Chapter 96: CH 96

I will live with Cesare for a hundred years here.

I will eat well and live well with the man I love, the man who loves me!

“I’m not going back. this is where I’m going to put down my roots and live.”

“You won’t regret it?”

“Yes. I don’t regret it. Never.”

“I wanted to hear that answer.”

“Pardon?”

Lee Jong-woo smiled brightly at my question.

He pulled a small pocket from his arm and placed it on the table.

It looked like he was offering it to me, so I cautiously reached out and took it.

When I opened the pocket, I saw small white pills.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a drug called bariol. It’s a type of tranquilizer, but it’s been found to be addictive and is now banned.”

Why are you giving it to me?

I looked at him with eyes asking for an explanation.

“I got it from the Peliard mansion a few days ago. It used to be in the hands of the Peliard family, and they still have it, unable to get rid of it. If you reported it to the Imperial Palace, he would be in big trouble for having a banned substance.”

I pondered for a while.

I wondered if he was telling me to report Count Peliard’s misdeeds to the Emperor, score some points, and could get me out of this house.

However, Daphne’s home, Peliard, was not a very important member of the aristocracy.

It could be an act of getting rid of pests, but it wouldn’t be enough to get the Emperor to help me.

Or do you mean to threaten Count Peliard with this to help me get out of here?

Does Count Peliar have the power to defeat Gabriel?

As I pondered, Lee Jong-woo said something shocking.

“There are suspicions that the drug may have killed Daphne’s mother. That is, the original Daphne.”

I looked at him in surprise.

“Is it poison?”

“It is not the drug itself. After all, it was initially distributed for therapeutic purposes. But once you became addicted, it said you couldn’t live without this drug. And the heart function would be weakened and the mind exhausted.”

If so, it might be of some help.

We came up with a scenario that framed Peliard as a traitorous force trying to disrupt the country, and Gabriel as the hero who uncovered the whole conspiracy and saved the day.

Cesare and I had been working with I could then claim that I and Cesare had been working with Gabriel from the beginning and that our divorce was actually a play to deceive Peliard.

Then our divorce will be annulled, then Cesare and I can go back as a married couple.

But will the Emperor fall for this proposal?

The Emperor was the biggest variable, so I was a little worried, but I took the medicine.

“Are you sure about the novel?”

“Is the original novel that important?”

“It was just what I needed.”

I honestly confessed because I didn’t think there was any need to hide it since I’d been told no anyway.

“I was trying to create evidence that Gabriel had no choice but to become Emperor. Because that’s how a child-loving Emperor would react.”

“I see.”

“But I failed because there were a lot of inaccurate memories. So I needed a novel…”

“Well, it’s impossible to bring the book, but if you’d like, Miss Daphne I can read it to you, I’ve read it many times since being here.”

“Really?!”

“Yes.”

Lee Jong-woo promised to tell me what he knew.

He also said he’d take a look at the author’s social media and get back to me.

Oh my God, even if the sky falls, there is a way to survive.

I sighed in relief and patted my chest.

“Oh right. I’m going to give one of these to Miss Daphne.”

As I was leaving the room, Lee Jong-woo handed me a small gift box.

When I opened the box, colorful candy came out.

“Candy?”

“It’s delicious. Eat one.”

I wondered if I could eat it, but I thought it wouldn’t be dangerous because he was trying to help me.

I picked up a blue candy and put it in my mouth.

When I roll the candy with my tongue, the sweet and refreshing taste spreads in my mouth.

It’s delicious.

It was a pity that the candy melted and disappeared so quickly.

As I took out another one and ate it, Lee Jong-woo muttered with a grin.

“You two are the same in this regard.”

“Yes?”

“It’s nothin. then I’d better get going, I think my friend will be very upset if I am around Miss Daphne any longer. I’ll be back in a few days. Before that, if you need to reach me urgently, I’m staying at an inn called The Windmill on the Hill, you can reach me there.”

He smiled playfully as he shaped the phone with his hands.

I laughed lightly at the pose that only modern people could know about here.

