The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 41

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

Chapter 41.

“A portrait of royalty—you must have had difficulty tracking it down. Impressive.”
“Yes, that’s why the process took somewhat longer.”
“You’ve done well.”
At Barcan’s brief praise, Alexis bowed his head in silence.
Roan then opened the leather tube and withdrew the portrait, unfurling it across the desk.
As the rolled canvas gradually straightened, the Princess of Delmar came into view.
“…….”
Barcan stared at the portrait without speaking, his brow furrowing.
The sudden chill in his gaze made Alexis hold his breath, and Roan, reading the tension in the air, leaned forward carefully and ventured a question.
“What troubles you, sir? Is there something wrong with the portrait?”
Barcan did not answer immediately. He simply fixed his narrowed eyes on the woman in the portrait with stubborn intensity.
After a brief silence, Barcan reached his conclusion in a flat voice.
“It doesn’t do her justice.”
“…….”
“…….”
Roan paused at Barcan’s words, then bent closer to examine the portrait.
He straightened again with a grave expression, nodding.
“Indeed, sir. I agree. It seems the royal painter at Delmar lacks considerable skill.”
“…….”
At their exchange, Alexis’s eyebrow twitched slightly where he stood rigidly.
Alexis asked in a measured voice.
“Are you suggesting, then, that the person currently staying at the Grand Duke’s Residence might not be the same as the woman in this portrait?”
Roan shook his head at the question.
“No, I wouldn’t go so far as to suspect that.”
But then, something occurred to Roan, and he let out a short exclamation of realization.
“That’s right—you’ve never met the Princess, have you?”
“No, sir. I departed for Delmar before the Princess arrived at the Grand Duke’s Residence.”
“Yes, that’s so.”
Roan turned his attention back to the portrait.
“Once you see the Princess in person, you’ll understand. There’s something different between this portrait and the real thing.”
Tap, tap. Roan tapped the portrait with his fingertip near the Princess’s eyes.
“Sir, don’t you see the difference starting right here with her eyes? That luminous and subtle madness that dwells in her gaze—it’s not captured at all. And here, look—the bridge of her nose is far more prominent in person. Her eye corners are lifted a bit more, like a cat’s, and her lips—”
For some time, Roan catalogued the beauties the royal painter had missed in the Princess.
Listening quietly to this detailed analysis, Alexis finally could hold back no longer and asked with a furrowed brow.
“Wouldn’t those differences make her a different person entirely?”
“No, no—not to that extent.”
“…….”
Roan protested with evident frustration, while Alexis wore an expression of pure bewilderment.
Barcan listened to their bickering in silence.
To his eye, the Princess in the portrait was not so very different from the Princess at the Grand Duke’s Residence.
Platinum-blonde hair, sapphire-blue eyes, skin of alabaster white.
The arrangement and contours of her features matched perfectly with the Princess staying at the Grand Duke’s Residence.
Yet.
The Princess in the portrait was far too still, unlike the Princess he knew.
Was it the absence of that madness—that reckless vitality with which she moved freely through the Grand Duke’s Residence and the Imperial Palace alike?
Barcan attributed the uncanniness between portrait and reality to precisely that.
Barcan slipped the portrait back into the leather tube and thrust it toward Roan.
“There’s nothing more the portrait will tell us. Put it away.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Roan stepped back, Barcan turned his attention to Alexis.
“You must be exhausted from the long journey. Rest thoroughly.”
But Alexis shook his head firmly.
“No, sir. I will return to my duties at once.”
Typical—the answer was pure Alexis, a man with no interest in anything but the task at hand.
Barcan smiled faintly and spoke.
“Adequate rest is itself a form of training. Do not overextend yourself. Take sufficient time to recover, then return to duty. That is an order.”
At the word “command,” Alexis’s face flickered with surprise before he lowered his head.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I shall obey your command.”

