RAMHM - Chapter 149 < Blie's Circumstances (4) >

That's what Rossi always said.

No matter how diluted it is, it cannot hide the strong scent that kills people.

Blie, who had heard about poison from Rossi so many times that her ears were worn out, was able to tear off a corner of her childhood memory as soon as she smelled the scent that briefly brushed her nose.

'There's a poisonous plant here that grows in Winston Estate. Is it because the geology is similar? Blie! Don't sniff anything!'

'What's the poison? It's a herb, even though it makes my nose sting.'

'It's the perfect poison to kill someone pretending to be incense. If someone were to give you, a vain person like you, the best incense as a gift, you'd die right away. Your lifeline would be burned in an instant.'

“It smells good, Your Highness.”

“Cough.”

Adrienne, who had started coughing, took a handkerchief out of her bosom and covered her mouth with it, then looked down at Blie. Red blood stains were clearly visible on the white handkerchief between her fingers.

Adrienne seemed to have difficulty even coughing.

“They say the royal family is very careful about it. Should I give you some? Your complexion is not good, but it has a good scent so it will help you too.”

Adrienne answered with a quizzical expression as if it were her first time having such a casual conversation with a maid.

And the hope that if she shared the scent, the maid who had briefly Blie borrowed her face would deliver news of Noevian without going through the butler.

It was the first time. For a very brief moment, those green eyes sparkled with life.

“Hey, it’s a secret from Annie.”

Adrienne slowly disappeared through the window as if he really intended to share the poison.

Blie stared blankly at the blonde hair fluttering like dandelion seeds, her mouth pursed.

And then, biting her lower lip, she couldn't wait any longer for Adrienne and ran in the direction she came from.

The curses poured out of her mouth without stopping.

Blie ran as if someone was chasing her and escaped the Grand Duke's residence.

Even abandoning the carriage that was chasing her, Blie walked and walked along the streets at dusk like Mia.

“Madam! I was so worried when Uncle Jang came back alone! Where did you go, abandoning the carriage? Did you really go to the Grand Duke’s residence?”

They arrived at the Count's residence late at night.

Blie was locked in the pink-painted room without being able to give Jonah any answer for waiting for her until late at night.

This was the room that she had requested from the Count before their wedding, imagining that this was the kind of room she would stay in.

As she recalled the image of just a short while ago, filled with twisted anger, only self-deprecation came out.

“Ha. Ah... F**k, really...”

Blie slumped down with her back against the door and buried her face in her hands.

I didn't do anything wrong.

Why does something feel so wrong?

Why does my heart feel so tight and I can't look straight at her face...?

'It's so painful.'

Something was wrong. It was wrong from the start.

If she had known it would be like this. That Adrienne Piretta was living like that. If she had only known a little bit that she was like that...

'I bet you've spoken to that kid.'

Somehow.

If only I had known that kid was a victim too!

The sharp nails tore through her hair in a mess.

What should I do?

'I was born ignorant and a total idiot, so I don't know what to do first.'

Blie thought, thought, and thought again.

Blie, who had stayed up all night, suddenly left for Elacon as soon as the sun rose to find Rossi.

She couldn't get rid of her old habit of looking for Rossi whenever she was feeling down.

“Are you planning on staying for a few more days this time? Aren’t you going to do something dangerous because you’re carrying around a windbag?”

“...”

Blie couldn't answer Rossi's question about how many days he would be staying.

'Master.'

The dark Blie's gaze scanned the busy back of Rossi.

'I feel like I did something terribly wrong.'

I want to avoid it.

I also wanted to meet the Duke who was my father and tame him. I also wanted to scold my younger sister who ate well and lived well on her own. But...

'I feel so uncomfortable.'

It's not my fault.

That's not what I was trying to do.

Blie, who was starting to make countless excuses, suddenly stopped breathing.

'I really... am I not at fault?'

The tips of her fingers turned pale.

'Have you ever wished that kid were dead?'

She openly wagged her tail at the man she had been waiting for.

In the end, she decided to become the government when that kid died. She just waited for that day and foolishly laughed at that kid who would steal her husband away.

'Am I really not at fault for that kid?'

Every time she confirmed that Adrienne was dying, she would whisper sweet nothings to Noevian, the man, and even slyly whisper that she wanted to become the Grand Duchess.

'Am I... really honest?'

While the Duke of Piretta, the mastermind behind everything, was still alive and well.

Didn't she cowardly avoid the fight, hoping that poor Adrienne would die?

Blie was very quiet and desperate.

'Stupid Blie.'

It wasn't Adrienne who was stupid. It was herself.

Blie ran both hands through her hair and fidgeted.

'Ah, Blie, who is so capricious!'

If you're going to get screwed, you're going to get screwed until the end. What on earth are you going to do now...

And then.

Suddenly, Blie was looking at the kitchen cupboard when she found it.

A living death potion.

The small drawer on top of the cupboard that it's in.

Let's try to save that kid for now. Let's save her...

'If I save her, somehow...'

Of course, the words that Rossi had strongly urged about the medicine came to mind in a flash, as she was worried that the bomb-like Blie might just eat any medicine.

But Blie couldn't take her eyes, which were already starting to burn a little, off the drawer.

'What if it fails...?'

What if only that child survives and I get caught and killed?

There was a plan running through her head. The thing is, it might cost her her life.

