Chapter 175………………………………….
For a while, both of them had consciously avoided that topic.
Why bring it up now, of all times?
Riona’s neck stiffened.
As if enjoying her frightened reaction, Gabriel gave a faint smile and stepped away from her.
“It suits the Grand Duchess’s eyes very well.”
“Th-thank you.”
It didn’t seem like that was the only thought on her mind.
Even though she clearly saw the suspicion rising in Riona’s eyes, Gabriel simply looked at her as if she were adorable.
“I’m sorry, bringing it up so suddenly. I just thought that necklace would have suited that child very well, too.”
“……”
Gabriel had already returned to her seat, lightly smiling as she toyed with her teacup.
Riona’s heart stirred, partly because the smile looked bitter—and partly because she had thought the exact same thing when she first saw the necklace.
“I lost that child unexpectedly. It was very painful.”
As if even recalling it crushed her heart, Gabriel’s red eyes shimmered.
Not a single tear fell, yet she looked as though she were forcing back her sobs while smiling.
“So when I saw you, Grand Duchess, I was truly glad.”
Was that a lie, or the truth?
From what Lloyd had told her, Gabriel did not harbor good feelings toward Minerva.
They had once been playmates, but at some point they had grown distant. After that, Minerva had refused any private meetings with Gabriel.
Suspicion filled Riona’s gaze.
Perhaps because the reaction wasn’t what she expected, Gabriel changed the subject.
“Did I say something unnecessary? I’m sorry. Don’t mind it.”
She pulled the sugar bowl toward herself.
Gabriel didn’t seem like someone who enjoyed sweets.
Among all the tea times they had shared, this was the first time Riona had seen her reach for sugar herself.
The sugar cube did not drop into Gabriel’s cup.
It plopped into Riona’s.
“…!”
Riona couldn’t hide her shock as she stared at Gabriel.
She had never imagined that the Empress herself would casually put sugar into someone else’s tea without permission.
“It seems you don’t like sweets very much, Grand Duchess. But that tea tastes good with sugar. Try it.”
Of all things—sugar.
Lloyd had allowed her to attend Gabriel’s tea invitations, but not without strict warnings.
Touch as little as possible of the tea and refreshments Gabriel offers.
If you must, eat only what Gabriel herself is eating—and always carry an antidote.
And never touch the sugar cubes.
Sugar cubes and arsenic look identical.
Arsenic is one of those poisons that can be fatal even in small amounts—never to be put to one’s lips.
Inside the warm tea, the cube dissolved without a trace.
Was it really sugar—or arsenic?
Either way, she could not refuse tea personally offered by the Empress.
With trembling hands, Riona lifted the teacup.
Her mouth felt bone-dry.
The clatter of porcelain was loud enough to be irritating, yet Gabriel watched her with clear amusement.
The earlier gloom had vanished without a trace.
Had she held the cup too long?
A small sigh escaped Gabriel.
“As expected, you don’t like sweets either, Grand Duchess.”
Riona had braced herself for a reprimand—perhaps an accusation of daring to suspect her.
Gabriel did look displeased.
But not at Riona.
At the sugar in the bowl.
She crushed a cube with the tongs and let out a faint scoff.
“I don’t particularly prefer sweet things. But to me, sugar is… well. In a way, it’s the root of all this.”
“The root?”
When Riona tilted her head slightly with a frown, Gabriel asked,
“Do you know what happened when Minerva was exiled?”
Riona shook her head.
She knew the outline, but not the details.
“You do know Minerva was expelled for attempting to poison Mars?”
“I’ve heard as much, though not in detail.”
“Do you know what poison she used?”
That, Riona had never heard.
Lloyd had only told her the broad strokes—not what poison, nor how it was used.
“I thought so,” Gabriel murmured, picking up the last sugar cube.
“It was arsenic. Hardened like sugar, and slipped into Mars’s tea.”
The tea time had taken place in the Crown Prince’s palace, but both the arsenic and the traces of it being molded were found in the Princess’s palace.
There were even false testimonies: someone claiming to have seen the Princess harden the arsenic herself, another saying she personally delivered the sugar for tea.
“To be honest… it was sloppy, wasn’t it?”
Riona nodded carefully.
She didn’t know much about palace rivalries, but it all felt like a poorly written script.
Because Minerva would never use such an easily exposed method.
“I thought Minerva would turn it around and make Mars the criminal instead. Before being siblings, they were rivals.”
Gabriel dropped the sugar cube onto the tablecloth and pierced it with the tongs.
Crack.
The cube split cleanly in two.
“But Minerva admitted it. As if she’d been waiting for Mars to frame her.”
Gabriel spoke with an expression that mingled emptiness and betrayal.
For a fleeting moment, it almost sounded like she had muttered, Foolish.
Unlike before, when it had been impossible to tell whether she was lying, the emotions she showed now felt entirely genuine.
As though they had been suppressed and suppressed—only to finally leak out.
Unable to hold back, Riona spoke.
“…There’s something I’m curious about, Your Majesty.”
“Yes?”
At Gabriel’s gesture for her to continue, Riona clenched the hem of her dress and wiped her cold sweat.
It was a question that could get her arrested for disrespect—but she gambled.
“Your Majesty did not try to stop a scheme that could have led to your own downfall. You yourself said it was sloppy.”
Whatever the past had been, Gabriel now shared her fate with Mars.
She had even then.
If Mars had been branded a criminal, Gabriel would have fallen too. Why had she simply watched?
Lifting her teacup, Gabriel countered,
“What do you think, Grand Duchess?”
“……”
It seemed she had no intention of answering easily.
But somehow, Riona felt she knew a sure way to make her speak.
She raised her teacup.
Her reflection in the dark green tea looked calmer than she felt.
She drank it all.
The tea, once heavy with the taste of grass, now tasted only sweet.
It was definitely sugar.
There could be no clearer proof of trust.
It showed she believed Gabriel would not harm her.
The corner of Gabriel’s lips curled upward in satisfaction.
“Tonight at midnight. I’ll come to the Eckhart estate.”
She had agreed almost absentmindedly, but once she returned, doubt overwhelmed her.
Security at the Eckhart estate rivaled that of the imperial palace.
How on earth would Gabriel get in?
Lloyd seemed unaware of any such visit and acted as usual.
As she pondered, the clock struck twelve.
Yet no commotion arose outside.
“…Was she lying?”
After all, how could the Empress sneak out of the palace at this hour?
Blaming herself for being swept up in the moment, Riona prepared for bed.
Or rather, she tried to.
Rustle.
From beyond the balcony came the unmistakable sound of branches and leaves shaking—not naturally.
Riona hurried to pull back the curtains and flung open the door.
And she saw it.
A black cat, lightly walking along a branch that stretched up to the second floor.
With yellow eyes gleaming, it crossed onto the balcony—and then into her room.
The cat approached the stunned Riona and stopped right before her.
A cat? Where did it—
“Hello. Good evening.”
The black cat transformed before her eyes.
Into someone she knew all too well.
“…Y-you.”
Her trembling finger pointed at Gabriel.
Casting aside all etiquette, Gabriel smiled brightly like a child who had successfully pulled off a prank.
She looked freer than ever before.
“Yes, it’s me. Were you surprised?”
Gabriel—
was a cat.
