Chapter 120

“I would like to ask you to allow me to continue taking care of Miss Naen.”

It was the reward that Astelle had promised Naen for the price of confession.

Astelle begged Kaizen earnestly.

Kaizen didn’t like it very much but eventually accepted it.

“Okay. Do as you please.”

“Your Majesty, what are you going to do with the Croychens?”

Astelle didn’t expect that Kaizen would be so angry about this.

When the Marchioness failed to poison Astelle before, she was not punished much.

Kaizen gave a cold answer with indifferent eyes.

He said, “That family has threatened you and Theor even before the wedding. At this point, I will execute them as an example.”

“……”

The Marchioness of Croiychen had previously tried to kidnap Theor and also tried to kill Astelle.

Florin too….., threatened Astelle with a secret letter from Astelle’s father, the Duke of Reston.

Astelle also wanted to get rid of the Croychens, which caused trouble every now and then.

But she didn’t want to kill everyone in the family.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to kill them all,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

Astelle persuaded Kaizen with a calm tone.

“Florin has just reached adulthood and Naen hasn’t even, although they both had poison……”

The poison Naen had was not a lethal one.

Astelle replaced it with a similarly colored poison to ensure they fell into the trap.

She wondered for a moment if she should tell Kaizen about it.

‘Will you blame me if you know the truth?’

Astelle looked at Kaizen as she pondered that.

The red eyes, which seemed cold at first glance, were filled with concern and affection for Astelle.

Astelle made up her mind after a brief deliberation.

She couldn’t keep this a secret from him forever.

She didn’t even want to lie to the end to anyone who looked at her with such eyes.

“Based on Miss Naen’s confession, Florin didn’t mean to hurt Theor, she was just trying to make a scene in the empress’ palace.”

“Why would she try to do such a thing?”

“Because I told her about finding a marriage partner…… She seemed to be trying to distract me.”

Astelle spoke to him honestly.

From monitoring Naen, Florin’s notes, then capturing Naen and forcing her to confess.

Astelle then tried to say that she changed the poison, but Kaizen cut her off as if there was nothing more to listen to.

“I know what happened.”

However, Kaizen didn’t have much sympathy for the actions of the Croychen sisters.

“It is a grave sin to bring dangerous drugs into the imperial palace for any reason.”

He said firmly.

“Theor is with the dog every day. What do you think would have happened if things went wrong and our Theor took the poison or even touched it?”

“……”

It wasn’t wrong. Theor is still five years old.

If he takes animal-killing poison, he will not lose his life, but it will be dangerous to his body.

“The Marquis of Croichen has worked in many ways for His Majesty, and if the punishment is too severe, he will express his resentment.”

And the resentment will, of course, be directed at Astelle herself.

Astelle sighed.

“Wouldn’t it be enough to drive the Marquis and his daughters out of the capital and let them live in the countryside forever?”

Astelle wanted them to be punished that much from the start.

Although his title will be lost and his territory will be confiscated because of this, he will still have enough land to carry on the family lineage even if he will be expelled from the capital.

With that much, there won’t be much trouble for them to live their lives.

At this point, they can just go live with Marchioness and Marianne in the countryside.

“Even if you punish them, I want you to leave a way for them to live.”

Kaizen didn’t seem very happy, but he promised to do so.

“Okay, I’ll do that.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“There’s nothing to be thankful for. How can I beat you?”

Kaizen laughed low, half sighed and half laughed.

“I apologize for making things bigger.”

Astelle apologized after a moment of silence.

She felt a little sorry for making things at will without discussing them beforehand.

“No, the Croychens have gone too far. There’s a limit to being patient.”

Kaizen said as if not to mind.

“If things went wrong, Theor would have been seriously hurt.”

“I guess so.”

“Go back first. I’ll be there in the evening after finishing my work.”

Astelle bowed her head as she received his friendly gaze.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

***

After a while, Astelle returned to the empress’ palace.

Even though such a thing happened in the emperor’s palace, the empress’s palace was only peaceful.

Hannah, who was waiting in the study, came out to greet Astelle.

“Your Majesty, are you all right?”

“Yes, it ended well.”

Through the large window, she could see Theor playing in the garden.

