I Will Become the Queen of the Enemy Country

“Your Highness.”

Elise, lowering her gaze, stroked her teacup.

David’s mood was quite different from yesterday, but he still felt his desire to trust Chase.

“You really cherish Prince Chase. Therefore, Your Highness, I can’t tell you everything right now. Instead, I will show you evidence that you can trust me. There are two days left. Sister Iris will want to meet in two days. Then, make sure someone else tries the food she gives you first. It doesn’t have to be a person. It must be before you eat.”

“Princess Elise, does that mean that Iris will try to poison and kill me, instigated by Chase?”

“Not all poisons take life.”

Elise judged that Iris had not yet broken down enough to kill a person.

There was evidence.

‘Richter said Iris bought a sleeping poison.’

This time, if Iris overdoses on the poison she bought, she will vomit blood and fall into a deep sleep as if she has a serious illness.

‘She will say she can’t go with the subjugation force and recommend Chase.’

Then Chase will pretend to lose and take over the subjugation force that David has prepared.

Lange will wait for David to wake up, but how long can he postpone the departure? (TL: meaning aside from Iris taking the poison voluntarily for Chase, she will also give David the sleeping poison)

‘It’s only two or three days at most.’

In the meantime, the chances of David waking up were zero.

So, it was best for David not to eat the poisoned food.

Honestly, from Elise’s point of view, it was a bad deal. Nevertheless, Iris had no choice but to move.

Elise heard from Jasmine that Chase had broken David’s arm.

Inside the palace, it was concluded as an unfortunate accident during a duel, but Elise was sure it was a plot by Chase and Iris.

‘If the arm is broken, naturally the position of the gate commander will be his.’

Did he not expect Lange to cast a healing spell? Foolish Chase.

That’s why Iris, knowing it’s a bad deal, steps in herself. With a poison that can’t be cured instantly with magic.

“When Your Highness fully trusts me, we’ll meet again.”

Elise saw through Iris’s plan. David had no choice but to seek Elise again.

****

The next night, when Elise and Karan were together, David’s aide came.

Iris moved as Elise expected.

Iris poisoned David’s teacup. However, what was different from Elise’s expectation was that she also poisoned her own teacup.

‘She made a perfect escape hole.’

Iris was not an easy person.

“What happened to that woman?”

Karan asked with a gloomy face. The crime of trying to assassinate a prince was a capital crime among capital crimes. If it was Tetris, it would have been an immediate execution.

But looking at the circumstances, Iris was receiving extreme care in the palace.

“If you just look at the situation, my sister is also a victim.”

“His Highness David has decided not to make it an issue.”

“Foolish.”

The aide looked at Karan.

“What, is my statement wrong?”

Karan glared at the rude-eyed aide.

The aide was troubled. Here, Karan couldn’t be right. He was a servant of David and respected him.

From his point of view, it was a sin to tolerate and pass by someone who spoke ill of his master.

But his life was precious. Karan’s eyes were like a knife, and his neck felt cold.

If he said something wrong, he felt like he would die.

He looked at Elise with a painful expression. The only person he could get help from was her.

“Your Highness, your words are harsh.”

As expected, it was Elise who saved David’s aide. The moment she touched Karan’s body, Karan’s eyes changed to a surprisingly warm look.

It was enough to give him goosebumps at the gap.

The aide wanted to return to the palace quickly. So, he moved his mouth like a machine gun.

“Due to the unfortunate incident today, the departure of the subjugation force has been postponed. He said he would contact you again as soon as the departure schedule is set.”

The aide completed his mission and returned.

“I don’t know who’s the fool, Elise.”

Karan couldn’t hold back his sneer. Elise reflexively checked the tightly closed door.

“Your Highness, please don’t be like that.”

Elise warned Karan.

“What did I do wrong?”

“Your Highness, didn’t you see that David’s aide was troubled?”

Taking care of the aide’s situation, Elise was indeed a warm and affectionate person.

But I wish that affection was only for me.

Just an aide, what does it matter if his situation gets worse or not?

And it was true that David was a fool.

He gave him a chance to blow away Chase and Iris, his stumbling blocks, in one shot, but he threw it in the trash can.

Thanks to that, only kind Elise seemed to be having a hard time. Not only that, she had to watch the spectacle of Chase’s half-hearted, villainous face and the unlucky Iris who had tormented Elise.

This was clearly a damage to him.

‘I should demand compensation for the damage, and I have to be considerate.’

I really didn’t want to, but since Elise said so, Karan pulled himself together.

“If you want it, I will.”

Karan spread his arms wide, asking Elise for a reconciliatory hug.

