Chapter 5

Me?

The new fact almost made her gasp, but fortunately, she bit her tongue and blocked it just before it comes out.

Cardan, who quickly turned his eyes as if he had lost interest, continued his speech.

“You said the dog went over to the Empress Dowager and has to be removed.”

The more Cardan spoke, the more and more the situation plunged into a labyrinth.

The dog?

In addition, the Empress Dowager is a person who later hands over decisive secrets to Esland as in the original.

“But you asked me to make an excuse because there was no proper physical evidence.”

While she was working hard to understand what all this meant, she heard a low laugh.

“I’ve lost to polo games at best, so why don’t you let me go again?”

Cardan tapped on the desk one after another with his long fingers.

“Of course, your judgment will be right as always.”

A clear mockery. A subtle hatred was reflected in Cardan’s eyes, as she shook her head.

“Shouldn’t you think of the people who ran here and there just to fulfill the Duke’s request?”

Cardan, who ignores the word “please,” was not an emperor that generously listens to the request of his trusted servant.

Wouldn’t it be better if it seemed like she had to keep following orders that she hated?

“No matter what the contract is, just do it in moderation.”

Cardan’s lips twisted up.

Contract?

It was her first time hearing it, but the following words were so powerful that they blew away her doubts away.

“It’s not like you’re playing with people. The more I see you, the more disgusted I feel, Duke.”

At that moment, she was speechless and just stared blankly at the emperor.

However, no matter how long she waited, his cold gaze at her did not change.

She soon came to her senses.

As long as a crazy tyrant says she’s disgusting, she shouldn’t stay like this.

She stood up right away and bent down.

“I’m sorry for disturbing Your Majesty’s mood. I’ll clean up what Your Majesty finds annoying right away.”

She strode to the window, opened the window wide, and measured the height of the floor with her eyes.

Well, it’s the second floor, so she won’t die even if she jumps off.

The lawn underneath also looks soft.

She’ll get some bruises at best. That much she can sacrifice.

She put her feet on the window frame without hesitation.

At that time, she heard a sound of laughter.

“A duke who cares about herself more than anyone else will jump off?”

She hesitated when she couldn’t tell whether she should jump or not.

She heard a laugh again.

“That’s right, that’s right.”

This time, he definitely seemed to want me to jump. Then, she has no choice but to meet the tyrant’s expectations.

She closed her eyes and let go of the hand holding the window frame.

At that time, a strong grip grabbed her jacket’s collar and pulled it back as it was.

When she came to her senses again, she was in the office, not on the lawn.

“I think you’re having quite some fun playing with me.”

When Kardan roughly shook her off, she was pushed out a few steps helplessly.

“Do it in moderation.”

The gaze at me no longer tried to hide the hatred contained in it.

“Before you give up on the contract or whatever.”

She was frozen because of the tightening she felt over her whole body.

Cardan narrowed his forehead as if he didn’t like me, and then moved a little.

“If it weren’t for the contract…”

Even before thinking about what that means, Cardan left the office without looking back.

Although she succeeded in bowing down due to her instinct, her mind was so confused.

As soon as Cardan disappeared, she sat down on the sofa in the office.

In her confused head, only the word “contract” lingered.

She tried to organize her thoughts.

“The Duke of Baloa has the power to make the Guard’s captain her dog, keep the Empress Dowager in check, and is involved with some kind of contract with Cardan.”

But what if the emperor finds out that she doesn’t have any idea about the contract?

“Well, I found a new way to be executed even if I didn’t make a mistake.”

In an unknown situation, she began to look for clues at the duke’s office again.

She’s already seen most of it, but considering the newly discovered facts, she noticed strange things that she ignored before one by one.

The greetings sent to various noble families, when they were put together, and the laws changed after she became the Prime Minister seemed strangely advantageous to the duke.

In addition, the numerous gifts that the duke has received in the past.

She even wondered if the duke intended to squeeze the nation’s hard work until the very end.

“Princess Baloa is the tyrant?”

The reports received from Sir Ethan included every move of the emperor.

When she first read it, she thought it was just the order of the Duke to serve the emperor well.

Now she seemed to know. The duke seems to have been monitoring Cardan using Ethan.

What do you mean, a servant who watches over the emperor?

“Duke Baloa, what the hell are you are you?”

