The moment she pushed open the door, a strange smell hit her. The pungent scent was coming from an incense burner. Was this medicinal incense?
Elodie approached His Majesty's bedside as arranged. She knew his health was poor, but had not expected it to be this bad.
The royal family's condition was always top secret. Yet the emperor's near total absence from official functions, and his delegation of most state affairs to the crown prince, were practically a public announcement that his health was deteriorating. Now the emperor looked like a corpse with its eyes closed.
They exchanged a few pleasantries. The emperor called her savior in words, but his gaze was that of a man watching a beast.
The reason he had summoned her was nothing more than what had happened at the gathering. But she was no savior. The emperor did not care whether it was true. As long as the world believed it, that was enough. He intended to elevate her as a savior.
Recently, mutated monsters had been rampaging everywhere, attacking homes and throwing the populace into panic. The high temple suspected these incidents were related to the cult of Icar. That group had once disappeared from sight, but a few years ago had begun roaming about, proclaiming that the world will be reduced to ruins.
Walentia worshipped Ishtar as its deity and recognized her as the state religion, treating those who followed the underworld goddess Icar as heretics. The founding myth itself was meant to counter the seven deadly sins Icar had spread. Ishtar granted authority to seven heroes. But now, with heresy rising and monsters running rampant, people's faith was naturally shaken.
The so-called savior was only a front, a scapegoat to stand out there and take the blame.
Yet the emperor insisted she would become the people's hope. But her public title was Pedia's illegitimate daughter. Who would believe that such a person was suddenly a savior? Especially a powerless, illegitimate girl with no authority. If they really wanted a savior for the masses, they might as well have the temple choose someone suitable. That would work better. As for divine oracles, that was the temple's concern, not hers.
At this point the emperor suddenly brought up Ryan. He was indeed remarkable, and the emperor had not expected Elodie to have snatched him up first. But Ryan was not the sort to obey anyone's orders on a whim.
The emperor then mentioned the engagement. He had been dissatisfied with it before and had considered having it broken off.
So it turned out that the crown prince coming to see her that day had been on the emperor's orders. But she had already settled that matter. There was no need for His Majesty to worry. She had spoken with the crown prince as well.
Fortunately, the emperor also supported dissolving the engagement. With that, she took her leave.
After a long silence, he realized he had not chatted with a young person in ages. The emperor realized he had actually enjoyed it a little. Maybe tonight he could finally sleep soundly.
As Elodie turned back and opened the door, she ran right into the crown prince. She quietly told him His Majesty had fallen asleep.
For some reason, though, a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over her. Thankfully, Adamir caught her in time.
Something was pouring in endlessly, like poison. Elodie tossed him her handkerchief. "Cover your nose and mouth with this." Then she turned and rushed back into the room to check on the emperor.
The prince had not yet covered his face. The air was indeed poisonous. He could only do as he was told. The smell was pleasant, like a mix of flowers and fruit.
Elodie yanked open the curtains. It was more important to air out the room first. She could sense the poison in the air and could purify it, but she could not say that outright, so she simply invoked her mother. She had studied toxicology under her. After all, her mother was the continent's strongest poison maker, the Duchess of Pedia.
This incense seemed to have been burning for several years already, which meant the emperor had been exposed to the fumes for at least a year or more. After inhaling it herself, she was sure the incense was poisoned. The toxin was not extremely potent, but the emperor's body was still steadily deteriorating. Perhaps this poison had to be layered with another to become deadly.
So she decided to taste it again to confirm. The crown prince watched in horror.
Elodie pushed him aside. "I have to try it myself to be sure, and to test the reaction after inhalation. Besides, I'm used to it."
The moment the words left her mouth she regretted them, because the prince was staring at her with a grave look.
Elodie quickly added, "I have a resistance to poison. Don't worry."
But the crown prince was all too familiar with this sort of thing. He had been trained in poison resistance since childhood, so he knew better than anyone how cruel the price of building such resistance was. Even for a lady of House Pedia, having poison resistance was very unusual.
At that moment he only wanted one thing: for the Duke's daughter not to do anything reckless. This whole affair might well be used to hook a very big fish, and the investigation had to be carried out in secrecy.
There were excellent alchemists in House Pedia. They should be able to create an antidote. After all, she was a Pedia. The emperor had been poisoned too long to recover at once, but with ongoing treatment he would surely improve.
Once, she might have left things alone, but now she had authority. She could not just watch someone die. If the crown prince was uneasy, then he could pay her a consultation fee.
Adamir's face flushed scarlet. Elodie was inexplicably adorable.
They left the palace together. Since the crown prince had not brought up the engagement, she would do it herself. They were almost at the gate anyway.
Ryan was already waiting outside. From a distance, the crown prince looked at them, feeling an unexpected hint of envy toward Ryan. The engagement was on the verge of being dissolved. Yet his thoughts about her had only grown more tangled of late. It was time for him to go back to being what he was supposed to be.
As soon as Elodie returned to the estate, she was summoned to her mother's rooms. Her mother asked whether she had been doing well, whether she had done anything bad lately, what the fox beside her was. "It'll probably shed a lot of fur, won't it? Since you've brought it back, take proper care of it and see it through to the end."
Before they had spoken more than a few lines, her father summoned her again. Her mother smiled helplessly. "They really don't give us any time to talk."
Watching her mother leave, Elodie was a little surprised. She had not asked a single question about the trip to the royal city, or about the little black fox.
When she went to see her father, she told him almost everything except the poison, including the matter of breaking off the engagement.
The Duke frowned. "Didn't you like the crown prince? I thought breaking the engagement was just you talking in anger."
Elodie hurriedly explained. "I don't have any feelings for His Highness at all. I hope you'll allow the engagement to be dissolved this time, or I'll have to use other means."
To her surprise, her father actually agreed. He only warned her not to act on impulse again. After all, the last time she tried to break the engagement, she had sent a letter straight to the first prince without even consulting her guardian.
Elodie added, "I've also spoken to His Majesty about this. He's already agreed. And he actually wanted me to break the engagement in the first place."
At that, the Duke flew into a rage. "That damned emperor. He dares look down on my daughter. He's about to die, so he's gone mad, has he?" With that, her father turned and was ready to head straight for the palace.
Elodie was stunned on the spot. She hurried forward to calm him down. As long as her father agreed, she could dissolve the engagement. It was just a matter of going through the formalities. It would not take long.
Still, she could not help worrying. Would dissolving the engagement shake the relationship between the first prince and House Pedia? After all, the prince had accepted this engagement only for Pedia's power. The second prince had Empress Salvaselite behind him, and the first prince's side was already weak.
Hearing that his daughter could think in these terms, her father was actually a little pleased. "You really have grown up." So he stated directly, "Nothing will change. If the second prince becomes emperor, none of us will have any way out. Of course, if there's someone you fancy, you can just say so and I'll go catch him for you."
Only when he learned that Elodie had no such idea did he truly relax.