Chapter 269 (2/2)

“Report to me!”

“I’m sorry to report, but what you guessed is right. I’ve detected poison.”

“Poison!”

At that moment, there was a sharp silence. Who could say anything when poison was detected in the food served for the emperor?

Glancing over them who were shocked with fear and at a loss what to do, he said, “Poison was detected in my food. Is anybody among you here who has dared to harm me?”

“Well, I think you might misunderstand, Your Majesty. Who could dare do this…?”

“Misunderstanding? Can you say that when you see this clear evidence?”

Earl Hamel shut up when he saw the reagents whose color changed. Looking at him who was silent, he said, with his mouth turned up a bit, “Well, I might be mistaken. Okay, let me ask them. As we have the High Priests here, let me ask them if they could check if my food had poison or now. Let me have them check if I was poisoned, too.”

“…”

“High Priest, can I ask both of you a favor?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

The two High Priests stepped forward after bowing to him.

While the white-haired High Priest checked the emperor’s condition, the blonde high priest recited a prayer in a small voice and put his hand into the reagent bottle. At that moment, the liquid that had turned red in the brilliant white light recovered its original color.

“That is…! ”

“It’s poison!”

Moaning came out from the nobles here and there.

Then the High Priest announced in a mysterious voice, “Yes, it’s certainly poison, Your Majesty. As the Fourth Root of Vita, I, Quartus, can conclude it’s poison, swearing on my divine power.”

“I agree. Besides, I, Secondus, can say, swearing on my divine power, that you have been poisoned now.”

When the two High Priests said that definitely, silence mixed with fear fell on the conference room.

Looking around with cold eyes, the emperor said, “The two High Priests testified, swearing on their divine power, that it is poison. Do you still want to argue that I was mistaken?”

“…”

“As of now, I order all the nobles to stay home. I will convene a big meeting at this time tomorrow. So, every noble in the capital should attend. This is my order as the emperor. If you violate it, you will be regarded as participating in treason, and you will be executed immediately.” “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I would like to trust you, so don’t behave rashly.”

Then, he stood up coldly. Leaving them still trembling with shock behind, he left. The door was closed with a bang.

‘So, is this the start of the crackdown that I have been waiting for so long?’

A satisfied smile came to my lips.

The next day the big meeting was held as expected.

The big conference hall, which I had not visited after a long time, was huge. Typically, there were vacant seats here and there, but today all the seats were fully packed with the nobles who took the emperor’s warning very seriously yesterday.

“The Sun of the empire is entering!”

When the protocol officer announced, everybody stood up and bowed to him who sat at the head table. They were unusually polite today.

“Loyalty to the Lion, we’re honored to see the Sun of the empire.”

“Glory to the empire! Please sit down. ”

As soon as he said that coldly, the spacious conference hall was filled with the sound of them taking seats for a moment. After confirming that they were seated, the protocol officer opened a long piece of paper.

“Glory to the great Castina Empire! May the bright sunshine…”

“Stop there. Let’s skip the introduction and get to the point.”