ATMM 17

Chapter – 17

Just as the medicine was nearly complete, Zenid quietly came looking for me.

“Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

“Your collar is a bit askew.”

I was momentarily puzzled by his unusual words. Zenid stepped closer and straightened my collar.

“This part is a little worn. How about having a new outfit made once your work is done?”

“…That wouldn’t be bad.”

I felt something hard under the collar. The faint rustling told me it was a piece of folded paper.

Zenid continued talking about clothing, and I nodded along, pretending to follow the conversation.

“Then, Your Highness, I shall take my leave. If you need anything, summon me at any time.”

“Alright, thank you.”

Standing awkwardly, I set all the alchemy tools down. Reaching inside my collar, I pulled out the folded paper. It was a method I had often used in the Cassian Manor when I needed to secretly report something to Zenid.

‘There could be eyes and ears anywhere, even here.’

Pretending to examine the ingredients, I unfolded the paper. It contained information on the Kemer family, particularly Blanche Kemer.

‘They’ve been taking quite a lot.’

Blanche had been embezzling funds from the Tishrit Palace. Since the palace managed all the budgets that should have gone to the emperor, the actual money under Blanche’s control was enormous—and most of it was being siphoned off somewhere.

I had expected some embezzlement, but the scale was far beyond what I imagined.

“This is…”

And there was one more suspicious circumstance: her regular meetings with the palace steward. It wasn’t just a casual meeting—some portion of the embezzled funds was being steadily funneled into the steward’s pockets. Clearly, there was some kind of collusion between the two.

‘This isn’t enough. If I try to accuse them with doctored evidence, they’ll deny it and it’ll take forever.’

I needed another way—a method to bring this matter to light.

Fortunately, the empress’s medicine was completed as scheduled.

Just as I was leaving the palace with the finished potion, Yulion was striding toward me from afar.

“Rohiriel.”

It seemed he had come upon hearing that I had finished the medicine. With the empress still suffering, it made sense that Yulion couldn’t focus on anything either.

“You came at the right time. You heard the news and came to go together?”

“…News?”

“I told you, didn’t I? The empress’s medicine is finished. I said we need to hurry to her, and that we wouldn’t have dinner together again today. Didn’t you hear?”

Showing him the pale purple bottle in my hand, I made him look at it.

Yulion blinked at the bottle for a moment, then reluctantly nodded.

“Yes… I did come after hearing that news, I suppose…”

His expression was strange as he answered. I thought he’d be happy, but he wasn’t. I tucked the bottle back into my robe and grabbed his arm.

“Then let’s go quickly. There’s no time to waste.”

Yulion stiffened. Looking up at him in curiosity, I saw in his eyes that he seemed to have something he wanted to say.

“Oh, you mean about the steward? We can talk on the way.”

“…Alright, let’s go then.”

Yulion seemed unusually off today. I wanted to ask more, but pushed the thought aside and hurried forward. Right now, the most important thing was the empress’s treatment.

‘I need to rest after this. I have to get proper sleep tonight.’

I mentally organized my plans for the rest of the day while asking Yulion:

“How are the newspaper results? Has the steward said anything?”

“Nothing significant, but earlier he said this: if his safety is guaranteed, he’ll tell who ordered him to act.”

“Safety?”

“Yes. He kept pleading for the prison to be heavily secured, saying it was dangerous, and it was really troublesome.”

There was clearly frustration in Yulion’s voice. If the steward felt threatened even in prison, something serious was going on. If Cassian was his backer and now wanted to get rid of him…

‘No wonder even the prison isn’t safe.’

Cassian could easily have eliminated a prisoner in the imperial palace prison without leaving a trace. Of course, my family wasn’t involved in this case. If we had been even slightly implicated, my father would have already issued orders. So far, there was no indication. Cassian must be innocent in this steward matter.

‘Still suspicious.’

Blanche Kemer. I was sure, at least by intuition, that her lady-in-waiting was connected. But there was no evidence. Even if the steward confessed, a single witness wouldn’t be enough to punish a high-ranking noble like Blanche. That could be why the steward wasn’t speaking freely.

Lost in thought, we arrived at the Tishrit Palace.

“Your Highnesses.”

Receiving greetings from the exhausted maids, Yulion and I entered the empress’s bedroom. Blanche was still by the empress’s side, attending her meticulously.

