Chapter 47

The duke’s office was silent.

The lamps on the desk were all over the place, and the owner of the desk fell asleep on the papers.

She slept without realizing that the bandage that started from her shoulder and secured one of her arms was not uncomfortable.

Cardan rubbed her forehead slightly, but Erina didn’t budge.

Instead, Cardan’s fingertips heated up with a seething heat.

“I was too much.”

He uttered a vague apology that would not even be heard.

From the moment he saw Erina’s tears, the unexpected frustration that hit him peaked when she reached out.

He couldn’t stand the feeling of something squeezing his chest, so he pulled out of her hand without realizing it.

When the Duke of Baloa staggered back, he was surprised, too.

He thought the duke who was always alert and wary would avoid it right away.

Erina just stood there with a dazed look on her face.

With one arm clasped awkwardly

Cardan grabbed her shirt collar and looked down at Erina’s arm tightly bandaged.

Really…

“It’s frustrating.”

It’s because of Eleanor.

He must be so frustrated that he couldn’t save his mother even though he had a chance.

While repeating that, Cardan’s gaze remained persistent in Erina’s arm.

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

Knock knock. Knock knock.

I woke up to a knock on my office door.

“Ugh….”

However, no matter how hard I tried, my eyes couldn’t open easily.

While she was waiting for anyone who had come with her ears to be shut off quickly, she heard a cold voice.

“Get up now”

The familiar voice opened my eyes in an instant.

Sure enough, on my sofa, Cardan sat with his legs crossed.

Cardan gestured at the door.

“Someone’s been knocking since earlier.”

I scrambled to my feet.

The knock on the door seemed to have touched Cardan’s sensitive nerve.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.”

Cardan’s brow creased slightly when I bent down.

“I didn’t mean to reproach you, you don’t have to apologize…….”

You want me to open the door rather than apologize?

I ran straight to the door.

Just in time, the man across the door knocked on the door again.

“Duke, I brought you breakfast.”

“Come on in.”

When I burst open the door, the servant pushed the trolley in.

The servant who found Cardan sitting on the sofa was startled, but when Cardan showed no response, he quickly started setting up the food.

“Well, I thought the Duke’s the only one here, and I didn’t think to prepare the Emperor’s dinner…….”

“Oh, it’s okay.”

Cardan waved his hand.

“I don’t humble myself with the duke.”

As expected, the emperor had a habit of making himself pretty even when he spoke.

While glaring at Cardan, the servant hurriedly left after setting up.

“Well, thank you for the meal.”

I last glanced at Cardan and picked up a fork.

The food passed by somehow even if I am having a hard time

When I was about to finish the appetizer and move on to the steak, I suddenly realized one thing.

I can’t use my right hand.

“Well….”

I tried cutting with my left hand, but there was no fork to hold the meat in place, so it kept slipping.

“Give it to me.”

Before I knew it, Cardan was standing at the table.

“Heuk.”

I was so surprised that my knife slipped.

After catching it easily, Cardan naturally began to cut the steak.

“Why are you so surprised?”

Cardan clicked his tongue.

“Oh, I’m so sorry…….”

I happened to get the fork from Cardan.

I was so puzzled that I almost swallowed the meat in one bite, but I would not be a human being if I made another mistake.

Since the execution of the Marquess of Sherrington, the Empress Dowager has kept herself safe, the food has been clean these days, but there is nothing wrong with being careful.

Smelling.

When I smelled it carefully, the smell of bitter almonds came up.

“What’s this?”

It smelled so unusual that I thought they burned almonds in the kitchen.

I hurried to my book and began to look for explanations.

However, wherever I looked, there was no content about the smell of bitter almonds.

“Is there a problem?”

Cardan asked.

Only then did I come up with an important fact.

The fact that Cardan is a Sword Master.

I slipped the steak plate towards the Cardan.

“The food smelled something I’d never smelled before, so I was looking through the book

I even put a fork with a piece of steak on Cardan’s side prettily.

“So. You want me to try it now?”

“Hahaha, it just so happened that I was not comfortable eating alone in front of you…….”

I bent down as politely as I could.

This is better for Cardan. If I eat something weird and Eleanor dies, isn’t it his loss?

A smile fell on his head.

“You, you’ve gotten a lot more comfortable.”

As he said so, Cardan immediately picked up the fork.

After swallowing the steak in one bite, Cardan glared at me and chewed it well.

“What do you say, is there a problem?”

I asked cautiously, pulling up the corners of my mouth.

“Tsk.”

