Chapter 24
How to Enjoy Dessert (1)
So, dressed in a maid’s uniform, I entered the scene together with Kyrus under the pretense of being a clerk’s attendant.
That was because, in the Empire, clerks also served as investigators.
“But is it really okay to just casually use the Grand Clerk’s name like that?”
However, Kyrus went even further than I did and even used the Grand Clerk’s name.
I wondered if this was really okay, but the person involved himself looked completely unfazed.
“It’s fine. Even if he nags a lot, he’s weak toward me.”
Poor Grand Clerk…….
Of course, since I had received help from Kyrus, it was hard for me to add any unnecessary remarks.
‘Let’s just investigate.’
The envoy hall we arrived at was closer to a resting space made for envoys.
You could say it was a space set up for them to rest in the middle of a banquet.
Perhaps because of that, rather than being overly extravagant, the interior was modest, and there were many temporary chairs and tables placed throughout.
The entrance and exit for the envoys were located at the front of where they passed through and directly opposite it, while a separate doorway for attendants and servants was tucked away in a corner.
As expected, there was no dark, secluded place where someone could secretly hide poison.
‘Is the answer in the food?’
The table where the envoy named Rai was presumed to have ingested poison was surrounded by a red ribbon.
It looked something like a modern police cordon.
There were several dishes left there, and when I approached to examine them, there was still some of the food the envoys had eaten remaining.
Just as I had heard from the envoys earlier, many of the dishes were made using rice.
‘The white noodle-like dish smells fruity. Is this also a dessert?’
It almost seemed to give off a nutty scent as well.
When I wrinkled my nose, Kyrus, who was nearby, asked me.
“Does Her Majesty the Empress wish to resolve the issue with the envoys?”
“Well, it would be nice if it were resolved.”
“Is that because you are ‘Her Majesty the Empress’?”
An oddly bitter emotion seemed to seep into Kyrus’s tone.
At the same time, the corners of his eyes drooped slightly.
What’s with him?
As I stood flustered by a reaction I couldn’t quite read, Kyrus hesitantly continued.
“At the tomb… I saw Her Majesty the Empress arguing with His Majesty the Emperor. I only peeked briefly through the gaps between objects, but… are you all right?”
Kyrus softened his words by calling it an argument, but in truth, it had been far more violent.
Kallio had drawn his sword at me, and I had aimed fire at Kallio.
No matter how kindly one tried to see it, we wouldn’t look like a normal married couple.
Since I couldn’t explain that confrontation in detail, I tried to gloss over the situation.
“…Uh, yes. I did show something unsightly back then. Th-thank you for your kind concern?”
“I’m not that kind.”
At first, I rambled excuses to myself, thinking it was because I had set Kyrus up as a kind character, but he shut me down firmly, like a solid wall.
Or was he such a patriot that he worried discord between the imperial couple might harm the country?
“Well, don’t couples normally fight like that once in a while? Even if His Majesty and I fight again, I’ll make sure the Empire never suffers any damage!”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
“…Pardon?”
Then what on earth is it?
As I stood thoroughly confused, Kyrus finally spoke, fumbling over his words.
“That is… I simply mean that Her Majesty the Empress…”
At that moment, his face even turned so red it looked like it might burst.
Ah, it’s cold.
A bad premonition crept down my spine.
No matter how dense I was about these things, I had writerly instincts, and my intuition was screaming.
I suddenly remembered what I had said the very first time I saw Kyrus.
‘Is he an angel…?’
An angel, had I said?
Before I revealed that I was the Empress, he had approached me quite boldly.
And if the book Kyrus had been reading recently was about divorce law, then…….
“Clerk Kyrus, please don’t get offended by what I’m about to say. I have an overactive imagination, so please keep that in mind.”
With this much foreshadowing, I couldn’t pretend not to see it.
“Do you want me to divorce His Majesty the Emperor?”
On top of that, in possession stories, there was often the cliché where the original male lead fell for the possessor.
“Do you… perhaps like me?”
I swallowed dryly and lightly chewed at the corner of my lip.
