Chapter 15
“Maybe there’s more to this story than it seems.”
The place Prina headed for was Count Seiton’s VIP room.
At this point in time, Havel had not yet regressed.
In the novel, Havel was still nothing more than a low-ranking knight during this period, so he had never witnessed with his own eyes the secret schemes unfolding inside the banquet hall.
Which meant the protagonist only knew the rumors people spread later on.
So if Prina’s suspicion was correct…
‘Someone poisoned Count Seiton’s ceremonial wine.’
The ceremonial wine should still be in the VIP room. That was why Prina was waiting here now.
A moment later—
Footsteps echoed through the second-floor corridor.
A servant entered Count Seiton’s VIP room, then emerged carrying the ceremonial wine on a silver tray.
That servant was probably…
‘An assassin hired by someone.’
Most likely an assassin disguised as an ordinary servant.
The servant headed toward the servants’ passage leading down to the banquet hall with the wine in hand.
Now he was going to bring that wine to Declan.
* * *
“Hey. Go fetch the ceremonial wine from the VIP room immediately.”
The moment Count Seiton gave the order, the servant he pointed to headed for the VIP room without hesitation.
He was a professional assassin who had infiltrated the palace using a forged imperial identification badge.
‘Once I finish this job safely, I’ll…’
He had been promised an enormous reward if he simply poisoned the wine.
The mission itself was not difficult. All he had to do was deliver the poisoned drink.
But as with all assassinations, the price of failure was brutal. Especially when the target was…
“Ah—sorry!”
Out of nowhere, some maid suddenly stumbled into him as if collapsing into his arms.
Pink hair scattered before his eyes, and sticky liquid splashed all over him.
‘What the hell is this?!’
At a moment when lives were on the line, some idiot maid had to ruin everything!
Her outfit looked slightly different from the maid uniforms he knew, but judging by the worn clothes, she was clearly a palace servant.
‘How dare this damn woman!’
Just as fury rose in him and he was about to shout, another thought crossed the assassin’s mind.
The mission was already complete. He had done as instructed and mixed poison into the wine.
Suppressing his irritation, the assassin looked down at the trembling woman who clearly had no idea what to do.
Those wavering pink eyes looked pitiful enough to bring tears to mind.
A nasty smile curled at his lips as he looked at the maid.
“How dare you! Do you even realize what you’ve done?!”
Imitating the tone of a servant, the assassin loudly berated her. Handling foolish maids like this was nothing to him.
“The wine I’m carrying right now is a ceremonial offering meant for someone so exalted that a worthless thing like you could never even imagine it!”
“F-for someone important?”
The maid immediately looked terrified, just as he hoped.
“That’s right. For Grand Duke Caesar himself. Because of you, this precious wine could have shattered.”
The assassin lowered his voice threateningly.
It was easy to control lowborn idiots like this. Especially once fear took hold of them.
“Th-thank goodness the bottle didn’t break…”
“Thank goodness? Look at the state I’m in! How am I supposed to enter the banquet hall and attend to His Grace looking like this?!”
“Ah, th-then what should we do…?”
The maid stammered badly, clearly frightened out of her wits. Her pink eyes trembled as though tears might spill at any moment.
‘Come to think of it, she looks unusual.’
Pink hair and pink eyes.
Especially those pink eyes—he had never seen such a color in his life.
And that unusual appearance worked to his advantage.
‘She’ll leave a strong impression.’
He had already been wondering who he should frame for the assassination attempt.
Someone lowborn, powerless, and stupid would be perfect.
And such a person stood right before him.
“Well, what’s done is done. You’ll carry the wine in my place.”
“P-pardon?”
“You expect me to walk into the banquet hall looking like this? What noble would accept service from a servant covered in spilled drinks?”
“Ah, th-then…”
He spoke in a falsely generous tone, as though comforting her.
“You should go instead.”
“……”
“It’s nothing difficult. Just pour the wine and come back out.”
The woman before him would become the criminal who poisoned a war hero.
In his place.
Things were proceeding remarkably smoothly.
After hesitating helplessly, the maid eventually accepted the wine.
Watching her timidly enter the banquet hall, the assassin clicked his tongue.
Even a condemned prisoner at least knows he is going to die.
Yet this stupid commoner was walking into her own execution without the slightest clue.
* * *
The moment the assassin’s attention drifted elsewhere—
Prina, now disguised as the maid carrying the poisoned ceremonial wine, quickly slipped into a dark corner of the banquet hall.
She pulled out a silver spoon she had secretly hidden inside her clothes and dipped it into the crimson liquid.
Ssssss—
The bright silver instantly blackened and corroded.
‘Just as I thought. Count Seiton wasn’t the one behind this.’
It was true that he desperately wanted Declan dead, but he would never go so far as to hire an assassin and poison wine sent under his own family’s name.
Especially not his family’s ceremonial wine.
…Which meant there was only one person who would do something like this.
Everything was part of Declan’s own scheme.
* * *
“Your Grace! Congratulations on your victory! It is all thanks to your brilliant leadership of the Caesar Knights!”
“Your Grace, it has been so long. I am from the Gillard family—”
Countless greetings and cheers poured toward Declan, the star of the banquet.
Everyone seemed desperate to get close to him somehow, hoping to tie their family’s name to his.
Declan greeted them all with a radiant smile.
The elegance and beauty woven into that face left everyone breathless.
Everyone except one person.
Count Seiton.
Even before Declan entered the banquet hall, the count’s complexion had already turned ashen.
Declan approached him with leisurely steps.
“Count, it has been a long time.”
At the smiling greeting, Count Seiton’s face turned even paler.
“Ah, come to think of it, you visited two days ago. So perhaps it hasn’t been that long.”
The implication behind those words made Count Seiton bite down on his lip.
For many years, he had openly stood as the leader of the faction opposing Declan.
Twelve years ago, he had firmly believed that the position of heir to the House of Caesar naturally belonged to his nephew.
But after a certain incident, the Grand Duke’s family was murdered, and a bastard child no one even knew existed suddenly appeared.
That child was Declan.
No one acknowledged the boy. But when the Emperor himself recognized his legitimacy, everything changed, and a vicious hatred carved itself into Count Seiton’s bones.
Yet the emotion ruling Count Seiton now as he faced Declan was not anger—
but fear.
“Congratulations on your victory, Your Grace…”
…You cursed bastard. How did you come back alive?
Enemy territory had been a natural fortress, the very reason the war had dragged on for a hundred years.
So he had been certain it would become Declan’s grave, and he had planned to seize power afterward.
And yet… Declan had returned alive.
‘You monstrous brat. You should have died there!’
Count Seiton could hardly believe the reality that his family now stood on the verge of annihilation.
And even worse, the fate of his house now rested in the hands of that young man he once looked down upon.
A deep humiliation seeped through his entire body.
“Is that all?”
Declan’s single question widened the count’s eyes.
“…E-excuse me?”
Declan’s gaze slowly shifted toward the ceremonial wine.
Soon, his eyes stopped upon the Seiton family crest.
Cold sweat trickled down Count Seiton’s back.
What exactly was Declan thinking?
Only two days ago, this man had sent back the severed head of the spy the count dispatched.
So why, with what hidden motive, had he personally chosen wine bearing the Seiton family seal?
