Chapter 65: Teacup
1421 Words
"Lady Verona, I'm getting impatient. Have you kept your eyes on Lady Loretell?" The empress dowager cast a glance at her seat, across her. It was brief and could be unnoticed but Ivanna didn't miss it, she took it in.
Ivanna smirked internally.
"Your Majesty,” she cleared her throat. “Have you heard about another assassination attempt on His Majesty’s life?" She didn't answer the empress dowager's inquiry. She tested the waters if and if the empress dowager could be behind the assassination.
'I didn't know yet who is the mastermind. I didn't want to make a hasty judgment either. But one thing is certain – my blade will chase after his life.' She thought.
Her inside burned, thinking about how hard the emperor's life is. Although he could smile so bright as the sun, he probably live his life in fear every single day. For he didn't know how long he could keep his neck intact.
"Oh my poor son," the empress dowager teared up.
Ivanna suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.
'Ugh. Her masked affection is sickening.'
Ivanna speculated the empress dowager could be one of the possible masterminds behind the assassination. But the more she considered it, the less plausible it seemed to be. Unless the emperor had a son.
As long as he stayed unwedded, her position as an empress dowager is safe. Hence, the mastermind could be someone who wants to take her down. Someone who wants to oust her from the imperial power.
Who could it be?
"Your Majesty, Do you know someone who had a grudge against you?" She asked, her tone dead and serious.
Two maidservants entered the empress dowager's receiving room. One had delightful sweets in hand. The other carried cups and a teapot, placed in an exquisite silver tray.
They bowed politely before they put down what they were carrying in their hands, with utmost grace, as quiet as possible.
The empress burst into laughter until her eyes welled up. She had to fetch a handkerchief to wipe those tears.
“I can’t tell. They’re a lot!”
Ivanna lost herself in deep thoughts. ‘This is hard. If only I have Meredith’s memories, I probably have a clue, right?’
A glint flashed in the empress dowager’s eyes as she silently watched her heaved a deep sigh.
“For example, this tea…” She clasped her hands on the hook of the teacup. She brought the lip of the cup under her nose and smelled the tea.
Her lips formed into a curve thin line.
Ivanna fixed her gaze on her, brows slightly creased.
“Do you know who slid into my kitchen early this morning?” She put down the cup and dipped the silver needle in the tea, placed beside her platter.
Ivanna’s face gradually turned pale as the empress lifted the silver needle. In one minute, its color became black.
“A maid from Loretell’s residence. That young girl was one of Duchess Loretell’s people,” her smile became softer, looking at the needle as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.
Ivanna felt a chill run down her spine. The more the empress dowager’s face softened, the more she became dangerous.
“Duchess Loretell?” She brushed off the chill as she shifted on her seat, she glanced at the cake and tea served in front of her. She grumbled in her mind. ‘What a waste!’.
“She’s the queen of the social circle of Solandis,” she intentionally emphasized the word queen causing the empress dowager to drop her smile.
It’s now Ivanna’s turn to pull a smile on her face.
“Lady Verona, it looks like you are forgetting your position before me?”
“Nope. It’s clear as the day, Your Majesty.” Ivanna maintained her smile.
Alora embedded her nails in her palms. “I am your master.” Her voice was neither cold nor gentle. Yet it was deep and firm.
“Yes, for formality. But we both know…” she tilted her head, and copied the soft gaze the empress dowager displayed earlier. “We’re mutually connected. We want something from each other.”
Ivanna made her position clear. She can’t be controlled.
“Your life is in my hands,” she blankly looked at her.
“Oh, it must be, Your Majesty. But…you haven’t realized your secret was exposed to me,” she singsong. “Your Majesty, we are in the same boat. I know you’re anxious to lose the emperor.” Her jaw tensed.
‘You’re actually afraid to lose your power.’
The empress dowager hummed. “What is that secret you’re holding against me?” As if she was challenging her. “And I will never be in the same boat with a runaway slave like you.”
Ivanna grinned. “Your Majesty, the mission you had given to me says that you had plans to do with the Loretell clan. And I’m sure that plan is…absolute malevolence.”
“Of course! But I can always blame the deed on someone, right?” She shrugged.
Ivanna laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll gladly receive the blame for you. Since you are the master and I am merely a dog who only follows my master’s order.”
Ivanna gave her a triumphant smile before standing on her feet. ‘Point your finger at me, it will backfire on you'. And then she pronounced a deep curtsy. Her smirk not leaving on her face.
Alora couldn’t hide her anger anymore. Her face darkened as she watched Meredith strode towards the door and disappear from her sight.
Once the head maid of the emperor’s palace left, she threw the teacup at the wall. The exquisite cup shattered into pieces.
She bit her lips before letting out a sharp frustrated scream.
“I’ll make sure at the end of this very game, I’ll win!”
A man appeared behind her from the shadows. “Cousin, calm down.”
She heeded his advice. Alora shut her eyes close and took a deep breath.
“Isn’t she Meredith Verona? The child you wanted dead before? She had seen Emperor Augustus die,” the man said. When he stepped on the light, his mighty golden armor sparked under the sun. “She’s a living threat to you and to the emperor.”
“No. She is not. She’s actually a leash that would tame the bastard emperor.” She wiped her hands with a handkerchief as if nothing happened. Her eyes brightened with interest.
“I need that leash. Lovis was not a sheep. He is a sleeping lion,” she rubbed the bridge of her nose.
A maid entered and swiftly cleaned up the broken teacup. She was trembling and couldn’t look at the empress dowager’s eyes even until she was done.
“Have you looked at the army he was raising in secret?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. The information Lady Verona had given to you is true.” Ethan lowered his deep gruff voice. “I and several Elite Knights secretly followed the Emperor’s, right-hand man. Indeed, they were raising an army in secret.”
“Come to think of it, how did Meredith know about it?” She pondered. Her eyes narrowed in distance.
“We haven’t figured it out. The emperor was growing suspicious of the maid. Sir Derethus was sent to tail her once but it stopped after she saved His Majesty’s life several times.” Ethan reported.
Alora wrinkled her face. “This girl is not simple.”
“...” Ethan nodded in agreement.
“How’s the spy I instructed to keep an eye on her?”
“She was doing well, as usual, Your Majesty.”
“Good. How’s her intimacy with Lady Verona?” She asked, but expecting the worse. For her, Meredith couldn’t be easily fooled, unlike her brother.
Ethan's stoned face broke into a slight smile. “Yes. She is successful.”
Silenced dropped in the air before the empress dowager cackled in delight.
“So, that’s her weakness”, she hummed, then nodded in satisfaction. “Like brother, like sister.”
“The girl was softhearted,” Ethan muttered. His gaze warmed, looking at the side profile of the empress dowager.
“Reward the fine spy, Ethan.” She said, eyes filled with pure amusement.”And tell her, she will soon play a big role in this silly game that slave created.”
- Writer
