Resetting Lady - Chapter 222

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“I always knew Father would try to kill me someday.”

“Do you believe it?”

“What’s there to believe or not believe? It’s obvious. Could you pass me the sugar over there?”

Louis sighed deeply as he put milk and sugar into his black tea. One cube, two cubes, three cubes… Only after adding five cubes did Louis finally take a sip of his tea. But his childlike taste was the only youthful thing about him—his face was deadly serious.

“Your Majesty, please avoid tea with too much sugar for the time being. It will be difficult to detect if poison is added.”

“If Father wants to kill me, I trust he wouldn’t use such crude poison. It would be colorless and odorless at the very least.”

Louis grumbled as he drank what was closer to a sugary beverage than tea.

What if I put poison in the sugar? Karen thought to herself, but instead of voicing this, she pulled out a crystal bottle from her coat.

“I’m not sure if it’s colorless and odorless, but I did receive poison. Along with rope and a dagger.”

“…This is?”

“Just so you know, please don’t even think about tasting it.”

“That’s an amusing joke, but rather grim, Lady Hyer.”

“I’m saying this out of concern for Your Majesty.”

Louis stared intently at the transparent liquid inside the crystal bottle, but the poison revealed nothing just by looking at it.

“What would happen if I touched it to my tongue and immediately spat it out?”

“Your Majesty, I want to live a long life.”

Everyone here would lose their heads.

Louis agreed with that assessment. He handed the poison bottle to his guard knight. The knight carefully transferred the poison into another bottle he had brought and returned the empty bottle to Karen.

“I’ll have it examined.”

“Will this serve as evidence?”

“No, it’s insufficient evidence that Father has decided to kill me.”

Louis sighed.

“Lady Hyer would simply lose her head. As evidence that she tried to frame me.”

“…I thought that might be the case.”

Karen sighed as well.

Even though Crown Prince Louis was cooperating with her and even believed her, the situation wasn’t favorable since the opponent was also royalty. Even if Karen testified, Prince Guiz would obviously dismiss it immediately, saying ‘she’s lying because she’s mad with ambition for the throne.’

“Let’s all think about this together.”

Louis suggested.

But in truth, there wasn’t much else they could do.

For now, they had no choice but to watch Prince Guiz. Karen looked down at the dagger Prince Guiz had given her. She recalled the basement where she had been dragged in her previous life.

Back then, he had brought Louis to the basement too. And back then, he killed Louis and was killed by Karen. No matter how powerful someone is, they die if stabbed with a sword, die if they drink poison, die if strangled. She gripped the dagger. If she gave up on this life… the answer would be relatively simple.

“I could kill Prince Guiz.”

“Anything but that.”

“That’s the most realistic way to protect Your Majesty.”

“…Have some more tea, Lord Raymond.”

The captain of the royal guard spoke instead of Louis. But Raymond didn’t give up and looked at Louis.

“But Your Majesty…”

“Please have some more tea, Lord Raymond.”

Karen stopped Raymond. She was glad she hadn’t spoken first.

“Lord Raymond, that’s not a proposal worth considering.”

“Why not?”

Raymond’s face was serious.

“I’ll handle it perfectly so that Lord Lewis is never implicated.”

“Never being implicated is impossible.”

“It’s possible.”

“Stop it. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Raymond looked like he wanted to say more, but soon closed his mouth.

Karen knew that if he decided to do it, he really could. Hadn’t she herself just been tempted by the thought that chopping off Guiz’s head with an axe might be the quickest solution? Murder is the easiest option.

Even a crown prince is still human. Raymond could really go find the prince and cut off his breath.

“Yes, please stop, Lord Raymond. You need to think about the consequences.”

In the end, it would only lead to death.

Such methods ultimately ignore what comes after. Just like how she had been dragged to the execution platform. Karen knew that Raymond sometimes showed this excessively single-minded side. It was because Raymond had lived for so long.

Having witnessed Louis die at Guiz’s hands over a hundred times by now, he had become numb to it. Numb to murder and numb to the situations that follow. Death had become distant from life, and his sense of reality had disappeared.

“What would happen to Lord Lewis’s position?”

“Even so, that’s still the best method.”

Raymond was adamant.

“There would be backlash and suspicion, but that doesn’t change the fact that attack is the best method. And as time passes, such rumors would actually help Your Majesty.”

“Lord Raymond!”

Louis’s face hardened.

“Don’t you understand what it means to attack first—someone who hasn’t done anything yet, my own father, the crown prince of this country?”

Raymond fell silent. The perspectives of someone with only one life and someone who had already repeated this hundreds of times couldn’t be the same. Louis had to be that much more cautious. But that caution had killed Louis.

“I need justification. I can’t strike at Father without any evidence.”

