Chapter 40: CH 40

The Saintess from Thiago came and stood in front of me. I don’t know what Empress Rosé whispered in her ear, but her eyes were pretty full of will.

I checked something that had been uprooted in a hurry this morning.

‘I told Dwayne it was for research, but I was actually planning on selling it on the way back to fill up my money.’

“Would you close all the curtains? Dimly.”

Then Kyle gave the servants a glance, and the Empress’ room quickly became dark.

I opened the package and held it. It was a White Rotunia with roots.

I saw the Empress narrowing her eyebrows.

“I think pharmacists know what this is.”

The pharmacists’ eyes widened. It’s rare to see a beautiful white rose that costs 500 franc each, and has no medicinal efficacy.

“And in my eyes I see the delicate light of the flower.”

“A flower gives off light? What kind of craft is that?”

Alberto stopped me, but the pharmacists all agreed with my answer.

The heavy gaze of the Emperor was on me.

“White Rotunia is a flower that shows its light to those who have holy and divine power. It’s a little-known fact, but pharmacists will know.”

Alberto looked dissatisfied, yet he couldn’t deny the fact.

“And the Saintess from Thiago, Miss Tina. If you really have holy power, you will see it in your eyes.”

To my words, she replied with subtle wobbly eyes.

“O-Of course.”

Although she may not have holy power, she must be a woman with a degree of divine power. It’s also pretty strong. So it would have been possible to heal.

“Pharmacists, grind this flower well into tea, and also prepare a White Sand flower, which is said to have the worst poison in the Empire.”

I could see Kyle’s eyebrows hardening at my words.

The White Sand flower was a plant that looked like a white rose, and it was a rare plant with a venomous poison in its petals. If you grind the two of them, you probably won’t be able to tell which one is the Rotunia.

I continued speaking calmly, indifferently.

“Rotunia is a mysterious flower, and if you’re a saintess, you can tell which tea is Rotunia.”

“…”

“It’s a very simple test.”

“Saintess.”

The Emperor opened his mouth.

“Then you can tell a fake saintess by choosing Rotunia tea?”

“No.”

I laughed softly.

“That’s not enough. Shouldn’t you have the courage to drink and die if you pick the wrong tea? Then the results will be certain.”

I could see the face of the Saintess from Thiago hardening at my words.

“It’s not like you’re not confident, right?”

“No way.”

Saintess Tina from Thiago answered my words without losing.

Alberto had a mysterious gaze even though his face was hardened.

As far as he knew, Ariel was a fool with no power, so I could see him rolling his head, thinking, “Why is she suggesting this?”

“What do you think? Her Imperial Majesty the Empress.”

I handed over the decision-making authority of this test to the Empress.

Everyone’s eyes focused on the Empress, who was lying obliquely on the bed with one hand on her stomach.

“I would like to reveal the truth to the Empress, who is devoting her efforts to uncovering the fake saintess even during her pregnancy. But if it interferes with prenatal education, there is nothing I can do about it.”

Her eyebrows twitched at my words.

After a while, the red, chapped lips opened.

“Your Imperial Majesty. You can do that. Because there is nothing more harmful to prenatal education than a dizzying state of affairs.”

At the words of the Empress, the Emperor nodded his head.

“Pharmacists, as the Saintess says, prepare two teas with no mistakes, and go out so as not to give a signal by any chance. The positions of the two cups of tea will be chosen by Sir Mikhael, and the two saintesses will have to cover their noses with a cloth and choose which one is Rotunia with only their eyes.”

I saw Tina.

She had an anxious expression on her face, but she didn’t seem to be shaken by believing in herself with power.

“Are you going to risk your life?”

As everyone was busy getting ready, Kyle came up to me and said.

His red eyes sank low. He seemed to think this was probably my bluff, guts, or even prepared to die.

It was no wonder as Ariel was a fake saintess and he would think she had no talent to see Rotunia.

“Your Highness, you can just keep an eye on me quietly.”

I said to him with a calm look.

His red eyes twinkled a little.

As he tried to open his lips, I turned my gaze to meet Alberto, who was staring intently at me.

‘He’s anxious to catch any weakness.’

I raised one corner of my lips and laughed at him, then said to Kyle.

“It’ll be fun.”

And turned my back on him.

A heavy gaze was felt on the back of my head.

Moments later, a trolley with two cups of tea covered in black cloth entered the dimly lit room.

The people in the room were the Emperor and Empress, Kyle and Alberto, the Saintess from Thiago, Tina, and I.

The soldiers were waiting outside. In case of emergency.

“…”

In an atmosphere of tension, the Emperor glanced at Mikhael, and he placed two glasses under the black cloth on the table.

The Emperor himself lifted the cloth over it. The amount of tea in the two glass teacups was the same, and the color was the same.

I could see Tina’s eyes fluttering sharply.

I said to her calmly.

“I’ll give you a choice. Choose first.”

After looking at the two cups of tea with her pale face for a long time, she looked at the Emperor and said,

“It’s a conspiracy!”

At those words, the Emperor hardened his eyebrows.

“Both cups don’t contain Rotunia. Neither of the cups of tea shines!”

Her anxious gaze turned to the Empress.

The Empress gave her a bewildered look, and she said to the Emperor.

“I have to tell the pharmacists to make tea again…”

And I opened my mouth and hung up.

“That’s strange.”

Her eyes shook at my voice.

“You’re sure you have the power, right? It shines like this to my eyes.”

“What kind of trick is this!!”

At my words, Tina lost her reason and became very angry.

“Unless you can’t tell the difference because you’re cheating with your power, which is divine power rather than holy power…”

I casually picked up one of the glasses.

I saw Kyle approaching me with an urgent, hard expression. But sipping it was quicker for me.

“…!”

Everyone’s eyes were on me.

I frowned a little and stood there for a while.

“…Is there any way other than that?”

And after a while I smiled.

“Ah, it’s a bit bitter.”

Alberto looked as if his eyes were about to pop out at any moment.

I murmured calmly.

“Rotunia is nothing like tea.”

Kyle was still there, and the Empress’ complexion couldn’t be seen any more.

The Saintess from Thiago looked at me and was mesmerized.

The Emperor stared at me for a long time before opening his mouth.

“Please choose.”

Even if his gaze was directed at me, those words weren’t directed at me. These were the words to Tina, who was standing blankly.

“Shouldn’t you choose the remaining cup and drink it?”

Tina was startled by the Emperor’s words with her hands trembling.

“S-Something is wrong.”

She said, looking at Alberto and the Empress alternately with her face turned white.

“It’s not like this. There really was no light. That woman must have made a strange move!”

But no one in the room listened to her.

She sat down and shook her head as her legs were loosened.

“It can’t be like this. This can’t be!”

It is natural. Even if she had the power, she wouldn’t have been able to tell which of the two cups of tea was Rotunia.

The day I was walking through the flower fields of Rotunia with Reihausd, I noticed that the petals that had been unintentionally opened didn’t give off light.

Like a mini light bulb connected to a battery, the petals separated from the roots are crushed and the light is blown away.

But I have an assistant who can discern the subtle differences between Rotunia and White Sand powder from a thousand miles away.

[The God of Art, Mond, shrugs his shoulders.]

Thus, this was a game I had no choice but to win in the first place, whether she was real or fake.