Episode 105
Arien's funeral was held very quietly. The strangely secret funeral was not known to the public until days after it was held.
The people of the capital city whispered again about the mysterious death. However, people's questions were not answered.
As for how Arien died, not only the people of the duke's family, but also Arien's family members kept their mouths shut.
* * *
'Power is scary. My daughter died so mysteriously and she didn't even protest properly. Arien's family is too much. But. This is how a noble family treats an ordinary second daughter…….'
Elisha slowly drank the fragrant jasmine tea. After all, it was better to have a place like this than not have a place to go out. She didn't feel bad sitting by the window of a pretty cafe, watching people wandering around.
'It's already spring.'
Recently, the general's residence has been busy preparing for the biggest event of spring, the Imperial Hunting Festival. Elisha, the hostess, also had many things to do, so she was out alone for the first time in a long time.
Then there was the sound of the door opening.
The person who looked around her approached with a bright smile when she saw Elisha.
'…… Carola.'
Elisha has run out of taste in her tea. Carola stood in front of her Elisha and bowed her head cutely to her side.
“Elisha……. It's been a while. How are you?”
When she looked closely, she was Carola, and behind her was accompanied by her maids, whom she always accompanied. Both were familiar faces.
Named Pansy and Mimosa, respectively, they were Carola's close handmaids.
They were Carola and women from her country, both of lower nobility. So, they didn't do the work that normal ladies-in-waiting did, and their main job was to go around with great vigor as Carola's aides.
“Yes.”
Elisha answered briefly and she greeted her with minimal courtesy. Carola's eyebrows twitched and her face quickly pouted.
“Lady Elisha is really rude! Miss Carola greets her with such care. Is it because she never learned manners?”
The tall Mimosa exclaimed at her brash impression. She also had an unusually booming voice.
“Yes. Since she was a girl, she was locked up and worked, so she never took etiquette lessons. So I can't help it. Are your questions answered now? Then, please tell me briefly about your business.”
Elisha calmly replied without batting an eye.
At those words, Carola and her maids were dumbfounded by honey. It is because it was Jacob's annex where Elisha was confined and exploited while doing her laundry.
“Elisha…….”
Then, all of a sudden, Carola started behaving strangely. She came to Elisha crying.
“Carola is so sad that she can't sleep a wink these days. Arien went like that. She was a very nice person Isn't Elisha sad too?”
“Please? Your complexion looks great, which is unexpected.”
Elisha replied. Besides, Carola was just smiling brightly.
“It's just that Carola is worried about Lucerne……. How are you Lucerne? At times like this, her family should gather and comfort each other warmly. Lucerne doesn't reveal her true feelings well. Carola, she's worried…….”
Elisha doubted her ears for a moment.
'I heard people's memories are glorified.'
The Carol she experienced in person was much better than the Carol in her memory. In terms of her being out of her mind. Elisha knew that Carola had a habit of acting like an idiot and judging people.
“I want to visit the general's residence and comfort Lucerne……. Caroline too is very saddened by this tragedy. Right. What if she sent Lucerne to make some of her favorite food? Elisha knows Lucerne's favorite food, right?”
“Would a person who wandered around the battlefield complain about food?”
Elisha replied calmly, clearly seeing the number of her Carols provoking her.
“Did you not know? Lucerne likes cookies. I've baked it before……. Does she know what she likes cookies?”
At those words, Elisha recalled memories from her past life. Carola would often present her Lucerne with things like her clothes and her cookies. For some reason, she didn't even know Elisha.
Carola was a bit of a pervert, and she liked Lucerne looking at herself with contempt.
'As expected, the people in this family are direct descendants, and the daughters-in-law are all crazy.'
Elisha thought. And she answered without a twitch of an eyebrow.
“The kind of food he likes.”
“…….”
“I, her wife, will decide. I have the right to decide what the mansion's chef will make. So if you're here to give me information about cookies, you can just go.”
Elisha spoke so neatly that it was heartless. Carola's brow furrowed.
“Not like that. Carola…….”
“Ah. Yes. Do you have anything to say to me?”
Her carola's expression turned grim. Her pitiful expression disappeared and her true face was revealed.
“Ugh- what. If you say so. I have some questions…….”
“If you have nothing to say, please leave.”
Elisha raised her hand and called for her waiter. Anyway, the people in this cafe are all agents of Lucerne, so if Elisha asks, she will kick Carola out even if she picks it up.
“Ah really. Elisha is too hot-tempered. Of course she's curious about Carola. You know. How did she really kill Arien, huh?”
“…….”
“Is this really suicide? Arien's autopsy was attended by wizards, doctors, and even priests. She says that Arien is dead because of the magic tool of an ancient evil god that no one can save. That magic tool is poison. I heard that she suffered for several days before she died?”