Lee Jong-woo was familiar yet unfamiliar to me.

The candies that Lee Jong-woo left me gave me strength.

Yes, let’s do our best! Daphne!

*****

The Marquis Gallard and his knights set out on the road.

He was heading to an ordinary residential area to the west of the capital.

It was a famous place for security because the district was well-maintained compared to other places, and there was a school that even commoners could attend.

Every commoner who could afford it wanted to live here.

And Jacob, whom the Marquis will visit today, also lived here.

Although Jacob was a commoner, he was fluent in chemistry.

He often brags, saying that professors at Hylister National University also want to invite him.

His neighbors would laugh at Jacob every time he did, saying that he was talking nonsense again.

Because it was a nonsensical story to a commoner to be a professor at Hylister National University, where only nobles could enter.

They looked down at Jacob, but in reality he was excellent.

To the extent that the Marquis Gallard, who had found him and put him into work so he consistently generated a large income for the Marquis of Gallant.

After an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the banning of the barriole by staging a carriage accident, the Marquis Gallart was forced to destroy the product and all those involved.

But Jacob was the goose that laid the golden eggs.

The Marquis Gallard couldn’t afford to cut the goose’s.

Jacob alone would be fine.

It’s the master’s job to handle the goose.

In response, Marquis Gallard seduced Count Peliard, who was already in financial trouble due to over-expanding his business.

Instead of introducing great manufacturers, he switched to charging a commission.

Although the income was insignificant compared to that of directly manufacturing and selling, there was no need to bear the risk factors.

And so Jacob stood alone when all those involved in the death of the Duke and Duchess of Burstoad were silenced by death.

But this is also the last for today.

The Empress directly ordered him to inspect the past, and to clean up the remaining traces.

“Tsk.”

Marquis Gallard clicked his tongue.

Most likely, the Empress knew that the Marquis Gallard had kept Jacob alive.

She was a woman who had eight snakes inside her.

‘Ungrateful.’

Where would all the money he paid the Empress every month come from?

All of it came from Jacob’s sales of the refined products he processed from Bariol.

He didn’t like the way she looked at him, the way she looked down like a subject who had favored her so far.

The Empress had even lost what little imperial blood she had gained with her own hands.

The Empress was a woman who would do anything to get her way.

Marquis Gallard wrinkled his forehead.

Up until this point, the Marquis of Gallant had been able to keep his head above water because the Emperor had no one else to succeed him.

But now there is an alternative called Gabriel.

He may be of lowly birth, but he has the Emperor’s blood.

The Empress was trying to put a leash on that illegitimate child.

‘Is that really possible?’

Marquis Gallard rubbed his chin with an uncomfortable look on his face.

He couldn’t understand why the Empress had chosen the hard way over the easy way.

“Marquis. I’m here.”

I’ll have to deal with this first.

It was unlikely I would be able to get the job done by bossing Peliard around.

He’s probably even more preoccupied now that he’s been short on funds lately.

Besides, he seemed to be in contact with Prince Gabriel for some reason.

I had to consider the possibility that the Count Peliard might betray us.

Even though it was a bit difficult, I decided to go ahead with it myself.

An unmarked carriage stopped in front of a house.

The Marquis, who remained in the carriage, looked at the knight as he approached the house.

He didn’t want to be in the middle of this mess, but he needed to see the end of it and collect the Bariols he’d left behind.

Marquis Gallard lifted the blackout curtains of the carriage with his fingertips, examining the sympathy outside.

However, the knight who had approached Jacob’s residence returned to the carriage again.

“Marquis. I don’t sense any sign of presence.”

Marquis Gallard made a shocked face.

“What do you mean?”

“It seems that no one is inside.”

“What?”

Marquis Gallard put on his robes and got off the carriage.

Bang Bang.

I knocked on the door, but as the knights said, I didn’t feel any presence.

The knight ripped open the closed door by force.

What he saw in front of him was empty, a landscape with no furniture left behind.

The opponent noticed it first and ran away.

“Shit!”

A disappointment flashed across Marquis Gallard’s face.