The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 59

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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 59.

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“There are certainly plenty of madmen tangled up in this place, aren’t there?”
“…….”
“Then again, that’s probably why the leader took notice.”
“…….”
The Guest Palace was prepared for distinguished visitors to lodge.
After sharing tea with Eleanor and returning to the bedchamber assigned to me in the Guest Palace, I found myself staring at an intruder sprawled awkwardly across the sofa opposite, plucking grapes from a bunch and devouring them.
It was the same intruder who had approached me not long ago, masquerading as Delmar’s second princess.
The intruder had given her name as Shipho.
“I thought imperial blood would be flawless, but there’s something off about that crown prince too. It’s suspicious.”
Shipho spat out a grape skin and let out a tittering laugh.
“You didn’t notice, did you? I snuck a glance back, and he was staring at you so intently the whole time.”
She joked with audacious ease, saying the heat in his gaze was so fierce she thought he’d set you ablaze.
Shipho, who had temporarily become my escort knight, seemed to have gotten a proper look at the situation when she encountered the crown prince while following me.
To sum it up in a word: I had succeeded in winning Shipho over.
Of course, it had not been easy.
The day before I left the Duchy of Escar.
Upon hearing that the intruder had awakened, I hurried down to the Underground Prison.
I had to meet with her before Roan conducted his interrogation.
There were two reasons.
To extract information about the Guild.
And to prevent her from revealing anything about my connection to the Guild.
But Shipho scoffed through the iron bars.
She tapped her own head mockingly with her index finger.
“I can’t talk either way. There’s a Seal Curse placed here. The restrictions are lighter on me than on you all, but I can’t spill the beans about you being a fake princess even if I wanted to.”
“In your head?”
Assassins like Shipho, who had been raised as Tools in the hands of the Guild’s instructors, had consumed a rare poison from childhood — different in kind from the Helven in my belly, according to what I’d heard.
“It’s because I consumed something called Piten. Hmph, only you people with no foundation stuff your bellies with such things and carry them around. We don’t need to pop sedatives every day like you do!”
“……Ah, is that so? How wonderful for you. Your head explodes instead of your belly. You’ll certainly feel less pain when you die. Right? Congratulations. Sincerely.”
“…….”
When I spoke with cutting sarcasm, Shipho pressed her lips together for a moment, then glared at me and asked.
“So? Now that you think your identity won’t be exposed, are you going to kill me?”
“Who knows? What should I do?”
“Kill me. I’m dead either way if I go back, so what does it matter.”
“…….”
I looked at Shipho for a moment, resigned as she seemed.
A Tool.
Raised as a Tool, discarded as a Tool.
It was not so different from my own circumstances back in Billot Village.
“That thing in your head. I can counteract it.”
“What?”
“In exchange, once the Seal Curse is lifted, you tell me everything you know about the Guild.”
“……Is that even possible? You can really neutralize this thing in my head?”
“Probably.”
“…….”
In truth, I was not certain.
Piten was something I had never even heard of before.
‘I haven’t even found a way to address the Helven in my own belly yet — how am I supposed to know what this Piten in her head is?’
But I decided to conceal that fact for now.
I had not resolved to keep her alive out of pity or compassion.
I had simply judged it more advantageous to keep her at my side and gradually extract information about the Guild that would slip out, rather than let her return to the Guild only to be killed.
Shipho would have learned and mastered everything the Guild had to teach.
‘She’d know what the Guild leader’s face looks like, too.’
It was likely she also knew the faces of the Guild’s senior executives, their hideouts, and how they conducted their operations.
Someday, I might unexpectedly encounter someone connected to the Guild or pass near their hideout.
At that moment, Shipho would react in some way, whether she meant to or not.
In that sense, even with the Seal Curse bound to her, Shipho could be considered quite a capable informant when it came to uncovering the Guild’s secrets.
Of course, Varcan objected.
Roan smiled without agreeing or disagreeing.
That was what frightened me most.
I pressed on with relentless persuasion.
Shipho was an informant who had absorbed with her entire body the faces and habits of the mysterious Guild members who had sent assassins after me, the scent of their hideout, the movements of their organization.
Even if she couldn’t speak, she would react.
That was how I finally wrung out permission.
The conditions were simple.
If she so much as raised a blade against me once, she’d be disposed of on the spot.
If she tried to flee, the Binding Artifact would activate.
And under no circumstances was she to cause trouble in the Imperial Palace.
I watched Shipho devour all the grapes and now grip an apple in her fist as I spoke.
