* * *
“They’re not my people, but they are people I saved. Every single one of them has something that would make you not think of them as normal people.”
“…And what would that be?”
“When they’re not happy, they start crying when they hear ‘Saintess’.”
Alois laughed as he took off his heavy, impractical, and unattractive coat.
“That’s why I ask, Alois, what do you mean when you say the royal chef is your person?”
“It’s exactly as it sounds.”
Stripped down to just his white shirt, Alois approached the two monkeys lounging on the bed.
“Actually, all the food you ate earlier contained a poison that gradually dulls the sense of taste.”
“…???”
I was about to lie next to the monkeys to rest and I immediately sat up.
“For you, I’m sure it was unnoticeable. It’s such a small amount that even Lord High Priest, Reneben would be unaffected. You have to take it consistently, for months…or even years before it shows any effects.”
“Why would you do such a thing?”
“Why, indeed?”
Unlike me, who was shaken, Alois spoke in a casual tone, like he was reporting what he had eaten for breakfast. He pulled back the curtains, and the sun, which was still shining in the sky, poured down on Alois.
“…Alois, you asked me to use you as a chess piece.”
“That I did.”
His gaze, turned halfway toward me as he held the curtain, was dizzying.
“Then you should keep this in mind. A needless chess is always bound to be discarded.”
In other words, I was telling him not to hide too much from me.
…He acted close but in reality, Alois was the most dangerous presence of all.
Our relationship wasn’t built on trust but rather on calculations.
“I guess I’ll have to do well…so that I’m not abandoned.”
Alois won’t harm me because he needed me. I wasn’t trusting Alois—I was trusting the situation where he needed me.
“It’s never a good thing to have too many secrets.”
Likewise, Alois knew that I needed him so I wouldn’t betray him that easily.
“No need to worry. If there are any such secrets that would harm you…”
The greatest asset that he could provide to me was himself.
“I wouldn’t make them in the first place.”
And Alois surely understood that too.
“…”
That understanding was why we could sit together like this.
That was why he was bold yet also cautious and moved threading a fine line.
“Don’t worry. If I intended to keep this from you, I wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.”
“…”
“First, the facts…six years ago, when the royal chef of Vermont passed away, I replaced him with one of my people.”
That wasn’t enough information for me.
I urged him to continue with my eyes.
He hadn’t yet quenched my thirst.
The information I wanted was being delayed.
Alois had a talent for feeding your curiosity just enough to intrigue you but never enough to fully satisfy you.
“It wasn’t that difficult. While the ones you saved are physically adept, my kids are more talented in this field.”
“Stop changing the subject.”
I felt like I was the only one in suspense, so I exhaled deeply and stroked the fur of the monkeys to calm myself down.
“Securing the position of royal chef isn’t a hard task. You simply have to satisfy the king’s taste.”
“And that’s easy…?”
“Of course not. But other than satisfying his taste, King Vermont has one particular weakness.”
“…It must have been a lot of flattery.”
“Exactly. Royal chefs are typically lower nobles or commoners. While the rest are terrified and trembling in fear before the king, the one who flatters him is bound to stand out.”
The royal chef is personally selected by the King to ensure that they are the right fit for his palate.
To take advantage of the time when both commoners and lower nobles were getting tested and dig out the King’s weakness…
“It was easy to get selected. You just had to have decent cooking skills.”
It sounded far from easy.
If anything, the hardest thing was having the gall and the ability to cultivate your own person and have them infiltrate the royal palace of another kingdom of all palace.
“So? I still…don’t understand why you’d instruct your person to add poison that dulls taste.”
I tilted my head and lifted my hand that was petting the monkeys to point at him.
“I might look idle but I’m busy and I have paperwork to get through with Reneben soon. My time is precious. So it’s time to tell me something worth hearing.”
I was tired of being tantalized with little droplets.
When I narrowed my eyes at him, Alois slowly approached, gently took my hand and put it down before sitting next to me.
“The taste depriving drug is slow to seep in. Slow enough that by the time you notice it, it’s already too late. And by then…”
“…”
“Your resistance to poison is also gone.”
“Ha…”
Poison…poison, he says.
“As is one’s duty, those born into royalty are trained to build resistance to poisons. Most poisons won’t kill them.”
“Just say you want to murder them instead of beating around the bush.”
He laughed.
“To mention killing someone in front of me…I’m quite surprised.”
His lips curled placidly as if he expected that reaction.
I stared at him and my gaze turned cold.
A warning that if he didn’t explain, I would show no mercy.
“As a mere prince, I’d say this is most fitting method I have to attack the royal family of Vermont.”
“If you’re going to give excuses, at least make it a good one.”