Elise smiled faintly and nestled in his arms. Karan’s arms, as always, were wide and cozy, soothing Elise’s sensitive nerves.

‘Iris must have been poisoned. It would have been nice if we had set off as planned tomorrow, but I don’t know what she’ll do next.’

Elise’s head was spinning trying to predict Iris’s next move.

****

Iris bit her lip incessantly. It had been several hours since Chase said he would check the situation and come, but there was no news.

“What’s going on?”

Unable to bear the anxiety, Iris got up from her seat and put her ear to the door.

Outside was eerily quiet.

‘His Highness David said he would treat it as if it never happened.’

Why, there was no news at all. Iris gnawed at her nails.

As she was anxiously lingering by the door for a while, she heard footsteps.

Iris quickly went to the sofa, sat up straight, and sat down. Her calm demeanor was perfect as if she had never been anxious.

“Miss Iris, His Highness Chase has arrived.”

It was the royal palace. Except for the king, queen, and David’s space, Chase could open all doors without permission. But he informed her of his visit through a servant to show courtesy to his fiancée.

“Come in, Your Highness.”

The door opened and Chase, who came in, had a cold expression. Iris’s face, which had been brightly decorated, hardened.

“Did things not go well, Your Highness?”

Chase had met Lange to argue for Iris’s innocence.

It was horrifying to think about what kind of abuse he had suffered from Lange, who was angry to the tips of his hair.

Lange even cut down the efforts Chase had made so far.

The trust in Lange that Chase had barely built up collapsed in an instant.

How should he rebuild trust? How much more should he struggle?

Chase didn’t have enough time to worry about this.

And there was someone else to take care of.

“Iris, you’ve done something reckless.”

Chase sighed and ran his hand through his hair. His touch was full of frustration.

“Are you blaming me? Don’t you know who I did this for?”

It was all for Chase.

As long as David was there, Chase could never be king.

He didn’t stand out much, but he didn’t make mistakes either, while receiving a lot of trust from Lange.

Like a deeply rooted tree, his position was solid. It took too much time to remove him from the position of crown prince.

So, she had to create a foundation where a tree named Chase could take root by making a dent.

That would be the gate subjugation.

If David had succeeded in this as well, Lange might have stepped forward to crown him.

It would take a lot of effort to remove David, who became the crown prince, and if he became king… the opportunity would be gone forever.

So she stepped in. Because when she left it to Chase, the relationship between Lange and David only got closer.

But Chase resented her just by looking at the result. He even ate the same poison as David.

She was angry at Chase, who dismissed her efforts and sacrifices too easily.

“Iris, it would be better to give up on the gate subjugation. Go home now. Your charges…have been treated as if they never happened.”

Chase looked very tired. He even gave up on the gate subjugation.

“There’s still time, Your Highness.”

Iris tried hard to calm her anger. She soothed Chase in a soft tone.

‘I haven’t even married yet, I can’t follow the subjugation force!’

So, she had to somehow persuade Chase to make his mark in the subjugation force.

“Stop it, Iris. I’m telling you not to ruin things in vain.”

Chase was furious. It was the first time a man had been angry with her, and Iris was frozen.

Chase sighed heavily as if to make Iris listen.

“Listen well, Iris. Because of you, someone died. The person who poisoned David’s teacup.”

“If he was poisoned, he deserved to die!”

Chase couldn’t continue his words with his mouth open.

Wasn’t she the one who ordered the poison? She acted as if she knew nothing about it.

“Your Highness, it’s all in the past. And I never directly ordered that girl to poison. Even if you interrogated her, you wouldn’t have heard that I ordered it.”

Iris skillfully manipulated people. When she was twisting David’s tea-serving maid, she only made her move by dangling her weaknesses, the things she wanted to protect.

Literally, she did not give a direct order to ‘poison His Highness’s cup.’

That’s why Iris was anxious but not afraid.

“Your Highness, you won’t get caught. Who would have known this time? That His Highness David would have the bird he raises taste the tea first!”

Come to think of it, it was a strange thing.

There was a separate poison detector for the food the royal family ate. All the food placed in front of the royal family had passed through the poison detector’s detection.

So, the royal family ate food without worrying about poison.

But the day Iris and he were drinking tea, David suddenly made a small bird taste the tea.

[The world has become scary. Things are coming up that you have to confirm with your own eyes.]

Leaving a thought-provoking remark.

It was a deadly poison to humans. The bird immediately vomited blood and died.

Then, what was David’s expression like?

‘He wasn’t surprised! As if he knew!’

A lightning-like realization came to her.

Someone told David about Iris’s plan.

“Your Highness, I will go home.”

She had to find out who it was.

‘How dare you interfere with my plan? I have to catch whoever it is first.’