***

“Mmm…….”
My eyelids felt unusually heavy. I could barely pry them open before the familiar contours of my bedroom in the Grand Duke’s Residence came into focus.
“Your Highness!”
Before I’d even been awake a full second, Selin—who’d been wringing out a wet cloth beside the bed—practically bounded toward me.
The girl’s face was twisted as though tears might spill any moment.
“You’re awake?! Do you recognize who this is? Tell me you do?!”
I blinked slowly.
“……Who was it again? That neighbor, Mihenne? Or was it Rosie from across the way?”
“……What?!”
Selin’s eyes went wide before she let out a wail—waaaaah!—and promptly seized the bedsheet, dissolving into sobs.
“It’s Selin! Selin of the Grand Duke’s Residence! Your Highness’s right hand, Selin! The very Selin who attended you with utmost devotion, never knowing which way you’d leap next! Did you think too hard again?! Is that why you’ve gone mad again?!”
At Selin’s desperate attempt to make me remember her, I couldn’t help myself—laughter burst out.
“I’m only teasing, Selin. How could I forget our lovely Selin?”
Nobody calls me mad quite as often as you do.
“Your Highness! Please don’t joke like that! It’s terrifying!”
“Oh, there’s plenty to be scared of. I know, I know. There now—stop crying.”
Selin hiccupped and rubbed her eyes dry with the back of her hand.
With Selin’s help, I pushed myself up from the bed. The base of my skull felt stiff.
“How long was I asleep?”
“You woke briefly after returning this morning, then fell back asleep. Altogether, it looks like about twelve hours.”
“……Twelve hours?”
“Yes.”
A hazy memory surfaced—instinctively waking, reaching for Helbayne’s sedative and swallowing it, then collapsing back into sleep.
‘I slept for quite a while.’
Since arriving at the Grand Duke’s Residence, I’d never slept this long.
For all my cheerful disposition, I wasn’t so dull-witted as to sprawl unconscious in a situation as precarious as thin ice, oblivious to the danger.
Playing the false princess had kept me on edge every night, and preparing medicinal herbs had often kept me past dawn.
More often than not, I’d wake from nightmares after barely falling asleep.
‘I was lucky to manage three or four hours at a stretch.’
It seemed all the exhaustion I’d been suppressing had suddenly broken loose.
‘Well, either way, I do feel refreshed.’
Though I couldn’t quite shake the fact that the last place I’d collapsed into sleep was nestled between Barcan’s ribs and forearm.
I climbed down from the bed and asked Selin:
“Selin, where is the Grand Duke now? Is he still sleeping?”
He’d endured as grueling a night as I had, so there was a chance he’d still be asleep.
But Selin shook her head with a cheerful expression.
“No—the Grand Duke headed to the Training Grounds a short while ago.”
“……The Training Grounds? Surely he’s not……training, is he?!”
My voice rose reflexively.
Not even a full day had passed since he’d broken free from the Madness?!
Selin bobbed her head innocently, giggling.
“Yes! It’s his first training since returning from the Imperial Palace! The knights say he’s planning to train even longer than usual today!”
“…….”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
‘A monster. That’s what he is.’
There was no such thing as a demon beast—but by those standards, he qualified.
“How can he train in that condition?”
“That condition?”
Selin tilted her head with an innocent expression.
“Is something wrong with the Grand Duke’s health? Did he fall ill on the way back from the Imperial Palace?”
“…….”
Ah, so Selin didn’t know.
‘Of course—the Head of House’s illness would be handled with utmost secrecy.’
Selin had likely been granted leave to attend me during that time, unable to leave the Grand Duke’s Residence.
‘Yes, it’s better this child doesn’t know.’
I reached up and gently stroked Selin’s hair.
“You only just returned from the Imperial Palace. There may still be some lingering fatigue from the journey, and I’d worry—well, since you’re to be my future husband, I can’t help but fuss over you.”
At my shameless excuse, Selin squealed and covered her mouth with both hands, her voice bright with delight.
“Please don’t worry about that! The Grand Duke is invincible. No one in this world could ever harm him. To all of us in the Grand Duke’s domain, he’s a hero incarnate!”
“……I see.”
I smiled, though something bitter twisted at the corners of my mouth.
‘That invincible hero you speak of can’t even cure his own madness, Selin.’
I swallowed those words and walked toward the desk, pulling open one of its drawers.
In the corner lay a neat stack of papers, folded crisp and flat in uniform shapes.
Papers containing the potent Special Sleep Powder I’d prepared in advance with painstaking care.
‘There’s still plenty left…….’
But this could never be a true solution.
‘Putting him to sleep won’t cure his madness.’
Barcan would continue to suffer from that terrible affliction in the days ahead.
I couldn’t rely on this sleep powder each time it struck.
No matter how carefully I’d formulated it, any remedy carried the risk of the body building tolerance over time.
‘And besides, after using this powder, he seems to hallucinate……’
I thought of Barcan calling me by the name “Serena” as he gazed at me.
So I had to find a real solution.
‘If this is fate, then so be it.’
Though it was only formal, we would become husband and wife.
And I had to remain on good terms with him until I could safely disappear from the Grand Duke’s Residence.
‘To do that, I need to understand his symptoms in much greater detail first—then I can craft a proper cure.’
The chances of getting his cooperation seemed slim, but that was no reason to give up.
“Right!”
I shut the drawer.
“Let’s just forge ahead and see what happens!”
After all, whether I moved forward or retreated, I’d know which way to go only after I’d tested the ground.
With my resolve firmly set, I called for Selin.
“Selin! Fetch my coat at once. I need to head to the Training Grounds right now!”
“……What?!”
At my words, Selin jumped, her eyes wide as a startled rabbit’s.
Her reaction was so unlike her usual manner that I tilted my head, puzzled.
“Why are you so surprised? Am I not allowed to watch the training or something?”
Some sort of classified military exercise?
“No, it’s not that……”
Selin trailed off awkwardly, her fingers fidgeting together.
Her eyes darted uncertainly here and there, and her lips parted and closed several times as if she were struggling to speak.
“Selin?”
When I called her name again, the girl squeezed her eyes shut.
“The Grand Duke has ordered that the Princess not leave her bedroom without his permission!”
“……What?”
“And there are knights standing guard outside the door……”
Selin added quietly.
I stared blankly at the closed bedroom door. It felt as though someone had struck me hard across the head.
What……
‘Am I locked up?’

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