I had no way to decipher the meaning behind his smile. I furrowed my brow and bit my lip.
“If you don’t give me a proper explanation, I will destroy the efforts you’ve built for the last 6 years, Alois.”
No matter what, I refuse to allow him to kill someone.
…Allow, huh.
While it was true that I outranked Alois, if he was truly determined to kill, it would be over before I could intervene.
“That…wouldn’t be good.”
“…”
“If…you’re asking why…I guess you could say I had no other way.”
“Alois!”
“And to find another way, I brought you to this country.”
I froze, stopping everything I was doing.
I was already halfway up from the bed, and I stared blatantly at him.
Alois held my waist, gently pulling me back down until our eyes met.
“With me, killing him is the best way, but with you here, it is not.”
“…”
His red eyes were so similar to mine, yet very different from mine.
As I met his gaze head-on, my left hand continued to shake.
“Tell me why you want to kill him.”
“…Rather than telling you, I think it would be better if you saw it yourself.”
“…Hah?”
The reason he brought me to this country.
Alois, now devoid of his usual smile, stared directly at me.
“Not now, another time. When you’re not being swept away by my words and you’ve thought deeply about it, tell me.”
“Tell you what…”
“That you’re prepared to see how the people of this country live, beyond the royal palace of Vermont.”
“I am always prepared—.”
“That is a lie…”
I shut my mouth.
I wanted to know what was going on.
For a while now, the unpleasant sensation wafting under my nose was making my stomach churn.
I knew there was something wrong.
If he was talking like that, there must be something going on that I didn’t even want to imagine.
But stupidly enough, the moment I was about to see it with my own eyes, the weight of the responsibility I had to bear made me hesitate.
However.
“Alois Eseah.”
However, I, Emilone.
“I do not lie.”
I only hesitated, but I was never going to stop moving forward.
“I have never not been prepared.”
I grabbed his arm and looked into his eyes, laying down words without a single lie.
“When I see someone bleeding, I am not afraid, I step forward without a single hesitation. To those in pain, I do not turn away, I embrace them with my own body.”
“…”
“When I see those in sadness, I know that I can comfort them, and I am willing to take responsibility for those I have taken under my wing.”
“Lady Emilone.”
“I’ve never once been unprepared.”
I tightened my grip around his arm.
Even as I did, I knew it wouldn’t hurt him but I still used as much strength as I could.
To tell him: don’t you dare characterize me as you please.
“I am a stronger person than you think.”
“I have never thought of you as weak.”
“As if. If you truly believed that, you wouldn’t speak of being prepared to me.”
Perhaps I struck a nerve because he fell silent.
“I didn’t realize your understanding of me was so little. Do you think I’m some fragile young miss who exists solely to be protected? Or that I’m some puppy that trembles in fear at the sight of blood? That can’t be it. After all, you were the one who called me here in the first place.”
“…Seriously, I cannot win against you, Lady Saintess.”
In the end, he rose from his seat and walked toward the window, throwing the curtains aside.
He tapped the unopened window with his index finger and raised his chin in a manner that seemed both arrogant and condescending.
“I retract my earlier statement. However, I still don’t think you are in the right condition to see the reality of the Vermont Kingdom, Lady Emilone.”
“…And why is that?”
“Because if you go out as you are now, you will get hurt. No matter what you see, you must be resolved not to cry, not to waver, but to offer a steady hand to those in need.”
He hooked his finger around the window latch and turned it.
A refreshing breeze flew in as the window slowly slid open.
“You said I do not understand you well, Lady Emilone.”
“…”
“If anything, I would like to argue the opposite. I know you far better than you think.”
His gaze was dull and arrogant—the eyes of a person in authority—a look that only surfaced in moments when it was just us alone.
“I know that you cannot bear to look on and ignore the suffering of the innocent.”
“All this time, you’ve been hinting at how miserable the people of Vermont live…and now you say you cannot take me there right now…”
“Even if you say that, I cannot.”
“Alois, do not think yourself above me. If I tell you to go, you go and if I tell you to guide, you guide. Do not forget your position here.”
For some reason, his words made me sick to my stomach and I glared at him with anger.
This unease was likely going to continue until I saw everything with my own eyes.
“…That goes without saying. It was my choice to submit to you and as long as Your Holiness does not cast me aside… I will remain beneath you.”
Translator’s Corner:
*I just realized they’re having this whole ‘I’m poisoning the king conversation’ under the king’s roof. If this was a c-novel, there would 100% be a shadow guard listening.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter 😊
Advanced chapters available on Patreon.
- Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 70 - January 12, 2025
- Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 69 - January 8, 2025
- Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 68 - January 6, 2025