The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 29

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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 29.

***

The last day at the Imperial Palace had arrived without my noticing.
That is to say, it was the day the grand banquet would be held.
Since returning from the Lakeside, Varcan and I had not crossed paths.
After that day, Varcan had stopped seeking me out first, and whenever I went looking for him, he was always absent.
‘What on earth keeps him so occupied?’
At times, Varcan seemed like someone who bore the weight of all the world’s affairs upon his shoulders alone.
‘I was hoping to probe a little about his first love, but…’
Yet with the subject himself nowhere to be found, that had proved impossible.
It wasn’t as though I wandered the Imperial Palace alone either.
Roaming about unattended risked an encounter with Cain or his faction, and that was a thought too exhausting to bear.
The mere idea of it drained me.
So I found myself naturally drawn to Eleanor’s company.
I spent most of my time with her—walking through the gardens of the Princess Palace, sharing meals, drinking tea.
In doing so, I found myself forced to listen to matters of the empire’s affairs and power structures, topics I’d scarcely cared about before.
Yet the more I heard, the more oddly fascinating it became.
At the same time, I came to understand that Eleanor loved the Castillo Empire far more deeply than I’d imagined, and that she grasped the currents of its politics with remarkable acuity.
The way she methodically laid bare the empire’s tax flows, the fractures within the Nobility Faction, the Temple’s silence, and the Imperial House’s long-standing habits was quite extraordinary.
Though born a princess without claim to succession, she understood the empire as intimately as a crown prince trained in Royal Studies.
‘Her face was quite radiant when she spoke of it.’
Whenever I asked her questions about the empire, Eleanor’s expression would brighten with excitement as she answered, her love for the empire and its people written plain upon her face.
‘Entirely unlike someone I once knew who compared the gardens to the empire itself.’
That cheerful countenance stood in sharp contrast to the hollow look I’d glimpsed at the morning meal.
‘Someone who loved the empire so deeply, and yet…’
That Eleanor would sink into the sea aboard a foreign ship.
The more time I spent with Eleanor, the heavier my heart grew.
On days when I didn’t see her, I shut myself in my chamber.
I was preparing a simple antidote using medicinal herbs I’d procured in the Capital.
Sniff. I shook a small vial of blue-green liquid and brought it to my nose.
It called itself an antidote, but given how severely my options for materials were limited while evading surveillance within the Imperial Palace, its efficacy was necessarily diminished.
Still, using Lumen—which carries resistance properties against toxins—as my base and adjusting the proportions through trial and error, I’d managed to create something reasonably functional: an antidote potent enough to counteract most common poisons, however imperfect.
‘Barring lethal toxins of the deadliest sort, it will provide an initial detoxification within the body.’
With such virulent poisons, death would claim one the moment they touched the lips.
‘A banquet is a battlefield of the social world.’
Without the swords drawn, its nature remains no less brutal than any true war.
Attending a banquet from a novel for the first time, the only preparation within my power was precaution against poison.
‘Though it would be fortunate if poison never appears, one must account for every possibility.’
Of course, poison would have no effect on me.
This antidote, then, was really a preparatory remedy for Varcan and others connected to House of Escar—should the need arise.
Along with the antidote, I prepared various remedies for emergencies and packed them all into a small pouch.
As I patted the now-full pouch, a memory of my days as Eveline surfaced unbidden, and a warm feeling stole over me.
‘In those days too, I used to carry various medicines dangling from a belt-pouch around my waist.’
Soon after, I was drawn by Celin into the preparations for the banquet.
Today, her touch as she worked with my hair was particularly deliberate.
Always tucking something in, pulling it out again.
The careful, fussy motions lulled my eyes closed.
“Your Highness, you mustn’t fall asleep! Your head is tilting!”
Celin’s urgent voice came from behind me.
I answered quietly, my eyes still gently shut.
“I’m not sleeping. Just thinking for a moment.”
At that, Celin gasped in alarm.
“Oh no! They say thinking too much is what made you mad! And now you’re thinking again? What will we do if you go even more mad!”
……
“Your Highness should simply not think at all! Leave all the thinking to me!”
……
I’d only just realized it, but it seemed Celin was the person who’d most openly called me mad in front of me.
The fact that it didn’t bother me much meant I was a supernatural creature. Definitely a supernatural creature.
I nodded slowly and cracked open my eyes.
“Fine. Let’s stop thinking about it. And my head keeps tilting because of the hair ornaments. Let’s just remove two of them.”
They were far too heavy, Celin.
But Celin stood firm.
“Absolutely not! Our Princess must shine brightest in the banquet hall today!”
“…….”
A banquet where I, as the protagonist, had to shine most brilliantly.
She wasn’t wrong.
After all, this was an official banquet hosted by the Imperial Palace to welcome a princess from the Delmar Kingdom, so Celin’s devoted efforts were entirely justified.
And yet, strangely, I felt no thrill whatsoever.
Entering the banquet hall, enduring those prickling stares, smiling prettily while hiding my true thoughts—it all felt tedious.
Rather than anticipation, I was drowning in an ineffable weariness and reluctance.
‘Most of all, I still haven’t resolved the matter of the Lacrion Mountain Range.’
I had to tell Varcan.
That I wasn’t the Mad Princess.
That at least regarding the Lacrion situation, he needed to take my words seriously.
The plan had been flawless.
I’d meant to subtly let Varcan know that I wasn’t truly mad, but rather a clever ally who’d been feigning madness to deceive my enemies—gaining his trust—and in exchange, naturally acquire control over the Lacrion Mountain Range.
But this was something else. He wouldn’t even grant me a chance to meet him…….
Still, at this banquet, whether I liked it or not, he’d have to stay at my side, so an opportunity would come somehow.
‘Right. The Duke’s real feelings aren’t the problem right now.’
I looked straight at my reflection in the mirror.
The masked knight was a problem too. He’d sent people searching for me. Quite skilled knights at that.
If his range of activity extended to the Northern Region, I couldn’t feel safe even after returning to the Grand Duchy of Escar.
‘Just hiding my face won’t be enough.’
It would be difficult to get Eleanor’s help once I was back in the Grand Duchy of Escar.
A hood and mask alone had their limits.
I needed another method.

