It wasn’t necessary to figure out who delivered the teacup.

Katarina Hwangbi and Blake had consistently offered poison to Cedric since he was young.

In fact, they weren’t doing such things with the expectation that Cedric would actually eat poison and die.

“It’s probably a warning.”

The purpose was to exert psychological pressure.

If Cedric were to make a mistake and get caught with one, that would be even better.

However, Cedric had developed immunity to poison steadily since he almost fell victim to poisoning when he was young. With this, he couldn’t be killed by such means.

The real danger was someone who, despite having no immunity, continuously consumed poison unknowingly.

For example, Cedric’s father, the Emperor.

“…I hope this level of peace can be maintained for a while, even if it’s just for Odette’s sake.”

Cedric raised the cold teacup and took a sip.

It wasn’t clear if the bitter taste was from the poison or the taste of cold tea.

Perhaps that was what they were aiming for.

After drinking the tea, his tongue soon began to tingle, and he felt a numbing sensation.

If someone with immunity felt this much, it would undoubtedly be life-threatening for someone without immunity.

“From now on, I shouldn’t recommend tea to Odette, just in case.”

Even if Cedric personally brewed the tea, there was no way of knowing if some trickery had been involved when fetching the tea leaves or the teacup.

Fortunately, Odette was not scheduled to come today, so they hadn’t gone so far as to do any tricks.

“…Poison.”

Cedric thought of Odette and the men around her.

Baelter Ertman and Louis Clovis.

He knew about the connection between Louis and Odette through the intelligence he left in the capital.

Facts such as the two attending a banquet together and Louis knocking on the door of the imperial palace several times to meet Odette.

So, Cedric directly asked Odette about this.

Oh, Count Clovis? It’s nothing much. Originally, I was planning to marry him. It just happened to fit the situation…

Odette casually shifted the topic, saying that there was nothing special between her and Louis.

Rather than trying to obfuscate something, it seemed like she genuinely believed there was nothing.

From the Clovis side, it’s a bit awkward because there’s no suitable partner for marriage. Anyway, I’m married to Baelter now, so it doesn’t matter to me.

Odette was not good at lying.

To be more precise, she couldn’t lie well to someone she wanted to be honest with.

In that sense, Cedric could usually catch most of Odette’s lies, but when she made this statement, there was no indication of deception.

She even sounded nonchalant, as if it wasn’t a big deal.
So Cedric didn’t bring up the fact that Louis consistently knocked on the doors of the imperial palace to meet Odette or that he had attempted to approach her until just before the wedding.

Most likely, Odette wasn’t aware of that fact.

The crucial point was that it was unclear what Louis’s intentions were.

“The guy who tried to approach Odette like that is now sticking to Blake?”

Is it some kind of retaliation for not choosing him but Baelter? Cedric wondered.

Even if the reason was unknown, Louis, in Cedric’s eyes, was like a poisoned cup now.

The problem was that choosing Baelter wasn’t necessarily a better option.

“Odette said there’s no problem with Baelter, but…”

Cedric recalled the question Odette raised before leaving.

By the way, big brother. Big brother was a knight, right?

Strictly speaking, it was more military service than being a knight, but yeah. Why do you ask?

Cedric did have the title of a knight, but who would dare to treat him as a knight? Not to mention that even the emperor, when sending the crown prince to the military, used the title of a commander rather than a knight.

So, although there might be a difference from ordinary knightly life, it seemed like Odette was not interested in real knightly life.

Do knights… do they write wills when they go to the military? Or something similar…

Cedric could only give a generic answer, “It depends on the circumstances.”

If it were a different situation, Cedric might have probed a bit more to find out why Odette asked such a question. However, there was no need for such efforts this time.

There was only one person who could be considered a knight next to Odette, and that was Baelter.

‘One is involved in smuggling, and the other is related to wills.’

Cedric pondered the two possibilities, then sighed and leaned back in his chair.

Odette’s situation, where she couldn’t avoid the poisoned cup, and the situation where she knew it wasn’t the best choice but still had to choose the lesser evil, felt oddly similar.

‘Which one is the real threat?’

Baelter and Louis.

Which one poses a genuinely dangerous poison to Odette?

A few days later.

‘It’s finally here.’

Odette received her retribution for impulsively meeting Cedric.

Exactly.

“How many of these are there in the world?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t want to know…”

Invitations to social gatherings.