Carola whispered and began asking quickly. A ecstatic madness flashed in Carola's eyes.
Carola is so happy that Arien died with her whole heart that she can't bear it. Elisha liked Carola and even hated her trembling.
“You know it well, but why did you come to ask me? Rumors are not my major.”
“Carola is not stupid. If you look at Arien's actions before she died. A few days before her death, she was missing. By the way. The day she was presumed to have taken poison. She says then she was with Elisha……. That night, passers-by said they saw Arien entering the cafe. Elisha was renting out this cafe at that time, right?”
'He's talking like a passer-by.'
Anyway, whether it was Carola or the Duke of Cartier, they would have planted at least some of them around Elisha and Lucerne. However, Lucerne's henchmen were all knights and soldiers, so it didn't seem like they got much information.
'Lucerne is great. I guess he's good at controlling the people around him.'
Arien had been imprisoned days before her death. She was put under a sleep spell that left her comatose for several days. So her pain would be less. That was the only mercy Elisha could give.
'But I can't seem to find anything about those days……. What kind of means did Lucerne use to hide Arien? Besides, it seems that neither Duke Cartier nor Carol found out what happened in the cafe. The security in this cafe is tight.'
Elisha stopped thinking about her. It wasn't her job to find out more.
“Yes? She only teaches Carola……. She might have something for Carola to help her with……. If the head of household misunderstands, she may have Carola clear up her misunderstanding……. Right?”
“I misunderstood.”
“Yes?”
“It's saying that there's no use in suspecting us because of Arien's death. That ancient poison was an item possessed by High Priestess Merha. Oh yeah. Is the head of the household still investigating this?”
Elisha said softly. As the investigation continues, it will be revealed that there is an antidote for the devil's smile poison. It seemed that the people of the family home hadn't reached that far yet. Elisha decided to tell Carola about it first, giving her an excuse to attack Marco.
“You know what? Whatever happens to Marco has nothing to do with Lucerne.”
“…….”
“He's not the kind of person who'd become an enemy of the Cartier family anyway.”
Elisha thought Carola would listen to her. If Marco, the current candidate for successor to the family, fell, the Jacobs would benefit the most. This is because Jacob will be the likely successor.
“I came across it by accident. The ancient poison that Arien ate had only three pills of antidote. The relics of evil spirits are so amazing, aren't they? And do you know that Marco had the antidote?”
“You said that?”
The smile had disappeared from Carola's face.
“It would be nice to find out. Yes?”
Carola grinned when she heard that, but she hurriedly left the cafe with her ladies-in-waiting.
'Now Carola will somehow make Marco her wife's killer.'
Elisha waited and decided to drink tea leisurely.
* * *
That night too, Elisha lay down alongside Lucerne.
She rested her chin on her chin and stared at him, the rare first to fall asleep. She remembered his eyes, clear red beyond her eyelids, more jewels than jewels.
'They're too pretty to be far away.'
As for Arien, Elisha thought she wanted to get rid of Marco if possible. However, Lucerne will no longer be blind in one eye.
'I have repaid part of the grace of my previous life. The thing that saved me from the fountain that day……. Taking my side in front of the family head.'
There were some things that hadn't been paid yet. However, Elisha eased her mind a bit. The poison that blinded Lucerne is gone, and Marco will be unable to recover for a while.
Elisha looked at him for a while and then slowly lay down on the bed.
'I don't regret it.'
This time, there were agents from Lucerne. However, Elisha said she would have done even if it had been to poison Arien's cup.
That was her way of life and this life. Otherwise, it would have been Elisha taking the poison one day. Elisha stared at Lucerne's sleeping face for a long time.
The night was thick and black.
* * *
In a matter of days, rumors spread throughout the capital. It was that Marco had killed his wife by using an ancient poison, a magic tool.
The poison was so precious that it was impossible to obtain it unless it was Marco, the son of the former high priest Merha.
* * *
The head of the family didn't know why Arien was like that either. No matter how out of sight she was, the family head had managed to favor Arien. The family head continued to question Marco.
“Why on earth can you not say a word!”
But Marco was just talking nonsense.
“So. It's my fault. That is……. I……. I do not know.”
“Why is this guy so useless!”
In the end, the householder got angry and asked her to bring her Elisha. Upon hearing from her, Arienne told her that Elisha went to her regular cafe to meet her and that after a few days she died of ancient poison.
“Get Elisha right away. Lucerne doesn't speak the language, so I'll have to start with my child.”
“That's it, the head of the household.”
She said the butler with a troubled face.
“Already……. The general has arrived.”