Shortly after Evelyn left, she heard some shocking news.

“No way..Are you sure?”

Nodding her head, Rebecca’s face looked dreary.

The attempt to poison the Crown Prince was an assassination crime. But, because the perpetrator was the Empress Dowager, she had no other choice but to carefully investigate it.

“How come..why.....”

“The Empress insisted that she was innocent to the end. Now, we are investigating her close maid, Mrs. Sarah, but she’s also the same. She said she knew nothing of the starflower poison in the puff.”

Evelyn soothed her breathing. Just in time, Sir Philip arrived and gave them an example.

“Sir Philip, have you checked the poison? Are you sure it’s a poison of the starflower? “

“I’ve checked once again. And it is definitely the star-flower poison in the powder’s form.... It’s a deadly poison even when consumed in small amounts. “

“How to neutralize it.”

“Right now, the Devil Eye poison still remains in the Prince’s body, so if a new poison is mixed up.. It’s hard to detox it quickly.”

Philip had already told her when Adrian was injured by Devil Eye poison. He could detoxify the poison slowly with blood medicine. Still, it would be dangerous if a new poison entered his body. Evelyn’s heart grieved because, at that time, she had guaranteed that something like this would never happen again.

“Even with blood medicine ....Is it not enough?”

“Right now.... I can’t say for sure”, said Philip.

Saying the truth was better. Evelyn could only shake her head with a miserable heart, but she couldn’t collapse for now.

“I have to meet the Empress.”

“She is imprisoned under Your Majesty’s order,” Rebecca replied as she had no other choice. Even though she knew Evelyn couldn’t be stopped by the Emperor’s orders.

“Mrs. Sarah claimed she was innocent.”

“But there’s evidence.”

“The Empress has no reason to hurt Adrian. Rebecca, you saw her attitude too.”

“That’s what I think, but.....”

They realized that there was no point in arguing at this moment since Fabian would judge what was going on through the facts.

However, all the evidence on display was too obvious and made Evelyn really overwrought. Monica wasn’t a foolish woman. If She really tried to hurt Adrian, she wouldn’t do it sloppily.

“Sir Philip, is it true that the new poison that entered Adrian’s body that day was starflower poison?”

“It’s.... I didn’t check it out.”

Philip opened his eyes wide upon hearing that. Usually, if someone was suspected of poisoning, he would investigate the poison, not the person who was poisoned. In Adrian’s case, he had contaminated with demonic poison, making it difficult to detect other poisons in his body separately.

“How do we find out? If there is a one percent chance .... Adrian is not poisoned by the star-flower, but we do a detox on his body. What will happen?”

Philip’s expression became severe, “I usually don’t want to make assumptions ..... But if it goes with what you said, something bad will happen to his body.”

“Actually, I suspect Duke Metis. I investigated Mrs. Sarah, and it seemed she lived in Duke Metis’s residence for quite a while. The Duke had many opportunities to put the poison in her puff.” said Rebecca.

“Duke Metis?”

Rage emanated from Evelyn’s eyes. Sagan could have hurt Adrian if all this was for the Empress’s throne.

“I already know his ambition. But now, I have no circumstantial evidence and valid doubts. Maybe the Empress was also used by the Duke.”

“But the Empress.....”

“The Empress is the Duke’s sister. However, she was already pressuring the Duke to marry Stella off to Duke Perth. She forced him to give up the throne of the Empress and the Imperial heir’s position. How could Duke Metis just take it?”

Rebecca’s countenance hardened. “It’s a strong motive .. I didn’t think of it.”

“Yes, it’s betrayal.”

Evelyn and Rebecca realized how cruel the life of the nobles in the Empire was.

“It might happen. When I was in the Perth family, I saw a man who was dumped because he didn’t want to follow his family’s wishes. The orders of the head of the family are absolute, and a successor must exist for the sake of the family .. They think that disgusting thought are a normal thing.” Rebecca looked disillusioned as she chose to divorce because she hated such a cruel environment.

“Duke Metis is a person like that.”

“Yes, we could say, he’s more than that.”

Evelyn’s blue eyes filled with worry, “That’s why....I have a lot of questions. Because it’s bizarre that this case can be solved so easily. If the Empress really tried to hurt Adrian, there were many other ways.”

“She didn’t even have to be accused as a criminal. If she did it, she would have destroyed the physical evidence. “

“Yeah, that’s the part that bothers me the most.”

The Empress Dowager was a woman who spent several years living in this imperial family. How could she poison the Prince with a reckless method? This was what always made Evelyn’s mind unsettled.

“She had plenty of time to destroy the evidence. So why would she let her close maid kept it? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I can’t find out all the enemy’s intentions .... including the Empress’s intentions.”

“I don’t want to simply believe the Empress’s innocence. But we need to be careful.”

“After listening to the Princess, I think we need a different hypothesis.” Philip suddenly intervened in the conversation between them.

“Different hypothesis?”

“The antidote for the star-flower poison is very strong and will definitely have a huge impact on his body. Considering that the Prince is still very young, plus he is already infected with the demonic poison, the detoxification process will be hazardous.” Philip spoke carefully, so Evelyn could grasp the meaning from his words.

“Could it be a trap for us to neutralize the poison on purpose?”

