I Sought Out the Tragedy's Scheming Mastermind

“Thank you.”

“Now you say it?” Verkley reacted flatly but left Eliana to fiddle with his hand.

Eliana smiled and held his hand tightly and pleaded, “Please watch out for Fin and me in the future.”

Verkley blinked, and then his face broke out into a smirk.

Holding Eliana’s fidgeting hand, he said, “It all depends on you.”

And as soon as he finished, he lightly kissed Eliana on the back of her hand.

Verkley’s blue eyes stared deeply at Eliana.

As she returned his stare, a ticklish and impatient feeling began in the corner of her chest, and Eliana asked him blankly, “Isn’t it uncomfortable to act blind?”

“I’m used to it by now.” He replied, unconcerned.

Eliana remembered he said the same thing the other day when she asked if he was lonely, so she murmured, “Your Majesty is used to many things.”

“…Is that so.”

Eliana suddenly thought of the rumor of the saintess.

“Did you hear the rumor that the saintess healed the eyes of a blind man?”

“Yes.”

“So did you already know when you planned on bringing the saintess to the capital?”

“My purpose was to bring in my uncle rather than the saintess.”

Originally, Grand Duke Crombell should have returned, reluctantly, to the capital due to the nobles’ pestering.

Also, there was no mention of the saintess at this time.

‘That may be because it was only in Gaudi’s northern area. If he deliberately brought up the saintess’ story as an excuse to call for Crombell, it was a smart move.’

Eliana tried to rationalize and eliminate variables.

One thing that caught her eye was the saintess’ power.

It’s rumored that the saintess healed the eyes of a blind person.

That means this is a chance for Verkley.

Verkley will reveal his power as soon as he adapts to the demon’s power.

But given that he made a deal with a Hanev, Eliana hoped he would not reveal that part of the secret.

Of course, no one in the novel realized that he had made a deal with a Hanev.

Therefore, the original Verkley emerged with the title of emperor, recognized by a divine being through the power of the demon.

‘But if anyone notices…?’

Considering the closed nature of the Owen Empire and the fact that he made a deal with a Hanev—a depraved creature from the Itdeoni myth—he could be driven to heresy.

“Are you going to reveal your power when you meet the grand duke?”

“If I want my uncle on my side, I’ll have to.”

“But would you not prefer to use the saintess’ miracle rather than reveal the demon’s power?”

“What’s the point in going the easy way?” Verkley tilted his head.

Eliana’s lips parted.

She couldn’t tell whether it was okay to reveal his contract with the Hanev.

Furthermore, it was impossible to imagine what would happen if he directly brought forward the original incident with his own words.

When Eliana did not answer for a while, Verkley continued.

His voice was unexpectedly calm and sweet.

“Lili. If you wish to say something, don’t hold back.”

Eliana stared at Verkley.

His expression was as soft as his voice.

His generous attitude made Eliana hesitate even more.

She wondered what changed in his plan.

“Your…”

“I’m here… Eek!“

It was the moment that Eliana had just begun to speak.

Fin entered the bedroom, catching the two of them sitting on the bed, and spun back in surprise.

Eliana lifted herself from the bed.

Apparently, now wasn’t the right time to talk.

“I’ll talk to you later.”

“Alright.” 

Verkley obediently let go of the matter.

* * *

Hera sat with a serious expression.

Her nerves were standing on end due to the corpse that was found at the Central Palace.

‘No wonder I haven’t heard back from any of them. All 3 are dead.’

Hera was stunned by this unexpected ambush.

Her eyes were fierce as she rubbed her jaw.

Verkley’s recent behavior meant something significant, starting with how he prevented her from speaking at the royal meeting.

With her good senses, there was no way Hera couldn’t have noticed the change in Verkley.

The question was, why the sudden change of attitude?

The current state of the empire was overwhelmingly dominated by Hera.

It was Verkley who already had the image of an incompetent emperor.

He didn’t even have a reason to give her a hard time.

Besides, his body was weak, so he couldn’t overcome her even if he tried.

But for some strange reason, she was chilled with fright.

It was because of the reappearance of his mastermind.

Long ago, Hera sent an assassin to scare Verkley.

And the assassin disappeared without a trace.

After that, she sent a few more a couple of times, but the result was the same.

However, the mastermind only appeared when she threatened Verkley, not the people around him.

