TPIHLMD - Chapter 17 < A Poisoned Cup >






She's definitely trying to ask a difficult question. Although Seliya was released from prison, she could not escape the charge of murdering the Emperor.

Dietrich read the Empress's mind, but it was clear to him that if he stepped forward, the situation would get even worse.

As soon as the commotion subsided, she would try to throw Seliya into prison by accusing her of crimes that were not there. The Empress Dietrich knew was an ordinary human being.

How will Seliya get out of this situation? 

Now that her ban was over, Dietrich would only incur the Empress's wrath if he continued to stay here.

“...As your Majesty ordered, I will go out for a while.”

Dietrich looked back at Seliya just before leaving the room. Before he knew it, Seliya was raising her head and straightening her back.

The door closed with a thud. In the room he left, only the Empress, the maids, and Seliya remained.

“I said there were two of us, but it could be dangerous to stand alone with the criminal who assassinated the Emperor.”

The Empress smiled a benevolent smile at Seliya.

“Do you understand what I mean?”

The Empress did not believe the public rumor that Seliya had been conspired. There was nothing good about provoking the angry crowd, so they only released her temporarily. Seliya was as annoying in many ways as the hangnails on her fingernails.

She wished Seliya had died along with the Emperor.

At the very least, if Dietrich's knights had taken advantage of the Emperor's funeral to do something to Seliya, she wouldn't have had such trouble with her.

Not only did the Empress condone the knight's attempt to cause an accident, but she also promised that he would not be held accountable for whatever he did inside. However, as the Empress wished, Seliya did not lose her virginity or die.

Since she is alive, things like this happen.

The Empress hid her dark intentions and smiled at Seliya.

“Yes, Your Majesty the Empress.”

The Empress spoke in response to Seliya's obedient response.

“It will be uncomfortable to stand, so please sit on the sofa across from me.”

Seliya sat across from the Empress as she said.

“Would you like some refreshments?”

“Thank you for your words, but it’s okay. I heard that Your Majesty called me because you had something to say to me.”

The Empress's eyes sank. Because she was planning to add deadly poison to the refreshment. The Empress possessed a large amount of toxic substances that did not appear immediately but appeared after several days.

But there was no way she would only put poison in the tea.

The Empress smiled as she looked into the tea in her cup.

“I recently brought in an expensive tea from the Eastern Continent. It has a rich flavor and tastes very good.”

“...”

“I’ll give you a chance to have a special drink.”

Seliya felt that the Empress's intention to keep giving something away while calling herself a sinner was very sinister. But even though she said no once, she wasn't sure what would happen the second time.

“Then I will gratefully accept it.”

“Yes, that’s how it should be. Bring out the flower tea right now. The freshest one.”

"Yes."

The maid immediately brought a kettle filled with flower tea and two teacups to the stand. Seliya watched quietly as the maid poured the tea into a teacup.

As the name suggests, steam rose from the tea with floating yellow flowers.

“Now, drink it.”

Seliya looked at her cup and the Empress's cup alternately. It certainly seemed to contain the same flower tea, but if she looked closely, the tea in her cup had a darker color.

'I saw it was poured from the same teapot. Is there some kind of manipulation going on inside?'

Seliya was extremely sensitive to such threats as she was exposed to many threats while she was in the Viscount's residence.

If she hadn't been herself, someone else would have taken the tea and drank it without question.

“...Your Majesty doesn’t drink?”

In response to Seliya's question, the Empress smiled, closing her eyes. But she couldn't hide the anticipation in her eyes. no. It was correct to assume that she had no intention of hiding it in the first place.

“Do you really suspect that I got something in this tea?”

Such clear hostility. Seliya pretended not to know anything. She laughed and countered the Empress's words.

“Is that possible, Your Majesty? I've never seen such a pretty tea in my life. It’s almost a waste to drink.”

Seliya answered while holding a teacup in her hand. The Empress kept a close eye on Seliya's behavior.

“As far as I know, I heard that the Viscount Brillion family has so much wealth that the warehouse is about to explode.”

The Empress's words seemed innocuous on the surface, but their true meaning was to sarcastically ask why Seliya had never tasted a proper cup of tea when she had so much wealth that it was overflowing with corruption.

Seliya was well aware of this way of speaking, which is different from the outside and the inside. Because it was a method of communication that Gabriel, with whom she was not related by blood, often used it with her.

“In any case, it is the property of the Viscount Brillion family, not mine.”

Seliya gave an ambiguous answer.

“Aren’t you also a member of Viscount Brillion? Even though you are an adopted daughter.”