Theor was running around the garden with Blynn as usual.

Theor, who found Astelle, waved his hand next to the flower bed.

“Mom!”

Astelld smiled and waved her hand.

Hannah smiled next to her.

“The Prince has finished today’s class.”

Seeing Theor and Blynn happily running around, the tiredness felt a little while ago disappeared to some extent.

Something suddenly came to mind.

“Oh, right. Hannah, I want to write a letter, please prepare it.”

“A letter? Did something happen?”

“I want to find someone.”

As she went through this incident, Gretel came to mind.

Before she remarried, she once sent a letter to where Gretel lived, but never got a reply.

Where are you and what are you doing right now?

Gretel, who only roamed the underdeveloped countryside, had little interest in news from the capital.

It is highly likely that she hadn’t heard about the new empress.

“This time, I will send it to an inn in another area, not a house.”

When Gretel was researching herbs, there was an area she occasionally heard about.

She thought it might be a good idea to send a letter to an inn in the area, as she might be staying there.

“Are you going to call that person to the imperial palace?”

“Yes, I want to meet and repay her.”

***

Vellian almost tripped as he walked down the dimly lit stairs.

‘Ugh…..!’

The knight in front looked at him.

“Are you okay?”

“……I am.”

‘Why is it so dark here?’

Does saving candles make sense in prison hallways?

Only the passersby are harmed, not the prisoners.

This is a prison in the basement of the imperial palace.

He had been here several times but was still not used to this gloomy place.

If possible, he would like to avoid coming to this dark and gloomy place forever.

But this time there was no choice.

Because Florin’s nanny begged him earnestly.

She asked him to meet Florin, who is imprisoned.

If it had been just a nanny’s request, he would have refused, but he could not because Florin herself had asked for it.

Her younger sister, Naen, was released shortly after being imprisoned.

Florin asked Naen to pass her message to her nanny.

And the nanny also asked to pass her message through Vellian……

Well, that’s how the request came in.

‘It’s fine to just ignore it. I’m too soft-hearted.’

Vellian clicked his tongue in his heart.

To be a little more honest, Vellian had occasionally been helped by Marquis Croychen, who had been the Minister of State.

Florin and he also knew each other very well.

In this situation, it was a little uncomfortable to completely ignore Florin’s request.

‘It’s not like I had anything to complain about, but……’

Still, people get retaliation for being too cruel.

Vellian eventually escaped the eyes of others and entered the prison to meet Florin.

When he arrived at the prison at the bottom of the basement, the guard escorted him to where Florin was.

Florin was sitting in a dark prison where there was no light at all.

“Lady Florin.”

He called her politely, but there was no answer.

He could see Florin’s doll-like beautiful face in the dark.

She was like a pale plaster statue.

“Good news, Lady. His Majesty will show mercy.”

Vellian spoke to her as if to comfort her, but Florin still did not answer.

“Well….., nothing has been decided yet, but I think it will end with some more confiscated territory and expulsion from the capital. I can’t give you a definitive answer about the title of the Marquis, but I think that the possibility of his title being deprived is low.”

Considering what happened in the past, it was an incredibly generous disposition.

Especially considering the Emperor’s great anger.

It was a little strange.

When the emperor ordered to arrest even the Marquis of Croychen, he thought he was trying to kill all the Croychens.

Suddenly, after talking with the Empress alone, His Majesty’s mind changed to a more generous one.

‘Did the Empress persuade His Majesty?’

If the Croychens were to be destroyed, the imperial nobles would condemn the new empress.

The empress must have made up her mind to just get rid of the Croychens from the capital.

If they are expelled from the capital, they will be forever incapable of doing anything but busy to think about how to survive.

It must be a terrible thing for the Croychen family, who once became high-ranking nobles in the capital.

Still, from a realistic point of view, it was very good news for them.

Vellian expected Florin to think the same.

But Florin was not at all happy.

She didn’t even listen to him properly.

“Sir Vellian.”

Florin took one step closer to him.

The eerie, expressionless face in the darkness looked like a ghost.

Vellian flinched and stepped back.

“La-Lady? What’s wrong with you……?”

Florin walked towards him.

In the dark, purple eyes gleamed coldly.

“I was unfairly framed. Help me.”