Citrina Finally Sees the Depth of the Empire’s Wisdom… or Does She?
Citrina said, “To be honest, there’s nothing strange about it at all.” Her voice wasn’t scared or angry; it was even. She spoke in the sweet way she always does.
The person who started the blame game spoke up again. “Stop it! Saying that the fact that you happened to have the exact cure with you was just a luck? Not unless you want to say that the Great Wisdom of the Empire can see into the future, which doesn’t make much sense.”
“No, of course not. As far as I know, it is impossible for a person to see into the future.”
It was also not how the Great Wisdom did things. Yes, Citrina knew that. Mia wasn’t a god. She had no power over reality and didn’t know what was going to happen. She could not always count on things going as planned. If not, she would have stopped this harm from happening in the first place.
But the truth was that not even Mia, who was very wise, could see this series of events coming together. That being said, how was it that she could still react so quickly and accurately? How was it that she was able to fight the Serpents so well? Because she was ready. That was all there was to it.
Mia was able to do well because she worked hard to prepare. She didn’t know exactly what she had to do, but she knew she could handle anything. Citrina had fully come to understand the truth of this statement during this trip. The fact that she was brought along was only one part of getting ready.
“If I’m being honest, I’d rather not do this,” Citrina said next. “But I guess my honor is a small price to pay…”
In spite of what she said, she carried herself without any shame at all, smoothly lifting the bottom of her skirt above her waist. A real curtsy would have been nice if it hadn’t shown too much. Everyone could see her delicate legs’ pale skin, the shapely bulges of her tiny knees, and the leather belts that didn’t look right around her thin thighs. Each belt had a lot of slots that held a crazy number of tiny jars the size of fingers. The liquid inside them sparkled iridescently in the hall light.
She took out one vial and clinked it onto the table in front of her. “This is a cure for poison that paralyzes.” She took out another one and put it next to the first one. “And this is an emetic to make you throw up.” Then came a third. “This is also…”
She filled up the slots on her belts one vial at a time. As the row of antidotes and other similar things got longer, the noise level dropped. When she put down the last vial, there was silence in the hall. The nobles looked at the horrifying display and couldn’t find the right words. It seemed like time stopped until she spoke again.
“Her Highness Princess Mia is irreplaceable for us. Nothing bad is allowed to happen to her, no matter the time or place. It is not only required, but also clearly clear that we would prepare thoroughly for every possible outcome. It was not lucky for me that I had the exact cure on hand. In fact, I have a lot of them. That means I can handle any poison.”
The weapons she carried were just a few examples of Yellowmoon’s many years of experience making poisons. After using thousands of banes and studying thousands more, they were able to carefully choose the most useful chemicals based on what they knew about the most common poisons found in Sunkland. But even though Citrina was smart, she hadn’t thought that lightbane and shadowbane would be involved.
That’s what’s so great about Her Highness. Along the way, she saw some mushrooms and learned that they could be used as medicine, so she bought some right away.
Mia was genius enough to not only think ahead, but also act on what she saw. Citrina was amazed at how she could just go with the flow and trust Citrina to make her own judgment to make choices on the spot.
That doesn’t matter now, though.
Citrina smiled sweetly at her audience as she put out all of her vials on the table.
“Being ready in this way makes sense, given how important Her Highness is. I thought you protected your leaders the same way here in Sunkland, but based on how you reacted, I guess I was wrong.”
…before making fun of them like a boss. That made her understand something.
Oh, am I… angry?
She thought for a second, trying to figure out what was making her so angry. After saving the king’s life, she felt pretty good. She had never done something good with her skills before. They ruined the feeling before she could even enjoy it, though, with their small charges. She must have been hurt by that. Should she be making fun of people when she’s feeling so angry? What would happen if she went too far? For a split second, she thought about being calm.
“So now that everyone has had a good time, who is going to take responsibility for making a young woman like Rina do something embarrassing, hmm?” She smiled. She chose to let go of restraint like a lemon. She planned to make them feel awful about themselves. In the end, they made her mad. It was their mistake for starting it.
“That’s correct! You should feel bad! Every one of you! Miss Citrina did what any person in her situation would do. She helped someone who needed it. But you made her feel bad instead of thanking her! That was a terrible insult you made her go through.”
To Citrina’s surprise, Esmeralda was the first person to take her bait.
“Be proud of yourself, Citrina,” she said next. “What you did was nothing but admirable. As the principal Etoiline, I want to give you my highest praise. Each of us pretty maidens has a secret, and I can only imagine how embarrassing it must be to have them found out. Being shamed so badly… Oh, the humanity! Do not give up, Miss Citrina!”
Citrina didn’t say anything as she watched the outpouring of sympathy. She fought the desire to say something like, “Since when were you the principal Etoiline?” “What secret?” To carry my antidotes, I just wear belts on my legs. But there was one thing she couldn’t ignore about the passionate speech.
“Um… Miss Esmeralda, Rina didn’t really have to deal with that. You don’t need to make it sound so indecent…”
Even if she meant well, she didn’t want the whole hall to hear over and over how she had been “thoroughly humiliated,” as if she had been forced to go naked in public or something. Also, going to the beach every summer with a bunch of hot young guardians seemed like a much worse example of being immoral.
Esmeralda said, “It’s okay, Rina,” but she clearly didn’t get the point. “Don’t worry. I know this is a tough subject for you. Such shame… Such humiliation… Oh, poor girl!”
She then grabbed Citrina tightly and held her there.
“I said it wasn’t that—”
“Enough already! You did great out there! Good for you!”