But this mastermind began to protect others.

The assassins were told to watch a commoner girl named Fin this time.

She was Eliana’s beloved servant and had no connection to Verkley.

Protecting Fin meant that Eliana had to have been the cause and motivation.

Killing the assassin wasn’t enough, so there must be a clear intention of openly leaving the body for the public.

‘Who the hell is pulling all the strings behind Verkley?’

Hera’s eyes turned so cold when she was informed that the trained assassin had died without resistance.

Is it Crombell who is not interested in the throne?

Or is it a completely unexpected third person?

When Hera unconsciously tightened her fist, she crushed the rose in her palm.

The thorns had not been trimmed and pricked her skin, but Hera calmly set the rose down and brought her finger to her mouth to suck away the blood.

Crombell sounds like the most reasonable person, but his relationship with Verkley was too undeveloped.

She looked into his past just in case, and there was nothing out of the ordinary.

“If they were interacting, there would obviously be a trace…”

The problem was, there wasn’t one.

Hera was impatient because Mary failed to make a successful debut.

Mary’s power was exposed then, and it was even more disturbing because it was fake.

She had to take Verkley down as soon as possible.

Mary’s debut catastrophe, the body found at the Central Palace and the gloomy atmosphere of the Imperial Palace.

Using all that in reverse, poisoning Verkley and pinpointing it on Crombell would be a great plan.

But Hera couldn’t make up her mind.

It was because of the saintess’ presence and interference.

Saintess Gabriel is to be escorted by Grand Duke Crombell, the enemy Hera was most wary of.

Hera was familiar with the rumor of the saintess.

An unknown woman who has a powerful healing gift to cure the sick.

Hera was afraid that the saintess would heal Verkley’s eyes.

So she’s afraid that Verkley’s status will improve.

To make matters worse, she was nervous that Mary’s inability would be discovered and she’d be completely defeated.

It might be better to kill Verkley before the saintess arrives.

‘If there really is some sort of deal between Verkley and Crombell, there’s a high chance that he’ll stand against me the moment he revives his eyesight.’

Hera’s eyes flickered to the jewel box in the corner.

The spot hid a poison she made herself to easily kill Verkley.

The strength of it was excellent as it took a while to produce with painstaking effort.

Should someone take the poison, they will die suddenly within a day, leaving no residue inside their body, so there would be no issues.

‘Originally, I was going to have Eliana kill Verkley…’ Hera thought, closing her eyes.

Eliana was the one who could secretly kill Verkley.

Even if she gets caught, placing the blame on her would solve everything.

That’s what was going to happen.

That’s how it was supposed to go.

She never dreamed that Rube would make such an offer.

Hera recalled the day she first asked Rube to be Eliana’s guardian.

‘I’m thinking of placing a new child beside Verkley. I’d like you to be her guardian.’

‘I’d be glad to fulfill the Empress Dowager’s request.’

‘Thank you. You should know the name of the woman who’ll be your ward. She is Eliana Mussieux, and she’s also quite powerful. An ice mage.’

‘Eliana Mussieux…’

Rube didn’t say much then, but Hera guessed something from his tone.

Rube seemed to already know Eliana Mussieux.

And when she heard the news that he returned to the capital ahead of schedule, she was almost certain.

Despite the time she took trying to turn Rube over to her side, Rube favored Eliana.

Hera continued to weigh Eliana’s potential.

Because she didn’t know Eliana might be useful in exploiting Rube.

Meanwhile, Hera was surprised at what Rube suggested first.

‘Empress Dowager, it’s a bit too soon to kill the emperor.’

‘Because you’re afraid that it’ll harm Eliana?’

‘…’

‘First of all, Mary’s power is urgently needed. I want you to share some of your power.’

‘That won’t be difficult. However, I have one condition before I hand over some of my power to the princess.’

‘Tell me.’

‘I’d like to proceed with my engagement to Young Lady Eliana Mussieux.’

‘…I cannot allow that. That girl has a separate job to complete. If you keep her close, you’ll get hurt.’

‘Then why don’t you provide the same protection to Eliana that I have? An engagement is a perfect example.’

It was quite unusual to see Rube defend Eliana, who was cold-blooded and knew how to calmly separate business and social matters.

Hera got a little jovial, having never thought he would make such a threat.