Instead of answering, Seliya lowered her head, and her hand holding the teacup trembled slightly. The Empress glanced at Seliya.

“I guess there’s something I can’t say. You are a sinner, so you must tell me everything without hiding anything.”

“...How could I tell a lie to Your Majesty?”

“Well then, let me ask you one thing first. Is it true that you murdered His Majesty the Emperor?”

Seliya stared at the Empress. She asked, even though she was already convinced that she had killed him. She was in bad taste.

"That's right."

The answer that came back seemed surprising, so the Empress shook the teacup in her hand and said.

“Are you just now confirming that you murdered the Emperor?”

“How can I tell a lie to Your Majesty now?”

“...Isn’t there some kind of background? You assassinated the Emperor by yourself?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“If the men outside the imperial palace find out about this, they will faint. You said with complete certainty that you were slandered.”

After hearing the Empress's words, Seliya seemed to know the state of affairs of her death. When she lived in her home, the men who saw Seliya worshiped her, calling her something very noble and very pure.

However, the foundation of thr worship was necessarily based on lust.

The men who fell in love with Seliya, at first sight, all coveted her openly. Whispering all kinds of sweet and honey-filled words with their mouth, said that they were different from other men.

But, whenever they got the chance, they had something to do with her.

They said it was love at first sight. They said they loved her.

Is this really the right attitude to have toward someone you love? If they really love that person, isn't it right for them to cherish that person?

Just as her father, the King, had done to her, as she had done to her parrot Popo.

That was the day when the prestigious high priest visited the Viscount to see Seliya. The high priest who spent the amount of money from devotees offered to the temple to meet Seliya did not hide his lustful glances towards her.

Once they were alone, the high priest tried to play his trick on Seliya. Seliya was so curious about his inner thoughts that she had asked him before she used her powers on him.

The answer his opponent gave was shocking.

He thought that if he took her first, Seliya would remember him for the rest of her life.

Seliya is called the Angel of the Brillion. What kind of expression would she make if she got involved with him? Even if she harbors feelings of disgust towards him, wouldn't he even find it lovely?

Although it is an unholy act, if he does something like this, if he sincerely apologizes to God, this sin will be washed away, and he will remain in Seliya's memory.

Seliya had a faint smile on her lips as she remembered the man whose face she couldn't even remember. It was a fleeting, 
misty smile.

“It is true that I was slandered, but what they say is not true.”

It was difficult for her to understand even as an Empress. The Empress asked, furrowing her brows.

“You killed him herself, but they say you were swindled, and now you say what they say is not true. Which of what you are saying is true?”

“I was forcibly dragged out of Your Majesty’s bedroom by members of my family. Therefore, it is true that I was slandered, and it is true that I killed the Emperor with my own hands to protect myself, so it is correct that I killed him.”

How can you say so calmly that you killed the Emperor? Are you lying to yourself because you are foolish? Or is it the truth?

'Whatever the truth is, I can't see you hanging around with Dietrich.'

Instead of revealing her true feelings, the Empress took a sip of the tea in her teacup.

And, she offered Seliya tea once more.

“Now, let’s have a drink and talk more before the tea gets cold.”

“...”

The Empress drank tea first, and she even invited Seliya to drink it. She had no power to refuse this.

Seliya didn't miss the way the corners of the Empress's mouth went slack as she raised the teacup to her mouth.

Seliya pretended it was a mistake and dropped the teacup. The glass fell to the floor with a clanging sound and shattered.

“!”

Anger appeared in the Empress's eyes.

“I committed a mortal sin. The tea given by His Majesty...!”

Before the Empress could say anything, Seliya fell to the floor and bowed her head.

The Empress glared at Seliya's head as if she were going to chew it up and swallow it.

“It’s okay, get up. I just need to get a new glass.”

The Empress immediately ordered the maid to bring her a new cup.

“I’m sure you won’t make another mistake, right? And that’s the tea I personally pour.”

The Empress spoke as she poured tea directly into a teacup. The inside of the teapot was divided into two types: poisoned tea and non-poisonous tea.

This kettle, which dispenses poisonous tea if you touch the blunt part on the inside of the handle, and poisonous tea if you do not touch the blunt part, was a gift from Ileon to her, the Empress.

The Empress smiled triumphantly after seeing that Seliya had accepted the teacup.

“Drink it. What could I possibly be riding in here?”
 
Now Seliya couldn't escape, she had to drink.

As soon as Seliya lifted the teacup to her lips, someone's voice was heard beyond the door.

“Mom, it’s me.”



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