Cardan threw away his fork.

“As expected, there’s no taste.”

“I, I’m sorry…….”

I picked up the fork that hit the plate with a clink, looking around.

“It’s poisoned. It’s cyanide, too.”

Cardan frowned and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“It will be accurate. I’ve eaten a lot of cyanide because of rumors that it works for a sword master.”

I was a little thrilled. I’ve never had such a convenient poison detector.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. As expected, Your Majesty is the best monarch.”

As I forced my bandaged arm up and raised my thumb towards Cardan, I searched the Duke’s records with my other hand.

Cardan looked at me with a puzzled look.

“If you knew it was poisoned, you should think about throwing it away. It’s madness to laugh and think about how to eat.”

I couldn’t bear to refute it.

But that doesn’t mean I can give up my immunity.

“Ha ha, the struggle of the humble to live…….”

My hand quickened to rummage through the notes.

However, no matter how hard I looked for it, there was no immunization method for cyanide.

Instead, I found a small tin on the corner.

Use only poisonous weeds and poisonous snakes’ venom to detoxify. Poisons that are not produced in living things such as heavy metals have no effect on immunity.

The note fell off my hand with a snap.

The new poison chosen by the Empress Dowager has no way to detoxify.

I glanced at Cardan, who was still staring at me with disapproving eyes.

I can’t experiment with the tyrant every time I eat.

What should I do with this?

Then someone knocked on the door again.

I sighed and put aside my book and my reading notes.

We can think about this later.

“Come on in.”

When I answered in a rather husky voice, the servant entered timidly.

“The Empress Dowager has invited the Duke to have afternoon tea this afternoon.”

“Ah……. Is it already that time?”

I was about to receive a sky blue invitation from the servant, but Cardan snatched it.

Cardan, who had snatched someone else’s mail, looked back and forth on the invitation and threw it at me.

“The Empress Dowager’s devotion is amazing.”

The servant trembled as he picked up the letter.

One man is enough to suffer from a madman.

“The cyanide can be poisonous even just by touching it.”

As the servant disappeared, Cardan gestured at the letter.

“You almost died just now, but you’re taking it all in.”

I blinked my eyes.

Only then… He took the letter because he was worried about me.

The moment when I was about to be touched.

Cardan murmured in a barely audible voice.

“If you lose your memory, do you lose your intelligence as well?”

No matter what I say…….

But you saved my life, so I’ll put up with it.

“Thank you for taking care of that……. Thank you, Your Majesty.”

A sincere voice came out.

It was much easier to make up a smile that was automatically made for the emperor than usual.

I thought he would stare at me immediately with disgusted eyes, but Cardan only stared at me and turned his head.

“Unless I do it myself, you can’t die by other people’s hands.”

A shiver ran down my spine.

However, I couldn’t tell if what he just said was true or not by looking into Cardan’s eyes, which had already turned away.

“Ha ha, I don’t want to die at the hands of the Empress Dowager.”

Cardan smirked as he said.

“Yeah, well thought out.”

Cardan disheveled my hair as if praising a dog.

“Give me the poisoned food and then the invitation.  It would be better for you to stand on trial fairly and equally if you were to suffer from such a sleazy woman.”

had no choice but to look helpless as Cardan stole the invitation from my hand again.

“Then I’ll throw this away.”

When Cardan tried to tear up the invitation, I grabbed his hand without realizing it.

“No!”

Cardan’s movement hardened. I held his hand even harder, regardless.

“If I don’t want to be beaten by the Empress, I have to attend even more.”

I glanced at the steak.

“Just in time, I had a good idea.”

Strangely, Cardan, who had been hardened, slowly loosened his hand.

“Whatever you want.”

As if hardened, Cardan returned the invitation to me with a gentle hand gesture.

And smiled more softly than that.

“I will not forgive you if you die instead.”

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

When I entered the drawing room of the Empress Dowager’s palace, the same scenery as last time greeted me.

A tea set of similar compositions, with a lively sky blue and gold interior that does not fit the age of the empress, a sweet perfume scent that gently permeates the air.

“Welcome, Duke. It’s really nice to see you after a long time.”

The Empress greeted me warmly as before.

It was a refreshing smile that I would never have imagined she just sprinkled cyanide on my steak.

I’m sure she sent the invitation on purpose. If I really die from poison, the palace will be turned upside down.

There was no excuse as easy as afternoon tea to avoid suspicion.

It is easy to claim that she was usually close to me, and sending an invitation to the person who will die is beyond common sense.