Oh, no. I provoked the wrong person…
Esmeralda’s overbearing behavior and sudden invasion of personal space were, to be honest, very annoying. But then she said…
“You did the great job Miss Mia asked for, and I’m so proud of you!”
Citrina felt what she said in her heart. She was expecting anger, but what she found was love. Citrina had only thought of the other three dukes and their families as potential targets. She might have to kill them one day. So, she stayed away from them because she didn’t know any of their Etoiler friends, she just knows of them.
Esmeralda is the young Greenmoon. A simple girl who acts based on her feelings. Easy to anger and possibly just as easy to control. Citrina thought, She really does seem like a pushover. The things she knew about Esmeralda’s personality fit her behavior perfectly. A simple girl but not a bad one.
Citrina didn’t completely hate the girl’s sincerity and kindness, since she was so simple and sweet.
Would it feel this way if I had a moth—no, a sister?
For her part, Citrina wasn’t a bad girl either; she was kind enough to fix herself when she thought something wrong. Her friend, on the other hand, still couldn’t stop calling someone grandma!
I think I’ll start going to the Clair de Lune parties more often!
When it comes to pushovers, Esmeralda was not the only one.
The Sunkland lords were hit with cold water when they saw Esmeralda embracing the younger Citrina close. The calm ones quickly understood that the people they were criticizing were actually young girls who had just saved their king’s life and should be protected as guests. The hall was dead quiet until someone screamed in alarm.
“Your Majesty!”
The people who worked closely with King Abram helped him stand up. His back was straight, his teeth were clenched, and he walked slowly toward Citrina. His face was twisted in pain, and his steps were swaying in a way that worried her.
“Young lady, I’m so grateful that you saved my life.” I can only say sorry for how rude some of my fellow nobles were, and I beg your forgiveness.”
Citrina responded, “It doesn’t matter, Your Majesty. Please don’t worry. You need to get some rest.”
The smile she gave Abram wasn’t as sweet; it was more tender. He looked a little less tense as a sense of relaxation crossed his face.
“Count Lampron, take care of the rest. Make sure that our guests are treated with the greatest respect.”
He then left the hall with Sion and Echard by his side.
“Phew… It looks like everyone will be okay.
Mia jumped when she heard the comment from behind her. When she turned around to find Abel, he was right next to her. He had his right hand tightly over the neck of a wine bottle, and she had no idea when he had come up to her.
“Oh, Abel… Why are you holding a bottle?”
“Hm? Oh? I just thought you might be thirsty. What do you think? Do you want something to drink?”
“Oh, Abel, you rascal. Are you going to ply me with wine?”
“Huh? It’s not— Uh…”
His shaky answer made her laugh.
He must have thought it was a juice bottle… His thought to bring me a drink is very kind, but he can be such a cute klutz at times.
She laughed. Because big-sister Mia never got tired of making fun of little boys for no reason.
Ludwig walked up and said, “You really know how to use words well, Your Highness. But putting aside the jokes, it is very good that the problem was solved peacefully.”
As Mia looked at him, she saw that he was also carrying a wine bottle. She raised an eyebrow.
“My, that’s not what I thought I would see.”
For some reason, she didn’t think Ludwig would drink at these events.
“Your Highness…” he said, sounding shocked and almost hurt by what she said. “So when push comes to shove, I’m also a man. At the very least, I think I can find a way out…”
Sadly, she could only hear the first half of his mumbled protest.
Oh, is that true? So, “when push comes to shove,” huh? The wine that the royal family of Sunkland provided must be pretty rare. It’s okay for him to sneak a sip or three.
She thought it must have been the same feeling she got when she was given rare sweets or strange mushrooms. She pursed her lips because she felt like she understood Ludwig better now that she knew a new side of him.
“Where is Anne by the way?” She inquired.
“To keep her safe, I told Miss Anne to stay with the guards. Just in case,” Ludwig replied.
“In case… I see. Good decision. I knew I could depend on you.”
“But I have to say,” Abel said, “I’m shocked Sion didn’t say anything? There was no way I wasn’t sure he was going to scold those nobles. He must have been really upset when he saw his father fall down.”
“That…is probably not the reason,” Ludwig said, shaking his head.
“Indeed…” Mia agreed with Ludwig.
It’s likely Sion realized that his brother put the poison in the drink. That’s not something he would want his court to hear in public. He is probably still upset about the fact that both his brother tried to kill him and his father was poisoned. She had a thought and grunted. But what are we going to do about Prince Echard?
It was possible to hide the fact that Echard had made the drink poisonous. Honestly, they could just say that the Serpents were to blame for everything. It wouldn’t be hard; she was good at shifting credit. In a way, the Serpents were already to blame. They were the ones who gave Echard the poison. Operation Snake Blame would go ahead as long as she could get Abram and Sion on board.
It helped her even more that she was in Sunkland. The Wind Crows, who were the pride and joy of the kingdom’s intelligence network, had given in to the Snake’s control in the past. If they brought that up, they would have to think about whether a Wind Crow could have done this kind of poisoning. Having seen what a former Wind Crow who was now working as a Yellowmoon butler could do…
It seems likely, especially for someone like him…
The argument made sense, and if it was possible for a Wind Crow, it had to be possible for the Serpents too, since they had already shown they could trick the organization. It’s possible that the killer put poison in the drink, then left the hall pretending to be a guest. Since Sunkland had dealt with the Serpents before, it shouldn’t have been too hard to get this answer through.
But now I worry about what King Abram and Sion will think. What Prince Echard will think as well. Hm… Hmmm…
A guard came up to her and stopped her from thinking.
“Excuse me, Princess Mia. His Majesty would like to talk to you.”
“…Huh?”
Mia had no idea that the real fight was just beginning.
