Chapter : 87
The Second Empress Consort continued, speaking the words the First Empress Consort could not bring herself to say.
“Then you should issue the order for confinement now, First Empress Consort. Why are you just standing there?”
At those words, the First Empress Consort’s golden eyes shot toward me, sharp as blades.
She ground her teeth lightly, then spoke as though she had not been shaken in the slightest.
“…Confine the Second Empress Consort, the head lady-in-waiting, and the attendants who were on duty in the tea service room at the time.”
It was obvious she found the list of detainees deeply displeasing.
If she still can’t find the culprit after the Second Empress Consort practically spoon-fed her the answer, then I’ll be the idiot.
The Second Empress Consort had trusted me enough to willingly become my shield, allowing me the freedom to move.
If I failed to live up to that trust, I really would be no better than utterly incompetent.
After everyone designated by the Second Empress Consort had been placed under confinement, the First Empress Consort was about to declare that she would personally investigate the poisoning incident.
And she very nearly succeeded.
If Cassian had not arrived at just the right moment with the Captain of the Imperial Knights.
“Your Highness the First Empress Consort’s concern for His Majesty is well understood. However, when any abnormality occurs concerning the Emperor’s safety, the investigation and inquiry are to be handled by the Captain of the Imperial Knights.”
“That’s—!”
Even the First Empress Consort, who had lived in the imperial palace for so long, looked genuinely startled, as though she had never known such a law existed.
“It’s not that I distrust you. It’s just that until now, major affairs have always had a member of the imperial family as the chief authority, have they not?”
“That is true. However, matters concerning His Majesty the Emperor are an exception. The law has admittedly faded over the centuries, but upon His Majesty’s ascension, he emphasized it once again to the Imperial Knights. Of course…”
The captain shook his head apologetically as he addressed her.
“Among the imperial family, the only one currently holding a key position within the Imperial Knights is Prince Cassian. Aside from His Majesty himself, it seems no one else was aware of this…”
His tone was impeccably polite—purely factual.
Yet the First Empress Consort could not hide the humiliation of having been disregarded.
There are no nobles close to the Empress Consort who hold important posts within the Imperial Knights, after all…
Though Cassian and I often cursed it in our hearts, the Imperial Knights were the organization through which the Emperor exercised his greatest authority.
That was precisely why the Empress Consort had tried so desperately to insert her own faction into it.
But the only one who could truly wield power there was Cassian.
He held the position of First Training Officer of the Imperial Knights.
Because of that, he oversaw not only the knights of the Winter Palace but also the training of other imperial knights.
Though the Winter Palace is admittedly a special case.
Originally, whether assigned to the Winter Palace or elsewhere, the knights’ true master was not the lord of each palace but the Emperor himself.
The Winter Palace had simply developed an independent character because Cassian had fought on battlefields alongside them since childhood.
Prince Charlie did occasionally attend the training of the Summer Palace knights as well, but that was closer to a ceremonial gesture.
In any case, while the law dated back to the empire’s founding, it wasn’t strange that the First Empress Consort had been unaware of it after so many generations.
After being trampled on repeatedly, it would be difficult for anyone to memorize even the tiniest print of the law codes.
But His Majesty the Emperor has a past—so he revived a law that had been fading into obscurity.
That was why the current Captain of the Imperial Knights had even gone so far as to drink poison.
The very poison that captains had traditionally been required to drink.
“Please entrust this to me. I am someone whose heart will stop the moment I cause harm to His Majesty.”
“…What did you say?”
“I must begin the investigation at once, so I ask for your understanding as I take my leave, Your Highness. If you require further explanation, you may hear it from Prince Cassian or Advisor Salice.”
With that, the captain hurried out.
Left behind, the First Empress Consort glared at Cassian and me.
We were more than willing to explain everything for her sake, but she merely forced her boiling anger into a mask of calm and withdrew.
She knew all too well that provoking us further would only make her more suspicious.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so blindsided,” she said.
“Yeah.”
