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nThere was still a light rain striking the window.

nWhen will this rain be over?

nWhen Astelle arrived at the emperor’s office with a dark feeling, the knight who was guarding the door opened the door.

nAs soon as she entered inside, a screaming burst out.

n“This is a ridiculous sham!”

nMarianne, who was standing in the center of the office, shouted out loud as soon as she saw Astelle.

n“She has ordered her own maid, and she is framed me! ”

nAstelle, bending her knees in front of Kaizen and bowing politely to him.

nKaizen was sitting over his desk and Vellian was standing next to him.

nVellian was very excited to see if this situation was interesting.

nKaizen gave Lyndon an eye.

nLyndon reported what he had found out to him.

n“There is evidence that the maid who was caught as the culprit received money from Lady Marianne. She confessed that Lady Marianne’s maid also brought the money. ”

nIf it turns out to there, it should be said that it is over.

nAt this point, Marianne couldn’t get past it.

nEven if she has a way to get over the crisis, this little girl doesn’t seem to have the wisdom to get out of this situation.

nWhile Astelle looked silently, Kaizen asked Marianne firmly.

n“Are you still going to deny it?”

n“Well, I… that… ugh…”

nMarianne began to cry with a terrified expression.

nHer delicate eyes moistened.

nMarianne, with her tears up, was beautiful and lovely as a fairy.

nBut she had no one in this place to express the sympathy for her appearance.

nWhen no one didn’t take care of her, the weeping Marianne glared at Astelle again, as if to kill.

nHer eyes burst with anger.

n“She brought a suspicious vial and medicines in a box! Who carries so many medicines? How do you know what’s in it? It could be poison!”

nWhen it became undeniable that she had searched the box, Marianne, on the contrary, seemed to have decided to turn the responsibility on Astelle.

nHowever, when Kaizen heard the words, he rebuked her as if he was stunned.

n“So is it you who searched other people’s luggage? Since when did you become the safety officer of this castle?”

n“Your Majesty, I was just worried…”

nWhen that excuse didn’t work, Marianne effortlessly blurred her words.

nShe shouted again, pointing at Astelle, with the tears hanging around her eyes.

n“The person who came to see Your Majesty has so many medicines. It’s suspicious in all respects! We have to check it right away.”

nAstelle never came to see the emperor.

nIt was only three or four days ago that she was pulled out with her child to attended dinner.

nMarianne really didn’t know, so she said that.

nAt Marianne’s words, other people’s eyes turned to Astelle.

nThey were expressions asking her to explain why there are so many medicines.

n“Lady Marianne.”

nAstelle looked at Marianne with a cool look.

n“I think Lady Marianne had a younger siblings, am I right?”

n“….Huh?”

nMarianne made a puzzled look at an unexpected question.

n“What are you talking about suddenly?”

n“Aren’t the nanny hired by the mansion always stocking medicines in the chest of drawers for Lady Marianne and your younger siblings? There must have been a simple cold medicine, stomach upset medicine, various ointments to apply depending on the type of wound, and a stabilizer to feed the child when the child is very surprised.”

nOf course, the nanny taking care of the child works with the medicines ready.

nBecause children always get sick all the time.

nDay and night always needed medicines.

nMarianne couldn’t answer.

nWhen she thinks about it, it seems to be. The nanny always had a lot of medicine.

n“Theor is only 5 years old now. He often catch a cold, so I need a cold medicine, antipyretic, cough medicine, headache medicine, and stomach upset medicine. If the child gets hurt, I also need a kind of ointment to apply to the wound.”

nAstelle said calmly.

n“Theor had a severe flu not long ago. The pharmacist said that the child’s physical strength was weakened due to the aftereffect of the flu. The nutritional supplement alone is three bottles.”

nWell, it wasn’t quite a lie.

nTheor was very healthy, but he sometimes suffered colds and body aches.

nIn the first week of her fleeing life, Theor suffered a severe cold because he couldn’t adjust to an unfamiliar environment.

nAstelle made nutritional supplements for the child she had learned from Gretel and sometimes fed it to Theor.

nIt was because she was worried that Theor would get tired while moving from place to place.

n‘Well, it’s not just that there are medicines like that.’

nIn the medicine box Astelle carries, there wasn’t just such a regular medicine.

