Chapter 4
“No, you mustn’t…!”
“Oh my, Sister? What’s the matter?”
“Pipi, what is it?”
Josefina rushed toward Edwin in a panic, her hand darting out toward him. Edwin paused, lowering the glass before the wine could touch his lips, and looked back and forth between Josefina and me. I, too, fixed her with a look of calculated confusion.
Caught in the sudden crossfire of gazes, Josefina’s mouth bobbed open and shut, wordless.
“I—I’ll…!”
It was clear she intended to snatch the glass from Edwin and drink it herself. I stood up abruptly. If she asked, the fool Edwin would surely hand it over without a second thought.
“It seems my sister is quite desperate for you not to drink my wine, Edwin. It’s a shame, but since she’s so distressed, I’ll withdraw my request.”
“Giving a gift only to take it back, Reina? How absurd,” Edwin remarked, his brow furrowing. “Had it been anyone else, you could have been detained for mocking the Imperial family.”
“Yes, I am aware. Which is precisely why I believe it’s only right you return it. Surely you wouldn’t want Sister to spend this joyous day in sorrow, would you?”
I offered him a bright, practiced smile. Looking thoroughly deflated, he set the glass down. I walked toward his side to retrieve it.
“Why bother? You could have simply ordered a servant,” Edwin said, crossing his arms with an air of annoyance.
I met his gaze with a playful curve of my eyes and shook my head.
“This way, I get to see you closer. Even when you are right before my eyes, I find myself missing you.”
I added the sweet rot of my usual devotion and reached for the glass.
“Fine. I’ll drink it.”
Whether it was a change of heart or a sudden whim, Edwin clamped his hand over mine as I held the glass and brought it to his own lips. As he drank and pulled away, our eyes met.
“May I take it as a blessing to drink what you have left behind?” I asked softly.
The thought that I had to keep up the act forced a shy smile onto my face. If only Edwin drank, I would be branded an assassin. I had to go down with him.
“Very well.”
The moment I had his permission, I pointedly rotated the glass to find the spot where his lips had touched the rim. It was a performance—a way to make him believe I was still pathetically in love. Under his watchful eye, I slowly drained the wine.
“It truly is delicious. Sister Josefina has impeccable taste.”
“Indeed. Pipi’s taste is… ugh!“
Edwin’s voice trailed off as he clamped a hand over his mouth. Between his white-gloved fingers, a dark, violent surge of blood erupted.
The symptoms were coming for me next. Masking my intent with a mask of horror, I cried out to him.
“Edwin!”
“Argh…!”
“Edwin, are you… urgh!“
I kept screaming his name to ward off suspicion until, seconds later, I too began to retch up blood. My body convulsed in agony, slamming against the table and knocking the wine glass over. The remains of the wine bled across the tablecloth and soaked into his trousers.
“Brother!”
“Ed!”
“Your Imperial Highness!”
“Aaah!”
The dining room descended into a cacophony of chaos. Shouts and screams echoed off the walls, yet not a single voice called out in worry for me.
It should have been heartbreaking, but the irony was almost refreshing. I felt a twisted sense of relief. It was a final, cold confirmation that the love I had craved in my previous life was nothing but a mirage. There was no hope left to lose.
Ignored by all, I collapsed onto the floor in a heap of silence.
When I opened my eyes again, I wasn’t in the Imperial Palace. I was lying in my own bed at the Elvain Marquisate.
Despite the leaden weight in my limbs, panic flickered through me. An assassination attempt had been made on the Crown Prince. I was his fiancée, the future Crown Princess. My safety was a matter of Imperial honor—so why was it so quiet?
“Ugh…”
My body felt wrong. It was only natural, having survived a poisoning. My limbs were heavy, as if every ounce of my strength had been spent filtering the toxin from my blood. My throat burned like a desert, and a sharp, twisting pain clawed at my stomach.
I pressed a hand against my ribs, fighting back a wave of nausea, and forced myself upright to survey the room.