Just in case, I instructed that a female knight thoroughly search me.
Since the Second Empress Consort’s clear explanation had already cleared me of suspicion, the knight was visibly flustered—but she carried out her duty faithfully and proved my innocence beyond doubt.
There were no suspicious items or poisons anywhere on my body or among my belongings.
“It feels like when I first arrived in the capital.”
“Before Rose memorized the entire law code?”
I nodded quietly.
For about three months after coming to the capital, life had honestly been hell in many ways.
Flipping through ledgers and handling basic paperwork wasn’t the problem.
It was the procedures and the laws.
Being the imperial family, everything was absurdly complex—so much so that even examples from my past life or from the Barony of Salice didn’t always apply.
So before even half a year had passed, I cut down on sleep and memorized everything I needed for work—etiquette, administrative law, tax law, criminal law, and imperial law.
Fortunately, my memory wasn’t bad; I could memorize things after reading them once or twice. And unlike my previous life’s nation, the law codes here weren’t excessively detailed.
Among them, I studied imperial law most thoroughly of all—enough to know even the obsolete laws the Empress Consort herself didn’t know.
“…Thank you for bringing the Captain of the Imperial Knights so quickly, Ian.”
“I’m relieved you’re not blaming me for failing to rush in and shield you immediately when you were in trouble.”
“If you had rushed over blindly, you’d have just gotten tangled up with the Second Empress Consort while trying to protect me anyway.”
In fact, that was probably exactly what the First Empress Consort had hoped for.
If Cassian had charged in without thinking, I might have suspected that the original novel’s Cassian had suddenly emerged instead.
“That’s exactly why I stay by your side, Your Highness. So don’t go having strange thoughts.”
“That was very comforting, Rose.”
Comforting… about what?
I wondered briefly, but if it had eased his heart in any way, that was enough.
We were both the type to grow more rational the more dangerous a situation became. Our calm wasn’t confidence—it was because the situation was genuinely overwhelming.
“What about Prince Joel?”
“He cried his heart out, then curled up and fell asleep next to Coco. I also brought the Snow Country maids from the Lilac Palace to the Winter Palace, so don’t worry.”
I nodded to Cassian and summarized everything that had happened.
“Which means we have two things we need to do.”
“One is to prove the Second Empress Consort’s innocence and find the true culprit. And on top of that, we need to uncover the hint she gave us with her hand signal.”
“Exactly. And the second is for His Majesty the Emperor to wake up safely.”
As I spoke, I pulled out the scroll.
This incident didn’t exist in the original story.
So it might not help at all.
Part of me even hoped it wouldn’t.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being deliberately lulled into carelessness.
But—
“…There are changes.”
Honestly, the original work was impressively heartless.
The Unconfirmed Prophecy section showed no changes once again.
But the Unreleased section had changed in no fewer than three places.
First, there was a section detailing the younger years of First Empress Consort Scaletti Jamotti and Second Empress Consort Trisha Sneek—stories we had never known.
Second, information about the Emperor that the original story had never properly explained was neatly organized under the miscellaneous settings category.
And lastly—
A scene mentioned in a special side story that had never been released, almost as if it were making excuses—“It’s not like you ever solved this in the original.”
Unsettlingly so.
As I stared at the scroll, frustration building, Cassian gently covered my brow and eyes with his hand.
“Rose, this isn’t something you need to feel responsible for.”
“…But.”
“If you hadn’t received the scroll, would this never have happened? I don’t think so.”
Cassian’s voice wasn’t gentle like usual.
It was firm—almost rigid—like when I had first arrived in the capital and struggled to adapt.
And that made it all the more comforting.
Because it wasn’t meant to console me—it was simply the truth.
“Thanks to you, we can find answers faster. You don’t need to take responsibility for things beyond your control.”
Slowly, Cassian lowered his hand and met my gaze.
“This isn’t something we could have known in advance either.”
With those words, he shoved aside the crushing sense of guilt that had been piling up in my heart ever since the Emperor collapsed.
