Synopsis and Starting Chapter Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90 - Light And Shadow>
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112 - The Morning Comes>
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118 - After The Storm
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132 -
Chapter 133
Chapter 134 - Epilogue 1.3
Chapter 135 - Epilogue 2.1: Traces Of Life
Chapter 136
Chapter 137 - Epilogue 2.3
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141 - Epilogue 4.1: Ever After>
Chapter 142 - Epilogue 4.2
Chapter 143 - Epilogue 4.3
Chapter 144 - Epilogue 5.1>
Chapter 145 - Epilogue 5.2
Chapter 146 - The Most Romantic Weekend>
Chapter 147 - Short Stories 1.2
Chapter 148 -
Chapter 149 -
Chapter 150 -
Chapter 151 -
Chapter 152 -
Chapter 153 -
Chapter 154 - Short Stories 3.1: Unexpected Things Happen>
Chapter 155 - Short Stories 3.2>
Chapter 156 -
Chapter 157 -
Chapter 158 -
Chapter 159 -
Chapter 160 -
Chapter 161 - Short Stories 5.1: The Man Behind The Mask>
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164 -
Chapter 165 -
Chapter 166
Chapter 167 - Short Stories 6.2
Chapter 168 - Short Stories 6.3
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 182
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189 (End)
Categories Genre: All, Completed, Fantasy Status: Completed ______
Total Chapters in book: 189
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
______
LIST OF LAST 10 CHAPTERS:
Page No. 189 Page No. 188 Page No. 187 Page No. 186 Page No. 185 Page No. 184 Page No. 183 Page No. 182 Page No. 181 Page No. 180 Page No. 179 Chapter 40
Chapter 40:
The dowager empress was most likely preparing her move against the emperor, and there was a very good chance I could be her next target.
I was the weakest link and harming me would damage the emperor a great deal. In addition, the last attack on her was in my name as I was supposedly poisoned by her people. It was likely she would get back at me for being a major part of that plot.
This meant it would be useful for me to have a clear target the dowager empress would want to use against me.
The best option was to have my own spy planted in her group, but it was impossible. My influence in this castle was weak at best, and I couldn’t think of anyone who would risk their lives for me. Besides, the dowager empress was a formidable enemy. It wouldn’t be easy to plant someone without having her become suspicious.
That meant that there was only one option.
To have someone beside me who is very likely to be bought and used by the dowager empress.
Lisbeth could be that person. I felt confident she would be an easy person to control.
I didn’t have to explain anything to Lucretius. He understood my plan quickly.
“So you mean to test them.”
“Possibly…”
I gave him a vague answer.
What he said was accurate, but I didn’t want to admit out loud that I was doing exactly what Lucretius did and continue to do to me.
Unfortunately, I learned a lot from this guy.
He grinned at me and commented, “So I was right about you. You are not a nice person.”
I wanted to throw something at his handsome face.
He continued, “You are hoping they will destroy themselves so you don’t have to dirty your hands. You know very well the dowager empress won’t change, which means it’s her turn to attack us. You will just have to be careful your little plan doesn’t look too obvious.”
“…”
I couldn’t deny it. He was right about everything.
He looked at my pouting face and smiled in satisfaction.
“I think I like that about you.”
“…”
Whatever.
Like I cared what he thought about me.
I continued to stay quiet while he looked at me. He called for a servant to take away the empty wine glasses and bring in the tea set.
Hot tea was brewed freshly and poured into our cups.
Lucretius asked, “So give me the specifics of your plan.”
“I will have Lisbeth as my new maid.”
His face became rigid.
“And I will get Orlean back so she can be Lisbeth’s servant. This will make both of them happy.”
The emperor asked me quietly, “You… you realize that is a very dangerous move, right?”
“I know, but I need to take risks if I want to win. I will be very careful. Lisbeth will be surrounded by Samantha, Agnes, Elza, and Luis. I doubt Lisbeth will be able to do something crazy to me while being monitored so closely by everyone. She isn’t that smart.”
Lucretius looked unconvinced.
I continued to explain, “The news of my ill-treatment of Lisbeth will spread like wildfire. The dowager empress will become interested in her quickly.”
“I guess…”
Lucretius didn’t elaborate.
After a few minutes of silence, I asked, “Why do you look so unhappy about this?”
“… Aren’t you afraid? If it doesn’t work according to your plan, your life may become endangered. The dowager empress isn’t an easy opponent. She is especially dangerous now as she must be furious over what happened to Marchioness Toruka.”