But why?
“Is anyone there?”
The sight of the green canopy curtains grated on my nerves. I tried to shift toward the edge of the bed, but my body refused to cooperate. Beyond the veil of the curtains, there wasn’t even a shadow of a person.
“Ugh…! Is someone there? I said, is anyone there!”
I squeezed the words out of my raw, cracking throat, but no one answered.
My blood ran cold. Even if my life wasn’t in immediate danger, even if I were a mere noble lady, I was someone who had just ingested poison. How could they leave me entirely alone?
I knew I was the discarded child, but until now, they had at least maintained the outward appearance of caring.
“Blegh…!”
A sudden surge of bile hit me. I covered my mouth, but a sharp pang hit my chest, and droplets of blood began to splatter from my nose and lips. The blood soaked into the sheets, turning them a morbid black. The thick, metallic scent of iron filled the room. My heart hammered against my ribs, and a high-pitched ringing filled my ears.
“Ah…”
Darkness reclaimed me, and I spiraled back into unconsciousness.
When I finally came to again, a figure was standing by the bed. I blinked, trying to clear the haze. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but unlike the dimness of my first awakening, the room was now flooded with the bright light of morning.
“Are you awake, My Lady? I was just about to rouse you.”
A maid I didn’t recognize pulled back the canopy curtains with casual indifference. I struggled to sit up, my body still protesting every movement. Luck was on my side; I had recovered enough to move, however slowly.
I didn’t answer. I simply stared at her.
Something was wrong. An attempted poisoning had happened yesterday, yet she acted as if it were any other morning. I glanced around for a basin of water or a tray of medicine, but there was nothing. Even the sheets were pristine—the bloodstains had vanished.
“…Did a doctor visit yesterday? And were the linens changed while I slept?”
“A doctor? Linens? Whatever do you mean, My Lady?”
“What do you mean? Yesterday, I—”
Had she not seen us vomiting blood? Even if she hadn’t, the manor should have been in an uproar.
“My Lady, I am truly sorry, but this is no time for such talk. You must prepare. The guests are waiting downstairs for breakfast.”
“What? Breakfast? After what happened yesterday?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what ‘incident’ you’re referring to, My Lady.”
I let out a sharp, hollow laugh. The maid simply tilted her head, looking genuinely baffled.
“Since you’re so ignorant, let me enlighten you. At Sister Josefina’s birthday banquet, the Crown Prince and I collapsed, vomiting blood. Are you still going to feign ignorance?”
“Oh, you mean that! Thankfully, the Crown Prince’s life is in no danger. A maid confessed it was a simple mistake on her part, and His Highness was gracious enough to overlook it. He requested we keep the matter quiet, as it wasn’t a pleasant topic.”
“A ‘mistake’? We were coughing up blood, and it was dismissed as a mistake?”
I glared at her. She bowed her head quickly and explained.
“That is what I was told. That it wasn’t a serious matter…”
“Who told you that? Who claimed the Crown Prince said such a thing?”
“…Lady Josefina did.”
The answer stole the breath from my lungs.
I didn’t know what game was being played, but I had no choice. I allowed myself to be dressed, dragging my aching body toward the dining room.
Everyone was already seated, their faces as serene as if yesterday had never happened.
“Reina. You shouldn’t be later than our guests.”
Ignoring the eyes on me, I took my seat. My adoptive father criticized me the moment I sat down. I looked at him with genuine disbelief. It wasn’t the kind of thing a father says to a daughter who had just been poisoned.
“I vomited blood yesterday. My body was too heavy to rise easily. You were there, Father—you know this.”
“…A maid mistakenly added an emetic to the wine, so I’m told.”
“I’m curious as to what kind of mistake leads to an emetic in a glass, and what kind of emetic causes one to cough up blood.”
I looked at him with resentment, but his gaze was fixed elsewhere—on Josefina. She was clutching the ring on her necklace like a lifeline.
