“That’s enough. You seemed smart, but you’re more foolish than I thought. Be careful, as excessive meddling in the imperial palace will come back as poison.”

Bellia had many things she wanted to say. But faced with the empress’s resolute expression, Bellia couldn’t utter a word. In truth, she didn’t know what to say or how to say it.

How did you know it was poison, why are you still drinking it knowing it’s poison, what are you thinking……

As Bellia stared at the empress unable to hide her trembling eyes, the empress let out a light laugh.

“……I’ve dragged this on for too long.”

Then she continued coldly.

“Don’t come here anymore. Seeing your face once is enough.”

As if finished with her business, the empress dismissed Bellia.

Afterwards, she naturally picked up Bellia’s teacup and threw it to the floor. At the loud sound of the cup breaking, there was a commotion outside the door as if the maids were trying to enter.

Bellia spoke to the empress in a small voice.

“You know that enduring like this isn’t the answer, Your Majesty. There may not be much time left.”

“I know.”

Bellia quietly stared at the floor where the tea had spilled abundantly.

“I’ll look into an antidote.”

“This tea is made in the imperial palace. It’s impossible to take it outside. So analyzing its components is equally impossible.”

Just as Bellia was about to respond to that, a maid’s voice was heard from outside asking if she could enter.

As Bellia reluctantly rose to leave the room, a very small voice was heard from behind her.

“……Please take care of Callid.”

Bellia did not answer those words. She merely turned and paid her respects to the empress with the empire’s perfect etiquette, just as when she had entered. The empress seemed to have laughed at that sight.

In that moment, she realized why the empress had confined herself to the empress’s palace, accepting infamy.

To stay in the palace a little longer by claiming to be a useless empress.

So that the emperor’s attention, the empress’s attention would not come to her.

To endure solely as the empress.

Bellia bit her lip hard and turned again to grasp the doorknob.

It was impossible to expel the empress under imperial law. That’s why Raul chose to kill her.

Now the current emperor is also trying to slowly kill the empress.

How long will she be able to endure?

‘Ah, it wasn’t a misconception.’

When Bellia looked inside through the closing door gap as she left the empress’s room, the empress was looking at her with a very warm expression.

And she had a feeling that this sight might be the last. So she couldn’t take her eyes off the empress until the moment the door closed completely.

Bang!

The sound of the door closing seemed like the sound of being cut off from the world. Her eyes stung for no reason. But she couldn’t show tears, so she looked up and exhaled deeply.

“Bellia.”

As if Callid had been waiting outside, he approached her side as soon as she left the empress’s palace and checked Bellia’s condition.

“Let’s go back. I’ve finished what I needed to do.”

Bellia smiled somewhat weakly and grasped Callid’s hand tightly.

Perhaps because the meeting with the empress had been so intense, she had high expectations. When she went to greet the emperor, it passed uneventfully and smoothly, more so than expected.

The emperor was able to receive a share of the gold mine shares he had to give up due to the two’s engagement. That gave the emperor satisfaction, and he didn’t forget that Bellia was the cause of it.

So he seemed to have made an effort to receive her as an honored guest, but when the emperor actually faced Bellia, his attitude was not very good as expected.

“So when is that old hag going to die?”

Callid kept asking when the emperor would die, as if just seeing the emperor’s face put him in a bad mood.

“……Callid.”

To be honest, the emperor didn’t have many days left to live. But it wasn’t something to bring up in front of the imperial palace.

Callid must not have expected an answer when he asked, as he frowned deeply and sighed.

“Haah. Really, what an unpleasant old man.”

The emperor’s gaze as he examined Bellia blatantly revealed his displeasure. He probably wasn’t pleased with Bellia who had rejected his beloved son.

But watching him spit out the usual words while openly showing his annoyance, Callid felt his anger bubbling up again and again.

“This is rather fortunate. If he had pried into things, it would have been more difficult.”

Callid realized that Bellia was being considerate of him. Grateful for that fact, he pulled her shoulder and embraced her.

“There will be a party welcoming you in a few days. So until then, you can enjoy some leisure time.”

“You just want to play, don’t you?”

Bellia rolled her eyes.

Callid chuckled and took Bellia’s hand as they walked.

“That’s right. When I introduce you at the party, invitations will pour in from countless places from now on. Then my time to monopolize you will decrease. So shouldn’t I hoard you entirely now?”

Callid uttered these words shamelessly without a hint of embarrassment.

Seeing Callid speak his feelings so candidly, Bellia burst out laughing.

“Pfft. What is that.”

“Unlike you, I’m always free. Because no one comes looking for me.”

Most of the work the emperor entrusted to Callid was just odd jobs, so he actually didn’t have much to do in the palace.

