Villainous Husband, the One You’re Obsessed With Is Over There - Chapter 196

Chapter 98.2

Tunia responded immediately.

“No, I forgive you.”

“You think I’m pathetic right now, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.”

Tunia placed a rough hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry for leaving the duty to you.”

I looked at Actilla again.

Actilla, oblivious to my presence, stuck his nose to the ground and looked down, giggling and clapping his hands at something he found amusing before he started talking frantically again in a hissing voice.

I muttered under my breath.

“God, you really chose the wrong person. How selfish and small-minded I am… I’m a human driven by desires and emotions rather than pride, honor, or duty.”

Desires and emotions.

What exactly were the desires and emotions I harbor towards Raniero? Was it possible to clearly define it? Since the summer, there hasn’t been a single moment of simplicity. The intent to kill, sympathy, and fear have been indiscriminately raising their heads, shifting the dominant emotion from moment to moment.

What should I do now?

…Should I submit to fate and commit treason?

̊ · : * ✧* : · ̊

Several days passed since Angelica collapsed.

Unfortunately for the conspirators, Angelica didn’t die. It was because the poison was insufficient. It was because Angelica had an absurdly short mouth*, so the poison she had ingested hadn’t yet reached a lethal dose.
[ T/N: It’s an idiom that means ‘To hate or be unable to eat so many kinds of food and eat little.’ ]

The poison used was smuggled from Sombinia, where there was no official relations with Actilus, and it didn’t show any symptoms.

Perhaps that was why even the imperial physicians couldn’t determine the cause of Angelica’s collapse. One of the imperial physicians attributed Angelica’s collapse to exhaustion and malnutrition. However, it seemed uncertain, as she hadn’t opened her eyes for several days for such reasons.

Raniero was truly enraged.

Countess Fallon, who witnessed his anger, fell into the trap of fear since his rage was harsher than she had vaguely imagined. Because of that, she stabbed her husband in the side and instructed him to denounce the Duke of Nerma. It was part of the original plan, and there was an urgent need to divert the Emperor’s attention.

It was a common way to dissipate human anger by identifying and punishing the instigator. However, even after sending her husband to the Imperial Palace, her worries didn’t cease.

What if the Emperor treated all the palace maids of the Empress’s palace as accomplices and executed them?

It was too late to realize that he was a person worthy enough to do so. At the time of committing the crime, it was something she hadn’t thought of because her vision had been narrowed by her annoyance at the Empress’s interference with Actilla’s successor.

Still, her concerns seemed to be just a passing cloud.

Returning after selling out on the Duke of Nerma, Countess Fallon was told that the Emperor seemed to have regained some sanity.

“He said he wants to hear more details tomorrow.”

The Countess tensed up.

This was where it truly began.

He had to craft the story well.

The two were invited to lunch with the Emperor the next day. Despite the fact that meeting with the Emperor was an unparalleled honor, the Count and Countess Fallon couldn’t purely rejoice. It was because the future depended on how they conducted themselves here.

The fact that the Emperor chose the luncheon location to be the Empress’s palace added to the tension.

Countess Fallon began to feel strangely unfamiliar with the Empress’s palace, which she visited every day. The rightful mistress, Empress Angelica, was nowhere to be seen, and only Raniero was already seated at the table, waiting for them.

As the Fallon couple awkwardly entered, Raniero, who had been briefly staring at them, commanded.

“Greetings aside, sit down.”

He seemed to have regained some sense of reason, as Count Fallon had suggested.

“I’ve heard the story that the Duke of Nerma orchestrated the assassination of the Empress. It must be the unvarnished truth, right?”

As Count Fallon’s Adam’s apple bobbed noticeably, the Countess calmly recounted the story as scripted with her husband late last night. Raniero listened to her story, occasionally nodding in agreement.

Countess Fallon, who had finished her story, hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth again.

“No matter how much I didn’t know the intentions of the Duke of Nerma, I must take responsibility for not properly protecting Her Majesty the Empress…”

The words about receiving a fair punishment were cut off by the wave of Raniero’s hand.

“Let’s eat first.”

At the perfect time, the maids brought the food.

First, the appetizers were laid out in front of Raniero. Plates were also placed in front of the Fallon couple. However, the moment Countess Fallon looked at the food in front of her, her complexion darkened.

“Eat.”

Even at Raniero’s words, the Countess couldn’t lift the spoon because a sour and pungent smell emanated from the soup. While it was clearly spoiled, it wasn’t just spoiled food, either.

This was…

The poisoned soup that had been served at Angelica’s table a few days ago.

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