“It was simply an emetic that was a bit too… stimulating for the stomach,” he muttered.
“Ah… I see.”
I fell silent. There was no point in talking to him. It seemed that even if I died, the Elvain Marquisate would treat it as a minor inconvenience. I had been adopted only to fill Josefina’s shadow. Now that the “real” one was back, I was nothing.
I had craved their love in my last life, but that love was never mine to begin with. Realizing it after death didn’t make the truth any less wretched.
“Hah.”
I let out a cold snort and turned my gaze to Josefina. She let go of her ring and met my eyes, a sunny, innocent expression on her face.
“They said it was a maid’s mistake. She was just an apprentice, I think. Reina, you should forgive her.”
“…Forgive her?”
“Yes. The poor girl is so pitiful. She only just started; if she’s fired now, what will happen to her? She won’t be able to find another job.”
The more Josefina rambled, the colder I became. This was the exact rhythm of my previous life. She would provoke me, then corner me in front of others, making me out to be the villain.
But the girl she knew was dead.
When the blood had left my body, my foolishness had died with it. I woke up with a heart as cold as ice.
“Sister, if I understand correctly, you want me to forgive a maid for ‘mistakenly’ putting an emetic in the wine?”
“Yes. You’ll forgive her, won’t you, Reina? Actually, I’ve already written a letter of recommendation for her. I figured being banished from the manor was punishment enough.”
Josefina smiled benevolently. Across the table, Leonhardt watched her with an expression of rapturous devotion, as if he were witnessing a saint. I watched the farce for a moment before speaking again.
“Is that so? May I ask which household you recommended her to?”
“Can I take that as a sign of your forgiveness? I sent her to the House of Count Aus. They happened to need a maid. And that girl—she has five younger siblings. She’s the eldest, working to pay for their schooling. Isn’t that noble?”
She could listen to the petty life story of a maid, yet she was blind to my suffering.
I used to hate her for that. I hated her for taking everything from me, including Edwin. Back then, I couldn’t think straight. But now, it was different. Perhaps because there wasn’t a drop of affection left for these people, I knew exactly how to handle these wretched beasts.
To them, I was just a hyena wearing clothes that didn’t fit, a scavenger who had stolen what belonged to Josefina. Fine. I would play the part they expected.
“You certainly know a lot about this maid, Sister. When did you find the time to ask all this?”
“Oh, after I found out she made a mistake yesterday, I pulled her aside. I couldn’t just ignore someone so pitiful.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Josefina smiled innocently. I felt the phantom taste of blood in my throat.
“Then you were the one who personally let her go?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
She nodded, completely unaware she had just walked into a snare.
“Reina, why all the questions?” Edwin interjected, defending Josefina. “It was a maid’s mistake. Are you unhappy that Pipi is being merciful? I’ve already forgiven the matter! If I’ve forgiven it, there’s no need for you to haggle over it.”
He seemed to have forgotten he had been vomiting blood right beside me. He looked pale and haggard, yet he was still playing the knight. Pathetic.
“Sister, even if I am nothing, the situation is different for Edwin. He drank the same wine and suffered the same fate.”
“Oh… but… Ed forgave her, didn’t he?”
“Sister, what kind of emetic causes a person to cough up blood? And what kind of maid ‘mistakenly’ puts such a thing in wine?”
“No, well…”
The look of panic on Josefina’s face was a masterpiece. I drove the point home.
“…It might not have been an emetic. It could have been poison! We must bring that maid back and interrogate her immediately! By God’s grace, Edwin was spared, but symptoms could resurface. And yet, you’ve not only hidden a would-be assassin of the Imperial family, you’ve helped them escape.”
“Reina!”
As I feigned a pale face and brought up the word ‘poison,’ Josefina slammed her hand on the table, cutting me off. Her voice was desperate—and to me, it was hilarious.
“I shall go to His Imperial Majesty at once,” I said coldly, “and report that my sister has harbored and aided the flight of an Imperial assassin.”