To make matters worse, after hearing my question, Kyrus said nothing at all, which made me even more anxious.
I forgot all about the investigation I had been planning and stared straight at him.
If there had been even the slightest sign of his face reddening again, I would have pressed him further.
“No.”
“What?”
“There is someone I’ve come to like recently, but that person is not Her Majesty the Empress.”
“I-I see.”
Haah.
When Kyrus answered without hesitation, I let out a deep breath of relief.
When I turned at the feeling of a gaze, he was smiling bitterly.
“In Her Majesty’s eyes, am I really that unsuitable as a romantic partner?”
“Ah, n-no. It’s not that I dislike you, it’s just… you know? My position and all, haha!”
“……”
“…More importantly, how did you know I was in the bushes?”
I hurriedly changed the subject before Kyrus’s expression darkened any further.
He puffed out his cheeks in a deliberately sulky manner, but soon returned them to normal.
“I smelled Her Majesty the Empress’s scent. I have a rather good nose.”
“Oh…….”
“You didn’t just think I was like a dog, did you?”
“O-of course not.”
In truth, that thought did cross my mind slightly.
I forced up a professional smile and pretended otherwise.
Still, if his sense of smell was that good, could he perhaps identify the scent of the remaining food?
Curiosity struck, and I asked Kyrus.
“Clerk Kyrus, can you tell what’s in that food?”
“Ah, are you referring to ‘Yakcha’?”
“Yakcha?”
“Yes. It’s a dish where thinly sliced rice noodles are placed over shaved ice. Flower-infused water is sometimes added, and depending on one’s preference, honey or fruit juice as well. Is there something wrong with this dish?”
Ice, rice, flower water, honey, fruit juice.
Even if one tasted it rather than smelled it, these ingredients would hardly produce a nutty flavor or scent.
If some special ingredient had already been added when the dish was served, the envoys would have noticed something strange first.
At that moment.
I recalled something Kallio had said while sharing tea before.
‘Still, since you are the Empress, you should at least know how to enjoy tea.’
Who would have thought those words would help me here?
“Is Yakcha ever eaten in any other way?”
“Another way?”
“For example, holding sugar in your mouth while drinking tea. Something like that.”
“Ah, if you mean ways of enjoying Yakcha like that……”
As I listened to Kyrus’s explanation, I thought.
If this went well, I might be able to feed the symbolic cat a ‘chilling story.’
After all, hadn’t the cat said the envoys’ incident looked ‘delicious’ precisely because it was interesting?
I picked up the bowl containing the Yakcha and spoke to Kyrus.
“Tomorrow morning, could you help gather the envoys and their attendants? And the court mage as well.”
···
Before morning came, I returned to the Empress Palace.
I returned the clothes I had borrowed for my disguise to Aisha and removed the grass stuck in my hair.
Then, after sending Aisha back to her own room, I locked my door.
And I summoned the symbolic cat.
Sharak—
As soon as the words left my mouth, paper slowly began to form in midair.
The paper coiled around a specific point as it rose, eventually taking the shape of a cat.
“Why did you call me?”
“I have a favor to ask. This food in the bowl—can you return it to the state it was in at a specific time?”
“Hmm, it’s possible, meow.”
As expected.
If it could place a curse like that on the Emperor, restoring food to a previous state should be easy.
But.
“You know as well as I do that to use my magic, I need a story. And you still haven’t paid the price for the last spell.”
This symbolic creature wouldn’t use magic without compensation.
I placed the bowl I was holding onto the bedside table.
“I don’t have to repay the price for the last spell immediately. You gave me about a month’s grace period.”
“Hmmm, but I never said I’d use new magic during that period, did I?”
As expected, this cat was no easy opponent.
It seemed like I’d have to do some talking here.
“Then you won’t get to eat this story either.”
“What did you say, meow?”
“Just like you said, for the next month, my life won’t be in danger even if I don’t give you any stories. Whether I give you this story or not makes no difference to me.”
“……”
“But you want to eat the ‘story of resolving the envoy delegation incident,’ don’t you? Even so, you can’t consume this story on your own. In the end, you’ll need my help.”
