Chapter 71

“What?”

– Clap!

Evelina glared at Dowager Empress Isabella, who grabbed her by the collar and immediately slapped her in the face.

“You’re crazy when it’s time to die!”

“Is this violent thing all you can do?”

“Are you done talking? You fell off the horse and your head went crazy!

– Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

Evelina tried to stop the Dowager Empress’ hand from hitting her, but it didn’t work. The cheeks were swollen and the inside of the ball burst, but it was the back of her hand that hurt every time she tried to block it.

“That’s enough.”

When Princess Elsius spoke as if to dissuade the Dowager Empress, the Dowager Empress grabbed Evelina’s hair and dragged her down to the side of the bed.

“Oh, my… I never liked you from the start, you bitch!” 

Evelina looked up at her and gazed at the smiling Dowager Empress with a wild eye. She was displeased with being slapped, but she was coming to her senses.

The emperor was injured because of her. But that’s not what she intended. The intended person must be standing in front of her right now.

She wondered who would benefit most if the emperor had died then.

If the emperor were to die, she would die as the target of their anger as a demonstrator or an attempted criminal, as she rode with him. Then, the Marquis of Logias, who had been hiding behind her, would end this time as well.

If she and the emperor died at once, the throne was empty.

So who will sit in the emperor’s seat?

The remaining blood relatives were Emperor Kaiden and Princess Elsius. And Isabella, who succeeded the royal family as Dowager Empress.

Princess Elsus was a woman, and if she had tried to become emperor, she would not have supported Kaiden. Rather, on the day of the revolution, she could become emperor only by poisoning Kaiden. But she wouldn’t choose to become an emperor.

It was a limitation of her ability rather than her choice. The military power of the princess is not so great. It wasn’t enough to push back the crown prince, Kaiden.

Even now, that was unchanged. Even if the emperor collapsed, she did not have enough military power to occupy the capital.

And if the person who joined her was the Dowager Empress, more attached to the royal lineage than anyone else.

It was right to exclude Princess Elsius from the crime. If the Dowager Dowager Empress was alive and had her eyes wide open, she would never have become emperor.

If Princess Elsius truly wanted the emperor’s seat, the first target to be removed would be the Dowager Empress, not Kaiden.

“What are you staring at? Hurry up and make no mistake!”

When the Dowager Empress shouted, Evelina was convinced that she was the culprit. If Kaiden died, Princess Elsius would be sold as a bride offering for business, that’s all.

Then, she could seat collateral imperials as emperors and act as regent. She had a princess who got married to a country next door to her. She also had a method of bringing the child of a foreign king born by the princess and becoming regent.

There were a lot of people who wanted to come back in that way if they were a princess sold to another country. If it was a friendly kingdom that would not antagonize the bloodline, they would be chosen.

It was the Dowager Empress who would benefit most to kill the emperor. She probably didn’t like it when the emperor and she acted as if they were close.

At that moment, Evelina finished all the calculations and got up from her seat.

She started to feel that the Dowager Empress, who looked so tall that she had to lift her chin when sitting on the floor, was very insignificant now.

“You punk!”

– Pak!

Evelina grabbed Dowager Empress’ arm as she tried to slap her on the cheek again. Even that was difficult for her because of the aftereffects still left on her body, but Evelina looked straight at the Dowager Empress.

“What did you mean when you said I stole the royal family’s funds?”

“Let go! Didn’t I tell you to let go!”

Evelina confirmed the confused expression of Princess Elsius and the ministers behind the Dowager Empress. It is clear that everyone listened to the Dowager Empress, but they did not seem to be sure. In the first place, the people of Kaiden, couldn’t have fully followed the Queen.

All of the people who survived this empire and became ministers were from Kaiden. Those loyal people could die at his words.

Except for my father.

She sighed as she recalled in the original work that Kaiden’s men committed suicide without surrendering when their lord died.

The goal was power, although the Dowager Empress and the Princess wanted different things. That power would have been held by Kaiden, and then by Kaiden, and then by the ministers.

“Bring it here and show it to her!”

The Dowager Empress’s words made eye contact with Armen Lubbs. Armen seemed embarrassed but did not avoid Evelina when her eyes met.

Evelina didn’t trust anyone, but she cooled her head, thinking that if I did her a favor, she would be able to use her chess piece well enough.

“Give it to me.”

As Evelina reached out, Armen Lubbs, a maid who seemed to hesitate, handed her the document.

“What the hell are you doing!”

The moment she was handed the documents, it was David, the chief aide to the Imperial Palace, who ran shouting.

“Here you are, David,”

“Maj-Quee! What the hell is this…!”

Evelina smiled, thinking that the sky was on her side, as she saw that she was lucky enough to reach David Charlene.

Evelina was scrutinizing the paper she had received. She was smiling even more when she looked at the documents presented by the Dowager Empress.

“Did you prepare this much to frame me? That’s ridiculous.”

