ATMM 21

Chapter – 21

“Put it down.”

A cold voice rang by my ear.

I forced an awkward smile and tried to keep holding onto the candle.

“Um… so I can’t take it with me. Then let me just look at it a little longer—”

“Now. Put it down.”

The voice was firm.

I tightened my grip on the candle and lowered my head.

Yulion looked furious.

When I hesitated, unable to move, Yulion dragged a hand down his face before grabbing my wrist.

“You grabbed it with your bare hand? A candle that was still lit?”

The sight of my palm spread open before his eyes was unbearably embarrassing.

I answered in a small, shrinking voice.

“I-It was urgent, so I just…”

“So if it’s urgent, will you willingly stab yourself with a knife as well?”

“If it had been that dangerous, I wouldn’t have!”

“Burns are the same. It must have been extremely hot. Why would you foolishly grab it with your hand?”

“If I hadn’t, it would’ve hit my face.”

For a split second, Yulion’s expression turned terrifyingly murderous.

Without a word, he alternated his glare between my hand and the collapsed Blanche.

“Didn’t I tell you to call me immediately if anything happened?”

“It all happened so fast. There wasn’t even time to take a few breaths.”

That was the truth.

I had tried to call out, but by the time I sensed something was wrong, the candle was already flying toward me.

I had no choice but to act.

Slowly, a sense of injustice began to rise in me.

I was the one who grabbed the candle barehanded. I was the one whose palm was covered in hardened wax and couldn’t even let go.

Why was Yulion the one getting so angry?

“It didn’t hurt. I grabbed it because it was fine.”

“Does someone who’s fine fail to let go of a candle this long?”

“That’s because the wax hardened and won’t come off!”

“You can’t remove it because it hurts.”

“I said it doesn’t hurt!”

“If you’re going to lie, at least make it convincing.”

Yulion clicked his tongue softly and carefully peeled away the larger chunks.

Once most of the candle was removed—except for the parts firmly stuck to my skin—my palm was revealed in a complete mess.

“Insane.”

“I don’t think I deserve to be called that…”

“I was referring to Blanche Kemer. To dare commit such an outrage against the Crown Princess—she must be quite mad.”

“Oh. I see.”

No matter how I looked at it, it still felt like he meant me.

But since he said otherwise, I couldn’t press the issue. I twisted my wrist free from his grip.

“This is the medical palace. There isn’t a medicine we don’t have here. I’ll handle the rest of the treatment.”

“With one hand?”

“Jenid is here. So technically, that makes three hands.”

With my capable maid around, I didn’t need help from a nagging scold.

I immediately leaned out the open window and called for Jenid, who had been waiting outside.

For just a fleeting moment, Yulion’s golden eyes seemed to distort faintly—though I couldn’t quite tell why.

“Blanche was deeply involved in this incident? Is that true?!”

“It is. She even attacked the Crown Princess and inflicted severe burns.”

“What?!”

The Empress blinked blankly, unable to respond properly.

The news was simply too shocking.

“These are the pieces of evidence the Chief Physician left behind. Please see for yourself.”

The bundle of documents we retrieved from the chief physician’s office last night detailed, line by line, everything Blanche and he had done.

I had always thought the chief physician incompetent. I never imagined he would prepare documents so meticulously.

Blanche likely hadn’t expected it either.

That was why she had been so desperate to confirm what evidence existed.

“This is… unbelievable.”

The Empress trembled as she turned the pages one by one.

“She worked tirelessly at my side. I thought I could overlook a small fault or two, but this… this is beyond forgiveness. And to think she was plunging a blade into my back…”

Blanche had managed many affairs in place of the Empress, who had grown weary and lost her drive to govern the inner palace.

In doing so, her greed must have grown.

She had persuaded the flustered chief physician—who didn’t know how to cure the Empress—to prescribe treatments that were, in fact, poisonous.

So the Empress would never recover.

So she could seize real power over Tisurit Palace.

And she had nearly succeeded.

If not for me, the Empress would have lost her sight and become even more dependent on Blanche and the chief physician.

