If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 158

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 158
Bang—!
The heavy door to the Inner Chambers burst open with violent force.
Rushing inside, I found the Emperor already raising a teacup to his lips—one that Elodie had respectfully offered with both hands.
The murky, blood-red liquid was mere inches from touching his lips.
“Your Majesty, if you drink that—!”
My urgent cry came too late.
It was a fraction of a second.
Snap!
Leonhardt tore a platinum cufflink from his sleeve and hurled it with brutal force.
Ping—!
The sharp, piercing sound of a Sword Master’s strength cut through the heavy air of the Inner Chambers.
The cufflink streaked across the void and struck the teacup directly from the Emperor’s hand.
Crash!
“Argh!”
The delicate porcelain shattered into countless pieces with an ear-splitting sound.
In that same instant, the scalding, murky liquid erupted from the cup and sprayed violently into the air.
“What is the meaning of this!”
The tea splattered across the Emperor’s face and ornate robes, drenching him completely as he stood defenseless.
‘Thank heavens the poison Prince created isn’t absorbed through the skin.’
Watching the Emperor recoil in shock, drenched in tea, I released a quiet sigh of relief.
“Second Prince! Explain this insolence at once!”
The Emperor wiped the tea dripping from his face and jaw with rough, angry movements, his voice sharp with fury.
Yet Leonhardt didn’t flinch even slightly before that cutting rebuke.
Standing rigidly, he merely gazed down coldly at the ceramic fragments scattered across the floor and the tea seeping into the carpet.
‘Honestly, his temperament. I save his life and he won’t even explain himself.’
I clicked my tongue softly to myself.
The Emperor’s fury at being suddenly drenched was formidable.
The veins in his neck were about to burst.
I stepped forward, positioning myself in front of Leonhardt to draw attention.
“Your Majesty, please calm yourself first and hear me out.”
Of course, the Emperor did not calm down easily.
“Young Lady! Look at the state I’m in and you dare tell me to calm down in this situation—!”
Left with no choice, I squeezed my eyes shut and cried out.
“If Leon hadn’t just shattered that teacup, Your Majesty would have died tonight in secret—a sudden, miserable death from heart failure!”
My words cut through the Emperor’s speech, and a stunned silence fell over the room.
The Emperor’s eyes widened in shock.
“What… what are you talking about! The First Prince’s Consort said this tea was something precious, found only on the Eastern Continent, to relieve my fatigue—”
The flustered Emperor muttered almost to himself, glancing toward Elodie.
I looked down at Elodie, who sat crumpled on the floor, then turned my gaze back to the Emperor and spoke plainly.
“In a certain sense, it is quite valuable. Colorless, odorless, tasteless… and most ingeniously, it doesn’t stop the heart immediately after consumption, but rather gradually over the course of several hours.”
The words were delivered matter-of-factly, yet their impact was as devastating as a bomb.
The moment the word “deadly poison” left my lips, Elodie, who had been crouching on the floor, drew a sharp breath, and the Empress staggered backward in shock.
“That… that can’t be….”
Rather than argue further, I withdrew a bottle of holy water from my possession.
“This is the finest holy water available. As everyone here knows, this holy water has the power to react instantly upon contact with any poison in the world and purify it without a trace.”
I deftly snatched the teapot from Elodie’s pale, trembling hands.
Then I carefully dripped the holy water onto the tea that had seeped into the carpet and onto the remaining tea inside the teapot.
Ssssshhhhh—!
In that instant, a bone-chilling hissing sound echoed through the Inner Chambers.
The murky, dark red tea began to boil violently the moment the holy water touched it.
Whoooosh—!
Immediately, a brilliant, radiant light so dazzling it was difficult to keep one’s eyes open burst forth explosively into the air.
It was unmistakable visual evidence that the poison’s malevolence and the holy water’s divine power were clashing violently, completely purifying the toxin.
After the sacred light faded, the tea stain on the carpet and the tea inside the teapot had become perfectly clear and transparent.
“Did you see it clearly with your own eyes?”
I elegantly gestured toward the water mark on the floor, driving the point home.
The Emperor alternated his gaze between the scattered teacup fragments on the floor and the tea that had transformed into clear liquid upon reacting with the holy water, as if his mind had completely left him.
“The 1st Prince’s Consort… dared to attempt to poison me?”
Confronted with the unbelievable, horrifying reality, the Emperor’s gaze slowly turned toward Elodie, who remained crouched on the floor.
“No, no! Your Majesty! How could I ever attempt to poison you!”
Startled, Elodie’s face drained of color as she trembled uncontrollably, inadvertently spilling the truth from her own lips.
“This… this was a medicinal tea that the 1st Prince himself gave me directly, saying it was excellent for restoring Your Majesty’s vitality!”
Even as the truth poured from her own mouth, Elodie’s face was consumed by horror and realization.
Only then did she understand.
The terrible truth that her husband, whom she had trusted without question, had actually used her as both the perfect alibi and a sacrificial pawn, pushing her into this impossible situation as the poison’s courier.
Leonhardt, who had been standing silently until now, spoke up as if he had been waiting for this moment, his voice cold and tinged with mockery.
“So the situation is now clear. Ultimately, the 1st Prince attempted to poison Your Majesty, using the Empress and the 1st Prince’s Consort as intermediaries.”
The air in the Inner Chambers froze once more under the weight of his icy derision.
“That’s impossible! My son would never do such a thing!”
The Empress, standing beside him, cried out as if the very notion were absurd, her gaze sharp and fierce as she glared at Leonhardt.
“You’re fabricating these charges to completely destroy your brother, aren’t you!”
It was the desperate, pitiful defense of a mother unable to accept that her most beloved son had attempted to murder her husband.
Elodie, who had been standing in a daze, finally came to her senses.
She fixed me with a venomous glare, her voice dripping with venom as she challenged me.
“That’s right! Lady Roderick, how could you be so certain that this tea contained poison? As if you knew in advance that we would come to find His Majesty at this very moment, you appeared with that rare, finest holy water perfectly prepared…! This itself is contradictory! Isn’t it rather you who tampered with this tea beforehand and is trying to frame us!”
‘Oh no.’
At Elodie’s desperate accusation, I clicked my tongue softly to myself.
It was a plausible suspicion.
We could not afford to have it discovered that we had been secretly monitoring the Emperor’s every move through spirits.
No matter how noble the intention to protect the Emperor from danger, the act of surveilling the Empire’s sovereign could be seized upon as evidence of treason.
‘But that just means I mustn’t get caught, doesn’t it?’
I responded without batting an eye, my composure utterly unshakeable and brazen.
“How did I learn of this? I received intelligence that someone was secretly manufacturing poison in the deepest underground secret chamber of the First Prince’s Palace. I also know the sources of the materials used in its creation. Ah, and regarding those materials—you’re likely thinking of the person I mean. Baron Bordo.”
I wove together knowledge from the future and present information into a convincing bluff.
Everyone appeared bewildered by my unwavering tone.
I seized this perfect moment and drove home my final point.
“If you truly believe the First Prince is innocent, then why not summon him here at once and verify it directly?”
I gestured toward the teapot still brimming with leaves.
“As you can see, there’s plenty of this ‘precious tea’ remaining. Why not offer the First Prince a cup personally?”
Presently, the Emperor commanded the Chamberlain in a hollow voice.
“Bring the First Prince. Tell him nothing, and ensure he encounters no one on the way.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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