In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Episode 232

Chief Maid Otuah looked at the person before her with fearful eyes.
The young man with black hair and strikingly red eyes possessed a remarkably handsome appearance, enough to captivate anyone.
However, to Chief Maid Otuah, he was simply the most terrifying and dreadful person under heaven.
“The Empress ordered you?”
At Perez’s low voice, Chief Maid Otuah, who had been extremely tense, flinched greatly.
“Yes. Saying it was Titan spider poison. To put this into His Majesty the Emperor’s wine right now…”
Chief Maid Otuah, with trembling hands, placed the small bottle she was holding onto the table.
“Titan spider poison, you say.”
Perez reached out, rolling the small bottle in his palm, and let out a small laugh.
If the Empress didn’t move, he intended to move himself.
That was why he had asked Estira for the Titan spider poison and its antidote.
“It seems I’m rather lucky.”
Chief Maid Otuah simply sat there, bowing her head, unable to understand the Second Prince’s words.
“To think the Empress would save me the trouble.”
The Second Prince had first sought out Chief Maid Otuah right after returning from the academy.
“If the Empress intends to harm His Majesty, come and inform me first.”
That was all the payment for the money that entered Chief Maid Otuah’s secret account every year.
The Chief Maid of the Emperor’s salary was not small.
But for Chief Maid Otuah, who sent most of it to her family in her hometown and lived a tight life herself, it was literally a breath of fresh air.
Furthermore, though she had the Empress as her backer, she had no loyalty.
Her family members were held hostage, so she had no choice but to obey orders.
However, recently, the situation had been gradually turning strange.
Every time the Second Prince made a move, the Empress’s power visibly diminished, and eventually, the owner of the West changed.
Chief Maid Otuah was extremely afraid of the Second Prince.
So much so that she couldn’t even meet his eyes properly.
There was a reason for that fear.
“What should I do?”
Chief Maid Otuah asked cautiously.
It was a question with a predetermined answer.
Chief Maid Otuah had come to the Second Prince intending to disobey the Empress’s order to kill the Emperor.
“Put it in.”
“…Yes?”
“As the Empress ordered you, put this poison into the wine bottle.”
“B-but…”
Chief Maid Otuah looked at the Second Prince in surprise.
The red eyes she met for the first time were cold.
“Why are you surprised?”
“Then His Majesty…”
“It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve poisoned His Majesty’s wine, would it?”
“H-how did you know that…”
Perez smiled faintly instead of answering.
“So, this time too, you just need to put the poison in as the Empress ordered.”
Chief Maid Otuah did not answer.
She only looked down at her hands, tightly clutching the hem of her dress.
Then she asked in a trembling voice.
“What will happen to my life?”
It was the same question she had asked the Empress.
Empress Lavini had not guaranteed her safety.
That was the biggest reason Chief Maid Otuah had sought out Perez.
“…I’ll let you leave the palace and live under a new identity.”
Perez said, staring at the chief maid.
“Isn’t that what you want?”
Chief Maid Otuah nodded briefly.
To shake off her family, who were like shackles, and leave this terrifying Imperial Palace.
That’s what she wanted.
The chief maid reached out again and grasped the bottle of poison.
However, her hand, touching the bottle’s lid, was still full of hesitation.
“Don’t worry. If I administer the antidote immediately after he collapses, His Majesty will not pass away.”
Not yet.
Not this easily.
Perez was going to be the first person to discover the collapsed Emperor.
“Then…”
At Perez’s words, Chief Maid Otuah’s complexion visibly brightened.
“It seems you’ve suddenly grown a conscience that wasn’t there ten years ago, Lady Bella Otuah, Chief Maid.”
Perez said, mocking the chief maid.
“I don’t recall you hesitating like this when you brought me poisoned food.”
“Y-Your Highness…”
The only person who frequented the dilapidated detached palace.
The black-haired maid, Chief Maid Bella Otuah, widened her eyes.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know?”
Chief Maid Otuah rose from her seat and immediately knelt.
“I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Your Highness!”
Thump, thump.
The sound of her head hitting the floor echoed.
“At that time, I couldn’t help it… P-please spare my life!”
“Apologies are not needed.”
Perez coldly cut off the chief maid’s words.
“Go back to the Emperor’s Palace right now and put the spider poison in the wine. That is how you atone for your sins, Bella Otuah.”
Chief Maid Otuah, who had been trembling like an aspen leaf, bowed her head a moment later and replied.