nEven though they looked like ordinary medicines or medicinal herbs, they were also mixed with ingredients that changed the color of the eyes.

nOf course, one by one, there was nothing special.

nBecause the medicine to change the eye color wasn’t a poisonous medicine.

nStill, she had to carry the essential ingredients and there was no choice but to have a lot of medicine bottles in the box.

nBut Astelle’s claim that children need all sorts of medicines sounded plausible enough.

n“I think my nanny did the same. Children are often sick.”

nVellian, who only listened quietly, sided with Astelle.

n“By the way…”

nAstelle, who stopped talking for a moment, made a cool expression.

nMarianne was amazed momentarily by her cold light green eyes.

n“Lady Marianne had already looked at my medicine box, so why did you keep asking me to checked the medicine box?”

nAt the word Astelle threw, the inside of the office was quickly struck by silence.

nMarianne stuttered with the pale face.

n“Well, what are you talking about?”

nAstelle watched Marianne carefully.

nThere was no desire to become enemies of this young lady and turn the new power of the Croychen family into an enemy.

nBut now it was unavoidable.

nShe can’t keep a person who keeps opening this and that and looking behind it like this.

nIn the situation of hiding secrets that should never be caught, humans who try to monitor people were the most dangerous.

n“If you had opened the medicine box, you would have checked all my other luggage. You must have known enough that none of the items I brought were suspicious. Why did you keep the medicine box open? And why did you keep asking me to checked the medicine box?”

n“That, that’s…”

nMarianne stuttered at Astelle’s question, and she bit her lips for an excuse.

nMarianne proved for herself that she had nothing suspicious of Astelle.

nShe didn’t seem to be able to think of it so far.

n“Lady Marianne wasn’t trying to check it if there was anything suspicious in my medicine box, but weren’t you’re trying to mix the suspicious medicine into it by taking a chance?”

nAstelle said calmly.

n“That’s why you would have asked the maid to carefully observe which medicines I use the most and the least.”

nIt was a common technique.

nPutting poison or a fake secret letter in the least used item among the opponent’s items.

nIf you put it in an item you use often, the opponent will catch it quickly, so you use the belongings or drawers that the opponent does not touch.

nYou put a suspicious object that might be a problem in it, and accuse the other person of it, and it’s done.

nAstelle was the empress who was abandoned by the emperor after a day.

nIt is difficult to avoid suspicion if poison comes out of the medicine box that she brought with the emperor.

nThen, no one here would side with Astelle.

nIt seems that this lady didn’t know how common it was.

nIn the imperial palace, to prevent such tricks, when keeping sensitive objects such as medicine boxes, she attach their own markers to monitor who does secretly open them.

n“I, I… no! It wasn’t like that!”

nMarianne, who had been completely stabbed, stuttered and screamed in white face.

nShe dropped the tears and tried to cling to Kaizen.

n“Your, Your Majesty…! Please trust me…”

nKaizen ignored Marianne and asked Vellian, who was next to him.

n“Was there a prison on the west side of this castle?”

n“Yes that’s right… it’s an old place.”

nSince this castle itself was managed only by a few people from the beginning unless the emperor came, there was not much to be used in places like prisons.

nIt will be old and dirty because it has been left for a long time.

nBut people can live.

nKaizen ordered coldly, seeing Marianne standing in her desperation room.

n“Until disposition is decided, Lady Marianne is imprisoned in a western prison.”

n“Your Majesty!”

nMarianne tried to beg with a fainting face, but Lynden approached her.

n“Lady, excuse me.”

nContrary to the polite apology, when he beckoned, the knights grabbed Marianne’s arms and pulled out without reason.

nMarianne was panic and screaming.

nAs the door closed, she heard Marianne’s yelling and screaming, but it slowly moved away.

nAs the room became quiet, Kaizen spoke to Astelle for the first time.

n“I’m sorry for letting you go through this, I apologize.”

nKaizen was very guilty, but Astelle didn’t feel special about this event.

nShe had a lot of these things in the past when she lived on the royal court.

nThere were countless nobles who were jealous of the Crown Princess.

nIt was nothing like the jealousy of the young ladies, but the great aristocrats who seriously fought to take Astelle into a trap and take over the place of the Crown Princess.

nCompared to that, this simple jealousy was rather cute.

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