‘The emperor is extremely favoring Raul.’

All the work likely to produce results went to Raul, while useless and troublesome tasks went to Callid.

The discrimination was so blatantly obvious that even Bellia was dumbfounded.

“Haven’t you heard that the second prince just plays around like an idle young master?”

Callid continued to make excuses to spend time with Bellia.

But Bellia knew that he personally had a lot of work to do. He spent most of his time working.

Reports came in from everywhere every day. She knew full well that he was always busy handling work, yet he kept lying.

It was an absurd complaint, but Bellia pretended not to notice and smiled as she linked arms with Callid.

“Then shall I entertain you for the next few days?”

When Bellia looked up at Callid and spoke lovingly, Callid’s expression became subtle.

Wondering if he was upset by the word “entertain,” Bellia examined his expression closely, but seeing his eyes fixed straight on her, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Feeling unnecessarily embarrassed, Bellia cleared her throat and suddenly spoke as a thought occurred to her, letting go of his hand.

Callid’s arm felt a little empty.

“Ah! More than that, I thought of a way to tease that person.”

At those words, Callid stopped walking and looked at her.

“What is it?”

Though she couldn’t remember the exact timing, in her previous life, after she came to the empire, Raul had faced great trouble.

While carrying out the emperor’s order to crack down on illegal gambling establishments spread throughout the capital, he had accidentally become addicted to gambling that he encountered by chance.

He had to follow orders, so he eliminated most of the gambling establishments, but left just one, and Raul frequently enjoyed gambling there.

‘An illegal casino targeting nobles…..’

Casinos themselves weren’t illegal in the empire. So it was possible to operate them within the boundaries of the law.

There were several legally operating casinos like that, and small-scale betting that took place there was permitted by law. This was also recognition of casinos as one of the social venues for nobles.

But Bellia knew that one of them was illegally operating gambling facilities.

“It’s a bit awkward to talk about it here. I’ll explain in detail later.”

Noticing those lingering nearby, Bellia stopped talking with a grin.

She needed to check with Callid how far the crackdown on illegal gambling establishments had progressed and decide when to expose it. If used well, this could at least put a small dent in Raul’s reputation.

‘Back then, the emperor went to great lengths to prevent the story of Raul frequenting illegal gambling dens from spreading.’

This time, if they break the story first and make Raul’s upright image crumble even a little, it could be quite interesting.

‘Last time he immediately asked the emperor for help, but this time we need to spread it without giving the emperor a chance to intervene.’

This won’t be enough of a blow to shake Raul’s position.

But to bring down a solid fortress, you need to gradually dig away at the edges to weaken the foundation, right? Thinking that this was that work made her feel a little less impatient.

Then Callid spoke as if greatly pleased.

“I was just thinking of sending a gift to that Raul fellow too. We had the same thought?”

Ever since hearing about Bellia’s regression, Callid somehow felt it was unsatisfactory to just let things be.

While he was fretting like this trying to win her heart completely, Raul had not only abandoned Bellia in another life she experienced, but even went so far as to kill her.

Moreover, wasn’t it Raul who made her lock up her heart tightly after being hurt?

Thinking that all his efforts were because of Raul, he felt increasingly irritated.

Of course, he didn’t mind making efforts for Bellia, but the fact that it was because of Raul was unbearable. So he had prepared his own small gift.

“May I ask what the gift is?”

When Bellia asked very curiously, Callid whispered in a low voice.

“The spies he sent to me?”

At those words, Bellia’s eyes widened in surprise.

He had already caught them all?

She was going to bring it up sometime. That Raul had sent quite a few spies around him to monitor and spy on him. But he already knew about it.

“Since when did you know?”

“Well, I notice such things quickly.”

Did he know everything before too?

If so, why didn’t he retaliate against Raul and just back down?

Why did he never come to the capital even once after heading to the grand duchy?

Bellia swallowed her questions.

“More than that, I’m curious what other interesting things you’ve thought of?”

“I can guarantee you’ll be very pleased.”

Bellia grinned.

At the answer that kept raising expectations, Callid urged Bellia.

“Give me a little hint.”

“Hmm.”

Bellia grabbed Callid’s shoulder and brought her lips to his ear.

“Raul will become addicted to gambling.”

Bellia’s whispered words were something Callid hadn’t expected at all, as his eyes widened.

“What?”

Watching his reaction with amusement, Bellia chuckled and then kissed his cheek with a smack as if to show off. Callid laughed at her actions.

To those watching them from behind, they would just look like a loving couple.

“I’ll tell you the details when we’re alone.”

Bellia’s face brightened at the thought that she should start seriously interfering with Raul.

She intended to take away what he had one by one, slowly.

And this was just the beginning.