In This Life, I'll Assist You - Chapter 5

The southern region, the largest granary of the empire.

The area in front of the main castle of the Lahert family, whose territory included the fertile plains stretching as far as the eye could see, began to bustle with people eager to witness the victorious procession of the Northern Duke.

Despite the early morning hour, an estimated 500 people had already gathered.

Although it was a busy time preparing for the next year’s farming, curiosity about the Northern Duke who had saved the people of the southernmost region from the cruel barbarians seemed to have drawn them here.

“People who wouldn’t normally come anywhere near here.”

I muttered without realizing it.

Most of these people are tenant farmers who live off the lands of the Lahert duchy or its vassals. For such people to come near the main castle of the great lord means they’ve mustered quite a bit of courage.

They must be curious about who these northerners are, the ones said to have nearly annihilated tens of thousands of barbarians.

The desire to confirm rumors is a human instinct regardless of social status.

However, contrary to their inner desires, the crowd was eerily quiet.

In my previous life, it wasn’t until long after the silent victory ceremony that I learned the truth. That silence was due to the threats from the Lahert vassals.

The vassals, worried that their territory’s people might do something to displease the ducal family, had preemptively warned them. Of course, that warning would have been heavily influenced by the southern ducal family’s wishes.

I hid myself on the highest tower of the main castle, where the gunpowder and flower sacks were stored.

‘In this life, it’s been five years.’

In my original life, he died on the day I died. But in this returned life, we met five years ago. The day when I, at fourteen, crossed swords with the seventeen-year-old duke.

A tingling tension rose from my fingertips and swept through my body. That’s when it happened.

“His Excellency Sion Belfast, Duke of the North! And the Northern Knights have arrived!”

The formally dressed stewards of the ducal family, positioned throughout the plains and hills, shouted.

In the distance, knights resembling the cold wind appeared. Many people swallowed silent sighs.

The group numbered less than a hundred. But they were all the empire’s finest elite knights.

The sound of pounding hearts struck my ears as loudly as the wind brushing the top of the tower.

There were no congratulatory envoys sent by the emperor. If there had been, flags embroidered with golden Rucella would have been visible, but there were none.

Yet even without such things, the procession exuded a majestic aura. An overwhelming presence that could be felt even from afar.

With the sound of hooves shaking the earth, they gradually approached to a distance where they could be discerned.

Knights armed with armor made of light silver iron found only in the north, long swords, and spears. Despite the long and cruel battle, their posture showed no signs of fatigue, remaining perfectly upright.

A suppressed silence greeted them. Occasionally, someone would wave at the knights, but seemingly afraid of consequences, they quickly lowered their hands.

I didn’t take my eyes off the person at the head of the procession. Even from the top of the tower, I could recognize him.

The black hair, symbol of the Northern Duke’s bloodline, fluttered in the wind. The man with eyes colder than blue sapphires sat atop a black horse. I closed my eyes and recalled his appearance from this time in my previous life.

The elegant, long-drawn eyes, the beautiful brow that only slightly furrowed even when angry.

The appropriately masculine yet delicately falling jawline. A physique reminiscent of the gods Delpast and Belfast from the founding myth, as if carved from a divine statue.

I opened my eyes and looked down at him on the black horse. The procession, led by him, stopped in front of hundreds of commoners.

The people stood pressed against both sides of the main road in front of the castle to make way for them to pass. But no one dared to cheer or prostrate themselves before the procession to offer praise.

The same suffocating silence as in my previous life fell. What broke the silence was the sound of clicking heels.

If I concentrated, I could hear that sound even from the top of the tower. It was a sense honed from my previous life as a Sword Master.

Medeia Lahert, dressed in a dress as red as a red rose, was walking towards the Northern Duke. Instead of Cramnel, his daughter Medeia had come out to represent the south and greet the duke.

Although she was the eldest daughter of the Southern Duke, it was not Medeia’s place, without any title, to come out alone. This alone was enough to know that the Laherts were committing a severe discourtesy to Belfast.

“Turn back, Your Grace!”

