Chapter 55
Chapter 55
Translation: godsn
"It doesn't matter. There's no suitable marriage candidate for you in this tiny Valdina anyway. My daughter deserves to meet a far greater man. Someone young, capable... someone who will tread the entire Empire underfoot—"
Catherine stroked Virna's hair as she spoke, then murmured meaningfully,
"This mother of yours will make Medeia pay for tormenting you. Don't worry."
Virna froze.
Should I tell Mother that I was the one who drugged Medeia that day?
Yet in the end, she kept her mouth shut.
How could she be certain the Minister's breakdown was because of her poison? That pig could've eaten anything else that made him sick.
"Shilla, erase everything about that day from your mind. We know nothing. Understood?"
After her mother left, Virna sternly warned Shilla once more.
At this point, all she could do was conceal the poison's origin as thoroughly as possible.
Etienne County Manor
Unlike the Regent, the Minister couldn't afford to care about public opinion. No—it was more accurate to say he lacked the capacity to do so.
"Why?! Why is this happening?!"
Ever since returning from the banquet, he'd developed a severe dysfunction in a very specific area.
"Hmm... It appears someone administered hallucinogenic drugs. However, the toxic components reacted adversely with the Minister's physiology, causing these side effects."
"Who—who would dare?! You can treat this, can't you? Give me medicine at once!"
The physician examining the Minister's condition wore a troubled expression.
"Well... hallucinogens are notoriously difficult to counteract, and given the... sensitive location of the affliction..."
He explained that stronger medication might permanently destroy all function in that area.
"What nonsense is this? Are you saying it's untreatable?"
"Even with the most careful treatment, sterility would be unavoidable."
The physician broke into a cold sweat as he explained the Minister would have to resign himself to either impotence or infertility.
"Y-you might consider adopting an heir..."
The thunderous news sent Minister Etienne into a rage.
"I, Larc Etienne?! A paragon among men—reduced to impotence? Sterility? Don't spout such absurd drivel!"
Yet every other physician summoned delivered the same diagnosis.
In his desperation, the Minister subjected himself to increasingly invasive examinations and treatments—only to worsen his condition further.
The pain had grown so severe the slightest touch made him scream.
"Who? Which bastard dared do this to me?"
At first, he assumed the goal was public humiliation, but the perpetrator's ambitions ran deeper.
Though he'd never cared for women, Etienne had always harbored vague pride in someday continuing his lineage.
Now that pride lay shattered, leaving him consumed by unprecedented fury and inferiority.
"...They know me far too well."
Who could have understood his psychological reverse scale in such detail?
The Minister gnashed his teeth, eyes blazing with malice.
"Investigate everything. Not a single rat scurrying through that banquet hall escapes scrutiny!"
No matter how diligently Virna had covered her tracks, her opponent was the Minister of Palace Affairs—a man who controlled the Inner Palace itself.
"So... it was Virna Claudio?"
Piece by piece, the investigation revealed everything: the maid delivering poison, the palace attendant carrying the tainted glass to hover near the Princess...
"Master, it seems the Duchess targeted Princess Medeia. She bore a grudge after the public humiliation that day."
"..."
"Master?"
"Fool. Your incompetence shows in how readily you believe surface appearances."
The Minister's toad-like eyes gleamed as he pondered deeper.
"The Princess makes a convenient scapegoat. What if the Regent used his own daughter to target me?"
"Eh? But... why would the Regent attack you? You're allies!"
"Because I tried to withdraw my support."
He recalled his recent secret alliance with Head Maid Cuisine to betray the Regent.
Joaquin Claudio never forgot even the smallest slight.
"If this is his move... I have countermeasures of my own. Did he truly think I'd take this lying down?"
The paper crumpled violently in his thick grasp.
"Send this to Duke Claudio's household!"
The commotion at the royal banquet had instantly dragged Valdina's two most powerful families into scandal.
But between the two, anyone could see Duke Claudio's household suffered greater damage.
Compared to the already notorious Minister, the beautiful and promising Virna siblings had far more to lose.
Had it been anyone else, the Regent would have gouged out the eyes and flayed the flesh of the man who humiliated his son and trampled his daughter. But this time, he couldn't.
Because his opponent was Count Etienne, Minister of Palace Affairs—his most vital right-hand man.
"This evidence proves the drugs Lady Virna used that day are identical to those detected in our master's system."
Yet the Regent never imagined this matter would be settled so disadvantageously that not only could he extract no concessions from the Minister, but he couldn't even voice a single objection.
"His Lordship inquired whether the lady's actions represented Your Grace's intentions."
Because he'd learned this scandal originated from the drugs his daughter Virna had administered.
"You can't possibly suspect me? Have I gone mad enough to drag my own children into this filth?"
The Regent's face twisted as he clutched the evidence.
"Of course not. But regardless, it remains undeniable that my master now suffers critical aftereffects due to the lady's actions."
Umberto, the Minister's attendant, bowed with extreme deference.
"He wishes the Ducal household to take 'responsibility' in some form, so I've been instructed to convey."
"At least not this kind of responsibility!"
The Regent trembled with rage before hurling the Minister's letter aside.
"I must see him directly."
He immediately set out for Count Etienne's estate.
"My deepest apologies. Due to his condition from the aftereffects, His Lordship remains delirious and cannot receive guests."
Only after hours of transparent refusals did the Minister finally grant an audience.
"What brings Your Grace here? I've conveyed everything necessary by letter."
Claudio seethed internally but suppressed it, presenting prepared gifts instead.
Precious relics the Minister had long coveted, various restorative medicines—enough to fill an entire carriage. He even included a treasure inherited from the Late King.
Though it pained him, Etienne as head of the Imperial Household Department was indispensable to his ambitions.
'The Head Maid has already been replaced—I can't lose Etienne too.'
"The Count's household surely lacks no funds for medicine."
He forced a smile despite the Minister's curt response.
"I've brought these as modest compensation for my daughter's misdeeds. And this—the Sage's Tome, received from my late father upon leaving the palace."
"The Sage's Tome...!"
The Minister's eyes briefly widened at the black velvet-wrapped chest before narrowing again.
"This is far too precious a treasure to accept so readily..."
"Nonsense. Were it my choice, I'd give you the Philosopher's Stone itself. Perhaps that day may yet come."
The Regent's attempt to impress with grandiose words only discomforted the Minister further.
'Ah, so Joaquin truly aims for the throne.'
What would remain for me if I helped make him king? What pleasures could an old man with a dead lower body possibly enjoy?
"Enough gifts, Your Grace. Do you know what your daughter's drugs have done to me?"
When the Minister coldly pushed the chest away, the Regent's eyebrow twitched.
'He still harps on this even after the Sage's Tome?'
"The physicians say I may never father children again. The Etienne bloodline faces extinction. How will you compensate for this, Joaquin?"
The attendant's words proved true.
Darkness seemed to cloud the Regent's vision.
"That's just one physician's opinion. As they say, consult many doctors—"
"Many have already come and gone. I wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise."
"......"
"Now give me your answer. Since your daughter caused this, shouldn't she be the one to resolve it?"
The Regent stood frozen.
"I don't quite grasp your meaning."
"You know perfectly well. I'm saying Lady Claudio should take responsibility for the Etienne household."
"Madness! I absolutely forbid this!"
He recoiled in horror, cutting off the suggestion instantly.