~Chapter 76~
Ares froze.
“…You want to use that girl as the scapegoat?”
“She was the manager anyway, so pinning it on her is easy. Any evidence she prepared becomes useless, and the essence of Glamis survives.”
Ares’ eyes glimmered with desire.
“…Yeah, it’s all her fault anyway.”
It seemed like a very effective plan.
“Camilla Mowin, safely under the Grand Duke’s protection… brainwashing her would be troublesome. Maybe we just prepare a will and stage it as suicide.”
Ares flinched at that.
“That would kill her too!”
He hadn’t intended that. He couldn’t just kill the girl who had toyed with him so easily…
Amelia smiled faintly.
“Do you want her for yourself?”
“I… I…!”
Confusion churned within Ares. That girl had haunted his thoughts since childhood.
Do I want her?
Yes.
For the first time, Ares analyzed his own desire.
Do I just want to touch her once?
No. That wouldn’t suffice.
He wanted her alive, by his side, to torment and manipulate, gaining influence greater than the Baron himself.
‘So I can’t… kill her…!’
“If you kill her, that’s when you truly get her. Don’t you understand?”
Ares stared blankly at Amelia.
“That’s how I got the Marquis of Churello, you see. And I want both that unlucky Grand Duke and the Emperor… all of it.”
“…Hah.”
‘Crazy woman.’
Ares watched Amelia mutter to herself with a wide smile.
“They call her the flower of the imperial capital, but it seems all the blooms have died.”
Amelia was a remarkable madwoman to have survived under the Empress.
“…Even if you turn her into a scapegoat, how do you plan to extract Camilla Mowin from the Grand Duke’s residence?”
“Hoho, no need to extract her at all.”
She clapped her hands, and outside the door, Lux appeared, bowing politely.
“Have you been looking for me, Amelia?”
“Yes. When we visit the palace, deliver this letter to the Empress Dowager. And don’t forget to tell her it’s going to be… very, very entertaining.”
“Your Grace, and… Lady Camilla Mowin!”
Kabul rose with a friendly smile as he was shown into the reception room.
“Thank you for seeing me.”
“Thanks to the cooperation of the Everett family, we were able to corner the Baron safely. I am grateful.”
Though she had never met him directly before, his support had been instrumental.
“Ah! About that…”
Kabul scratched his chin sheepishly.
“Haha, honestly, I didn’t expect you’d succeed, my lady!”
“…Excuse me?”
“I thought it was worth trying, but I never imagined it would work so well! I even prepared to retreat immediately if Romulus died!”
Camilla was speechless. He hadn’t trusted the mission enough, even with his precious son involved.
“Besides… I never thought the Empress would actually abandon the Baron. My thoughts remain unchanged.”
Camilla and Dane stiffened at the mention of the Empress. The Grand Duke had planned to handle the trial half-heartedly, wary of her influence.
“Before the trial begins, I will become the Grand Duke.”
“Hooh…!”
“Then we needn’t worry about the Baron’s trial.”
Kabul nodded, impressed by Dane’s determination to hold the decision-making power.
“And Romulus?”
“Haha! He seems to have suffered, but he’s happy to have earned the title of hero!”
Kabul laughed, proud that the Everett family was now called ‘the family of heroes.’
“He has multiple guards, so no fear of sudden death. But my lady… you also endured hardships. Are you all right?”
“Yes, I appreciate your concern.”
That sufficed for pleasantries.
“Then, Lord Kabul Everett, could you tell me the origin of the herb you brought and why you brought it?”
Camilla asked directly. Kabul, however, seemed to have more to reveal.
“Hmm, there’s more I wish to say first…”
“This is the first time seeing you, but you really resemble Meisa.”
Camilla stiffened, wary. Her heart sank. Dane’s eyes mirrored confusion.
“Meisa…?”
“Your mother’s name.”
Camilla clenched her fists. That name had been buried deep in her heart since the collapsing cabin of her childhood.
‘Time for the test…’
The memory of her slender fingers forcing her to drink poison came rushing back, and her eyes darkened.
“How do you know my mother’s name?”
Dane looked shocked, but Camilla couldn’t afford to focus on him.
The mother who raised her for twelve years. The woman who forced bitter medicine on her, testing her. The smiling face clutching gold coins while selling her… vivid even now.
“Hmm… Meisa and I had the same teacher.”
“…What?”
“The previous head of the Everett family, once called the Witch of Everett.”
Thump, thump.
Her heart pounded. The former head of the Everett family—the mortal enemy of the Mowins. An illegitimate genius in pharmaceuticals. And my mother had ties to her?
Rebellion and outrage surged in Camilla.
“…I’m not curious. Tell me the source of the herb and why it matters.”
“It matters immensely.”
Kabul’s face turned cold.
“Meisa is currently in the Empress Dowager’s secluded palace, using that herb to create wicked sleep incense.”
Camilla and Dane’s eyes widened at his shocking revelation.
Kabul Everett had been a disciple of Stella Everett, the former head who clashed most fiercely with the Mowins.
Stella, a genius alchemist, had taken her nephew Kabul and a talented but young village girl, Meisa, as students.
Kabul, however, lacked aptitude for alchemy. Meisa excelled at identifying herbs, while Kabul often faltered.
Stella tried to teach both: how to distinguish poisons, develop new herbs, even make one’s body immune to toxins.
“My teacher had that constitution. I tried to acquire it too… but failed,” Kabul admitted.
Stella’s genius and constitution had once cornered the Mowins, but she ultimately failed.
“Why?”
“…Because of Meisa’s betrayal.”
The Mowins had tried to sway Meisa, and she decided to betray her teacher, even scheming to poison the Grand Duke at the time.
“The plan worked.”
The Everett family had been on the brink of destruction, and Stella exiled, leaving Kabul to take the headship.
Even so, the Grand Duke’s wrath kept the family in danger.
A hand reached out to Kabul.
‘I needed a dog, and you’ll do.’
“Haha. The late Emperor summoned me, telling me to become his dog.”
To escape annihilation, young Kabul accepted the clandestine offer, serving the Emperor secretly and nurturing his vengeance against the Mowins.
“I will never forgive the treacherous Mowins.”
“This trial must succeed. But recently, a problem arose with the Emperor…”
Dane understood immediately: the madness his father had warned him about.
“A madness that gnaws at the Emperor.”
Camilla’s eyes widened at the words.
“That madness… is connected to this herb.”
Kabul’s jovial expression vanished, replaced by a chilling seriousness.
“One night, sneaking into the palace as usual, I saw a woman tending a bed of these red herbs at the White Rose Palace. After decades, I saw Meisa, the traitor, again.”