Someone from the knights shouted towards the discourteous crowd and the Laherts. However, Sion Belfast neither turned his horse nor approached Medeia.

He just seemed to be watching Medeia approach him while sitting straight on his horse.

From the tower, I couldn’t see Medeia’s expression. But her red dress enveloping her white skin was visible even from afar. A red dress that would stand out even more if standing on crushed lily of the valley.

Medeia, standing in front of the black horse, slightly lifted the hem of her dress and bowed her head towards the Northern Duke.

You must be laughing inside, Medeia. After all, the lily of the valley fireworks about to happen are your handiwork.

I heard the sound of fire climbing up the rope. I saw the servants light the long rope connected to the gunpowder at the bottom of the tower and leave.

The fire quickly climbed to the top. And finally, the gunpowder ignited.

A deafening explosion erupted. Simultaneously, the gunpowder and flower sacks flew into the air. Numerous flower sacks burst, and red jasmine rained down from the sky like a shower.

“Woooah!”

That’s when the people let out cheers.

Jasmine, the flower symbolizing the Laherts, known even to three-year-old children passing by. The Lahert Duke welcoming the Northern Knights by scattering these flowers in the air.

Did they think that the duke truly welcomed the Northern Duke, that he didn’t hate him as rumors suggested?

Hundreds of people began to offer praise and cheers towards the Northern Duke and his knights.

I gazed at the red flower rain and slowly lowered my gaze. Then I froze. The Northern Duke had raised his head and was looking at me.

‘He’s looking at me?’

But was it just my imagination? Before I could be certain our eyes had met, the duke lowered his head to look at the people.

My heart started pounding.

His black horse slowly lifted its hooves and trampled the red flowers fallen on the ground. Trampling the jasmine flower path, the Northern Knights entered Lahert territory.

It was a true victory ceremony, different from my previous life.

***

− Aaaaargh!

After the advisor to the Lahert Duke left, Medeia’s furious scream erupted from outside the reception room door. Cramnel must have been rebuking his daughter.

After confirming the advisor had completely gone, I approached the reception room. Tea cups decorated with silver and gold lay shattered, as if she had thrown them.

As soon as she saw me, she grabbed my arm and shouted.

“Bella! We must catch them. We must find out who switched the lily of the valley for jasmine!”

I politely replied.

“Understood.”

She couldn’t contain her agitation.

“Could there be a spy among the servants? Arrest everyone involved with the gunpowder and flower sacks!”

Medeia ordered her lady-in-waiting, Lady Berk of the Count’s family. Lady Berk, who would later become Medeia’s confidant, gave a short “Yes” in response. I quickly spoke up.

“It’s the highest tower here. There are people who saw that the original sacks contained lily of the valley. It’s not a scale that an ordinary person could climb to the top of the tower and change overnight.”

Medeia raised her eyebrows at my calm words.

“You say it’s not possible? But it’s already been changed?”

“The one who did this was likely a trained individual. Given the lack of witnesses, someone highly trained who could move quickly and accurately.”

“…”

“I’m saying it must have been someone above a certain level.”

I don’t want uninvolved servants to suffer or be killed. So I spoke more coldly. Because I know Medeia’s temperament.

“Your servants are all ordinary people born and raised here. As you always carefully choose only trustworthy people, my lady, there’s no mistake on your part. So, as a result, I thought it might be the work of someone extraordinary. Though it’s not my place to judge.”

“… That makes sense. Though it’s just one opinion.”

“Indeed. It’s just a brief thought from someone who uses their body. So, as you wish, my lady.”

Medeia’s voice softened after thinking for a moment.

“We should be cautious in matters like this. Moreover, with the Northern Duke so close, we can’t let them know. I understand, Bella.”

“I apologize.”

Medeia ordered Lady Berk.

“We need to strengthen surveillance throughout the main castle, the culprit is surely inside. If necessary, I’ll connect you with my father’s people.”

“Yes.”

Lady Berk bowed her head. She always gives short answers to tasks she knows she can handle well.

“Berk, the reception room has become dirty. I should change into a silver dress. Like the snow said to fall in the North.”

