The Omega Princess and Her Two Leashes - Chapter 91

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Chapter 91

With a grunt of effort, she twisted the cap off the glass vial and swallowed the antidote. Leybid’s coughing subsided almost instantly. A slow warmth spread through his limbs as the paralysis faded, strength returning.

“Ugh….”

Leybid pushed himself up, his arms trembling as he found his feet. Arlenrose watched dispassionately, turning away the moment he was fully upright.

“Don’t even think about trying anything foolish. Don’t forget I have His Highness’s ring.”

Leybid grimaced at the blatant threat. “Look, Princess… wouldn’t ‘trying something foolish’ refer to what you just did to me?” He hurried after her.

Arlenrose responded calmly, “You seem to be speaking clearly enough, so the antidote must have worked. Good.”

“You really think that’s all you have to say to me right now? ‘Good’?”

“Yes.”

“No, wait… you’re telling me this was all planned from the beginning? I suggested the secret outing. How could you have possibly arranged all of this?”

“I simply seized an opportunity. I couldn’t very well go outside for the first time in ages and do nothing, could I?”

“So, I handed you a golden opportunity on a silver platter?”

“Yes. I am quite grateful for that.”

“Grateful enough to poison me?”

“It was Tulinada poison. There are no side effects if the antidote is administered within thirty minutes, so you needn’t worry.”

“Thirty minutes?” A chill ran down Leybid’s spine. He whirled around to face her. “What if it had taken longer?”

“Depending on the individual, some residual paralysis might linger, but the probability of that is only 0.1%. Most people are perfectly fine.”

“But what if I had been part of that 0.1%?”

“Your Highness is young, strong, and healthy. The odds were overwhelmingly in your favor.”

“But there’s always a chance!”

“Even if that minuscule chance had come to pass, the effects wouldn’t have been life-threatening or debilitating. You would have been fine.”

“….”

‘What kind of woman is this?’

Leybid gritted his teeth, watching her retreating back.

“Well, I’m certainly grateful you were thoughtful enough to tell me about the poison and use one with minimal side effects.”

“Of course. Considering what you’ve done to me, a painful, instant death wouldn’t have been out of the question.”

“So, this poisoning wasn’t motivated by revenge?”

“No. This time, I just needed you unconscious so I could lose Sir Camin.”

“Ah. Your goal was to get rid of him, and your plan was to claim you lost me in the chaos of a staged terrorist attack while I was out cold?”

“Precisely.”

“And you didn’t feel even a twinge of guilt poisoning me for this little charade?”

“Not particularly. Your Highness is hardly innocent.”

“But you just said it wasn’t out of revenge.”

“It wasn’t motivated by revenge, but I do have reason to seek it, so no, I don’t feel particularly guilty.”

“Ha…! So, you’re saying you might one day poison me out of spite and kill me?”

“I can’t deny that possibility.”

“Huh…” Leybid dramatically clutched himself, feigning terror. “My goodness, Princess! How could you do this to me? I thought we had developed something of a bond after all this time…”

Arlenrose glanced back at him, a smirk playing on her lips. “A bond? Don’t be absurd. I am nothing more than a body provided for your use, devoid of rights or personhood.”

Her barbed words struck him silent.

‘A body provided… devoid of rights or personhood.’

He’d said those very words to her once, back when he saw her as nothing more than a plaything to be used and discarded. He’d been aroused by the power of speaking to a princess that way, the sheer audacity of it. Hearing those words come from her lips now, however, sent a wave of heat rushing to his face. His character hadn’t fundamentally changed, yet in this moment, he felt a strange pang of…something.