Chapter 6
She was a princess, yet her father’s indifference and the bullying of her half-sister Elodie had been part of her everyday life.
And one of the things Elodie led in tormenting Anesa with was meals.
She had thought the reason she felt hungry the moment she woke up was just a hallucination.
‘Now that I think about it, I was always hungry when I was young.’
Because the number of times she had eaten a proper meal could be counted on one hand. She looked at the food placed before her.
It looked normal enough, but it always tasted so awful that it was hard to even swallow. Once, they had even deliberately put in food she was allergic to and made Anesa sick.
‘That yellow pumpkin soup probably tastes like garbage too.’
When she was young, she hadn’t had the courage to protest, and there was no one who would listen to her anyway, so she simply endured it.
But now, things were different.
“Thank you, Sophie.”
She was no longer the same foolish, dull-witted child from eight years ago.
Pretending nothing was wrong, Anesa sat down and scooped up a spoonful of soup.
Just as she expected, instead of sweetness, a nauseating taste spread across her tongue. It tasted like ground fish innards had been mixed into it.
“Pfft.”
Watching Anesa’s face grow rapidly colder, Sophie turned her head and let out a laugh. She was probably feeling pleasure at the sight of the princess forcing herself to swallow such disgusting food.
Without even knowing that this would be the last time she could laugh.
Anesa calmly ate a few spoonfuls of the soup as if nothing was wrong, then slowly curled her lips.
And then.
Clink.
She suddenly dropped the spoon and covered her mouth with her hand.
“Ugh.”
Sophie, barely holding back her laughter, asked,
“Oh my, Lady Anesa. What’s wrong? You dropped your spoon during your meal. That clearly goes against proper etiquette…”
As Sophie bent down to pick up the spoon from the floor, her words trailed off.
Because red blood was seeping out between the fingers covering Anesa’s mouth.
“……!”
Drip, drip.
Red drops of blood stained the carpet.
“W-What…”
As bright red blood flowed from Anesa’s mouth, the maid’s face turned cold.
Before long, Anesa collapsed to the floor with a thud and reached a hand toward the maid.
“I think… I think I’ve been poisoned.”
“What? P-Poison?”
At the word poison, Sophie’s face turned pale. She was terrified at the sight of Anesa coughing up blood.
“…A doctor, quickly.”
“W-What? Oh, a d-doctor…”
Leaving the collapsed Anesa behind, Sophie fumbled in panic before hurriedly running out of the room.
The hurried footsteps gradually faded away.
And before long, when Sophie returned to the room with the royal physician.
Anesa, who had looked as though she would die at any moment, was now greeting the two of them with a composed and dignified appearance.
“Welcome, Jeff.”
Jeff, who had rushed over after hearing that the princess had collapsed while coughing up blood, froze in confusion. The same was true for Sophie, who had followed behind him.
“W-What happened? I was told that Your Highness the Princess coughed up blood and lost consciousness…”
He looked at Sophie as if demanding an explanation. Sophie shook her head with a clearly flustered expression.
“S-She definitely did! Lady Anesa… ah, no. Her Highness coughed up blood and collapsed!”
When the maid cried out as if wronged, Anesa stepped forward.
“Sophie’s right. I was coughing up blood just a moment ago.”
Defending Sophie, Anesa calmly wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief.
“I bit my tongue on purpose so I could meet you, Jeff.”