Medeia said.

***

In some ways, Medeia Lahert was better than her father. She was someone who could endlessly lower herself in front of enemies for the sake of ultimate victory.

If Cramnel Lahert was a snake, she was a villainess disguised as a saint.

Siren.

The sea creature that comes to mind when thinking of her.

A goddess said to lure people to their deaths with beautiful songs. People only realize she’s not a beautiful being but a demon at the moment of their death.

She surpassed her father in hypocrisy that ordinary people couldn’t notice. Even I didn’t realize her true nature until I was killed by her.

The White Duchess.

The nickname the Emperor gave her.

Thinking of the Emperor, a corner of my heart ached dully. The Emperor I could see just once, by chance, from very far away before dying. An old man who looked tired with white hair.

I shook my head to clear the trailing thoughts.

‘Now, I should only think about the Northern Duke’s safety.’

Every time I recalled that I was the Imperial Princess, and thought about how to reveal my identity, I felt an indescribable sense of guilt.

I am a person who contributed to the death of the empire’s only righteous nobleman. I am a villain who assassinated his limbs.

During this visit, Sir Arcadia Nugent, the right hand of Duke Sion Belfast, will meet his death. Because of me.

He wasn’t an opponent that a nineteen-year-old like me could easily defeat. I could feel it when I crossed swords with Nugent in my previous life.

‘This person has been poisoned.’

The Black Bug sent me as an assassin solely because my existence was unknown. And the judgment that I could win was because Arcadia had been poisoned.

I don’t know when or how Arcadia Nugent was poisoned. His face didn’t change color, nor did he cough up blood. But as soon as our swords crossed, he was in agony and in so much pain his knees buckled.

I remember his beautiful platinum blonde hair sticking to his pale cheeks with cold sweat.

He lost his life falling from the terrace of his room while parrying my sword. And that death was handled as Arcadia Nugent’s ‘suicide’.

The reason attached to the suicide was that he was distraught over the death of his father, Hern Nugent, who had been the acting Duke of the North.

Arcadia’s death shook the Nugent family, the second-ranking family in the North, and because of that, the cracks in the North began.

That must not be repeated again.

I alternated between monitoring Medeia’s office and reception room.

I didn’t know at this time in my previous life, but there was something Medeia told me just after I turned twenty.

[It might be hard to believe, Bella, but I have a poisonous herb garden.]

Having already taken a person’s life, I didn’t feel much emotion even at the word ‘poison’. I had expected it by then.

She said there are poisons that dissolve internal organs immediately upon ingestion, while others don’t show symptoms for days until certain conditions are met.

She also mentioned poisons that weaken or break down a person’s mind without affecting their life.

The reason she only needed me as an assassin under her was because she had ‘poison’ as a weapon that could elevate her to her desired position by her own power.

She handled very important and secretive matters without anyone knowing. By calling her poisonous herb garden’s caretaker.

Freshly extracted poison varies in effect depending on storage conditions and duration. Therefore, the manager of the poisonous herb garden, who knows poisons well, brought it directly to Medeia.

Although he entered disguised as a dress designer, gardener, book seller, etc., I clearly remember his face.

Will that person come this time too? Or has he already come?

I was worried.

Given Medeia’s habits, she doesn’t let important items out of her sight. So even if he came, it surely hasn’t been passed to another’s hands yet. It hasn’t even been half of half a day since the Northern Knights arrived.

The first banquet is this evening.

I heard that the knights are staying in an outer castle a little distance from the main castle, with the entire castle being used by the Northern Knights.

‘Arcadia died on the second night after coming here. Then when was he poisoned?’

It was while I was thinking this.

A middle-aged man with a bald head entered Medeia’s office dressed as a servant. But I recognized at a glance that he was the caretaker of the poisonous herb garden.

The same pattern as in my previous life.

This time too, Medeia will use poison on the North. And she will send a yellow caterpillar to kill Arcadia.

My heart begins to beat rapidly.

When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem

This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Synopsis:

“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”

Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.

Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.

While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the  Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…

Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.

 

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