chapter – 12
If This Is How Sweet and Satisfying My First Revenge Is
“Yes. Prince Siegfried of the United Kingdom of Norden. What was wrong with calling him by his name?”
Josephine fired back without backing down.
“First of all, he is not your direct subordinate. No matter how much of a hostage he may be, he is royalty from another nation and deserves at least a modicum of respect.”
However, contrary to her brave exterior, she was trembling slightly inside.
After going through so much trouble to secure a path to survival, she had now needlessly provoked Henrieus’s feelings and angered him further. It was only natural.
There was no other way. Such was the lot of an empress whose position could be overturned at any moment according to the emperor’s whims.
And that was also the reason why Josephine had no choice but to decide to save Siegfried.
“Do you think I don’t know that? I asked why you, the empress, called that bastard by his name. Just answer that.”
Henrieus continued to fixate on that point alone.
From Josephine’s perspective, it was a ridiculous question.
He was the one who had long been fooling around with her friend, and now he was acting guarded as if she and Siegfried had a personal relationship.
“What does that have to do with you? You, who call Cici by the intimate nickname ‘Ella’?”
Henrieus, pale with anger, was left speechless.
Josephine seized the moment to ridicule his childish attitude.
“You’re always like that. Nothing is permissible for me, but you believe everything you do should be understood.”
“Shut up.”
Henrieus, his sore spot struck, growled menacingly.
“Don’t you know why I’m acting this way? It’s all for your sake!”
“For my sake?”
And not for Elizabeth’s sake? Josephine asked in disbelief.
“Yes. That bastard is the son of the barbarians who invaded this empire’s territories dozens of times and have coveted the peninsula beyond it countless times. Do you even know that?”
Henrieus spat out the words as if exasperated.
“How can the empress of this nation defend them? Have you already forgotten the humiliation suffered by your late father-in-law, my own father?”
“Henrieus, I’m not talking about grudges between nations. I said you shouldn’t beat a man to death.”
Josephine calmly rebutted him as if placating an excited child.
“What is that if not defending him?”
“How can you be sure he poisoned the tea? Resolving things this way is of no help in catching the real culprit.”
Thus, Josephine clearly pointed out that Henrieus was acting emotionally.
“If we proceed like this, even the person who first prepared that teapot cannot escape suspicion. You know that too.”
At those words, Elizabeth’s face turned deathly pale.
Henrieus’s reddish-brown eyes also flickered towards Elizabeth and back for a moment.
“That’s…”
As expected, Henrieus seemed to have no counterargument on that point either.
He is not someone with such a simplistic way of thinking.
That moment of hesitation was tantamount to admitting he knew Siegfried was not the culprit.
Yet, Henrieus still refused to accept reality.
“Didn’t you hear? He said he conducted the final poison test. And poison was found in the tea. What clearer evidence is there than this?”
“If Siegfried is to be made the culprit solely because he tested the contents of the teapot prepared by Miss Hausen last, then my maid, Huber, who moved Miss Hausen’s teapot before the test, cannot escape suspicion either.”
“E-Empress!”
Upon Josephine’s rebuttal, Huber, who had been listening, cried out trembling.
“If you believe I tried to kill you, would you whip me on this spot like him?”
That would be absurd. At least, Henrieus would think so.
Given that Elizabeth had nearly been poisoned just moments ago, there was no way Henrieus would suspect Josephine of staging this herself.
“Until you tell the truth. Henrieus. Do you want me to be the culprit who tried to kill you?”
“Stop, stop it! That’s enough!”
Henrieus cried out, clutching his head as if it would drive him mad.
“What do you want? Empress. So, do you mean to say that Ella really tried to kill me? Your friend?”
At that, Elizabeth, her face pale, crept forward and began to sob.
“Y-Your Majesty. How could I ever do that? Why would I…”
“Of course not.”
Josephine cut off Elizabeth’s words and stated flatly.
“But if we frame and kill Siegfried this way, we will inevitably be at a disadvantage in the mineral rights dispute with Norden over the Walter Peninsula in the North Sea.”
“What do you know about diplomacy to speak like this? Do you even know the current situation between Norden and us?”
“I know very well. Because my father, the Duke of Artois, and my brothers are struggling on the front lines in the territory where the Walter Peninsula is located.”
When the name of the Duke of Artois, Josephine’s father and the supreme commander of the army, was brought up, Henrieus fell silent too.
“If it becomes known that you whipped Siegfried to death here, what will become of the iron and copper mines my father and brothers barely managed to seize?”
Josephine pressed on relentlessly. In the past, Henrieus would not have whipped him publicly like this.
He would have beaten him to near death in a dungeon or somewhere unseen, then locked him in the western tower.
The fact that Henrieus, unable to contain his anger, punished Siegfried publicly on this spot became the very pretext for saving his life.
“If this fact reaches their ears, they will demand the mines on the Walter Peninsula as compensation and responsibility for the prince’s death. If negotiations fail, it will mean war again.”
Josephine paused briefly to catch her breath.
“It’s been less than a year since my father secured those mines. Is that the result you, the emperor, want?”
“Empress!”
“War only ruins the lives of the people and plunges them into misery. Henrieus, now that you’ve just taken power, it’s time to care for the people’s livelihood.”
Despite Henrieus’s anger, Josephine was not intimidated in the least and calmly admonished him.
“So what are you suggesting? That we cover up this attempted poisoning targeting me?”
“No. Everything must be investigated thoroughly according to imperial law. An attempted assassination of the emperor cannot be taken lightly.”
The real culprit of this incident, Josephine, spoke with such confidence.
She was fully prepared for this, having made all necessary preparations in advance, confident she would never be caught.
The very person who had given her that lead was Siegfried, for which she couldn’t help but be grateful.
‘Yes, he deliberately provoked me to plant suspicion about Elizabeth.’
He was the one who secretly informed only her that there was poison in Henrieus’s teacup.
Because of that, Josephine could first suspect and retrace the truth of the tea party incident.
Thus, Josephine finally succeeded in her counterattack. For the first time in her life, she harbored malice and attempted to kill her husband and friend directly.
Not only that, she effortlessly wounded her friend and, to survive, framed her friend as the mastermind behind the emperor’s attempted assassination.
The future hadn’t changed.
To make her act this way, he was the one who had changed her future.
Was all of this truly his intention?
She wasn’t sure to that extent.
‘I’ll have to ask him directly.’
That’s why she had to save him all the more.
She had too many things she wanted to ask, like why he did those things.
“While Siegfried is certainly the most likely suspect, he cannot be confirmed as the real culprit, so after his treatment, let him face a formal investigation.”
Still, Josephine felt it wasn’t such a bad outcome.
Her original plan was to kill either Henrieus or Elizabeth here, then escape or self-destruct with them.
But now?
She had gotten perfect revenge on them without a drop of blood on her hands.
She had betrayed Elizabeth, and she had inflicted upon Henrieus the terrifying despair that the mistress he loved might have tried to kill him.
By saving Siegfried, she had killed two birds with one stone.
“So I will take Siegfried. Henrieus, keeping him by your side now will only make the situation worse.”
