At the sudden action, Pristin called him with a panicked look,
“Your Majesty, what’s the matter?”
“…No, it’s nothing.”
“Are you sick?”
Pristin asked in a perplexed voice, worried about him.
“You don’t look well.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
Jerald relieved Pristin with a calm voice.
“It’s just, I’ve got a headache all of a sudden.”
“You seem to have bad migraines these days.”
But Pristin didn’t seem too relieved.
“Shouldn’t you call the palace doctor?”
“Not with something as little as this.”
“Nothing is more important than your health.”
“I’ve gotten a checkup once before, and it was fine.”
“Really…?”
Pristin made a humming sound and a thinking expression.
“But I’d like to have another checkup.”
“As expected, Pristin is the only one who cares about me.”
Jerald hugged Pristin with a very moved expression. It was something that the servant who had suggested the checkup earlier would have been disappointed to hear.
Pristin, unaware of such circumstances, whispered, holding Jerald tightly with a red face,
“You need to be healthy if you’re going to live a long and happy life with me and the baby we’re going to have.”
“Okay. I’ll call the palace doctor as soon as I get back to the central palace,”
Jerald whispered, lightly kissing Pristin on the lips,
“But it’ll probably be fine.”
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
“…What did you just say?”
Jerald said to the palace doctor with a serious expression.
“Say it again. I said, what?”
“You seem to be poisoned.”
The palace doctor asked with a serious look,
“Haven’t your migraines gotten worse recently and you often feel tired?”
“…That’s right.”
Jerald stated the truth, looking betrayed,
“You’ve never said that before. Not once.”
“Yes. I’ve never told you in my previous examinations.”
The palace doctor explained the situation with a serious face,
“The people who poisoned Your Majesty seem to be very meticulous. At first, they administered very small doses, and then they gradually increased the amount.”
“…”
“In this way, we would never catch the poisoning in the early stages, because the tiny amounts would be undetectable on examination.”
“So that means…”
“Yes. You have some degree of advanced poisoning.”
“Is it a serious condition?”
“No, it’s not very serious.”
That was the good news.
“You’re lucky we caught it now. If we were any later, you could have been in trouble.”
The words sent a chill down his spine. What if he had ignored the warning signs and avoided the checkup all along?
Jerald clenched his jaw involuntarily in nervousness.
“What is my condition, exactly, and is it treatable?”
“Of course, Your Majesty. With treatment, you will get better.”
The palace doctor nodded, sounding hopeful.
“It will take some time, of course, but…”
“Anyway, you’re saying you can treat it, right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The good news was that while the poisoning was advanced, it wasn’t very serious, and the treatment shouldn’t be too difficult.
Jerald asked the palace doctor to keep today’s business confidential. It must not reach the ears of those who poisoned him.
If it did, they would surely change their tactics and try to poison him again.
“What could the method be?”
Jerald became genuinely curious.
Actually, there were many suspected methods. The scented candles he lit in his room every day, the meals he ate every day… the possibilities were endless. Jerald had always been trained for situations like this, but when it came down to it, he felt his brain go white.
“There is no problem with the scented candles, Your Majesty, they are inspected daily by your servants.”
“Trace amounts are difficult to detect. We can’t rule out all possibilities.”
Jerald came to a conclusion while making a deep-thinking expression.
“Try changing the scented candle every day for the time being. That’s the only way.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, I will also change the bread on the table every day.”
“It’s been less than a year since I was crowned.”
Still, a significant buildup of poison in his system must mean he’s been taking it almost every day.
“Who could have done such a nasty thing in such a short time…”
“I’ll leave all possibilities open and look into it.”
“It’s important that we do it in secret. Do you understand?”
“Of course, Your Majesty, I will be very careful.”
With that assurance, the servant retreated from Jerald’s room. Left alone, Jerald felt even more confused, the unexpectedness of the situation catching him off guard.
“Who could have done that?”
He asked himself, but the answer came quickly and without thought. He burst out laughing.
“It’s obvious.”
It must be the former emperor. No one but him would do this to him. Jerald felt a shiver run down his spine at his uncle’s unexpectedly sharp wit. It was also terrifying to realize that Albert’s remnants were still in the palace.
“Your Majesty, I will enter.”
Then, from the outside came a bell. Jerald asked, only slightly turning his gaze,
“What’s going on?”
“You have a guest.”
“A guest?”