***

As the hour of the banquet approached, Varcan, who’d been nowhere to be seen for days, came looking for me.
When the door opened and he stepped in, I nearly blurted out, “You’re alive?”
I barely managed to maintain my composure.
“I thought I’d only see you inside the banquet hall.”
At my sarcastic remark, Varcan pretended not to hear and extended his arm.
Dressed in formal black attire, he looked less like someone heading to a banquet and more like a commander about to march into battle.
His collar impeccably straight, silver ornaments catching the light, his eyes coolly composed. The excessive precision was almost threatening.
“You needn’t acknowledge the nobles who try to speak with you inside the banquet hall.”
I rested my hand on his forearm, my eyes narrowing slightly.
“How could I do that? When someone speaks to you, you should respond politely. That’s just good manners.”
“Your position allows you to do otherwise.”
“Then what, should I go nibble on the banquet hall plants instead?”
Varcan looked down at me for the briefest moment.
“That would be preferable.”
“…….”
He meant I should chew grass rather than babble uselessly as the Mad Princess.
“That was truly generous advice.”
“…….”
I grumbled to myself as I fell into step beside Varcan, walking down the long corridor leading to the banquet hall.
The Imperial Palace’s lengthy corridor gleamed with unusual brilliance today.
In the silence broken only by the distant footsteps of attendants, I kept my gaze forward while lowering my voice to a hushed murmur.
“Your Grace.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not actually mad at all.”
“Yes.”
His response came back mechanical, devoid of even a moment’s hesitation or any shift in tone.
I glanced sideways at his sharp profile as we walked.
“I’m telling you the truth. I’m not mad. I’m perfectly sane and quite intelligent.”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
……
This was maddening.
The way he answered without so much as a glance in my direction, his tone perfunctory and distant, was perfect proof that he hadn’t heard a word I said.
The situation was genuinely absurd.
I had told Eleanor and Varcan the exact same thing.
That I wasn’t mad.
When I said it to Eleanor, I wanted her to believe I was mad. When I said it to Varcan, I wanted him to believe I wasn’t. Yet the results were the complete opposite.
Eleanor had instead become convinced that I wasn’t mad, while Varcan still seemed convinced that I was.
“People in the same circumstances tend to recognize each other instinctively, you see.”
It was a moment when Eleanor’s insight actually made a bit of sense.
‘This is troublesome.’
I needed the Lacrion Mountain Range to show Varcan that I was a useful piece on the board.
But to bring the Lacrion Mountain Range under my control, I had to win Varcan’s trust first.
I cleared my throat softly.
“Let’s get through the banquet first.”
I kept my eyes forward as I continued.
“Once we’re back at the Grand Duchy of Escar, I have something to tell you. You’ll need to listen very carefully then. Understood?”
……
No answer came. But I felt his gaze brush against my profile before drifting away.
Soon enough, we arrived before the banquet hall.
Beyond the tall doors, music drifted out, mingled with laughter and the crystalline clink of glasses.
The knights at the entrance straightened as they recognized us.
“The Grand Duke of House of Escar, His Grace Varcan of Escar, and the Sixth Princess of Delmar Kingdom, Her Highness Evelina of Delmar!”
The knight’s voice rang out into the banquet hall.
The doors opened. The Imperial Palace’s magnificent and treacherous gift, prepared for me, yawned wide.
A blinding torrent of golden light and hundreds of gazes poured down upon us all at once.
I smiled more brilliantly still.

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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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