Empress of Another World

Sixty Two

“…”

Samantha apologized to me calmly, but her face was deathly pale.

“I am so sorry, your highness. I am always so careful…”

“It’s okay. I am aware that this is a usual occurrence around here.”

I hid my sigh and assured Samantha.

This first happened to me in the morning after I became Lucretius’s wife. At the time, Lucretius didn’t say anything. He just gestured me to not drink my tea.

Just like then, the silver edges of my teacup turned black. This had been happening a few times every week for a while now.

The small sauce bowl, which was made of silver, also had the same black marks.

I pushed the bowl away. It was fine since I didn’t eat it, but I still didn’t want it close to me.

Samantha quickly took the bowl away and handed it to a servant. Agnes’ face crumpled as she kneeled in front of me.

“I can’t believe this happened again. I have no excuse, your highness. This time, I will make sure to find out who is responsible.”

“… Please do.”

Even as I asked, I knew there was only a small chance she would ever find the culprit behind this.

After the bowl was taken away, Samantha and Agnes poked all the food again with silver forks. At least today, it wasn’t a close call.

A few days ago, I was about to put a spoonful of food into my mouth when Elza noticed the silver spoon discoloring. She screamed and I dropped it in time. After that incident, I lost all my appetite. Even drinking water required bravery.

I obviously couldn’t stop eating. The others also couldn’t know I was afraid to eat. From then on, I forced myself to eat small bits, but I made sure to be extra careful every time.

According to Samantha, all my foods were checked before leaving the kitchen. The fact that it passed the first test meant a specific poison was being used. It was probably something that doesn’t show when the food is still hot.

That must have been why the silver color doesn’t change in the kitchen. It only changed after the food cooled.

This meant that timing was everything. If I didn’t wait long enough, I could die.

I was walking on thin ice.

“Everything has been checked, your highness. It’s all good.”

Samantha said to me confidently. I finally started to touch the food but didn’t eat until I poked around a little while longer with my own silver fork.

I wasn’t hungry anymore, but today was an important day. I needed to eat for strength.

***

My face hurt. I couldn’t stop my mouth from spasming.

However, I had to continue on smiling. I tried my best to keep my voice pleasant.

“Wow, it’s amazing, Countess.”

“I am flattered, your highness.”

An elegant middle-aged woman smiled gracefully.

She was the wife of Count Ilan and the daughter-in-law of Cornelius.

Norma des Lonensia.

Currently, her husband, who was Cornelius’ second son and the heir, was only a count. However, Cornelius was a Duke, which meant someday Norma would become a duchess.