She handed the paper to David. Then David looked at the documents she handed him with a strange expression. Soon after, the serious expression gradually changed to calm and said.

“It says here that Her Majesty the Queen embezzled the maintenance of dignity granted to him.”

“Huh! Yes! I discovered you dared to steal the money! If you look there, you’ll see the names of the witnesses!”

“That’s right. These are the names of all the top shares that they traded.”

David answered calmly. Evelina’s expression was also calm. Seeing the expressions of the two, Princess Elsius opened her mouth as if she felt a beast in her.

“My sister just came into the palace, so she might have needed funds, Your Majesty the Dowager Empress.”

“Shut up! Don’t you know how much of a crime it is to spend the money of the palace at will! There is also evidence that they tried to steal it and leak it to another country!”

Evelina received the document and handed it over again. And then I checked again. She seemed to be losing steam when she saw the evidence that was so trivial as to the point.

Of course, she was waiting for this time. She was not in a position where either the Dowager Empress or the Princess could touch first, so she was rather waiting for them to attack her.

And the larger the framing, the better for Evelina. It wasn’t dangerous when a running rabbit fell, but it was more dangerous when a running elephant fell.

“The crime of embezzlement is a real punishment! On top of that, you probably don’t know that the embezzlement crime committed by the imperial family is the guillotine!”

The story was true. The former emperor made such a law to easily deal with all the imperial families except him.

That’s why Princess Elsius embezzled only a small amount. So she didn’t have that much military power.

“Yes, I do. If it’s an embezzlement.”

But Evelina hadn’t started the embezzlement yet. It took some time to start the embezzlement. The diamond mine was already being mined but kept secret. It’ll take time to sell it and turn it into Tenesi money.

“Huh! There’s clear evidence here. What do you mean?” The proof is that you bought the useless island of Maineber! There’s even evidence of trading mines that aren’t even with the top shareholders!”

When the Dowager Empress pointed at Evelina with a vein on her neck, Princess Elsius seemed a little embarrassed. Princess Elsius seemed to be trying to ride the rope in moderation.

The original woman would have tried to get rid of Queen Evelina together. But Queen Evelina was a childhood friend of her old crush, Ianathas Peran. She seemed to believe that her marriage with him would be easy if Queen Evelina ordered it.

She had to choose between two candies, one of which looks dangerous as if it were mixed with cyanide. She couldn’t reach out my hand carelessly.

So she was watching. Either way, there wasn’t much to lose to the princess.

“Why is the island of Maineber a problem?”

At Evelina’s words, Dowager Empress shouted with greater anger.

“There must be a third party who decided to buy the island! With the island as collateral! And don’t you know that you’re trying to help your shallow family with that money?”

“Ha.”

“And an attempted murder of the emperor!”

Evelina glared at the Dowager Empress. She guessed it was true that she tried to kill her grandson like that.

She was the only one who would benefit the most when the emperor died. A position where whoever will succeed the emperor after his death can be regent.

“Why would I do that to Kaiden? And I was more in danger when I fell off the horse.”

“I heard you used Euros. You must have mismanaged the timing! Because you’re such a stupid girl! How dare you aim for the throne as a woman!”

“How can I? I’m the Queen, not the Dowager Empress. Kaiden and I have no children. Why would I hurt Kaiden?”

“To avenge your parents!”

Evelina couldn’t resist ridicule because it was so funny that the Dowager Empress said anything.

“You are contradicting yourself in your words. If I’m trying to embezzle money for my family’s sake, wouldn’t it be right if Kaiden was alive? If I were going to murder Kaiden, wouldn’t it make sense to do it now, when I haven’t stolen anything yet?”

“Shut up! There was also a testimony that you stuck next to him and poisoned him!”

“Oh my god!”

It was the maid of the Imperial Palace who was dragged out and thrown in front of Evelina. In this contradictory situation, Evelina realized that the maid was the proudest secret weapon of the Dowager Empress.

“Go ahead!”

“Well, that’s– Your Majesty–.”

“Hurry up and speak!”

The young maid, who was crying at the cry of the Dowager Empress, opened her mouth.

“Yesterday, Your Majesty, I saw you take the Euros to your bedroom!”

Evelina said, laughing at the words.

“What color was the Euros?”

Evelina asked a surprise question. Then the Empress opened her mouth, so she blocked it with her hand and said to the maid.

“Tell me what color it was.”

“Well, maybe it’s blood, red…”

Evelina saw the Dowager Empress, confirming that the maid did not know that Euros was transparent when it was undiluted.

“That’s strange. Euros have no color. Why did you say it was red?”

Euros were transparent when undiluted. But it was a mysterious poison that changed color every time it was mixed with something. However, the fact that the undiluted solution was transparent was not known enough to be known to doctors. Most thought it was mostly red.

“Oh no, that…!”

“Did you hear that mixing it with animal feed turns red?”