Chapter 1. Prologue
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As the young Raha poured out her sixth cup of tea, her nanny, Countess Borbon, approached and said with a smile.
“If you keep doing that, people will know you can detect poison, Princess.”
“……!”
“By the way, it seems that the one with the eyes of the inheritor can sense bad intentions. That’s a blessing, Princess.”
There was no need to ask how the Countess knew. As a nanny, Countess Borbon came to the conclusion every time she saw Raha spilled the tea.
“Why don’t you drink the poisoned tea? Do you want to live?”
“Because it’s disgusting.”
“Are you going to drink it if it’s not disgusting?”
“Yes.”
The tea with the poison came several more times. There were flowers and little gold floating in them. There was also a tea with an exceptionally beautiful touch. But Raha did not drink even one cup. When the forty cups of tea had been thrown away, the Empress knew.
Raha never drank the poisoned tea. Still, the poisoned tea was delivered from the main palace. As if they could not forgive Raha for ruining the perfect life of their beloved Karzen.
Countess Borbon said, staring at Raha as she poured out the tea.
“If you keep throwing away the poisoned tea, your opponent’s patience will run out. Then they’ll find another way to kill you.”
“Yes.”
“Is that what you want to do?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Young Raha frowned.
“I told you. I want that.”
“…….”
“They all just want me to die. I’m sorry sometimes.”
“…… what?”
“If I had a little more courage, I would have died. I’m a coward……..”
Her father, mother, and her twin. All of them want her dead. What if she had been a little braver?
Countess Borbon stared at Raha and sat down opposite her. She pulled out the silver brooch she wore on her dress and dipped it in the teacup.
It was proof of the poison that rose in pitch black.
“This is a mild poison.”
When Raha stared at it without reply, Countess Borbon smiled. She inked the quill and wrote several lines on a thick sheet of paper, which she folded well and placed in Raha’s pocket. It was a message to Duke Esther.
Then Countess Borbon lifted the teacup with a look of utter pity.
“Poor little Princess.”
“……?”
“You don’t have any adults to feel sorry for you.”
“…….”
“Don’t go to the Empress, but go to the Nobility Council and tell them I have fallen ill. Princess.”
Did Raha tell her not to drink? How did she feel when she saw Countess Borbon vomiting blood? What screams did she run out to get help for the nanny?
It was a winter Wednesday with lots of snow.
Suddenly the Empress, who hated Raha terribly, would send Raha to a detached palace. The Empress said she would let Raha rest comfortably in a beautiful place. Â
 But it was strange that there were no servants, but Raha’s nanny, Countess Borbon, came with her so it wasn’t particularly inconvenient.
Raha wondered why the Empress was so good to her.
Suddenly there was a heavy snowfall, and it was not easy to get around. It was during this winter that Countess Borbon passed away.
It was more than a week later that Raha was found with Countess Borbon’s decomposing body.
“The previous empress is also very wonderful. She said that if the Princess doesn’t drink the tea, she will use my sister’s little son as a starter through the dessert method.” (Duke Esther)Â
 “…….”Â
“The word is the starter, and if it is the dessert’s way, what is the difference from a slave? Princess has numerous slaves, so you probably won’t have any special feelings.” (Duke Esther)
“…….”
So that day when Countess Borbon drank Raha’s tea instead was the “last day” that the Empress had decided upon.
Perhaps if there was anything the Empress could not have calculated in advance, it was that the protection of the eyes of the heir was more amazing than she thought. Besides, Countess Borbon died with too much pomp and circumstance. Thanks to that, the old nobles held a trial and the Empress was in question.
It was a stormy day. The empress, who had been ill for the mere fact that Karzen did not have the eyes of the heir, died less than two years later.
Duke Esther continued before parting ways.
“So, the princess, don’t take poison and die. Even thinking of my sister.”Â
“Is it okay to die in other ways?”Â
“Of course.”Â
Duke Esther said in an indifferent tone.
 “The short life of the Princess is what I long for. As you may know.”Â
Raha smiled faintly.Â
“Yes.”
“…….”
“Of course I know it well.”
Because it was Duke Esther who later learned how Countess Borbon, who was as perfect as a painting, had broken down.