“.... it’s possible.”

“Then that might also be the reason why physical evidence is left so easily. But..” Evelyn couldn’t be sure of anything. The thought of Adrian’s body being eaten up by poison every minute exploded her heart with frustration.

“Sir Philip, how do we know what kind of poison is in Adrian’s body?”

“It will take some time, but I can analyze the blood because the antibodies will respond to the substances that enter his blood.....”

“That’s enough. Do it now.” Evelyn cut off before Philip was able to complete his sentence.

“Yes.”

After Philip stepped back quickly, Evelyn looked lost in her thought for a moment, and Rebecca waited for her without saying a word.

“The Empress said that she wanted this situation to be resolved quickly, so she offered to help me. She really did what she had to do. And the poison found from her maid .. It was too simple and easy. Are the Imperial nobles so reckless like this?”

“No, at least in the art of trickery.”

“Yes, we need to doubt everything.”

Evelyn wanted to believe the Empress, but the truth was more important to her. She didn’t want the situation of Adrian to get worse because they were caught in an evil trap designed by someone.

“I have to meet His Majesty.”

Right now, that was the best step she could take.

historical

---

***

There was a chill in the corridor leading to the Emperor’s hall. All the Palace partition seemed to be frozen as Fabian’s wrath was buried in the air. Only Evelyn dared to levitate her head and enter the room.

“Your Majesty.”

Fabian, who sat on the throne supporting his chin, raised his cold black eyes at Evelyn’s call. There was a faint scent of dread and eeriness wafted from him.

Perhaps, he went to the underground prison already.

“He.... David hasn’t opened his mouth yet.”

His lurid low voice clanked.

“Duke Metis has been locked up, but he doesn’t know anything. To be precise, there is no evidence.”

Despite the fact that Fabian was a powerful Emperor, he couldn’t punish anyone, even a Duke, without substantiation.

“The motive is clear, but the only sinner right now is the Empress.”

When Evelyn saw the hollow gaze in his eyes, she was confused too. Wondering if Fabian, whose heart was frozen with anger, wanted to listen to her? Evelyn didn’t have much confidence as she had failed in her previous life.

“Your Majesty, I have something to tell you.”

“The conclusion has already been decided.”

In the past, Evelyn always stopped and turned around at this point. She was always afraid to take a step closer and terrified if he would shake off her hand.

“No,” Evelyn said calmly, taking one difficult step towards Fabian. “.. I haven’t even started saying anything yet.”

But Fabian didn’t seem to be hearing her voice right now. Evelyn then took another step closer to him and took his cold, corpse-like hand. Only then did Fabian shifted his gaze and notice Evelyn’s presence.

“Neither conclusion nor decision .. let’s do it together. Your Majesty cannot do it alone.”

But, Fabian’s eyes were still frozen and out of focus.

“Have you forgotten why we separated before? Why ....should we stay away and break up even though we have feelings for each other.”

“That problem is different from this one,” Fabian said firmly.

“It’s not different.” Evelyn didn’t back down either, as she hated repeating regrets.

“Your Majesty, look at me.” Evelyn did the most courageous act she did in her life. She let go of Fabian’s hand and stretched her hand to his face.

“I will.. I want to protect my wife, and I want to protect my child the most.”

“Please, look at me.”

Trembling, Evelyn’s hand wrapped around Fabian’s cheek and caught his eye. Her hands were still warm, and she wanted that warmth to reach him.

“Your Majesty, we’re a couple.” Her blue eyes looked straight to Fabian. “And we’ve wasted too much time because we forgot about it. Now.... there’s something heavier on the line.”

This time it would be impossible to correct with just regret if they made a second mistake.

“I will protect you and our child.”

“Not in this way.”

“I will execute the punishment first.... I’ll listen to your story later.”

“No.”

Evelyn didn’t back down. It wasn’t a matter of the Empress Dowager punishment. In the end, their problems would repeat themselves. If she retreated from here, it was no different from leaving him.

“I won’t step back anymore.” Evelyn dropped her hand and knelt right in front of Fabian.

“Your Majesty, please listen to me....If you’re my husband.”

The determination in Evelyn’s eyes didn’t shake.

“But if you consider me to be in your way, you can punish me .... as an Emperor.”

These were words that put her life at risk. Fabian stared at her absurdly, but Evelyn’s face didn’t budge.

“Evelyn, I don’t have time to argue with you.....”

“I’m not Your Majesty’s subject.” she looked straight at Fabian. “Now my child is dying of poison.”

Evelyn couldn’t imagine how hard she had to dig her heart to say such a miserable remark so calmly?

“We’re his parents, and we’re husband and wife.” Evelyn struggled to articulate it.

“What I need most in my family is .... not the Emperor, but a husband and a father of my child.....The people in the world who want to protect that child the most .. are the two of us ..”

Tears welled up in Evelyn’s eyes, and she cried desperately, “You can hate and punish later. After our child wakes up safely, isn’t that right?”

But Fabian was still looking down at her with an expressionless face.

Was the despair repeating again?

Still, Evelyn couldn’t figure out another way.

“Fabian.”

Evelyn called his name.

“I .... I really need you right now.”

Always. All Evelyn wanted was a man, a husband, not a cold-blooded Emperor.