“I am well aware of the danger. I was there. It was me who almost died, remember?” I grinned.
He didn’t say anything. I suppose he was embarrassed.
“I am doing this because I want to live, but life doesn’t mean much if you live in constant fear and restrictions. I want to have control over my life. To accomplish that, I need to take some risks.”
I planned to survive, and I would go back home.
For that, I needed to take control of this situation.
Lucretius looked at me with an expression I had never seen before. He looked like he was slapped in the face.
I didn’t know at the time, but soon, I realized what that expression meant.
“Why isn’t my wife awake yet?” The emperor asked sharply.
The physician cowered and replied, “It appears that her highness… doesn’t have any tolerance to this poison.”
The emperor started to scream but realized she was lying on the bed in front of him. He lowered his voice.
“I already know…! I was sure you administered a dose with that fact in mind.” He gritted his teeth.
The physician bowed even deeper and answered, “I’m afraid that’s because I haven’t been her highness’ physician, I didn’t know of her body condition very well. The dose must have been miscalculated, but do not worry. Her life isn’t in danger, your highness.”
Before the emperor could scream again, Samantha added carefully.
“Your highness, Lowson is the best physician in the kingdom. Losing him would be a great loss to all of us.”
Samantha knew what the emperor would say, and that was why she interrupted him. The emperor tried to calm down and think logically. After a few minutes, he finally decided.
“If something happens to her, you will be executed, but if you can heal her and she wakes up within two days, you will receive a much lighter punishment.”
“Thank you, your highness.”
The physician thanked the emperor and left the room to check on the medication. The emperor sat on the bed and asked Samantha, “What is happening with Marchioness Toruka?”
“She is keeping her silence.”
“How annoying. Well, I suppose admitting to something you didn’t do would be hard.”
“But we were able to get some confessions out of a few of her maids after extensive torture.”
The emperor started to nod but shook his head immediately.
“It’s not enough. We need to get as much out of this plan as possible.”
“What else would you like us to do?”
“We need to get the dowager empress, or at the very least the Marquis. If we don’t, I would consider it our defeat.”
After a brief silence, Samantha replied quietly, “Sleep torture and starvation won’t be enough to make Marchioness Toruka give in… And… Because she is the principle maid in waiting to the dowager empress, it would be unseemly to torture her physically.”
The emperor answered without hesitation, “Do whatever is necessary.”
“Yes, your highness.”
Samantha bowed deeply and left the room.
One way to accomplish this was to torture her where the scars wouldn’t be visible unless she was naked.
***
The girl was on the bed as if she was dead. It has already been two nights and it was the afternoon of the third day. She still hadn’t opened her black eyes.
Lucretius was a wreck. He didn’t know what to do or where to go. He felt like he was burning from the inside. He was not used to this kind of emotion.
The last time he felt something similar was when he attended his own mother’s execution.
After that day, Lucretius led a difficult life. His father despised him and was abusive towards him. That woman, Katleyanira, had full control over his father and tried her best to get any girl pregnant with the emperor’s son so she could take away Lucretius’s position as the only heir.
His own wife, who ended up being Katleyanira’s spy, tried to kill him with a poisoned dagger.
All these horrible things happened throughout his life, but he had never felt any strong emotions towards these events. His previous wife once told him his heart was frozen like a block of ice, and that was why he felt nothing.
He agreed. He knew it wasn’t normal, but he was the way he was. That was that.
He kept thinking about his previous wife who he killed to defend himself. He remembered her anger at him. Was it because a similar thing was happening now? The result and the intention were completely different, but there were some uncomfortable similarities between the two events.
Both times, he measured his dose carefully and he placed the poison in the water himself. He handed the cups to both women, but one girl was buried in the crypt while the other girl was in front of him lying on the bed.
Was it the lighting or did the bed look like a white marble coffin?
Ingrit. That was his dead wife’s name. The woman he killed.
He made her the way she was.
Her family was on the dowager empress’s side, but at first, Ingrit was different. If he was a better man and treated her with kindness, perhaps she wouldn’t have become such an angry vengeful woman.
She was a naïve kind woman who loved him, but he didn’t accept her love, and she became livid. The dowager empress was no doubt involved in morphing Ingrit into a resentful killer, but it was definitely him who turned her into a scorned wife.
Total Chapters in book: 189
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
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