“I have absolutely no intention of handing you over to him.”
Even though he was still reeling from our run-in with the emperor, King Glenreed’s voice was absent of any hesitancy.
We immediately formed a strategy meeting once Emperor Ishnad left, though we were coming up empty-handed. I didn’t want to be treated like a criminal either, but the Ringrard Empire currently held much more power than Wolfvarte. We didn’t even have the means to put up a fight if I couldn’t prove my innocence with enough evidence.
“The poison…” I desperately racked my brain.
I believed Princess Ileze had come to my villa that day to fake an assassination attempt by poisoning. It was the only reason she would come to apologize of her own will.
She’d probably only intended to drink a weak poison and get a bit dizzy. However, the culprit behind all of this definitely knew that Princess Ileze was going to collapse from the curse at that exact date and time. That’s how they were able to turn Princess Ileze’s halfhearted poisoning into something that looked like a much more serious assassination attempt.
At least one of the masterminds had to be Emperor Ishnad. That was how he managed to come to this country in the less than a month that had passed since Princess Ileze fell into her slumber.
I’m sure King Glenreed and the palace officials here in Wolfvarte have figured that out as well…
But that alone wouldn’t prove my innocence. At this rate, I didn’t know how we might reject Emperor Ishnad’s demands.
There was no actual proof that Princess Ileze’s slumber was caused by a curse, and that would require convincing everyone that curses existed in the first place. It was utterly impossible with the limited time we’d been given.
That left one remaining path—finding the poison Princess Ileze drank, or was about to drink, that day at the villa. Realistically, accusing her of accidentally overdosing on the poison she meant to entrap me with was the only way I could clear my name within the next month.
And yet, I wasn’t going to get anywhere if I couldn’t find that poison.
Princess Ileze hadn’t been carrying anything that seemed like it could cause this, nor had His Majesty found any clues in her room.
My mood was turning more and more sour. We were at a dead end.
“I’m going back to the castle. Don’t overwork yourself on this, got it?”
Those were King Glenreed’s parting words to me before returning to the castle. Emperor Ishnad’s visit had only put further strain on the king’s busy schedule.
I didn’t dare complain about his dedication to his work. I didn’t want to be a burden to him.
As I put my mind back to coming up with a breakthrough, a tiny paw appeared on my knee.
“Berry…”
“Meow!”
It seemed she’d come to cheer me up, seeing how I was so lost in thought.
She’s so nice. So kind. Those toe beans just kill me. I massaged her tiny paw, watching her claws poke out and then retract again, when I remembered something.
“Could it be…?”
“Mraw?”
I grabbed that paw and stared at it closely. Nestled underneath her soft fur were her toes—and more importantly, the sharp claws attached to them.
…I think I know what that poison really was.