“I will obey Your Highness’s command…”
***
“Tell me what you did, Chief Maid Otuah.”
Emperor Jovanes asked, struggling for breath.
“I…” Chief Maid Otuah closed her eyes tightly and answered.
“I poisoned His Majesty’s wine bottle.”
“Who ordered you?”
The chief maid raised a trembling finger and pointed at the Empress.
“It was Her Majesty the Empress.”
“No, it’s not!”
Empress Lavini shrieked as if in a fit.
“It’s not! This is a conspiracy, Your Majesty!
She and the Second Prince are conspiring to frame me!”
It seemed the Empress chose to struggle to the end rather than give up and drown.
“Here, this is the bottle Her Majesty gave me with the poison.”
Chief Maid Otuah said, pulling out a small, finger-sized glass bottle from her sleeve.
“That cannot be evidence!”
The Empress strode menacingly towards the chief maid.
Her eyes looked as if she wanted to tear that mouth open right then and there.
And she looked down at the chief maid with glaring eyes and said.
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
It was clearly a threat.
The chief maid recoiled a step in fear, but continued speaking stubbornly with her head bowed.
“Her Majesty gave me the poison and told me to put it all into His Majesty’s wine bottle.”
“Your Majesty! I’m innocent!”
The Empress approached the Emperor’s bedside this time, pleadingly.
“Do you believe that maid’s words over mine? It’s just a malicious conspiracy, Your Majesty!”
And then, just like at the Grand Council, she tightly grasped the Emperor’s sleeve.
“Please believe me, Your Majesty.”
How pitiful she looked.
It was an act so convincing anyone would be easily deceived.
At that moment, Perez took something from his pocket and said.
“I have evidence.”
“What did you say?”
The Empress’s head snapped towards Perez so quickly it made a whooshing sound.
“Here is a letter from Her Majesty requesting her confidant to obtain ‘Titan spider poison’.”
A purple envelope.
It was the very one Selal had given me in exchange for saving Bellezac.
“That’s impossible.”
The Empress stared at the letter being handed to the Emperor with disbelieving eyes.
“How did you get that…”
The Emperor briefly confirmed the contents of the letter.
His pale lips, struggling for breath, twisted crookedly towards Empress Lavini.
And with ragged breaths, he said.
“How dare you, you, to me.”
The Emperor, who had knocked away the Empress’s hand clutching him, commanded.
“Drag the Empress to the underground dungeon.”
Two knights, waiting at the door, immediately walked towards the Empress and grabbed her arms.
“Let go! Let go of me!
Let go!”
Empress Lavini thrashed, veins bulging in her neck.
Her beautiful face distorted grotesquely, and her perfectly styled hair became a mess in an instant.
“Aargh! Let go! Do you know who I am?!
Let go!”
Empress Lavini, who resisted so strongly that even the knights were flustered, at some point began to scream, glaring at the Emperor lying on the bed.
“This is infuriating! It’s infuriating that I couldn’t kill you, Jovanes, you bastard!”
Madness flared in the Empress’s blue eyes.
“You’re worse than a pig in heat!”
Her piercing blue eyes now turned to Perez.
“Perez! You lowly creature born of a filthy body! I should have killed you along with your mother!”
And then she began to wail.
“Why isn’t heaven on my side! Why does it keep blocking me! Why!”
Tears streamed incessantly down the screaming Empress’s face.
She was enraged and wronged, screaming at the top of her lungs.
At that moment, the Empress’s eyes, filled with malice, met mine.
The Empress’s face, which had been distorted and twisted like a demon, slowly smoothed out, and her mouth opened.
Her wavering blue eyes stared at me.
“It was you.”
The Empress muttered in a somewhat drained voice.
“It was all your doing.”
I did not answer.
But I did not avoid the Empress’s gaze either.
“Ha…”
The Empress let out a hollow laugh with trembling lips.
And it quickly spread into a loud laugh.
“Hahaha! Ahahahaha!”
The Empress bent at the waist, laughing maniacally.
“…How unsightly. I don’t want to see it anymore. Take her away.”
Emperor Jovanes frowned and ordered the knights.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Even under the knights’ rough grip, the Empress did not resist as she had before.
“I was deceived! Ahahahaha! I was foolish!”
She merely swayed like a madwoman, laughing loudly.
Tears again streamed down the Empress’s face.
“Ha! Ahaha!”
The Empress’s laughter echoed from afar as she was dragged away.