Episode 35

Tacit Permission

“Why?”

“You’re too strong and indifferent to be a princess. What if you become the Empress? If the Marquis, the backbone of the aristocracy, becomes a single-handed Marquis, what will the campaign be like?”

I don’t care if I can’t be a princess, but honestly, the empress’s logic was a little bizarre.

“So you chose Lady Antebellum, from a family of traitors and a commoner? She has been a maid all her life and knows nothing about the position of the Empress.”

“It is like an orphan in need of love, her personality will be obedient and kind, she will obey the imperial family, and she has captured the heart of the prince because of her beauty, so there is no need to worry about future generations. Even if we can’t teach her the duties of the empress position until she ascends the throne, it will be fine.”

She meant to make Helena a puppet.

I couldn’t afford to look into anyone’s future, but wondered if Helena already had a future she wasn’t aware of.

“Did Lady Antebellum say she would? She was really scared and ran away the last time.”

“I’m sure you scared her.”

“Like I strongly love him?”

“You will fall in love. What can you do when a child as good as Alecto whispers love?”

Her self-confidence was reasonable. It’s one of my personal resentments, but the crown prince, the male protagonist of the novel, has the same terrifying and destructive beauty as Helena.

Blond hair, which melted gold on white and beautiful rosy skin, scattered neatly just by turning its head slightly. The color of the sky blue eyes was sometimes mixed with golden brown to give off a subtle glow.

The tall, straight nose and deep eyelids seemed to contain a story, and the lips thinner than Hubris or Jason were rather nerve-wracking.

I thought Leonardo DiCaprio was the most handsome man in the world when he filmed (Total Eclipse) or

Catch Me If You Can). But after seeing Alecto, realized that there could be someone more handsome than him.

Appearance is not the number one requirement for falling in love but it is inevitable that attraction starts first with a person’s appearance before you begin to figure out what’s inside.

If he hadn’t been such a ruffian to me, I might have had some feelings for him.

How much worse if they chase after you saying they like you...I don’t know why Helena still doesn’t like the crown prince. Is it because the prettiest girl in the world is facing the mirror?

“No, let’s be honest with each other.”

The empress suddenly waved her hands and spoke intently. Possessing a gracious face, yet everything that was said out of her mouth was poison.

“Do you hate or resent me for making such a scene in the place where you deserve to shine the most? But no matter what you think of me, I will hate you more than you hate me.”

The empress put down the teacup and stared straight at me. If her eyes were a physical weapon, I would have been stabbed to death by her at this moment,

“I want to kill you. I don’t want you to just die. I want you to die in great pain. I know it wasn’t you who killed my son. No offense to you, but you are the most precious thing the Marquis has, so there is nothing we can do about it.”

I remembered a play that I saw in Rundol.

The actress who played the empress was screaming. Did the empress who lost the crown prince scream like that?

“It is natural for human beings to become angry when a dog is stoned to death. How does it feel to be framed by the Marquis and lose my son and close friends?”

The empress gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. Her fists trembled on her lap. She seemed to be struggling to contain her emotions.

“Since that day, I’ve been vomiting blood every night. Even in my dreams, I hear my son crying. My life is already hell, so what if I killed one more innocent person? So what if I fall into hell? The Marquis killed my innocent son. What does it matter?

She continued calmly, choosing to breathe for a while.

“If I really wanted to take my revenge on you, I could have put you in the palace as the Crown Princess and slowly kill you day by day. But that wasn’t enough for the two men who killed my son, as they wanted to make you the Crown Princess.”

The two men meant the emperor and the marquis. In the eyes of the empress, unlike the emperor, the empress seemed to have lost her love for the emperor a long time ago. The emperor was completely deceived by others and killed his own child, which, in modern times, could be a reason for divorce.

“Your Majesty, would you mind if this girl said something?”

“Tell me.”

“The girl doesn’t want to marry His Highness.”

At that, the empress changed her expression as if it was unexpected.

“..Didn’t you love the child for a long time?”

“What else in the world is as easily degenerated as love? Your Majesty knows that....I once thought it was worth all that. But now, I do not. I’d like to cut ties with the palace if you will allow me.”

“Does your father know how you feel?”

