“Let’s call it a day.”
As Cersinia stood up from her seat, May and Verne looked at her with wide-open eyes.
“Yes? I don’t mind if we talk all night long!”
Verne couldn’t hide her disappointment.
“It’s not good to be too tired. Let’s go to sleep.”
“That’s right. We still have time left.”
May comforted Verne.
In two days later, Verne will enter the Imperial Palace, so after tonight, there will be only one day left.
“Good night, Verne, May.”
The conversation ended naturally.
Cersinia left Verne and May’s room and returned to her own room, right next to them. The inn that Roena introduced was better than she thought. The room was quite spacious, but since there were few rooms, Verna and May shared a room, and Cersinia and Roena had a single room.
She laid herself down in bed. Thinking whether the knight would have conveyed her situation well to Ben, she recalled today’s unpleasant things.
“What is it?”
‘Why did this ridiculous thing happen all at once?’
‘Why? Why…?’
‘Can all of this be really a coincidence?’
The more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt.
Knock, knock.
Cersinia woke up from the bed at the sound of knocks breaking the silence.
“Come in.”
Soon after, the door opened with a click sound. The innkeeper, who she saw at the counter, slowly entered the room with a round silver tray.
“Lady, it’s a flower tea that helps you sleep better.”
The innkeeper put down the teacup with yellow petals on the small table next to the bed.
“This is the flower tea served at our inn, and it’s quite popular. Please try it.”
The innkeeper recommended it with a warm smile.
“Thank you. I’ll drink it later.”
“Aren’t you drinking it now?”
“I will drink it later, so just leave it there.”
“Don’t do that. Just take a sip now.”
Despite Cersinia’s words, the innkeeper continued to urge her. She frowned at the innkeeper’s strangely urging her like that.
“I’ll drink it before I go to bed later.”
As her voice became a little colder, the innkeeper distorted his face for a moment as if he was in a difficult situation. Knowing that Cersinia was looking at him, but he quickly managed his expression.
“I-Is that so? Hahaha.”
The innkeeper laughed awkwardly. He seemed perplexed as something didn’t go on his way.
“Well, then I’ll get going. Have a good night.”
The innkeeper looked at the teacup before heading towards the door.
‘What’s wrong with him?’Cersinia somehow felt chilly by the innkeeper’s strange behavior. Looking at the teacup given to her, she picked it up with her both hands. Then, she made eye contact with the innkeeper, who opened the door and went out, pretending to drink the tea. The innkeeper’s eyes widened as he witnessed the scene, then he gulped down his saliva.Cersinia grinned at the innkeeper as she held the tea. The innkeeper’s face, who saw Cersinia drinking tea, had an indelible relief.
“Rest well.”
The innkeeper quickly closed the door and disappeared, loosening his nervous shoulders.
“…”
After the innkeeper left, a silence came back into the room. Cersinia hurriedly spat the tea on the floor, poured water into an empty cup, and rinsed her mouth. Because she didn’t want to swallow even a single sip of tea. She gently wiped her lips with her hands. There was a chill in her eyes.
‘It wasn’t a coincidence.’
At first she was just suspicious and skeptical, but her suspicion became clear when she saw the innkeeper’s behavior. That this series of things are planned by someone and happening to her.
‘Who is it?’
‘Is the one behind this have a grudge against me?’
‘Then, what does that person want?’
Cersinia thought about who might be the one behind this in her head. However, more people came to her mind than she had thought. Just looking at the recent event, four musketeers bothered Verne. Of course, she wondered if they had the wealth and power to hire people to do this.
Since then, several faces have passed her head. Then one person came to her mind.
“Duke Kailos.”
The duke, who was fidgeting with a sense of humiliation at the banquet, never seemed to have a personality to pass on.
‘Didn’t the Crown Prince say it before?’
“Even Count Dexter is the vassal of the Duke Kailos. It’s like the Grand Duke has declared war, isn’t it?”
‘Is that why Duke Kailos is trying to avenge the humiliation he suffered at the banquet and what happened at Rafleche Village?’
But everything was just her guess, and she couldn’t guarantee it. Besides, nothing has happened yet.
Cersinia stared at the flower tea calmly, organizing her thoughts. The flower tea was clear and transparent without any foreign substances. Steam was billowing and winding over the teacup.
‘What is it?’
What the hell did they put in the flower tea that they wanted her to drink?
“Lady, it’s a flower tea that helps you sleep better.”
Flower tea that helps you sleep better.
That words kept buzzing in her ears.
‘Is it a sleep inducer or poison?’
Cersinia was at a loss because she couldn’t know about it unless she tried it.
“…”
Deep anxiety was drawn in her eyes. Her mind was jumbled up. She couldn’t grasp the flow that was completely different from the original story.
‘Then, for what the hell this is for…’
She sat in the seat for a few minutes, thinking without moving.
“Lady Cersinia.”
Just then, she heard Roena’s voice calling her from outside the door. She unknowingly held her breath without answering.
When she thinks of it, the start of her uncomfortableness was from Roena. Roena’s mysterious grin when she follows them out. And the carriage accident happened, then the flower tea thing.
‘Roena is suspicious.’
“Lady Cersinia?”
Again, Reona shouted outside the door.
‘What should I do now?’
Suddenly, the flower tea on the table caught my eyes. The flower tea helps you sleep better. The innkeeper already believed her for drinking it. And Roena came after that.
Cersinia lay straight in bed and pretended to sleep. If Roena tried to harm her, she would use her power then.
Creak.
Soon, the creaking sound came out from the door that opened slowly. It was only a short time after she lay in the bed.
“Are you sleeping?”
Roena, who peeked out her face and checked the movement in the room, tiptoed as she entered the room when she couldn’t hear anything in the dark.
“Lady Cersinia?”
Cersinia pretended to be asleep peacefully, ignoring Roena’s words. The presence of someone approaching her was getting closer and closer.
“…”
Coming close, Roena swung her hand over Cersinia’s face and shone in the moonlight. In the stillness enough to hear the sound of her breath, the movement of Roena’s hand cutting through the air could be heard. Roena then left her room.
“…”
Cersinia’s eyes, which had been closed as if dead, opened wide. In the dark, crimson eyes blazed brightly.
Her guess was correct. Roena was involved in these suspicious things. And the flower tea contained a sleeping inducer.
Cersinia’s lips, tightly closed in a straight line, twisted, and a grumbling sound came out.
‘I need to know what you’re up to.’
Cersinia just pretended to sleep for a while to figure out the situation. She couldn’t just let it go as she found out that Roena was suspicious and the flower tea was mixed with sleep inducer.
She immediately got her body up. Her long, cumbersome hair was tied up with a handkerchief, then it fluttered and fell into one.
Cersinia left the room silently with light movements.
‘I’ll dig into every detail of what you’re trying to do to me.’
Now she will never let it slide.
The first place she headed to was Roena’s room. She jerked open the door and rushed in, but Roena wasn’t in there. Without delay, she immediately went downstairs, right across the inn’s hallway.
“Uh, huh…?”
The innkeeper, sitting at the counter, was startled by the appearance of Cersinia as if he had seen a ghost.
“Why? Are you surprised that I’m awake?”
She strode towards the innkeeper.
“N-No, how can this be…”
The innkeeper stood up, faltered by the approaching person. His body was trembling with fear, terrified of Cersinia.
“U-Uaaakh!”
The innkeeper turned to run away. However, Cersinia’s hands were faster.
“Where did Roena go?”
A bloody voice came out of Cersinia’s mouth, who grabbed the innkeeper by the collar.