For Louis to rightfully ascend to the throne, such a process was necessary.

Raymond and Karen thought that killing Guiz rather than finding justification would help him, but it wasn’t the same for people living just one life. Everyone around Louis sighed and fell into deep thought.

They knew the enemy. They knew the reason.

But there was nothing they could do.

There was no justification.

Only silence lingered. In truth, there seemed to be no other solutions that could come from this meeting. Since Louis had rejected Raymond’s proposal, only one option remained.

“In the end, we have no choice but to wait for now.”

Karen said.

“Prince Guize told me he would give me orders soon. Won’t there be an opening at that moment?”

“Lord Lewis, it’s dangerous. Waiting while knowing you’ll be attacked is not a wise method.”

Raymond immediately objected.

He wanted to save Louis, but that didn’t mean he wanted Karen to continue being in danger by Prince Guiz’s side. If he had to weigh the two, Karen was naturally more important.

However, Raymond had already treated Louis lightly several times before. Raymond’s face grew increasingly rigid. Karen interrupted Raymond’s words.

“I’ll be fine.”

“…I’m sorry to Lady Hyer. I’m grateful for your courage.”

“Your Majesty!”

“Stop it, Lord Raymond.”

Karen stood up.

“There isn’t much time left now, Your Majesty. Prince Guize isn’t someone with that much patience, so he’ll make his move soon. Please take care of yourself until then.”

“Thank you.”

“Not at all.”

Karen had no reason to receive thanks from him.

Raymond, unconvinced, said to Louis.

“Your Majesty, just waiting will ultimately lead to gaining nothing. People die even if a towel accidentally covers their face while sleeping, even if they fall while riding a horse, even if food gets stuck in their throat while eating. This is especially true for someone as young as Your Majesty. How long will you sit still and wait?”

“I know.”

“A day or two would be fine. It would be fortunate if it ended with just being tense for a whole year. If it would end when Your Majesty comes of age, then you could do that. But Your Majesty, Prince Guize won’t give up until he gets what he wants.”

“But right now, we have to wait.”

“Until Your Majesty’s life is cut short?”

“Raymond!”

Bang!

Unable to bear it any longer, Karen slammed the table first and shouted.

“Don’t be insolent! Even if emotions run high, there are things that shouldn’t be said!”

“Lord Raymond, apologize to His Majesty.”

“I apologize for frightening you, Your Majesty. But my opinion remains unchanged.”

“Lord Raymond!”

Karen was ready to poison Raymond herself.

Maybe he’d come to his senses after becoming a corpse once?

“Calm down and think.”

“Karen.”

“Don’t just talk like that, think about the fact that right now there’s no proper evidence except for my testimony. And you know that if Lord Raymond gets caught, naturally His Highness Prince Louis’s head will roll along with his, don’t you?”

“Lady Karen Hyer!”

The captain of the royal guard shouted angrily.

Karen felt deep shame that she too had become agitated and spoken harshly. She had just scolded Raymond, yet she was doing the exact same thing.

“…I apologize.”

As Karen bowed her head with a reddened face, Louis sighed and raised his hand.

“We don’t have much time, so let’s stop this unnecessary war of attrition.”

“Yes.”

Louis grasped the teapot with his own hands. Karen quickly stood up, but Louis waved his hand to refuse her action and poured the tea himself. Then he added even more sugar than before. He frowned as he brought the tea, which looked sticky from all the sugar, to his lips. Only after drinking two more cups in succession did Louis finally speak.

“…If I were to say I have no intention of becoming king, would Father just leave me alone?”

“…”

Only silence lingered. Louis smiled bitterly as he spoke.

“Sorry, I said something foolish.”

“You’re still at an age where that’s acceptable.”

But she didn’t deny that it was foolish. Louis nodded. Prince Guiz would never stop trying to kill Louis, nor was Louis in a position to ask to be spared by claiming he had no desire for the throne.

Until now he had been under the thorough protection of his grandfather, the current king, but no one knew how long the old man who was bedridden and living day to day could continue to protect him.

There were duties and responsibilities given from birth. There were things that couldn’t be avoided. But Louis sometimes wanted to throw it all away. It felt suffocating to think that from his birth to every breath he took, everything carried someone’s expectations and intentions.

He didn’t wish for a free life. He just wanted at least minimal safety to be guaranteed. He wanted a daily life where his close noble friends wouldn’t suddenly disappear one day, where his beloved dog wouldn’t die, where servants wouldn’t have to taste his food first to check for poison at every meal.

“It won’t end until Father dies…”

Louis grimaced as he tasted the sickeningly sweet tea.

After long contemplation, Louis made his decision.

“I want to discuss this with everyone together. I want to bring down Father in front of more people.”

Prince Louis wanted to make it a public matter.

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