TRETTHD 38

#38. Gift

“That’s enough. I thought you were clever, but it seems you’re more foolish than I expected. In the imperial palace, meddling too much will only come back to poison you. Be careful.”

There was so much Velia wanted to say.
But faced with the Empress’s firm expression, she couldn’t utter a single word.
Truthfully, she didn’t even know what to say, or how to say it.

How could she possibly know it was poison? Why, if she knew, was she drinking it without resistance? What on earth was she thinking…?

Unable to hide the tremor in her eyes, Velia simply looked at the Empress. The Empress gave a faint smile.

“…I’ve let this drag on too long.”

Her voice then turned cold.

“Do not come here again. I’ve seen your face once— that’s enough.”

As if her business was concluded, the Empress dismissed Velia.

Then, as naturally as water flowing downhill, she picked up Velia’s teacup and hurled it to the floor. The loud crash of breaking porcelain stirred a commotion outside, as if the maids were about to rush in.

Velia quietly spoke to the Empress.

“You know this way of enduring isn’t the answer, Your Majesty. The time you have left… might not be much.”

“I know.”

Velia silently stared at the tea spreading across the floor.

“I’ll try to find an antidote.”

“This tea is brewed within the imperial palace. It’s impossible to take it outside, and therefore just as impossible to analyze its ingredients.”

Just as Velia was about to reply, a maid’s voice came from beyond the door, asking if they could come in.

With no choice but to rise and leave, Velia turned toward the door—only to hear a very small voice behind her.

“…Take care of Khalid.”

Velia did not answer. She simply turned, and just as when she had first entered, she gave the Empress the perfect formal bow of the Empire. She thought the Empress might have smiled at that.

At that moment, Velia understood why the Empress had willingly taken on disgrace and shut herself away in the Empress’s Palace.

She was pretending to be useless, just to remain in the palace a little longer.

So the Emperor’s attention—and the Crown Princess’s attention—would never turn to her.

Simply to endure as the Empress.

Velia bit her lip hard, then turned again and took hold of the door handle.

Driving out the Empress was impossible under imperial law. That was why Raul had chosen to kill her.

And the current Emperor too was slowly trying to kill her.

How long could she possibly last?

Ah… it wasn’t my imagination.

As Velia stepped out of the Empress’s chamber, she glanced back through the narrowing crack of the door—and saw the Empress looking at her with a truly warm expression.

And a premonition struck—that this might be the last time she ever saw that face. So she couldn’t take her eyes off the Empress until the door closed completely.

Bang!

The sound of the door shutting felt like a severing from the world. For some reason, her eyes stung. But she couldn’t show tears, so she looked up and let out a long breath.

“Velia.”

Khalid had apparently been waiting outside; the moment she stepped out of the Empress’s Palace, he came to her side, studying her condition.

“Let’s go back. We’ve done all we needed to do.”

Velia gave a faint, weary smile and clasped his hand tightly.

The meeting with the Empress had been so intense that perhaps her expectations for the Emperor were too high.
When they went to greet him, things passed far more uneventfully than she had imagined.

Because of their engagement, the Emperor had gained a share of a gold mine he’d otherwise have had to give up. That gave him satisfaction—and he hadn’t forgotten that Velia was the cause.

So he had apparently made an effort to receive her as an honored guest.
Yet, when they actually met, his attitude toward her was, as expected, far from pleasant.

“So, when’s that old hag going to die?”

The moment Khalid saw the Emperor’s face, his mood soured, and he kept asking when the Emperor would die.

“…Khalid.”

Truthfully, the Emperor didn’t have long left.
But it was not a topic to bring up at the threshold of the Emperor’s Palace.

Khalid didn’t seem to expect an answer anyway; he just frowned deeply and sighed.

“Hah… he really is an insufferable old man.”

The Emperor’s gaze toward Velia made his disapproval plain. No doubt he disliked her for refusing his beloved son.

But watching him openly display his irritation, saying only perfunctory things, made Khalid’s anger simmer hotter and hotter.

“It’s better this way. If he’d pried into everything, it would’ve been more troublesome.”

Realizing she was being considerate of him, Khalid felt grateful, and pulled her into an embrace.

“There’ll be a party to welcome you in a few days. Until then, you can enjoy yourself a little more, right?”

“You just want to play.”

Velia rolled her eyes.

Khalid chuckled and took her hand as they walked.

“That’s right. Once I introduce you at the party, invitations will pour in from all over. Then my time to monopolize you will shrink—so I have to keep you to myself as much as I can now, don’t I?”

