episode_0065

It was truly a strange occurrence.

Looking at the situation alone, Service was undoubtedly in a dire situation right now.

However.

“His pupils aren’t shaking at all.”

Even though he wore a face of remorse right after facing the Emperor’s wrath, what was evident in his eyes was confidence.

No matter what happened, there was an expression on his face that he would be fine.

“Could it be that I missed something?”

I hastily retraced my memories.

Come to think of it, in Maruno’s memory that I glimpsed through Aitas, Service had handed him a glass of red wine.

Maruno thought of that glass as a symbol of the contract being finalized, so he downed it without a second thought.

“Could it be that he tampered with the drink?”

If it was the Service I knew.

He wouldn’t take risks without a contingency plan.

If he had ordered Maruno to touch Elaine, he would have surely made preparations for when things went awry.

Therefore, the glass Maruno drank from must have been laced with poison.

Thud-

Maruno, who had been dragged back, roughly fell to his knees.

His face had already turned pitch black, clearly indicating imminent death to anyone who looked.

“Cough!”

Maruno collapsed, vomiting dark red blood profusely.

“It’s… it’s poison!”

As if someone had planned ahead, a voice shouted.

I quickly tried to insert Aku into Maruno’s body.

If I could save him, I would be able to prove that Service was behind this.

But just before Aku entered Maruno’s body, Service blocked my path.

He exuded a powerful mana throughout his body, deflecting Aku and grabbing his throat.

It wasn’t a physical grip; it was tightly wrapped around with mana.

Service calmly addressed the Emperor.

“I have caught something invisible. It seems to have taken Rutheon Yeongsik’s life.”

“Something invisible…”

“For example, like a ghost or maybe a spirit… In my opinion, it seems to be a spirit.”

Service’s gaze had unknowingly turned towards me.

Everyone present there instinctively turned their heads towards me.

Indeed, Service was no ordinary individual.

He redirected the anger and suspicion towards me in an instant.

“A spirit…”

“So, does that mean Eos has regained her abilities?”

“To kill again with the restored abilities…”

But I, too, was not someone to be trifled with.

“A spirit… yes. It is true that the spirit is contracted with me. However, as everyone here knows, I had no reason to kill Maruno. Even if I wanted to kill him, I could have simply used a broken glass instead of conjuring a spirit.”

“So you’re saying it wasn’t you? Even though a spirit is captured in my hands?”

“Rather, Maruno seemed to want to say something to you, Service.”

“Is that so?”

“For instance, did you order him to do that, or did you set it up and then try to pin it on me?”

“What are you talking about? No idea. After using a spirit to kill someone and trying to blame me for it, I’m so frustrated I don’t know which way to turn, brother.”

“Let me tell you one thing. No spirit uses poison. And you didn’t know? Right before the incident, didn’t Service hand Maruno a glass? Wasn’t that where the poison was ingested?”

“Service, did you indeed hand him the glass?”

The Emperor, who had been silent, asked Service.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I did hand him the glass.”

After a brief pause, Service responded with an expression that seemed to question why it was even an issue.

The Emperor seemed to understand Service’s words well.

“Lock the doors of the banquet hall immediately. Investigate all those who entered and bring back those who have already left.”

Under the repeated suspicions of the Emperor, Service’s expression twisted slightly.

But as if conscious of my gaze, it quickly relaxed again.

He even seemed to be trying to emphasize his innocence, smiling.

“Service, His Majesty is suspecting you.”

Trying to press on the sore spot, it wasn’t easy to suppress Chimi’s irritation.

Service’s eyebrows twitched noticeably.

“…Because Your Majesty is just and fair.”

“So what I’m saying is, if His Majesty, who is just and fair, suspects you, doesn’t that imply there’s an issue with you?”

In the face of boldly pointed truths, the guy’s lips, which had been curled upwards in forced nonchalance, straightened into a line.

Unable to bear the persistent nagging any longer, he was clearly losing his temper.

“You instructed to harass Elaine, perhaps out of fear that things might go awry. Did you not have her drink poisoned wine in advance? When I tried to heal Marno as a spirit, you went as far as to intervene. Isn’t that so?”

Confronted with the boldly stated truth, the guy’s pupils trembled ever so slightly.

