum by you after running wild like an unruly foal?”

“… Unfortunately, I did not kick his bum.”

“No, to stop him itself was a fairly nice kick. It is not often that that slater-like prick is properly humiliated after committing a mistake.” 

Even when listening while he was half asleep, the brightness returned to his hazy eyes, as if he were happy to hear the story of Prince Merrick being humiliated. The Emperor even urged Eugène to keep talking with a more lively expression than before.

The Emperor was a person who openly showed favoritism toward people. If he liked them, he treated them warmly as if he would even give away his kidney to them if he could, and if there was a person he didn’t want to see in front of him, he would get sick of even a speck of that person’s existence entering his field of vision. Unfortunately for Prince Merrick, the intensity of his favor and affection was determined not by the thickness or thinness of blood ties, but by the height of one’s abilities.

“What I am going speak of now is not the impetuous and reckless thing that Prince Merrick did. Your Majesty.”

“Then?” 

“The reason that Prince Merrick and I got into an altercation was that Louise Dumont took off her gloves in front of me. Prince Merrick, who witnessed this from afar, chased after me, claiming that I was harassing her, however, what really mattered at that moment was not whether I was harassing her, but the purpose of Louise Dumont’s intentional removal of her gloves.”

Obviously, in the olden days, such as the days of the Prince-Electors’, when the whole body was wrapped tightly, forcibly taking off a lady’s gloves was an unforgivable mortal sin. However, these days, designs that reveal not only the chest but also the shoulders are in fashion, so taking off gloves did not have the same meaning as before.

“She did not take them off by accident, but deliberately so to show them to you?”

“Yes?” 

“For what reason?”

“It was to show me the spots on the back of her hands. When I looked into it, I found out that there were arsenic spots on her arm. It was as if poison had spread all over her arm, and her condition looked serious.”

The Emperor’s sleepy eyes slowly opened upon hearing those words. Eyelashes, like the fluttering wings of a bird with overly long wings that slowly soared into the sky, wrapped themselves around the golden eyes. The Emperor looked at Eugène without moving for a moment.

“… And so? How is the child?” 

The Emperor, who had been silent for a while, carefully chose the question.

“I do not know yet. I was told that there was no fetal movement, but at the same time, there was no sign of bleeding or miscarriage.”

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“If the arsenic spots have shown up to the surface, it means that she is at a critical stage. The child could not possibly be alive?”

“I do not know. I said so otherwise on purpose.” 

Now the sleep in the Emperor’s voice had completely disappeared. He straightened his lying position and looked straight at Eugène. After visually confirming the silent prompt in his eyes, Eugène calmly continued the report.

Eugène told the Emperor everything that had happened between her and himself. Needless to say, he did not hide the fact that he had sneaked into the Azure Pearl Palace to meet her. But, as expected, the Emperor paid no attention to such trivial details. As the story progressed, the Emperor’s expression hardened. He listened to Eugène’s report with his mouth firmly shut.

“Everyone uses the same tableware at the court. Unless it is a tableware that the Grands use specifically, it is common for courtiers to use the same tableware prepared by each palace. Food is also prepared in one place and served at the same time. Crucially, both forks and knives are silver. If it were the meal that was poisoned, it would have been discovered in the middle of eating. She said she did not eat anything unless she was with someone else ever since she suspected she was being poisoned. And yet, the symptoms are only getting worse. She seemed to have no idea as to how she was being poisoned.”

The court’s diet system was inherently designed to be sensitive to poison. It was normal to ascertain every single process of the cooking from the time the ingredients were first bought, and if it was the Emperor’s meal, it was stipulated by the customary rules that three separate inspections must be carried out; after cooking, when serving at the table, and when it was returned from the table. 

It was extremely cumbersome to snuggle into that tricky system. Though it was technically unknown if the perpetrator was the Emperor, it was hard to imagine that he make such an effort to assassinate one of his concubines’ companions.

“If she had already realized that she was being poisoned, she would have been wary of all aspects of her daily life, but she still has no idea?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I do not know who they are, but it seems like they have made considerable use of their head.” 

The Emperor fell into deep thought as he tapped the armrest with the tips of his fingernails.

“Who do you think is the most likely suspect?”

“Can I be honest?”

“We are asking to hear your opinion. What is the point of Our question if you do not answer honestly?” 

“The more I think about it, I suspect that it is Her Highness, Grand Duchess Alienor.”

Eugène dared to mention the name of the most prominent adult in the imperial family, but the Emperor did not move. He was deeply silent as he watched Eugène choose words with his attentive eyes.

