Savage Castle - Chapter 68

“Her Highness the Duchess still cannot forget the pain of the past.”

"I know."

“I would, too, if something were to go wrong with her, and you if something were to go wrong with her...”

“Jules.”

“...”

“His Majesty is no ordinary man. You know that he not only fulfills his roles as a father and husband.”

Alexander recited firmly. Alexander, who had brought the collapsed Else back to the villa, was so angry that he didn't know what to do. He wanted to understand the woman. He told Jules to console her and take care of her every day. But this kind of thing... How dare a subject of the kingdom try to harm the King?

“Honey, please. Else wants to die. I think she wanted to die again today.”

“What if she really gets her throat cut? Don’t you know that there have been more than a few government officials who died screaming from being chopped down?”

“Don't talk like that.”

“What I want to say is...”

“At Her Highness the Princess’ funeral.”

Jules, who was trembling, interrupted him. The events of that time came to mind. She clenched her fists tightly. She barely managed to breathe.

“Jules.”

“Do you know what I saw that day?”

The area under her eyes trembled. Jules, who had turned pale, glared at her husband. Alexander looked down at his wife, who was trembling fiercely.

“His Majesty didn’t acknowledge anything. That means he didn’t say anything. But that doesn’t mean it never happened. The incident where he tried to attack the mother at her own child’s funeral...”

“Jules.”

Jules didn't answer. She just stared at the man, frozen in disbelief. Jules looked away from him. She didn't tell Else that she knew about it. That it had happened to her. She didn't want to tell her that she already knew.

The father of her daughter tried to rape her at her daughter funeral. Even if Jules was her confidant, Else wouldn't want her to know. She would have felt the same way if she had experienced something like that. But still... Else had to live. She had to live and make a living.

***

A fortnight had passed. Summer was over. Now it was full-blown autumn. Else ate twice a day and slept eight hours a night. Before falling asleep, she thought about Sybil’s death and her own death while lying on her pillow. It had only been a short time since the uproar. She had to weigh her actions. And she had to plan carefully.

So what she was planning was a double suicide. She was going to kill Sybil and then kill herself. She was going to kill Sybil in front of her and then kill herself right after. It was a perfect ending. Even the process had to be done perfectly, so it had to be done carefully.

When her mind was filled with death, nothing entered her eyes. Even when Jeanne occasionally told her news of the court and talked about Abelard and his nanny, she did not listen. Then, she showed her carpets and porcelain imported from foreign countries and gave her wine as a gift.

Else, who had been nodding with an uninterested face, had a strange look in her eyes. Jeanne, perhaps thinking that she was interested after a long time, got excited and explained the wine at length. It was a gift from her cousin, and it was the favorite wine of the King of a neighboring country. The Queen had also won the King’s favor with this wine. The tastes of others and unclear information that she was not curious about continued to come out of Jeanne’s lips. However, Else had only one thought in her head. She must feed this to Sybil. They must drink this wine together and die.

The face of the man who was dying after drinking wine was vivid. She felt strange when she thought of him glaring at Else with his red eyes, his neck wrapped in excruciating pain as if he were burning. Her toes tingled, but her chest felt numb.

However, Else shook her head slightly and focused on her plan. The wine Jeanne had introduced was a deep-flavored wine belonging to the port family. Since it was a wine that the neighboring King enjoyed drinking every evening, it would probably be good for a dinner party. In that case, Else could also invite Sybil to a dinner party. She invited him as if she were extending a hand of reconciliation..

'Let's drink wine at the same time.'

Let us feel the pain of the uvula corroding and the melted flesh of the intestines flowing back with blood.

***

The hand that held the report twitched slightly. The letters written on the ground rippled like the fins of a fish. Sybil raised his head and looked at the knight who submitted the report. No one except the knights who were monitoring the movements of the villa knew what Else was planning. That is...

"Your Majesty."

“Did you read this?”

He asked monotonously. One of the knight's eyebrows twitched and trembled, then quickly returned to normal. His stern face lowered to the floor.

"No."

Sibyl's gaze returned to the text. He was reading about the secret meeting with the apothecary. The apothecary was not the official person who supplied medicine to the royal doctors. If you had to meet an apothecary who was not a physician, you could contact him through the physician. They said Else met the apothecary, whose identity was unknown, through her maid.

The list of purchased medicinal herbs included deer claw grass, ranpes, red apricot grass... If taken in combination, they were medicinal herbs with the same effects as emergency medicine. Therefore, they were not easily found in the palace, and were especially kept under the watchful eye of the royal inspectorate to prevent them from reaching the hands of the Queen or the government.

The ground was covered with grasses that could be easily developed into poisons by the hands of a savvy herbalist. Sibyl, who had been unable to take his eyes off the report, leaned back against the backrest and untied the cravat around his neck.

A message came from the villa a while ago. It was a message that Else wanted to invite the beloved King to dinner to ask for his forgiveness. Alexander's eyes were tense as he received it. However, Sibyl received the message calmly and said that he intended to accept the invitation.

Alexander seemed to want to decline the invitation, citing his failing health, but Sybil did not. He remembered what Else had done in the past. Immoral and wanton... How dare such a woman exist under heaven?

Why does the King tolerate such a cruel and ruthless woman? The doctors whispered every day. Princess Gretchen, who had not been able to open her mouth since Henrietta was thrown into prison, also made a fuss every day, disturbing his ears. But Sybil...

“Just go away.”

If he were to die, he planned to write down everything he had done in his will. If Else could not forgive him and planned to die, he planned to die at her hand. That was his last chance to be forgiven by her as a man and as a human being.

He was already an immoral and shameless King. If his people had served such a man as their King, it would have been a tragedy for them.

'Do we need a regent?'

The Prince needed a guardian. Someone who could protect him as his godfather until he grew up and could take power. Someone whose only life was the safety of the kingdom. Sibyl also had to be like that. In fact, Sibyl was someone who should not be manipulated by Else like this.

He knew it. Like his grandfather. He had to be a man who used women politically and manipulated children. Only a human being who was not human could protect the kingdom. Every King had to be a beast wearing a human skull...

But he had done so much wrong to Else. He was the one who had stabbed her in the neck. He knew how she had lost her life. He had not been able to fulfill even one of her small wishes. How much he would want to kill her. The man who had tried to rape her like an animal at her daughter's funeral. How much she would want to kill him.

He lowered his gaze and looked down at his bandaged wrist. The cold knife was touching his ankle. The iron shards were damaging his skin. Else shivering from the blood flowing down. She was fading before his eyes. 30g was enough to kill a person. However, all the herbs were twice as much.

Sybil clenched his fist. Cold sweat broke out.

'That won't do, Else. That one thing...'

I will not allow you to die. The only thing I can allow you is my death. So... Sibyl crumpled up the report and burned it. Then he began to write his will. The Marquis of Aperato would be enough. He had been married to a woman he had no interest in for the sake of the kingdom.

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