She thought the duke was simply a minion under the tyrant emperor, flattering and picking up crumbs of power.

However, in reality, the duke was a hidden influence that controlled the empire at will.

Now she understood why Cardan stared at her with such a hateful look.

In the heavy silence, only the sad sound of the pigeon resonated.

She soon came to her senses and began to look at every inch of the office to see if there was any hint about the contract.

It was all about work, but some of them were varied.

The first is on the bookshelf.

As the title suggests, it was written about how to feed pigeons.

She distributes appetizers, main dishes, and desserts to three of the four pigeons, respectively, and starve the other one.

The distribution order changes every day.

The second is a portrait of a woman found under the hidden bottom of the drawer.

The beautiful woman with brown hair and eyes had no major characteristic except that she was moderately pretty, but the more she saw it, the more she was engulfed with an unknown nostalgia.

When she stood there for a long time and opened the portrait, she felt strange as if the woman’s gaze were blaming her.

And in the end, it seemed to stare at her as if to kill her.

“Gasp.”

In fear, she hurriedly covered the portrait.

And the third one was an herbal book under the portrait.

Although varied, none of them were related to the contract.

However, it is most likely that the portrait has something to do with the contract.

It was unlikely that Duke Baloa would have kept the portrait in a hidden place simply for memories.

She was looking at the shabby office when someone knocked on the door.

“I brought your meal.”

When she opened the door, the maid stood with the trolley.

She began to set up dishes on the table with skillful hands.

“Uh…”

It was the same as in the .

Three courses that are a little simple to be called a noble’s meal.

The appetizers, main dishes, and desserts were set in order.

“Enjoy your meal.”

The duke always ate alone, and when the maid finished setting the food, she bowed and left the office.

“Eating comes first here too.” As shown in the , she took small portions of the food and approached the pigeons.

“Gugugugu.”

The pigeons flapped and cried. Perhaps because they were white birds, the appearance was quite pretty.

“One is the appetizer, two is the main dish, three is the dessert, and I’m sorry, but I’ll give it to you next time.”

When she hummed down the names she had roughly made up and give away the food, the pigeons began to peck in excitement.

“It’s all about making a living, isn’t it?”

She sighed and sat at the simple table and tried to eat the appetizer.

Tuk.

There was a sound of something falling.

A pigeon stained red with blood from vomitting was lying on the floor of the cage.

“Gasp.”

A salad fork fell from her hand with a crackling sound.

But the surprise was short-lived, and she immediately realized what was going on.

This was why the Duke distributed his food to the pigeons.

“To identify poison.”

The reason why she always raises four pigeons while eating three course meals.

“If one died, she would have needed a replacement.”

She got goosebumps all over her body.

Her heart pounded as the reluctance that came from the fact the she killed the bird she just named with her own hands, mixed strangely with the relief that she was able to avoid the poisonous food.

“Squeak!”

Then the fallen pigeon flapped its wings slightly.

‘It’s not dead yet.’

She doesn’t know if there might be a way to save it.

Her heart began to pound like crazy.

Should she call the imperial clinic?

But if she asks for treatment for the pigeons, not humans, she will definitely be treated like a crazy person.

If only she could find an antidote.

At that time, an herbal book in the double drawer came to mind. She hurriedly removed the bottom of the double drawer again.

The book was full of explanations for all kinds of herbs. However, when she read it carefully, they were all poisonous herbs, not medicinal herbs.

From poison that can instantly kill elephants with just one drop to poison that make people crazy.

All of them were just horrible things.

Thanks to the vivid description of symptoms and detailed explanation, she was able to immediately find out the identity of the poison sprayed on the salad.

“The pigeon vomited blood and the salad smelled sweet.”

Mereiza.

“An anticipator. Now we just need to find an antidote.”

However, no matter how much she looked through the book, there was no information about the antidote.

“Squeak”.

At that time, the pigeon vomited a chunk of blood again and drooped.

She ran straight to the pigeon, but it was already late. She touched it gently with her finger, but there was no movement, and the warmth was already escaping from the small body.

“Huh?”

She stood in front of it in a daze for a while.

She might have been the one cooling down and vomiting blood instead of that pigeon.

She dropped the book in an indescribable sense of despondency.

“Sorry…”

A small whisper came out of nowhere.

She wrapped it’s small body with a handkerchief and took it out of the cage.