However, due to Odette diligently inquiring for information, his plans were repeatedly disrupted. Moreover, with Cedric returning much earlier than usual due to Odette’s marriage, Blake’s plan ended in failure.

On top of that, with the news of Marbo Viscount’s death in Cedric’s hands, Blake’s plans began to backfire, and Cedric’s influence started to grow.

From Blake’s perspective, everything he had been working so hard on for the past few months had become futile.
“So, especially in this situation, Louis Clovis won’t be able to refuse the deal he presents.”

And whatever he schemes, it will become much bolder than usual.

If he doesn’t do that, he now intuitively senses that there is truly no way to defeat Cedric.

“The Emperor will fall within this year.”

Katarina Hwangbi has consistently fed poison to the emperor.

If she succeeds in ousting Cedric, she plans to immediately poison the emperor and take the throne before Cedric can recover.

“In reality, it was the same in the past.”

Until they oust Cedric, they had intended to regulate the poison to keep the emperor’s life hanging by a thread. They were actually doing so, but unfortunately, Cedric was a much more cunning person than they knew.

The tea leaves that the Empress enjoys drinking are mixed with poison. How did you find out? It’s not difficult. I’m drinking the same tea. Easy, right?

…Are you planning to die like that?

I have been consistently taking poison and antidote, so I have developed immunity. It’s fine. But at some point, a perfectly fine tea started coming out. So, I used the excuse that the tea leaves seemed stale and replaced all of them with new ones.

The reason for discarding perfectly fine tea leaves and replacing them was obvious.

You filled it with something like what the Empress was using.

Originally, it was something the Empress was doing, making it convenient for selling her name. Thanks to that, it was easy.

As before, they changed the tea from being perfectly fine to being poisoned in the name of Katarina.

Even if the Empress is imprisoned because of the tea I changed, it won’t be particularly unfair, right? It’s not something I haven’t been doing until now.

Sedrick said so, smiling amiably, but it was a laugh of someone who, while surviving through various tricks, aimed for the Emperor’s position with a ruthless demeanor.

It was also the laughter of someone who knew the end was near.

And Balter also felt a similar emotion.

Though different from Cedric, he also, in his own way, felt the end approaching.

“I wonder if Cedric can survive until he ascends to the throne.”

He hadn’t seen it in his past life, so it would be good to see it in this life, but it seemed difficult.

The pain around Balter’s heart, which had been persistently to
“Even without any treatment, there is only one case where the pain that should naturally be present disappears. Whether it freezes or burns, or when the affected area becomes necrotic, to the point where pain is not felt. ‘Even the pulse is faint, and when I put my hand on the heart, the heartbeat is hardly felt.’ The heart was slowly ceasing. There wasn’t much time left that could be endured like this; it was something he could intuitively feel. ‘As I get closer to Odette, it seems like I’m approaching death.’ Or perhaps this death is ultimately named ‘misfortune,’ so conversely, as Odette becomes happier, he gets closer to death, or… “…… It’s exhausting.” The thoughts linger. Balter intentionally stood up and approached the window to break the chain of thoughts. It was a coincidence that he saw a carriage entering Duke Ertman’s garden. And if it’s that carriage, it’s undoubtedly the one Odette took when going to Countess Myra’s social gathering today. ‘Has she already come back?’ It was too early for the social gathering to end. I thought she would come back around sunset.
“I thought you would come back around sunset. Although I felt puzzled, it was such a distressing situation that a welcoming heart prevailed. Seeing Odette, it seemed that this fatigue would also disappear. Balter went down the stairs without hesitation to greet Odette. Whether he knew that she would greet him or not, Odette, who was entering, had a surprised expression.

“Balter? How did you… know?”

“Just because I wanted to see you.”

So, he looked out the window, and it wasn’t necessary to explain that Odette was coming in at a good time.

Just locking eyes, a faint smile from Balter was enough.

Normally, Odette would blush or make some teasing remarks about such things, but now, without saying anything, she hugged Balter as if she had missed him for a long time.

“…Odette?”

Balter, confused by the unfamiliar welcome, called her, but Odette didn’t respond.

The early return of pale skin and unfamiliar attitude.

Looking back, the fact that Odette’s complexion was not very good before making a surprised expression crossed Balter’s mind.

Along with the intuition that something had happened at Countess Myra’s social gathering.

It was easy to find out what happened to Odette.

“What do you think about your mother?”

“…Did Countess Noarshu attend Countess Myra’s social gathering?”

Balter could deduce the correlation from Odette’s straightforward question.

And Odette was not particularly skilled at lying.

Looking at Odette’s face, now showing a pained expression, Balter felt a more intense fatigue than before.

“…She attended. But I wanted to ask you before. Countess Noarshu is now unrelated to Ertman.”

“But she is related to you.”

Truly, it was terribly exhausting.