“We intend to proceed with an interrogation. She is a high-ranking noble, so we cannot punish her immediately.”

“I see… Then I shall conduct it myself.”

“No. We worry for your health. The Crown Princess and I will handle it. Please rest, Mother.”

Though the Empress hesitated, she eventually relented after Yulion persuaded her several times.

Her figure, sitting alone and staring into empty space, looked unbearably lonely.

“Blanche Kemer. You conspired with the chief physician to deceive Her Majesty the Empress and embezzle imperial assets. Furthermore, last night, when the Crown Princess urged you to confess… you threw a candle at her, causing burns. Do you admit to these charges?”

Yulion paused briefly when mentioning the candle thrown at me, but the interrogation proceeded smoothly.

“I do not admit to it. I am innocent.”

If only Blanche would stop denying everything.

“I have been wronged, Your Highness. Please convene a noble trial. There, I will prove my innocence.”

Blanche continued to claim injustice and requested that the Kemer Count’s House be contacted.

She demanded a proper noble trial.

“The charges are already clear. What innocence do you plan to prove? Will you truly remain this uncooperative?”

“I have repeatedly stated that those documents are fabricated. If you continue to slander me, the House of Kemer will not stand idly by!”

“Your own handwriting directing the chief physician in secret has been recovered in abundance. There are also records showing you diverted funds from Tisurit Palace and the medical palace. Why would the chief physician fabricate and preserve such materials?”

“I will not answer. I will speak only at a formal noble trial.”

Blanche’s resistance was fierce.

Though evidence existed, as a noble, she could not receive severe punishment without a confession.

To impose proper punishment, a noble trial had to be convened—as she demanded—and that would take considerable time.

Blanche knew this.

At least a month. Perhaps years.

During that time, who knew what schemes the Kemer family might employ?

In the worst case, they could produce a scapegoat in Blanche’s place.

For a house of their stature, fabricating evidence would not be difficult.

Unraveling it all would take even more time, and the future would grow increasingly uncertain.

‘Without a confession, the only punishment we can impose immediately is exile from the palace.’

That would not suffice.

She had dared to deceive the Empress—and by extension, the imperial family.

There was, however, one alternative.

Even without a confession, if her crimes were laid bare before all and corroborated by at least three witnesses, a severe punishment could be imposed.

After exchanging a glance with Yulion, I spoke.

“Blanche Kemer. I’ll give you one last chance.”

“My answer will not change.”

“Will you truly not admit your crimes? As it stands, you could be sentenced to death.”

“You cannot treat an untried noble in such a manner.”

“If the consequences of your crimes are clearly established, and three or more witnesses testify, it is possible.”

Blanche’s lips curled into a smirk.

“As if that would ever be possible.”

“If you confess now, your punishment can be reduced.”

“I refuse. Convene a noble trial.”

In the end, Blanche did not waver.

In a voice devoid of emotion, Yulion said,

“You’re walking into a thorny path of your own accord.”

Blanche closed her eyes without any change in expression.

But she had to open them again almost immediately.

Yulion turned toward the guards behind the interrogation chamber and called out:

“Bring in the first witness—Kaman Veldrick.”

A man called Kaman Veldrick was dragged in, both arms bound.

He had brown hair, dull chestnut eyes, and a gaunt complexion.

The moment Blanche saw him, her eyes widened in shock.

Her disbelief quickly turned into horror.

“H-How…?”

The man was thrown to the floor beside Blanche.

He hurriedly straightened himself, knelt, and bowed his head deeply.

“Your sinner, Kaman Veldrick, greets Your Highnesses!”

Blanche could not take her eyes off him. Her lips moved soundlessly.

She tried to speak, stopped, and tried again.

At last, a single word escaped her.

“Chief Physician…!”

Kaman Veldrick.

The traitor who had deliberately prescribed poison to the Empress, worsening her condition.

The man who had served as Chief Physician of the Imperial Palace for three years.

And—

“I confirmed his breathing had stopped… so how—?!”

A man who had died once—

and returned to life.