The Cooking Princess - Chapter 81

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

The Princess Who Cooks

Episode 81

Shuel, with his pale complexion, layered clothes over his indoor wear.

So he hadn’t secluded himself because he had no intention of taking direct action, but had deliberately lain in his sickbed to receive audience requests in order to discover Shurya’s true intentions.

Though Shurya was inwardly flustered by this different side of him than she had known, she asked calmly.

“What poison has been identified that His Highness the Prince consumed?”

To Shurya’s question, Shuel answered straightforwardly.

“They said it was aconite poison, so it didn’t react to silver spoons either.”

Hearing this, Shurya immediately asked.

“Who was in charge of preserving the scene? Surely not the Empress?”

“Her Majesty the Empress did step forward, but… His Majesty the Emperor blocked her, they say.”

At those words, Shurya’s eyes widened.

“…His Majesty the Emperor?”

“Yes. Thanks to that, the evidence appears to have been properly preserved.”

If the Empress had been allowed to take charge, the evidence would have been contaminated.

The fact that the Emperor specifically stepped in at that moment meant that the Emperor already suspected that it was the Empress who had tried to poison the Prince.

‘Because she was that blatant about it.’

The Empress seemed to believe that the Emperor would naturally turn a blind eye to her actions.

‘That would make sense since the Emperor appeared to truly love the Empress.’

The reason Claude could act so arrogantly despite there being a legitimate prince was also because of the favor the Empress received from the Emperor.

The reason such an Empress planned this obvious poisoning incident was actually nothing special.

‘She must have judged that it would be dangerous if Shuel established himself any further, so she tried to stop him somehow.’

Once power is concentrated in the legitimate prince, it becomes irreversible.

Knowing this, she had made such a desperate risky move, but Shurya felt no sympathy.

While investigating the meal, Shurya and Shuel discovered a certain fact.

“This… the poison wasn’t in the food, but on the utensils.”

There was really only a trace amount on the food, so it was hard to think that poison had been put in the food.

“The Saint thinks so too. I think the same.”

Then Chloe was definitely innocent.

It was highly likely that someone from the Imperial Court had planned to poison Shuel and frame Chloe for it.

Couldn’t Chloe have applied poison to the utensils?

‘No. That’s impossible.’

In fact, the Emperor’s justification for confining Chloe was that Chloe, who had cooked, bore ‘responsibility.’

When even the Emperor didn’t think that Chloe had tried to directly murder Shuel, there was no way others would think so.

Chloe had no motive to do such a thing, and physically had no time to tamper with the utensils.

Why?

Because she had been by Shuel’s side the entire time she was in the Imperial Palace.

If poison had been found in food she had prepared in advance, Chloe wouldn’t have been able to clear her suspicion, but she had no time to tamper with the silver utensils.

What if she had separately taken utensils a few days ago and handed them to Shuel later?

What if a third party related to Chloe had stolen the utensils in advance?

The Imperial Palace’s security wasn’t that lax.

And everyone in the palace knew that she would be serving food today.

If she had done something as conspicuous as hiding utensils in advance and bringing them later, the attendants would have noticed first.

Moreover, no poison was found at all in Chloe’s belongings or in the belongings of the servants who had accompanied her to help with cooking.

Shuel and Shurya had investigated thoroughly for several days to prove Chloe’s innocence.

There was no evidence that the Empress was the culprit.

Probably direct evidence would never be found.

In the middle, Count Garnet asked to help with the investigation, saying he could be of assistance, but Shuel politely declined.

He persuaded him that if the Count participated in the investigation, it would be easy to be misunderstood as fabricating evidence, and the Count accepted this.

“Please restore my daughter’s honor. To Your Highness the Prince, who collapsed from poison, these are truly, truly shameless words to say… but I beg you.”

The Count, who hadn’t rested properly for even a single day since Chloe was confined, had lost all his robust muscle and his complexion was pale.

“If you would just save my daughter, the Garnet Family will surely repay this kindness.”

To the Count’s sorrowful words, Shuel smiled as kindly as possible and replied.

“You don’t need to repay any kindness, Count. I also don’t want Chloe to be sacrificed to the Imperial Court’s power struggles.”

Evidence that Chloe was not the culprit emerged from everywhere, but identifying who had tried to poison Shuel was not easy.

However…

They finally succeeded in catching the ‘tail’ that someone, probably the Empress, had cut off.

Shurya used her buff magic to boost Shuel’s energy to the maximum while pretending to heal, helping him advance the investigation quickly.

And finally, the decisive day when Chloe would stand in the courtroom.

“In any case, the Prince collapsed after eating food served by the Duchess, so it’s proper to punish her.”

The Empress openly displayed hostility, arguing that Chloe should be punished.

Shuel immediately cut off those words.

“No. The poison was not in the food but on the utensils.”

At those words, the Empress’s eyebrows twitched.

Regardless of the Empress’s reaction, Shuel submitted the evidence he had discovered with the Saint.

“And Chloe was with me continuously that day, so she had no time to tamper with the utensils.”

As soon as he said this, the Empress fiercely counterattacked.

“Couldn’t she have come to the Imperial Palace beforehand the day before or earlier to separately hide utensils and prepare?”

“No. That’s impossible. Everyone knew that Chloe would be serving food to the Imperial Family that day. If she had done something conspicuous, it would have been discovered long ago.”

The Empress objected again.

“Duchess Garnet didn’t come alone. She brought several people, saying the cooking would be difficult to serve alone. If one of them had switched the utensils,”

However, before the Empress could finish speaking, Shuel cut her off in a cold tone.

“All of Chloe’s household members stayed near Chloe’s food to guard it and never left their posts.”

The Prince, anticipating that the Empress would object again, had even prepared witnesses with a tired expression.

“The Imperial Palace staff will testify to this.”

The chef from that day, who appeared as a witness, spoke in a clear tone despite trembling.

“Yes, certainly those whom Duchess Garnet said were needed for cooking only paid attention to their own cooking.”

“What’s the possibility that one of them switched the utensils?”

“They guarded the food Duchess Garnet had entrusted to them without even going to the bathroom. They never left their posts for even a moment.”

The chef seemed to be telling the proper truth so as not to be caught on any technicalities.

The Empress still spoke in a cold tone.

“But Duchess Chloe Garnet was in charge of cooking, and His Highness collapsed, so shouldn’t the Duchess ultimately be held responsible?”

To the Empress’s words, Shuel glared at her with an extremely cold face and answered thus.

“Even after searching through all her and her household’s belongings, no poison intended to poison me was found.”

“She would have disposed of it long ago.”

To the Empress’s rebuttal, Shuel spoke in an extremely chilly tone.

“We caught a maid who tried to dispose of aconite poison.”

Not expecting that he would have brought actual evidence, the Empress closed her mouth, then realizing that staying silent would make her more suspicious, quickly objected to Shuel’s words.

“Duchess Chloe paid money to hire—”

“She had no time for that. We investigated her movements.”

Along with his words, Shuel showed the judge documents that detailed exactly where Chloe had been and what she had been doing with him that day.

“That day, it wasn’t Chloe whose whereabouts were mysterious, but rather Your Majesty the Empress.”

At those words, the Empress’s face hardened fiercely.

With her face hardened fiercely, the Empress glared openly at Shuel and asked.

“Are you suspecting me now? Prince.”

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