CH 137

Conspiracy (10)

Then, the Palace Doctor hurriedly tried to get out of the carriage in order to concoct the antidote. At that moment, Lucy just tried to hold onto her miserably feeling heart and called out to him.

“Then, when can we take the antidote?”

“I’ll try to make it as quickly as possible within a day.”

“In a day, is that possible?”

To brew a medicine might never be as easy as it could be. Roelin interrupted and queried while still listening to the Palace Doctor.

The Palace Doctor glanced at Lucy and looked back at Roelin before he appeared to be slightly hesitant. Roelin had caught on with that look and asked a question in response.

“……why? Is there anything else you’d like to say?”

“The poison will cause a total of three seizures. That was the first seizure which you just had, so……”

“There are only two left. And after that, I’ll die?”

Roelin vaguely realized what the Palace Doctor hadn’t been able to say and opened her mouth. Then, the Palace Doctor nodded and added a further explanation.

“The first seizure occurs and the second seizure will happen a day later. After that, just half a day later, you will have a third seizure. And then…… it’ll be no use trying an antidote at all.”

“……that means I have to take the antidote in a total of one and a half days.”

Roelin eventually sent the Palace Doctor out while stating that she had understood it all. Since it was obviously urgent, the Palace Doctor also quickly descended the carriage and rushed to the place where the medicine had been.

It suddenly got so chilly, perhaps due to the wind that blew into the carriage. As Roelin trembled, Lucy hurriedly closed the carriage door. And shortly afterwards, the carriage started to move.

It had already begun a while ago at the command of the Duke of Bönt, in accordance with her own order.

“Empress…”

Lucy, after she began to draw the blanket that was covering Roelin’s body even more meticulously, eventually called her out in a trembling voice.

“There’s nothing to worry about, Lucy. Didn’t the Palace Doctor say that he will make an antidote? And… the first seizure seems to have calmed down now, so I won’t be vomiting blood for the day anymore.”

Roelin forced a smile and opened her mouth towards Lucy. Then, she turned her eyes and stared at the carriage’s interior wall.

There was no resentment, no anger and no emotion at all.

It was just a feeling of despondency instead.

There was nothing but a smile as she wondered if she had been so horrible to them to the point where they wanted to completely kill her off.

‘What did I even do? Was it a sin for me to just live as if I were dead?’

Roelin grinned before she started muttering to herself.

“To think that they were trying to kill me and the fact that she wasn’t even sick, but they didn’t hesitate to lie while saying that she had been in a critical condition.”

“……”

“It was rather strange. I wondered why they suddenly changed and pretended to be a friendly pair of brother and mother when neither of them had acted like that before. Now that I know the answer, should I say that it’s a good thing?”

Lucy couldn’t answer Roelin’s words at all. Roelin turned her head towards the all silent Lucy and opened her mouth once more.

“It’s all right, Lucy. I don’t care anymore.”

“Hu, Empress…”

“They mean nothing to me. All of the people whom I care about are here and Lucy is also one of them.”

“………uh, how can you say that?”

Lucy listened to Roelin with a stunned look and was already at a loss. Nevertheless, Roelin looked at her with such sincere eyes and continued to speak out.

“I’m telling you that. Lucy is more like my mother to me than my own mother, who was always harsh and cold. In fact, I can still see you worrying and grieving about me.”

Lucy’s eyes began to be filled with tears. She could no longer control her feelings and straight away hugged Roelin tightly.

“Empress, my Empress……”

It was Roelin who became rather embarrassed by those words. Roelin didn’t know that Lucy would be so thrilled that she would do something that she wouldn’t usually do. But soon, she gave up on her embarrassment and proceeded to hug Lucy carefully in response.

“I’m sure you’ll feel well soon, Empress.”

“Yeah, that’s how it should be.”

“Of course, there are so many things that we wish to do for the Empress. You’ll have to live for decades, no, hundreds of years in order to get all of them.”

Lucy smiled while she curved her tearful eyes. Roelin’s pale face indicated that she was still being poisoned, so Lucy bravely pulled herself together.

‘I can’t even do anything for the Empress who said that I’m just like a mother.’

“You said that I was like a mother, right? I actually had a dream. It was my wish to have a beautiful and graceful daughter. Although I couldn’t make that wish come true as I could only have one stupid boy instead.”

Lucy said jokingly while loosening her arms that had been holding Roelin. Then, she smoothed the blanket that covered Roelin’s body once again and looked at her while chuckling still.

“That wish has finally come true. But what do we do? I’ve got one more wish after my initial wish had come true. Will you grant it?”

“If it’s something that I can do for you.”

“Of course you can. My wish is to raise a prince or a princess who looks like the Empress all by myself. You know what I mean, right? I raised His Majesty myself, too.”

“I know. Lucy was His Majesty’s nanny after all.”

Roelin smiled widely. Lucy looked at the smiling face and sighed with an exaggerated expression before shaking her head.

“You can’t imagine how much trouble His Majesty was during an accident back as a child. What really happened was……”

Lucy chatted a lot, unlike her usual self, just as if Silloa was here as well. It was mainly the story of Kergel’s childhood.