IWBAACTWITOS Chapter 39

Matilda was threading pearls one by one onto a necklace string. She'd delivered letters laced with poison powder to Rayan several times now.

When she said the King missed Rayan and had sent letters, the nameless maids and attendants quietly passed them along, and Rayan concealed them himself. You could see it clear as day—desperately afraid he wouldn't be adopted into the ducal family, yet unable to let go of his attachment.

She'd taken her time, poisoning him three or four times, so all that remained was waiting for Rayan to gradually weaken. They'd said the illness started with coughing, so at first he'd think it was just a cold. If Thaleia hadn't set a precedent of never catching colds, Matilda wouldn't have dared to act this boldly.

'Even if they figure out it's poison instead of illness, it won't be a big problem.'

Even if she came under suspicion, there were plenty of escape routes. Even if the letters' true nature was discovered, she'd just claim she'd delivered letters received from the Queen and had never opened them herself. She'd already burned the seal stamped with the royal family's crest that she'd used for this.

On top of that, she'd sent a letter to the Queen saying she'd killed the prince with poison the Queen had provided, and if the Queen didn't protect her, she'd confess everything. The Queen had probably read that letter by now.

'They both should've known better than to abandon me.'

Rayan, who'd dared to abandon his own nanny, and the Queen, who'd tried so hard to kill Rayan but then acted like it was none of her business once adoption became an option. In the end, hadn't both their lives ended up dancing in her palm?

Matilda hummed as she put the pearl necklace—now just barely long enough to wear around her neck—back into the jewelry box. She'd been chuckling when suddenly she choked and burst into coughing.

"Cough! Ahem!"

Matilda cleared her throat, then ate some antidote because an uneasy feeling wouldn't leave her alone. She'd been taking it every time she ground the pearls into powder, but she couldn't help feeling anxious.

'Should I see a doctor just in case? I do feel like I have less energy than usual...'

Just then, someone kicked down Matilda's locked door and barged in. It was Althe and the imperial knights.

"Wh-what's going on?"

Althe just glared at Matilda without answering, then let out a deep sigh.

"The Prince collapsed, vomiting blood."

"What?!"

Shocked, Matilda knocked over her chair as she jumped to her feet. As far as she knew, vomiting blood wasn't a symptom of the poison.

"V-vomiting blood?"

Althe noticed her panic wasn't an act and hesitated for a moment, but Matilda wasn't the urgent matter right now. They needed to find the poison or antidote immediately.

"Take her."

The imperial knights grabbed both of Matilda's arms to drag her away, but Matilda resisted desperately. She needed to understand the situation properly if she was going to make any excuses at all.

"Wh-what is this about? The Prince collapsed, so why are you taking me..."

"It's His Imperial Majesty the Emperor's command."

"I'm the Prince's nanny! Even His Imperial Majesty the Emperor can't just do as he pleases. I need to see the Prince. Is he all right?"

"The Prince's life is a more urgent matter than that. If you're truly worried about the Prince, please cooperate with the investigation."

Matilda was dragged away by the imperial knights, and Althe ground his teeth.

The prophecy had come along with Rayan's collapse. It almost felt like the gods were toying with them.

'Did the Queen find out about the prophecy in advance and try to poison the Prince?'

He suspected it for a moment, but it was physically impossible. The messenger had ridden from the moment the Temple's closure lifted, and the Empire was closer to the Holy Land than the Kingdom. The Queen didn't know about the prophecy yet.

'Or was she just trying to kill him anyway? Even though His Majesty finally agreed to the adoption.'

Killing Rayan now that he was about to become a son of the Remetio family wouldn't benefit the Queen at all. As Althe retraced the reasons this had happened, he remembered his last conversation with Thaleia.

'Matilda's acting strange.'

'And should I tell you one more thing? The Queen of Celis ordered them to watch Rayan, but she never ordered them to abuse him.'

Thaleia had foreseen that Matilda would harm Rayan. Even that it was Matilda's independent action. He'd thought Matilda was just a pawn, so he'd taken Thaleia's warning too lightly compared to the actual situation.

Under the Queen's tacit approval, Matilda had led the abuse. Once Rayan was adopted, she'd been afraid her wrongdoing would be exposed, so she'd tried to kill him.

"Good God."

It was an absurd theory. But the world was a place where absurd things happened.

'I've seen how humans commit crimes for petty, ridiculous motives so many times.'

The Queen wouldn't have placed normal people beside Rayan in the first place. If there had been such people, they would've reported the abuse long ago or refused to cooperate and left.

'Don't turn the enablers into victims by making excuses that they had no choice. He was executed because in the end, he beat Yan, wasn't he?'

Enablers were perpetrators too.

"What do you mean you don't know the cause of the poisoning!"