Contrary to her complicated thoughts, her already badly behaved hands reached for the medicine that had been sleeping soundly in the drawer.

Blie took advantage of the moment when Rossi went into her room.

All night, while drinking with Rossi, who was not very good at drinking, Blie could not overcome her confused feelings and said to Rossi.

“I might not see you for a while.”

“Aren’t you going to Ronta?”

“Really, you might not be able to see me.”

Blie shook her head as if to tell Rossi not to ask any more questions.

“If there is a moment when I come back... it might be after I am dead.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Anyway, you always say random things.”

Blie held the pouch of medicine hidden in her pocket tightly in her hand.

And that night.

Blie, who had been sleeping in the room next to Rossi's, suddenly disappeared from the cabin.

***

Just before returning to Ronta across the border, Blie sent Jonah to spread rumors about the medicine. She then handed it over to the information agent so that Noevian could find it himself.

'A potion that prolongs life when taken just before death.'

Such rumors would only circulate in the northern Trovica territory.

To give Adrienne the drug without any suspicion, she had to use Noevian. That was much more trustworthy than the drug that the government, which was waiting for Adrienne to die, would bring.

'If I spread the rumor that the Second Prince is desperate to save Adrienne, he won't be able to resist not saving her.'

Even though she didn't know exactly what kind of person the 2nd Prince Rhodnes was, Noevian would send any medicine he sent to his wife without any suspicion, even with his eyes wide open.

All preparations are complete.

Blie, who had to stay in her room for several nights to avoid arousing suspicion, had to calm her mind, which changed dozens of times a day.

'Something is going on between Noevian and the Crown Prince. There also seems to be something going on between the Duke of Piretta and the Crown Prince... But there's a limit to what I can find out right now.'

Blie stared at the portrait in the crumpled newspaper.

“But if you know Noevian and the Duke of Piretta...  If you know more than me about everything, you can tell me.”

She was curious herself.

Why did Adrienne have to live like that?

And why did she have to be abandoned? Why did she have to be abandoned so miserably just because her mother died giving birth to her?

Whenever a scary future came to mind, Blie wrote in his diary.

[Regret and guilt are useless emotions.]

[Count Acacia was also a person who was in cahoots with Noevian Trovica and was then abandoned.]

[I feel like leaving everything behind and running away...]

[On the other hand, there come nights when I can't stand the pity for the life I lost.]

Even Adrienne, who has taken over her own body and become healthy, may one day want to run away.

Just like that day when the Crown Prince's low laughter and Noevian's incomprehensible cold words had trampled and crushed Blie's heart without a care.

Adrienne, too, must have had moments when she wanted to run away and leave everything behind.

[Do you want to run away?]

It was something she said to Adrienne and something she said to herself.

[It's too late to turn back.]

Yeah, it's too late to turn back.

She could not live her life as Princess Piretta, and she could not turn back the past when she had turned her anger towards the innocent Adrienne.

Adrienne, too, could not go back to a time when she was a little healthier, nor to a time when the Crown Prince and Noevian had not deceived her. And if she could not go back, she had no choice but to fight.

[Don't run away. Enter the Grand Duke's residence. Uncover all the secrets.]

Blie already searched through every office that's called an outside office.

Even in Count Acacia's office, where Blie had just sneaked in, there was nothing fishy related to Noevian or the Crown Prince.

Blie opened the Count's safe with the safe key she had briefly stolen.

Ahe don't know if Adrienne, who is obviously old-fashioned, will reach into this safe, but if she behaves a little better, she asks the Count to give her the key, so she will open it if she feels frustrated.

[Don't run away.]

It was a fervent wish.

Blie added the last word and stopped herself from putting the pink diary back in the safe.

And then she opened her diary again and added one more word at the end.

[Adrienne Swann Piretta.]

It was her younger sister's name that she was writing for the first time with her own hands.

***

By order of the Crown Prince, who sensed Adrienne's death, the Mana Stone coffins that were to be sent to the palace and the Crown Prince's villas scattered throughout the country were now headed to the Grand Duchess Trovika's residence.

Blie intuitively knew that the coffin belonged to Adrienne.

In the warehouse left alone, Blie drew all her magical power she had into the mana stone coffin she was to send tomorrow.

Blie, who had pushed her magical power into the small mana stone that would act as the key, returned to the Count's residence with a noticeably tired face.

“Lady Blie. I heard you have obtained the medicine that His Highness the Grand Duke spoke of.”

Jonah completed the task Blie had given her without asking any questions.

Blie stared at the diary in silence.

[Poor Adrienne Piretta.]

[Noevian Trovica finally found the medicine.]

[Adrienne doesn't have long to live anyway. The signs of death are already very, very visible. There's no time.]

[Poor Adrienne Trovica. In the end, it wasn't because you were really sick that you died...]

[...You might not have known that your husband was killing you.]

Adrienne Piretta is a fool who doesn't even know that the Crown Prince is her real husband.

Adrienne Piretta doesn't know that the Crown Prince is in cahoots with her fake husband, Noevian.

Blie got angry when she thought about that husband waiting for her with that sullen look on his face.

'From the moment she enters my body, Adrienne might think about divorcing Count Acacia.'

Blie headed to the office where she always kept her diary hidden.

[A Guide for Divorcing Ladies]

The moment Adrienne picks up this book, Blie hopes she finds her own diary.

She doesn't know if this simple method of fanning Adrienne's anger will work.

This was the only way she could think of.

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