“Don’t forget—you promised to behave yourself in the Imperial Palace. If you act as foolishly as you did when you attacked me at the Duchy of Escar, I’ll throw you straight to the Duke.”
“…That was only because you were getting on my nerves—.”
“I told you not to drop formalities either. Whatever the real circumstances may be, I’m technically a princess of Delmar on the surface, and come tomorrow, I’ll officially be the Duke’s wife.”
“…I understand, I… …yes.”
Shipho mumbled her reply.
“What was that? You’re not doing it properly?”
“Ah, I understand! …yes!”
I nodded with a satisfied expression.
“Good. Now get used to that respectful manner of speaking quickly.”
As I smiled warmly, Shipho—who had been watching my expression warily for a moment—pouted her lips before taking a large bite of apple.
Crunch, snap. She was chewing the apple with the ferocity of a starving wild beast.
It seemed the Guild members had starved the girl half to death in the name of their hellish training.
Sigh.
Somehow, dealing with an untamed wolf made me feel a little tired.
And the next morning.
The day of the Sacred Marriage vows had finally arrived.
Inside the Great Hall of the Capital Grand Cathedral, a cold and solemn silence hung heavy.
A simple affair with no lavish, ornate reception—only an exchange of vows before God’s altar.
At least, that’s what I’d heard.
A few priests.
One Marriage Vow Document.
Stamp. Bang.
Done.
Something like that.
Yet the heat filling the hall burned hotter than any lavish wedding ceremony.
Beneath the high ceiling, pure white pillars stretched in long rows, and between them silver candelabras and blue banners filled the spaces.
Above the altar at the center hung an enormous circular ornament carved with the temple’s crest.
And below it.
People, people, people.
And more people.
‘What is all this.’
Imperial ministers, high priests of the temple, nobility of the Empire.
And most of all.
The vassals of House of Escar, dressed in full formal attire, packed densely into one side of the Great Hall.
Their gazes fixed on me all at once.
Could this woman truly become the Duke’s wife?
Did this hostage princess from an enemy nation really deserve to become mistress of our Northern lands?
Those were the questions their eyes posed.
‘I’m getting indigestion just from the morning.’
I clenched the fingertips of my gloved hand slightly.
What I wore today were those White Silk Gloves that the people of the Duke’s lands had given as a gift.
Silver thread vines glimmered quietly across the white silk.
The Wedding Dress that Marchioness Grace had arranged for me suited those gloves with almost uncanny perfection.
Just as she had promised, they truly looked like a matching set.
I stroked the surface of the gloves gently and held my head high, as if I could hear a voice cheering me on.
Then Varcan, standing beside me, stepped closer.
“Are you nervous?”
A low, measured voice brushed past my ear. He stood beside me in an ornate black formal coat, solid as a mountain range, a steadying presence at my side.
“I couldn’t be.”
I kept my gaze forward, my lips barely moving as I replied.
“You said it would be intimate. But your definition of intimate seems to differ rather sharply from mine, and I have to admit—that unsettles me a little.”
“I didn’t expect it to come to this myself.”
“……Is that supposed to be reassuring?”
“I’m merely stating facts.”
“Ah, yes. I see. How thoughtful of you.”
“…….”
A response entirely in character for Varcan.
Varcan extended his arm toward me.
“Shall we go?”
I looked down at his arm, then carefully placed my hand upon it.
Beneath the fabric of his dark uniform, I felt the solid strength of muscle.
We walked across the crimson carpet laid across the floor of the cathedral’s Great Hall.
One step.
Another.
When we came to rest before the altar, the High Priest standing at its highest point raised his staff.
The murmuring of the Great Hall fell silent at once.
The High Priest’s solemn voice then rang heavy through the lofty ceiling.
“Today, before this sacred altar, stands the great shield of the North and the resplendent bloodline of Delmar.”
The High Priest’s gaze turned to Varcan and me in turn.
“In the name of the Divine, the cathedral shall record the covenant of two fates, and bind them as one in the name of the Divine.”
At the High Priest’s signal, young priests brought forth the Marriage Vow Document.
I raised my hand over the document as they guided me.
A moment later, Varcan’s hand came to rest upon the back of mine.
In that instant.
A warm radiance flowed from our joined hands, and a pillar of golden light shot toward the ceiling.
The Sacred Marriage had been completed.
“By this act, the marriage of Varcan of House of Escar and Ivelina of Delmar is hereby established at this very moment.”
The High Priest’s voice spread solemnly throughout the entire Great Hall.
“Before the Divine and the Empire, these two shall henceforth be recorded as one name.”
Shimmering petals of blessing poured down like snow from the upper reaches of the hall.
The heavy scabbards of the retainers clashed in unison, their thunder-like clamor shaking the cathedral.
It was the sound of a new Duchess being born into House of Escar.

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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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