The Ritual of Death and Betrayal
There was a phrase that Lantuane used to say to all the husbands she once loved and tried to save.
“‘Give me three days to think.’”
It was her own ritual.
A ritual to warn them that she was about to kill them.
“‘I understand.’”
The husbands, already deeply infatuated with Lantuane, would become restless and lose their minds when she asked for time to think.
‘Could it be that tomorrow, she will suggest a tea time with me?’
Three days later, after her husbands had nearly lost their minds, Lantuane would gently suggest a tea time.
Naturally, the husbands would join the tea time.
Without realizing that Lantuane herself had secretly infused deadly poison in the flower tea she brewed.
“Colorless, tasteless. And a perfect poison that completely decomposes in the body within twelve hours.”
I never imagined it, but the next night, Lantuane came to find me.
She wanted to have a tea time with me, bringing along freshly brewed dandelion tea.
‘Is she insane?’
Even though Lantuane was mentally unstable, trying to assassinate the direct heirs of the Devernon family within their own home?
After two successful attempts—officially only two, though there might have been more—she seemed to have become overconfident.
I sat facing Lantuane.
“Are you really that confident?”
“What do you mean?”
“A colorless, tasteless poison that completely decomposes within twelve hours. It doesn’t harm ordinary people, but it’s deadly to those with magical powers.”
“……”
“The Curse of the Yellow Snake. I wonder how you managed to create this?”
I shook the bell.
As if waiting for this moment, the butler, Teikan, opened the door and entered.
This had been arranged in advance.
In case Lantuane came to visit me with the brewed tea, I had asked Teikan to wait at the door.
Although this wasn’t an official event, there was a sword strapped to his left side.
“Teikan. Bind Lantuane and arrest her. Thoroughly analyze the ingredients of this flower tea and bring it to the family court.”
The potion-making workshop affiliated with the Devernon family and the family’s vassals, skilled in pharmacology, gathered to analyze the ingredients of the flower tea, and the results were delivered two days later.
At the solemn family trial, Lantuane was bound and kneeling, pleading her innocence.
“This is slander, My Lord. I just wanted to have a quiet tea time with Sailah.”
Her innocent face and genuine tears made the people gathered in the square tilt their heads in confusion, wondering if she was truly being framed.
“If it’s colorless, tasteless, and a poison that can’t be detected by human senses, how could Sailah have figured it out immediately? I’ve never even heard of the Curse of the Yellow Snake.”
“……”
“But Sailah, the moment she saw the tea, called it the ‘Curse of the Yellow Snake,’ insulted me, and called Teikan to bind me, as if everything had been pre-arranged. Doesn’t that seem too staged?”
The people at the trial started to whisper among themselves.
“Maybe she did that because she hates her stepmother?”
“They say every beautiful flower has its thorns.”
The trial was customarily presided over by the family’s elders and the family head himself.
Dafetto, sitting on the trial bench, spoke.
“Sailah. How did you know about the Curse of the Yellow Snake?”
Sailah stood up.
Countless gazes turned to her.
“Before returning to the family, I had already completed my investigation on Lantuane.”
“Investigation?”
Dafetto frowned slightly.
In aristocratic society, investigating someone was common, but openly admitting to it was unusual.
It was seen as a low-class act, damaging one’s dignity.
Thus, Sailah was essentially undermining her own reputation by saying this.
The people observing the trial began to suspect Sailah even more.
“My goodness, the daughter of the Devernon family investigated someone.”
“To say such things openly in a trial!”
On the surface, it seemed like Sailah was the perpetrator, and Lantuane was the victim.
“Why? Because not long ago, I had to duel with Galf, the eldest son of the first vassal family of Queybek.”
“What does that duel have to do with this woman’s investigation?”
“Objectively, Galf was stronger than me. He had trained with a sword for much longer than I had. So, I had to accept the possibility of losing.”
Sailah stepped forward.
She scanned Dafetto, Lantuane, and the audience before continuing.
“I’m from Devernon, not Queybek.”
Losing to Queybek was an acceptable outcome, but losing to Devernon was disgraceful.
If she were to duel in Devernon’s name, she had to win.
“As a swordswoman, I may lose, but as Sailah Devernon, I cannot lose.”
Had she said this in the Eastern Continent, she would have been pelted with stones, but this was the Northern Continent.