“Now if you will excuse me. Princess.”
Bowing his head deeply, Duke Esther walked down the corridor to the left. Raha, who had been standing still for a while, carried her steps slowly.
She did not regret the life that had passed by. Because she survived by choosing only the best choice that she could think of at that time in the given environment.
However, if she had only one regret, it would be to drink a beautiful cup of tea at that time, one with flowers.
Then Countess Borbon would have been safe and the Countess would still be living in the beautiful home as Duke Esther painted.
Raha’s steps gradually slowed down.
At first, Countess Borbon had tried to make Raha drink the poisoned tea as the Empress wanted. It was a natural choice because the Countess’s son’s life was more important than Raha.
“Poor Princess.”
“You don’t have any adults who feel sorry for you.”
In the end it was a pity.Â
Raha hated that feeling. She hated the look in the Countess’ eyes and the expression on her face. It was a look that she felt pity for Raha. It was so much so that the Countess withdrew her original intention and chose to poison herself.
To that extent…
The emotion that screamed out with every fiber of Raha’s being when she was surrounded by horrific and pitiful situations. How miserable it made one.
How miserable it made them sink…….
Raha eventually stopped. The corridors of the huge main palace, built up to the second floor, were embedded with a series of huge, ornate glass windows that reached to the ceiling.
Snow fell endlessly. Raha watched the falling snowflakes for a while and moved on.Â
It took a long time.
* * *
Paris grabbed Shed and wept.
“Please be well when I leave.”
“I was well enough when you weren’t here.”
“Yes….”
In the Holy Land, yes. They were too soft with Shed and other experimental subjects. They felt a great rejection of using healthy people as experimental subjects, and Paris was a priest who participated in the experiments, and he always looked like he was going to cry against the experimental subjects.
Paris was not much different.
“My divine power won’t stay in your body for long, so the Holy Land urgently brought countermeasures.”
It was a strange colored hot water medicine that buzzed in the cup.
Shed silently drank the bitter medicine. He felt lightheaded, along with a feeling of blood rushing in his body. Shed let out a low breath.
It was ridiculously difficult to pass pure divine power into another person’s body unless you were a high priest with extremely strong divine power.
Paris was a fairly strong Priest, so he could overcome the sacred power, but he could not hide Shed’s eyes as perfectly as High Priest Amar could.
Unlike the sacred power, which did absolutely no harm to the human body, the medicine inevitably left side effects in any way. Especially with a drug that changes the color of the normal eyes.
It would probably be quite hard on the body. That doesn’t really matter…….
Another drug was the problem.
“You just need to take this one more.”
Shed was curious about Paris, who looked at him with eyes that seemed to be crying all the time. From that moment when he first met him, he always had that kind of look in his eyes, but the expression on his face right now as if he was offering Shed a cup of poison was too much.
“Paris.”
“Yes?”
Did you put poison in that medicine?”
“What?! What do you mean by that? No, there are few side effects.”
“Even for the Princess?”
It was a strange question that Shed always asked. But strangely enough, Paris didn’t answer right away. Shed lifted his gaze. He looked at Paris with a crisp complexion, and asked the same question.
“What about the Princess?”
“She might feel a little bit of pressure on her body…”
“What kind of pressure?”
“High fever….”
“You’re crazy.”
Shed gritted his teeth.
“You didn’t say that.”
“Calm down, please. As long as you are with the Princess, there will be no such side effects.”
“As long as I am here.”
“Yes……”
“And if I leave?”
“High fever. …… But the Princess will not die easily because of the eyes of the heir.
She will not die easily.
So, does it mean that it doesn’t matter if you give others pain? Shed grabbed Paris’s collar. His jaw tightened.
“Enough of your pretentiousness.”
“…….”
“What the hell is this drug?”
Paris hung his head.
“That ……. I had no choice but to use it to leave the biometric data accumulated in the body faster….”
Ha.
Shed drew a breath. He was at a loss. All of this was part of a perfectly planned experiment from the beginning. Even if he forgot, they suddenly popped out like this and threw a person’s feelings into the abyss.
“Why didn’t you tell me in advance?”
“…….”
“Answer me.”