“Your Majesty, the medicine is ready.”

The empress, lying in bed, barely lifted her eyelids to look at us.

“The medicine… is ready?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Thanks to enduring the pain and seeing the light, the nerves in your eyes are slowly recovering. With consistent use of this medicine, you should be able to recover fully.”

I took out the medicine I had prepared. Ignoring Blanche, who tried to take it for her, I opened the lid and handed it directly to the empress.

“Take it all at once, Your Majesty.”

Blanche seemed to glare at me for a moment. The empress raised the bottle to her lips, and Blanche suddenly spoke.

“May I offer a word during your conversation?”

“…What is it?”

Blanche, already suspicious, now acted even more oddly, which only strengthened my suspicions. Calmly, she said:

“Your Majesty is in a very fatigued state. Would it not be better to have the medicine’s safety confirmed by a professional physician before taking it?”

In other words, she was saying I shouldn’t give the medicine without verification.

I opened my mouth to retort, but the empress spoke first.

“Even the imperial steward could not heal me and harbored ill intent. Do you expect me to wait for some physician’s confirmation?”

“However, Your Majesty… for any medicine, one must exercise utmost caution—”

“I cannot endure until then. Moreover, the Crown Princess’s skill has already been verified through several incidents. Say no more.”

“…My apologies, Your Majesty. I overstepped.”

Blanche quickly gave up and bowed her head. That’s when I noticed a pale blue powder on the top of her head.

‘Selphinia pollen?’

At this season, Selphinia trees were in full bloom, releasing clouds of pale blue pollen. Standing beneath one could leave a thick layer on you. The powder on Blanche’s head looked exactly like that.

‘Why would someone who’s been confined indoors be covered in this…?’

My gaze instinctively fell to the hem of her dress. Green stains dotted the fabric.

Blanche, always meticulous and neat, wouldn’t continue wearing clothes that had gotten dirty. These green stains could only come from walking through thick grass.

‘Even if I confront her now, she’ll just make up some excuse.’

Revealing that I suspected her would only make her more cautious. While I retraced possible locations of Selphinia trees in the palace, the empress swallowed the medicine in one gulp.

“…Bitter.”

“Of course. By tomorrow dawn, you should feel some relief.”

I collected the empty bottle and temporarily set aside my suspicions about Blanche.

“That’s good to hear.”

The empress smiled weakly. I checked her condition, administered one more dose of pain relief, and left the palace. I wanted to grab a quick bite of Aperium at Geumjeong before heading back to Garnet Palace.

But Yulion didn’t seem to want to leave my side.

I stopped and asked:

“By the way, Yulion, weren’t you here to say something to the empress?”

“Me?”

“Yes. But you haven’t said a word.”

Men really are quiet. Does checking on the empress and seeing her take the medicine complete his duty?

Still, I imagined Yulion quietly cheering the empress in his mind, but the thought made me blush.

‘Not a good match at all.’

I shook my head and asked him again:

“Then where are we going now?”

Probably to the Crown Prince’s palace. I could tell him I’d take a short walk and we could part ways. But Yulion turned the question back on me.

“And where are you going? Back to the medicine chamber?”

“Uh… no, I’ll take a walk.”

“Then I’ll accompany you.”

“Huh?”

I nearly protested. Yulion looked at me as if nothing was wrong.

“Why are you surprised? We couldn’t meet yesterday, so I’d like to walk with you a little.”

Then it hit me—he was worried about eavesdroppers among the maids. He wanted to maintain the appearance of a loving couple. I smiled and went along with him.

“I was just worried you’d be busy. I missed seeing you yesterday. Shall we go?”

“…Alright.”

Yulion hesitated and avoided my gaze, clearly embarrassed.

‘Aperium will have to wait again.’

Since we were walking, I figured it was a good chance to discuss Blanche. As we entered the garden, Yulion led me to the central garden.

“We had planned to have dinner together, hadn’t we?”

“Eh?”

I asked automatically, caught off guard. Yulion glanced at me briefly before looking ahead.

“Since you said you were busy, I brought a simple sandwich to eat together.”

“…Huh?”

I wanted to keep the conversation normal, but his words kept catching me off guard, forcing me to respond repeatedly.

“Let’s eat over there.”

He pointed to a small table at the edge of the garden. So he had packaged sandwiches and brought them here to eat outdoors with me.