The Villainess is a Marionette

Translator: thursdays PR: scarcecrow

Rezef’s eyes grew so wide that they nearly tore at the corners.

What was this? W-why was his sister…!

Clatter!

The spoon fell on top of the tray.

“Sister!”

“Your Highness!”

Cayena met Rezef’s eyes.

“Rezef…”

She couldn’t even finish her words before blacking out.

Rezef hugged Cayena as she collapsed.

His face turned completely white, and pure fear struck over him like a tsunami. Rezef screamed, “Doctor! Go call a doctor!”

The attendant who had gone running for the doctor came in, gasping for breath. Cayena’s court ladies also ran in, ashen-faced.

“Your Highness!”

Rezef laid Cayena on a long couch.

The doctor immediately poured the antidote into the princess’s mouth and watched over her.

“If you can’t save Sister, I will not let anyone go free!”

Rezef was berserk, ordering all the servants who were involved in making the food to be arrested right away. His own attendant was no exception.

“Your Highness! One of the kitchen servants has disappeared!”

Rezef was seized with maddening fury.

“Release the troops across the capital right away. Find the servant!”

He planned to make that servant wish they were dead once they were found.

He would tear the servant’s whole family to pieces, one by one, in front of them… And he would not leave the servant’s friends or lovers alone, either!

Rezef’s sight was almost red with anger.

“Fortunately, her body quickly rejected the poison. She seems to have ingested another poison recently…”

“What? Another poison?”

“Yes. And because the poisons are incompatible, she vomited straight away. She should wake soon.”

Rezef’s emotions went over anger and turned into absurdity and confusion.

Another poison. What poison was this, and where had she had it?

“This other poison appears to be the type that makes the body’s interiors deteriorate quickly, though it doesn’t show any immediate symptoms.”

“…What did you say?”

Rezef knew of such a poison.

Wasn’t that the very poison he used against the emperor?

“Impossible.”

Cayena had no reason to consume that poison. Neither could she have been taking it all this time; that lady named Vera thoroughly looked over what Cayena ate.

Henverton Gillian’s mocking voice echoed in Rezef’s ears.

“This wasn’t because of me, it was because of Your Highness.”

Rezef stepped back from Cayena.

“Do you think things like this will stop if I disappear?”

That voice, like a terrible iron brand, wasn’t stopping. It gnawed on his mind.

“You seem to value your sister quite preciously…”

“No…”

“You better watch over her well in the future.”

It wasn’t his fau—!

Rezef gasped for breath.

His head felt like it would shatter. He wanted to wreck something, anything, right now. Or he needed to see blood.

Right now.

He grabbed at his waist, but then he realized that he had not worn the sword he always wore since he was going to meet Cayena. He remembered leaving his sword behind because he worried she might hurt herself.

At that moment, Cayena’s eyelids slowly fluttered open.

“Are you conscious?”

After hearing the doctor speak, the court ladies approached Cayena. Vera’s face, in particular, was drenched in tears.

“Your Highness! Are you all right?”

A human barrier was formed between Cayena and Rezef. He was frozen as he stared at Cayena.

Cayena’s head haltingly turned toward him.

“Rezef.”

The calm way she called him made him feel cold. At the same time, he was enveloped in a sense of relief and other convoluted emotions.

The area around his eyes felt hot.

“It wasn’t me.”

“I know.”

Her voice was raspy.

“You would never do something like this.”

Cayena sluggishly exhaled and spoke again.

“I didn’t consume poison. It was just that the spoon that touched the soup turned black.”

Everyone became confused.

“Pardon? The spoon isn’t silver, so there was no discoloration…”

Cayena said firmly, “Bring a silver spoon and make it so.”

“…Excuse me?”

“I was not poisoned. I fainted because I was shocked from seeing the discolored silver spoon. Does everyone understand?”

It was then that they understood that Cayena was trying to protect Prince Rezef.

Vera found it hard to accept since she knew that if Cayena was poisoned, the one next in the line would be Rezef; but Cayena spoke so decisively and sternly that Vera obeyed her wishes.