He said it shamelessly, without a trace of embarrassment.

Velia couldn’t help but laugh softly at his candor.

“Pfft… what kind of line is that?”

“Unlike you, I’m always free. No one comes looking for me.”

The Emperor left anything worthwhile to Raul, and handed Khalid only petty, bothersome errands.
In truth, he had very little to do inside the palace.

The Emperor’s favoritism toward Raul is blatant.

Anything that might yield results went to Raul; anything useless went to Khalid.
The bias was so obvious Velia could hardly believe it.

“Haven’t you heard the rumor that the Second Prince just idles around?”

Khalid kept finding excuses to spend time with her.

But Velia knew he actually had plenty of personal work. He spent most of his time busy with it.
Daily reports arrived from all over, and she knew very well that he was constantly working—yet he kept pretending otherwise.

It was a ridiculous complaint, but Velia simply smiled and looped her arm through his.

“Then I suppose I’ll just have to ‘play’ with you for the next few days.”

When she said it sweetly, looking up at him, his expression turned strange.

Worried she might have offended him by saying she’d ‘play’ with him, she looked closely—only to find his eyes fixed steadily on her. No, that wasn’t it.

Feeling a little self-conscious, she cleared her throat, then suddenly thought of something and let go of his hand.

Khalid’s arm felt a little empty.

“Oh! I just thought of a way to really annoy that man.”

Khalid stopped walking and looked at her.

“What is it?”

She couldn’t recall the exact timing, but in her previous life, sometime after she came to the Empire, Raul had found himself in deep trouble.

While carrying out the Emperor’s order to crack down on illegal gambling houses in the capital, he had stumbled into gambling himself—and become addicted.

Though he closed down most of the operations, he left one untouched, and visited it often.

An illegal casino for nobles…

Casinos weren’t illegal in the Empire. If operated within the law, they could function freely, and a few such legal venues existed. Small wagers placed there were permitted by law, as the casinos were considered part of noble society’s social scene.

But Velia knew of one such place that was being run illegally.

“It’s not something to discuss here. I’ll explain in detail later.”

Noticing loiterers nearby, Velia smiled faintly and fell silent.

First, she needed to find out from Khalid how far the gambling crackdown had progressed, and then decide when to act. Used well, this could put a small crack in Raul’s perfect image.

Back then, the Emperor went to great lengths to keep the rumor of Raul frequenting an illegal casino from spreading.

This time, they could leak it first—before the Emperor had any chance to intervene.

It wouldn’t be enough to topple Raul entirely.

But to bring down a sturdy fortress, you start by digging at the edges, weakening the ground beneath. Thinking of it that way, Velia felt a little less impatient.

Khalid then said with a delighted smile,

“As it happens, I’ve been meaning to send Raul a little gift myself. Seems we had the same idea?”

Ever since hearing of Velia’s regression, Khalid had been unwilling to just let things slide.

He was bending over backward to win her heart, while Raul—in another life—had abandoned her and even killed her.

And it was Raul who had wounded her so badly she’d locked her heart away.

Thinking that all his current efforts were because of Raul only made Khalid angrier.
He didn’t mind working for Velia’s sake—but because of Raul? That was intolerable.

So he had prepared his own “little gift.”

“May I ask what your gift is?”

Velia’s curiosity showed, and Khalid lowered his voice.

“The spies he planted on me.”

Velia’s eyes went wide.

He’d already caught them?

She had been meaning to bring it up—Raul had sent quite a few spies to watch and report on Khalid. But to think he already knew…

“Since when did you know?”

“Things like that are easy to notice.”

Had he known everything in the past as well?
If so, why hadn’t he struck back? Why had he stayed away from the capital after leaving for the Grand Duchy?

Velia swallowed her questions.

“More than that, I’m curious—what other fun ideas you’ve thought up.”

“I can promise you’ll enjoy this one.”

She grinned.

His rising curiosity made him press her,

“Give me at least a little hint.”

“Hmm…”

Velia held his shoulders, leaned close to his ear, and whispered—

“Raul’s going to fall into gambling.”

Khalid’s eyes widened at the completely unexpected words.

“What?”

Velia chuckled at his reaction and, just to tease, planted a quick kiss on his cheek. Khalid laughed aloud.

To the people watching from behind, they must have looked like nothing more than a loving couple.

“I’ll tell you the details when it’s just the two of us.”

Her face brightened at the thought of finally moving to obstruct Raul.

She intended to take everything from him—piece by piece.

And this was only the beginning.