“It doesn’t matter what my father feels, Your Majesty, It’s more important that you understand my heart.”

The empress narrowed her eyes. I needed to put on an expression that showed I meant it. I gave such a pretty smile to the empress. I thought I’d never be able to break up my marriage, but now there might be a way.

“I’ll teach her, ma’am. Your Majesty doesn’t have time to educate the child who’s been overworked, does she? Furthermore, if you teach her yourself, she may draw a lot of attention and say something hideous.”

I touched the end of the teacup. Teaching Helena will naturally lead to more opportunities for her to be left alone. I had to kill Helena once to get to the end of this novel anyway. That’s how I’m going get the death penalty.

The one thing that stood out was the difference between now and the original novel. In the original, Eris never taught Helena in order to break up with someone.

Rejected due to causality, I had to ponder how to poison Helena.

Watching my expression, the empress smiled at me.

“As expected, you’re not a good match for my son. He needs a little more of an obedient child.”

She didn’t say it exactly, but I noticed it was a tacit permission. All right, we’re over the hump. I bowed my knees to her and left the room. The empress only took another sip of cold tea without saying a word.

I was trying to catch any maid because I thought it would be better to leave the palace before I say something to Helena.

The mirror across the street caught my eye. Unconsciously, I walked in front of the mirror, and the witch appeared in the mirror and talked to me,

“Are you back safely?”

“You can manipulate people from nowhere you can’t see?”

“What do you mean controlling? I’m giving you an indication.”

“Just tell me your business. We can’t talk for a long time because we’re inside the palace.”

“We’ve found a way. Come straight to the store.”

It was good news to hear. Since the palace was a place where I could visit if I wanted, I decided to find Helena next time and caught the carriage.

Whatever the sacrifice was to allow me to return, wanted to do it. I just hope it wasn’t asking for a human sacrifice. It would be nice to be executed as a witch, but no matter how much this place was in the world of fiction, my morals wouldn’t let me catch and kill innocent people.

The carriage soon stopped near the witch’s shop. When I opened the door, the witch welcomed me as if she had been waiting. I went down to her shop and asked.

“So what’s the offering?”

“Would you like a cup of tea?”

The witch was smiling as if she wouldn’t answer if I didn’t drink tea.

I couldn’t help but concede roughly.

“..Ha. With milk.”

“I’ll bring it to you soon.”

When I drank the sweet and warm milk tea that the witch brought, my body melted, relaxed. I began to feel sleepy.

Unlike when I left, when I came back, I moved almost nonstop except when we had to let the horse rest. I dozed off leaning on Anakin as a chair, but I felt stiff.

As I pressed my forehead so that I wouldn’t doze off, the witch reached out her hand and brought out something wrapped in cloth.

“Let’s solve it.”

When I untied the string, which was firmly fastened to prevent it from unraveling, a silver dagger with a garnet stuck in the handle emerged. The dagger weighed quite a bit, maybe because it was made of pure silver. What’s strange is that it’s a dagger without a blade. The tip of the knife was blunt, so it was close to decoration.

“..I don’t think I can open a letter with this dagger.”

“Because the dagger will be a sword that changes according to the will of the person.”

The witch sipped her share of the drink and raised her hand. The sword that was tied back to the cloth disappeared.

“Stab with that sword.”

“Who?”

“Who else? The one the owner of the body is to kill.”

The words put strength into the sword’s hand.

“..Stab Helena with this?”

“Dampen it with blood.”

“How can I do that? It’s a blunt weapon.”

“I told you, didn’t I? It depends on your will.”

She smiled at me with creepy eyes.

“You have to have a heart that you really want to kill

her.”

Perhaps I was relieved. Poison was actually an indirect way. Killing someone indirectly versus stabbing them with your own hands was different as much as heaven and earth.

If someone asks what is the difference between the same murder, you can say that the determination to commit the murder is different from the guilt that comes after it.

Maybe that’s why people encourage others to kill rather than kill someone themselves. Of course, the

biggest thing is that you can create an alibi so you don’t seem suspicious.

At the same time, Helena’s crying face flashed through my mind. When I was in a poor situation, I thought hated sympathy the most, but now I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her situation.

The last crying face I saw is clear. The child was shaking. She... was afraid of me