“As you command.”

“Go and take care of it.”

Everyone quickly started erasing the evidence of Cayena’s poisoning.

Her face and hands were wiped with a black cloth soaked in warm water. They helped Cayena put on a thin garment over her bloodied dress.

Rezef was allowed to approach her again when she was cleansed with no sign of having vomited blood.

“I know it wasn’t you. So stop crying. Your face will swell up.”

At some point, he had silently begun to cry.

Cayena sighed and had Rezef sit next to her. Rezef’s face showed he was very much in shock.

“You must have been greatly surprised.”

Cayena hugged him and patted his back. She had been the one who drank poison, yet she was comforting Rezef.

“Oh no…”

Julia, who was by their side, did not know what to do. She felt sorry for Rezef.

Meanwhile, Vera was seething in cold anger. She noticed early on that Rezef was involved in all of these cases.

Cayena would never have suffered like this in the first place if it wasn’t for Rezef. Even so, he was being comforted by Cayena. It was ridiculous.

On the other hand, Olivia felt this sight was odd. Susan seemed to think similarly.

‘It’s too weird.’

However, Olivia contemplated the situation more closely.

The situation looked to be an unsolvable, tangled knot.

There was no way to solve the knot other than to cut it.¹

That was the relationship between Cayena and Rezef. The two had a relationship that could not be pulled apart.

A relationship that had to be cut off.

Cayena patted Rezef’s back again and said, “I said this before, but you aren’t seeing everything.”

“……”

Then, she whispered into Rezef’s ear in a small voice, so no one else could hear.

“Don’t forget that those below you are pointing up their lances.”

A man popped up in Rezef’s mind.

‘Zenon Evans.’

The one who used the poison must have been Zenon Evans.

Rezef’s tears suddenly stopped. In their stead, a blue flame emerged in his eyes.

“I feel cold,” Cayena said.

Immediately, Vera—who wanted to keep Rezef away from Cayena—came to help.

“You need to rest, Your Highness. Please, I’ll help you to your bed.”

Cayena nodded and looked at Rezef one more time.

“Don’t do anything dangerous. You know that you’re the only one I can count on, right?”

“…Yes, Sister.”

“I need to rest a little.”

Rezef helped carry her until they were in front of her bedchamber. He left the princess’s palace only after seeing Cayena enter the room.

Now, he had a rat to catch.

“Your Highness, are you really all right? We’ll station a doctor right outside. What else…”

“It’s fine. Don’t make this a bigger fuss and just let it pass quietly.”

Cayena once again told her court ladies to keep quiet and make sure that everything was cleaned neatly.

Only Olivia stayed in the bedroom to watch over Cayena.

“Well done.”

At Cayena’s words, Olivia shook her head.

“The kitchen servant must have fled the capital by now.”

“Good…”

Cayena had poisoned herself.

Not long ago, Cayena had been able to fill the central kitchen with her people thanks to Vera and Olivia’s poking about. She had been waiting for Rezef to prepare food for her.

“I thought that child would definitely bring me food at least once.”

Since Cayena kept baking him sweets, Rezef had to do something reciprocal. That was what she had planned.

The spoon to eat the healthy soup was deliberately fancy and not made of silver. It was pretty to look at, but it wasn’t helpful in a crisis.

This was also something Cayena had prepared through Olivia.

Vera was clearly hostile toward Rezef. A child as perceptive as him would recognize her feelings toward him right away.

Olivia was poised and composed, but she was also bold. In many ways, she was the perfect person.

“You said your household was caught up in a strange debt, correct?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“There is nothing to worry about. Everything will be dealt with.”

Cayena let out a long sigh.

“I know this situation will look weird to you.”

“……”

“I’ll just say that this is a way for me to survive.”

“I understand well enough.”

Cayena smiled lightly at Olivia’s response.

“Thank you for those words.”

She closed her eyes. Her body had felt chilly since a while ago.

~~~

^{1. A reference to the Gordian knot. ↩}