Chapter 36 (2/2)

“What did you gain by taking three days away from me?”

He looked at me blankly.

I put on a calm face and remained silent. Was it because he felt guilty? For once, he didn’t make me wait for an answer.

“Two days ago, Marchioness Toruka and a couple of dowager empress’s maids were sent to the dungeon.”

I was a little surprised. Marchioness Toruka was the dowager empress’s principle maid in waiting and also her sister-in-law. The Marchioness’ husband was the dowager empress’s younger brother. The Toruka family was dowager empress’s biggest supporter.

By having me poisoned for three days, the emperor managed to get rid of the dowager empress’s right arm.

If Marchioness Toruka was blamed for this, then it was probably possible to even implicate the dowager empress herself.

I was genuinely impressed.

“Nice job. You did well.”

“…”

He didn’t answer me. He looked uncomfortable.

I waited for him to reply. He continued to look at me as if waiting for something. He studied me carefully.

After a few minutes, he finally said to me, “I thought as soon as you opened your eyes, you would scream at me.”

I did consider doing it. I gave him half of the truth.

“I don’t have the strength, and my throat hurts.”

He continued to stare at me as he explained, “Officially, it was Samantha who found you in your bedroom on the floor. She got my doctor on call and he diagnosed that you were poisoned. You and our unborn baby, who didn’t survive.”

A baby?

What the hell was he talking about? What baby?

I became confused but only for a second. I understood the situation quickly. The emperor had been visiting my chamber almost every day for the past month and a half. Recently, I was sent to an isolated wing to rest for a week.

To the outsiders, it made sense that I got pregnant and the emperor wanted me to take some time off. It was a well-thought-out plan.

On my last day, he handed me a cup of poisoned water. When I lost consciousness, the emperor accused appropriate figures of the murder of our non-existent baby and attempted murder of me, the first wife.

Bravo.

“I see that you worked very efficiently during the last three days.”

“…”

He again stayed quiet. The silence felt uncomfortable.

When he finally opened his mouth, he said something I found odd.

“My personal doctor prepared the poison himself. He measured it so the dose puts you to sleep for only a day… I was waiting for you to wake up the next day, but it took much longer. It wasn’t my intention.”

I became confused. His tone was different.

Was he trying to give me an excuse?

When I became speechless, he seemed to get even more anxious.

He continued to explain, “The doctor assured me you would wake up in a day… But you didn’t… I didn’t know what to do when you didn’t wake up.”

“…”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just stared at him.

He continued hurriedly, “I trusted him. I trusted his skills and that was why I hired him… I guess I was wrong about him.”

I felt flustered. This was a different Lucretius than I had seen so far.

I asked nervously, “You… you aren’t going to punish him, are you?”

“Hmm? Isn’t that obvious? You are okay, so I won’t execute him, but he still needs to be punished. He won’t lose his life, but a finger perhaps…”

“Don’t!”

I screamed at him. The emperor’s eyes widened. He looked much younger than his age.

“Why?”

He asked me with genuine curiosity.