Jerald narrowed his eyebrows and said,
“I understand that I don’t have any appointments made today.”
“Yes. So I was wondering whether I should tell you or not…”
“Who is it?”
“It is Princess Gennant.”
It was not a very pleasant guest. Jerald’s frown deepened, and the servant spoke in a more cautious tone.
“I hesitated to report it because she is about to go into exile… I heard that there is something she must say to His Majesty.”
“Princess Gennant? To me?”
“Yes. She said you would regret it if you didn’t listen, and that she really wanted to see His Majesty.”
“…”
Jerald felt his head hurt again.
Why did she want to meet him in this situation? The exile has already been confirmed and there was no turning back. He agonized, and in the meantime, the servant uttered more words that could provoke him.
“It is said to be about Countess Rosewell.”
“What?”
“She said she’d be in trouble if you didn’t listen… She said she would say it, but that she has no intention of opening her mouth unless it is in front of Your Majesty.”
When Pristin was mentioned, Jerald’s reasoning quickly began to falter. He eventually got up from his seat and began to walk toward the drawing room.
But even then, Jerald didn’t have high hopes for what would come out of Tanya’s mouth. At best, he thought she was making a last-ditch effort before exile.
“What brings you to see me, Princess Gennant?”
So even after confronting her, Jerald looked very grumpy. His head was still littered with the fact of his poisoning he had heard earlier.
Meanwhile, Tanya smiled and opened her mouth with an unmistakably calm face.
“I thought you wouldn’t come, but you did.”
“Because the princess dared to use the name of Countess Rosewell,”
Jerald said with a look of great disapproval.
“You told him I’d be sorry if I didn’t listen, or she’d be in trouble, didn’t you?”
“Yes. That’s what I told him.”
“Well, I’ll listen and see if it’s true, and if it’s all bullshit, you’ll have to pay for bringing me here.”
“I have no price to pay, Your Majesty, and am I not about to leave for exile in a few days?”
Tanya said to Jerald, her face tinged with arsenic.
“But before I leave here again, I feel I must tell you this story.”
“What’s that?”
“Your Majesty has no right to love Countess Rosewell.”
Jerald gritted his teeth at the absurdity of it all. Tanya’s words continued.
“I’m saying you don’t deserve her as empress.”
“…You do realize that you are being very rude, don’t you?”
“I am saying this for a very good reason.”
“Is there a good reason?”
“How Countess Rosewell’s parents died.”
The corners of Tanya’s mouth went up in a line.
“Do you know, Your Majesty?”
Finally, Pandora’s box opened.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
It wasn’t until later that evening that Pristin returned to the central palace. She was there to have dinner with Jerald, but also to ask if he’d had his checkup with the palace doctor yet.
“His Majesty is sleeping now.”
But what she came across was an unexpected answer.
“I was told not to let anyone in.”
“Oh, really?”
Pristin wondered. He didn’t take naps very often. Sleeping in the early evening was also rare.
“Then please send word to Camer Palace when His Majesty awakens.”
“Yes, Your Excellency. I will do so.”
However, the central palace did not contact her long after that evening. Pristin became more puzzled. He was not the type to sleep so deeply.
“He’s not sick, is he?”
She kept thinking of him complaining of headaches when she saw him during the day. Pristin eventually gave up waiting for more contact and stood up. And when she arrived at the central palace again, she had to hear the same answer as before.
“His Majesty is sleeping.”
“He didn’t even have dinner, did he?”
Pristin murmured, narrowing her brow,
“That’s strange. You’re not the one to sleep at this time.”
“…”
“Did he see the palace doctor? He complained of a headache earlier.”
“Oh, yes.”
“What did they say? Was the result serious?”
The chamberlain debated whether or not to tell Pristin what he knew, but ultimately refrained.
“No, it was nothing.”
“Really…?”
“Yes. Please don’t worry and go back.”
But at that moment, Pristin thought, strangely, that she might have to look at Jerald’s face.
She asked carefully,
“Can’t I leave after seeing his face?”
“What?”
“I’ll just watch him sleep quietly. Would that be hard?”
“What? That’s…”
The servant hesitated without immediately answering the unexpected question. Meanwhile, Pristin eventually entered Jerald’s room.
It was too late when the servants tried to restrain her.
“What am I going to do about this. He said no one was to enter…”
His panicked voice echoed through the empty space.