The Northern Continent had its own ways.
Indeed, those in the trial room were impressed by Sailah’s words.
“So, I had to find Galf’s weaknesses. While investigating Galf, I also learned about his unofficial fiancée. I present the evidence.”
Sailah presented a relationship map and a trace of financial flow she had spent all night working on.
“…A significant sum of gold was transferred through an untraceable source and exchanged, ultimately reaching Galf’s fiancée. During this process, both of her husbands died. The cause of death was heart failure. The symptoms were identical to those when one is poisoned by the ‘Curse of the Yellow Snake.’ Of course, there’s no concrete evidence.”
“Sailah. I understand if you hate me, but isn’t it cruel to push me like this without any evidence, just based on your suspicions? And to reveal my personal affairs in front of everyone? Sailah, you have no respect for me as a person, not even the bare minimum of human decency?”
Lantuane wept dramatically, garnering sympathy from the crowd.
Sailah’s eyes narrowed.
So, she wants to frame me?
“Do you see this ring?”
“…Ring?”
“Do you see what color the gemstone is?”
Lantuane, acting like the tragic heroine, slowly spoke after examining my finger.
“There’s a black gemstone. It suits someone your age. It’s really beautiful.”
“This gemstone was originally blue. When it reacts to poison, it changes color.”
Sailah took off the ring and lifted it slightly.
She showed the color of the ring to the audience and Dafetto.
“This was a gift from one of the masters of Queybek, Lady Rachel Queybek.”
The mention of a heavy name caused a stir among the people.
In the Northern Continent, Rachel’s reputation was as high as Themanon’s.
“Perhaps Lady Rachel had already predicted this day. She might have known much more than I did, especially since this involved the heir of the first vassal family.”
Whether Rachel had predicted it or if the situation just fell into place, it was hard to say.
But the fact that Rachel had personally given her the ring carried a lot of weight.
Dafetto asked.
“Is it true that this is a gift from Lady Rachel?”
“Yes.”
“Proof?”
‘It would be wonderful if I could call Lady Rachel as a witness…’
But Sailah didn’t expect that.
Instead, she presented a note left by Rachel, which she had kept for such occasions.
She could have had the handwriting examined.
“I certify Sailah’s words.”
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out.
Sailah turned toward the sound.
“My name is Rachel Queybek.”
It was the giant’s appearance.
With Rachel attending the family trial as a certified witness, Sailah’s claims gained credibility.
The same words, depending on who speaks them, can make all the difference.
An investigation team was immediately dispatched, and a conclusion was soon reached.
A few days later, Dafetto, as the head of the Devernon family, made a ruling.
“Devernon never forgets a kindness, but it never forgets a grudge either.”
Sensing her fate, Lantuane screamed in protest.
“You… you loved me!”
Dafetto glanced at Lantuane.
And with a cold expression, he spoke.
“Weren’t you going to be a good mother?”
Dafetto had never loved Lantuane.
Being with her gave him a fleeting sense of relief, but that was it.
The reason he had considered marrying her was because he believed she would be a good mother.
Now that that belief was shattered, the marriage contract with Lantuane was null and void.
“P-please, spare me.”
“I never said I would kill you.”
An eye for an eye.
Dafetto had the butler prepare the dandelion flower tea.
The tea that Lantuane had intended to poison Sailah with.
“I will give you the chance to drink it yourself.”
“I can’t drink this. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Still shameless until the end.”
As Lantuane struggled, the cup of dandelion tea tipped over.
“This is exactly the same as what you intended to make Sailah drink. I wonder why you claim you can’t drink it.”
Dafetto stood up.
“Feed it to her, and let her see.”
Sailah didn’t turn her head.
She didn’t want to show any weakness.
‘Show a cold and strong side.’
I’m not the kind of person who can show weakness here.
Facing the constant threat of death, I must keep fighting.
Living with the Queybek family, I realized that prevention is more important than just solving problems.
‘Only then can I avoid even the smallest threat.’
In the end, Lantuane drank the tea, forced by the knights of the magical order, and died on the spot.
She had killed two former husbands and stolen their wealth, and now she had attempted to kill the direct heir of Devernon, with Lady Rachel Queybek involved in the case.
However, it didn’t make much of a stir and quietly faded away.