"No poison was detected in the plum or the food he ate that day. We don't know the exact type of poison, but judging from the symptoms, it's not one with immediate effects. He was probably being poisoned for some time. Thanks to vomiting blood, the accumulated poison was expelled, and his life was saved for now."

"So what's the treatment?"

"We're trying everything we can to expel the poison, but I can't guarantee whether a child's body can withstand it. The most effective method would be to administer an antidote. If we can't obtain an antidote, we at least need to identify the type of poison."

"What about Matilda Erind?"

"She's currently being interrogated, but since there's no concrete evidence, she shows no sign of confessing. It will probably take some time."

At the mention of it taking time, Philius almost raised his voice again, but shouting would be useless.

"Then I suppose we'll have to make it so she can't even cry about how wronged she feels before she comes to her senses."

"B-but she's a distinguished guest, and there's a possibility she might not be the culprit, so excessive interrogation..."

"The Prophetess told us in advance it was that woman's doing. Someone pulled this stunt in the imperial palace, and now a child's about to die, but you're calling her a distinguished guest? Beat it out of her however you can until she spits out the antidote. Even if the Kingdom complains, I'll take responsibility."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After the investigators left, Philius, now alone, rubbed his face tiredly. It was incredibly fortunate that Rayan hadn't died instantly, but that didn't mean they could relax.

'Asher might be poisoned too.'

He'd heard that symptoms sometimes appeared late in some people.

Since Aegis and Rayan had used the same things and eaten the same food, there was a high chance Aegis had also come into contact with the poison. The imperial physician had examined him once, but the anxiety wouldn't fade.

'What on earth is going on?'

Philius didn't want to believe any part of this situation.

Rayan was in danger. The Prophetess's prophecy had come terrifyingly true.

The prophecy that the Malevolent Wraith would return must also be true.

'Asher...'

Unlike the other two families, the Aesir imperial family had only one heir. Aegis would awaken his ability someday. It was a predetermined future.

'Why, why does it have to be my child?'

The Aesir were the guardians who stood at the forefront to block the Wraith's attacks. The most Aesir family members had died in battles against the Wraith. He'd tried so hard not to pass the same burden onto his child, but the gods had mocked him in the worst possible way.

'If only it had been me instead...'

As Philius was engaging in such pointless self-recrimination, his aide knocked on the study door. Philius quickly composed his expression and steadied his voice.

"What is it?"

"...A formal messenger has arrived from the Holy Land."

"Why bother with another formal messenger?"

They'd already announced the prophecy—was there more? Philius sighed without hiding his exhaustion and held out his hand. The aide handed over the pure white Temple document with an extremely apologetic air. As Philius unrolled the scroll, his expression changed oddly.

"What's this first prophecy?"

"They say the first daughter of Remetio received a separate prophecy before the baptism ceremony."

"What prophecy?"

"...Both the Prophetess and the young lady are keeping silent about the first prophecy."

"Thaleia's five years old."

"Yes."

"What on earth did they say to a five-year-old child? No, never mind."

It was useless to press his aide about it.

Unprecedented things kept happening one after another. The attempted poisoning of people from the three families, the Prophetess's intervention regarding it, a prophecy given to only one person.

'You don't really think your daughter's illness is related to abilities, do you?'

'...Not that, but it feels ominous.'

He shouldn't have just brushed off Julian's anxiety back then. No, even if they'd worried about it from that moment, there was nothing he or they could have changed, but he felt pointless regret anyway.

'Was that a premonition?'

"When do they say the Chancellor will arrive?"

"Even if he rushes the schedule because the young ladies are with him, it'll take three weeks."

Three weeks. He had to solve Rayan's situation himself. Philius took a deep breath and straightened his back.

"Contact the Minister of State Affairs and the Minister of Finance. Tell them to draft plans for military expansion within two weeks. We need to prepare for war against the Wraith."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"And compile a list of candidates to serve as Aegis's swordsmanship and tactics instructors. Until now, I've left Aegis's education to the Empress, but we'll now shift toward preparing for war against the Wraith."

The aide, who'd been faithfully recording Philius's orders, paused his hand for a moment. A reply came, much more deflated than before.

"...Yes, I'll relay those orders."

"The most urgent matter right now is the Prince. I'll be in the archives, so report to me anytime if something urgent comes up."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Philius picked up documents along with the imperial seal. Seeing the volume of paperwork, the aide thought he should prepare strong coffee, anticipating Philius would work through the entire night. Entering the archives, Philius set down the documents almost like throwing them, then opened the secret vault with the imperial seal.

The treasure of the Aesir imperial family, more important than even the seal—a shield and bastard sword—revealed themselves. Despite receiving no maintenance for such a long time, there wasn't a single damaged spot.

'Are these weapons bestowed by the gods?'

Philius stared for a moment, then mercilessly struck the shield with his fist.