“Truly, it is a groundless speculation, brother. How can you assert that there was poison in the glass I handed over? The banquet has long passed. During that extended period, did Luteon Youngsik only drink the one glass I gave him? And why on earth would I, as the Crown Prince, bother to harass your fiancée! Please speak sensibly!”

“You were rejected when you requested a dance from Elaine. Moreover, even your attempt at conversation was futile. As Elaine headed towards the balcony by herself, being the proud person you are, you undoubtedly felt extreme discomfort.”

“Just based on that—”

“Did you truly request a dance from Elaine?”

It was the Emperor who interrupted Service’s words.

Beside him, the Empress was glaring at her son, her fan lowered.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I merely inquired out of courtesy since Brother’s fiancée was standing alone.”

“Then why did you request a conversation?”

“That was because we are to become family in the future…”

“Ha!”

As if taken aback by the mention of family, the Empress exhaled sharply and covered her mouth with the fan once more.

In reality, most of those present here had likely already realized.

Requesting a dance was not an issue. Requesting a conversation was also not a problem.

But mentioning family, that was truly odd.

History proved it.

Originally, before the Emperor’s power, things like family held no significance.

If a brother was spared, he would inevitably become the spark of rebellion.

Historically, it was extremely rare for an Emperor’s sibling to survive, and that was the proof.

However, just now, the current Crown Prince, Service, mentioned family.

The family he mentioned was not Elaine as a sister-in-law but rather, the family as his own wife after his brother’s death, I suddenly realized.

Of course, having read the novel, it was nothing new to me.

Service, the worst villain in the novel.

In the original work, he falls in love with the saint Elaine at first sight.

It was the unavoidable fate that the author had set up.

Elaine, who became his target, spent years in an underground prison like a bird trapped in a cage, unable to see the sunlight until the hero came to rescue her.

Keeping the other party hidden away where they could reach whenever they wanted, without anyone knowing, whether the imprisoned one withered away or not—that was how Service loved.

Thinking about it now, my stomach churned.

Yet she is my fiancée now. I never expected things to turn out this way.

Before I knew it, I was captivated by a strange feeling.

Feeling inexplicably angry, irritated, and feverish to the core. It was a state where I even hesitated to breathe.

Especially, with each explosive thump of my heart as if it would burst, I kept feeling like my consciousness was fading.

I barely held onto my consciousness.

The experience of manipulating spirits and depleting mana was a great help.

The most important thing now was that I must not let this slide as it is.

Anyway, he must have already destroyed almost all evidence.

So, somehow, I needed to provoke him a bit more and definitely induce a mistake.

“Elaine.”

I pulled Elaine towards me and embraced her.

“Why, why, Eos… P-please let go of me… Everyone’s watching!”

Elaine urgently whispered with a slightly flushed face.

“Shall we kiss?”

I’m not sure why those words came out, but it was a small enough sound to be heard only by her.

“What?! H-here?!”

A place where everyone was watching.

Moreover, it was an utterly inappropriate place where the Emperor, Empress, Crown Prince, and almost all nobles of the empire were staring at us alone.

“N-no… Not here-”

But all I could see was Elaine’s lips.

Smack.

Lips met.

Incredibly soft, tender, warm, and moist.

Her body squirming desperately in my tight embrace resisted fiercely.

It was a desperate struggle as urgent as a small bird trapped in my hands.

Haa— haa— Even the occasional breaths felt like completing a marathon. The thought that perhaps my breath was running out faster than that fleetingly crossed my mind.

The weakening resistance had suddenly ceased.

The people around us seemed to have vanished as if they never existed.

The sensation through our tongues was so ecstatic that it felt like both vision and hearing had been muted.

As if only the two of us existed in the world, nothing else could be sensed.

That way, I shared a kiss with Elaine for a long time.

Heads constantly tilting back and forth.

Her hands tightly embracing my back.

It was extremely sweet, surpassing sugar and honey imitations.

However, the end was so regretful, leaving a taste akin to melting soybean paste on the tip of my tongue.

Even when I opened my eyes, Elaine still had hers closed.

Snap!

When she opened her eyes, she momentarily seemed dazed, then with a stern expression, she slapped me across the face in one swift motion and left the banquet hall in a hurry.

Only then did I come to my senses.

“What on earth did I just do?”

It felt like I was possessed by a ghost.