“First of all, she has a good motive. She has had an unrequited love for the throne throughout her life. Prince Merrick is the only one who can achieve that long unrequited love, and Louise Dumont and her child are decisively detrimental to Prince Merrick’s succession to the throne. For exactly the same reason that Your Majesty wishes for the existence of Louise Dumont and her child, those two are thorns in the eyes of Her Highness, the Grand Duchess.

In addition, it should be considered that the current residence of Louise Dumont was decided by the recommendation of Grand Duchess Alienor. Countess Patrí was simply a cover-up, and the environment surrounding Louise Dumont is as if the Grand Duchess herself has created it. That means that along with the motive, the conditions for carrying out the scheme have also been met.” 

That’s right. The place where Louise Dumont was currently located was a space where Grand Duchess Alienor’s touch could have the most immediate effect out of anywhere else in the palace. Countess Patrí, who had a relatively weak family background compared to the other two concubines and was of low origin, was a figure with few connections within the court. It wasn’t that difficult for the Grand Duchess, who had honed her skills at the court, to sneak one of her own people around such a person.

“Decisively, the most suspicious point is that she is delaying their engagement despite the fairly cumulative months of pregnancy. It seems to me that the Grand Duchess had no intention of taking in Louise Dumont as her daughter-in-law. Nevertheless, the fact that she is dragging time without canceling the proposed marriage means that she has another plan. Perhaps she does not want this marriage to be broken off in the middle and cause another scandal. She probably wants the matter to fall through quietly in a different way.”

“In a different way, you say? For instance, the Duke’s fiancée suddenly dies one day or something like that?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” 

“… Then why did she use arsenic?”

The Emperor, who had been listening quietly until Eugène reached a conclusion, muttered to himself and tilted his head when his opinions were all settled.

“It is not that your reasoning is wrong. As soon as he heard that Louise Dumont was being poisoned, We, too, suspected the same person as you before anyone else. However, there is something that is not quite right about making a hasty conclusion. If she wanted the matter to be settled quietly, why would she use something that showed symptoms of poisoning like arsenic?”

The symptoms of arsenic poisoning may be unknown to an inattentive person, but those who pay attention would notice them at once. Furthermore, strong traces of poison often remained, so the possibility of detection after an autopsy was very high. 

When a person suddenly dies inside the imperial court, it was natural for the court to perform an autopsy, so why would Grand Duchess Alienor, who was aware of that fact, take such a risk? The Emperor was quite skeptical of that.

“There are even more effective and secretive recipes that descend covertly in the court. Among them, there are dreadful items that kill people without a trace whilst also leaving no tracks behind. If she was truly behind this, she would have used better means. No matter how much We think about it, arsenic would not be her choice.”

After hearing the argument against the Grand Duchess, he did the same. Eugène silently nodded, reflecting on whether he thought was too single-minded.

“Regardless, We think this case needs to be investigated more clearly. All circumstantial evidence points to one person, but physical evidence points in the opposite direction. If this was simply an assassination attempt on a single person, it would be a matter of relief. If there is one more conspiracy underneath, this will turn out to be more troublesome than expected.” 

For Eugène, it was not a matter of relief if this was ‘simply an assassination attempt on a single person’. However, he did not reveal his innermost feelings because he accurately recognized the difference between his and the Emperor’s position.

Eugène’s attachment to a woman named Louise de Dumont was due to his personal guilt and sympathy. But the Emperor, as the leader of the empire, must always consider and judge more than that. The sovereign’s point of view cannot be condemned as inhumane. The empire was indeed a huge group, and the Emperor was responsible for taking care of the whole group.

“Your Majesty, I have one request.”

Eugène, having obtained more attention from the Emperor than he had hoped for, took it one step further. Since this was the same field His Majesty had expressed his intention to actively intervene, as he had originally decided, he wanted to request that he would like to investigate this matter on his own. He thought that the Emperor would easily accept his request. 

“Please allow me to continue investigating this matter. I will take responsibility and uncover the whole story of the poisoning case.”

It wasn’t that he was complacent, there was probably no one better suited to this job than him. He was the one who started digging this up in the first place. He is not only the person whom Louise, the victim, was most reliant on emotionally, but he also had no formal enemies at the court. Since he was not tied to a position and had no obligations to take care of, it was just right to move in secret.

However, the Emperor seemed to have a completely different opinion from him. As he brought up his request, the Emperor pressed down on his temple with his thumb as if he had a headache, and looked at Eugène with weary eyes.

“No, you cannot.” 

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