Chapter 246: ICE BUCKET ON A COLD WINTER NIGHT
"Just sprinkle this on the food. A single bite is enough to kill whoever eats it. But we have to make sure there’s no chances of surviving it."
"Who am I supposed to hand it to? That bastard son?" The man asked.
The person wearing a cloak shook their head.
"No. Let any of the other children take it. Just don’t let any of the princesses take it." The person shook their head.
The man nodded, hiding the bottle of poison inside his clothes.
"Rest assured."
It didn’t seem to be that hard of a task. He just had to sprinkle the poison on the sweets and that would do it.
***
"Please take care of the sweets. It’s my gift to my friends." Wade smiled at the servant, saying this for the fifth time.
The servant was irritated, but he couldn’t show it.
He bowed respectfully. "You have no worries, young master."
Unknown to the servant, one of the sweets was missing.
Five minutes later, the servant took out the wrapped sweets.
His eyes widened.
"Where’s the last one?" His heart skipped a beat, remembering how Wade was talking to Charlotte about giving one to the third princess. He hadn’t known he meant as soon as he went to the banquet.
"Did the princess eat the poisoned..." He was saying when his eyes narrowed. "It doesn’t matter what that person said. It’s a good thing if that princess eats it and dies. I’m doing the kingdom a good deed."
His panicked mind calmed down as he thought of this.
He was about to escape now before anything happened that could implicate him when his eyes landed on one of the wrapped sweets.
A strand of red thread was used to tie it, unlike the others. He was the one who had changed the thread so that he would be able to know which one was the right one.
The servant’s eye narrowed. He had not noticed that the pouch with the red thread tied on it was still there. That meant the poisoned one was still here.
’So fortunate.’ He gritted his teeth.
A bit of disappointment crept into his heart when he realized that the princess had not been given the poisoned one, but at the same time he relaxed, knowing that there was no need to panic now.
About an hour later, Wade and the others arrived at the carriage’s entrance.
’Finally.’ he thought.
The servant bowed and greeted them. "Your Highnesses, young masters and misses. What are you doing here?"
He feigned surprise and genuine curiosity.
"We want the sweets father brought back from his trip." Wade replied.
"Oh, the young master’s gifts. I’ll get it for you right away." He turned around and entered the carriage. He opened a compartment and took out the sweets.
When he came out, he felt the princess staring at him, but he ignored it.
’Maybe she’s looking down on me because I’m a servant.’ He scoffed in his mind.
"Here they are, young master. These are the sweets you prepared specially." He said while handing the bundles to Wade.
"Thank you," Wade said while collecting the bundles.
The servant bowed respectfully and stood there. He hid the smirk on his face. Once they took the sweets and left, he would leave immediately. Then the nobles could have their spectacle.
"Here." Wade said, holding out his hand for the others to pick one.
The servant watched carefully to be sure that none of the other princesses would mistakenly take the poisoned one.
Seeing that the princesses hadn’t taken the poisoned one, he relaxed again.
But seeing that they hadn’t left and showed no signs of leaving, the servant felt a feeling of uneasiness creep in.
He paused and couldn’t help asking.
"Your Highnesses and young masters and misses. Will you eat the sweets here?" He asked.
The children glanced at him and nodded.
"But..." He opened his mouth and closed it.
But the children ignored him and turned away from him.
’Noble brats!’ He cursed in his mind.
His heart skipped a beat, getting confirmation that they planned to eat it here.
He looked left and right, checking to see if he could leave without being noticed.
His attention turned on the children when the first princess opened hers and held it out to the third princess.
The third princess took it and bit into it.
"Here’s mine." The second princess said, doing the same.
The others did the same and the servant had to hide his scoff.
Why did they like her so much? He had heard a lot about how she usually treated those she felt were beneath her.
’Yes. It’s because they’re not servants.’ He thought.
The last person to open the parcel was the second child and first daughter of Duke Anton.
The servant’s eyes stopped on the red thread. That bag contained the poisoned sweets. His eyes narrowed as he watched her actions carefully.
But she didn’t take a bite first and showed it to the third princess.
"Here’s mine too, Tia. But you can take two."
The other children also began to speak up about how she could also take two.
Unknown to the servant, he began to sweat.
’I don’t care if she dies, but I don’t want to be around to see it. Who knows what the Grand Duke will do to me? They might not know I’m behind this, but he can take his anger out on me, a servant.’
His eyes almost never left the third princess now. He watched her take two into her hands.
Then the Duke’s daughter took one, about to put it into her mouth.
But all of a sudden, the third princess stopped just as it was in front of her mouth.
Before anyone could even blink, she had snatched the candy from the hands of the Duke’s daughter.
"Don’t eat it!"
"What...?" Everyone froze in surprise.
"Tia, what’s wrong?" The first princess asked.
"Why don’t you want her to eat it?" The second princess asked.
The third princess huffed in response and crossed her arms.
"Since she already asked me to take two, why didn’t she ask me to take all of them? I’m not satisfied with just two!"
"..."
What did that mean?
"Princess Tia, but you can shar—" Marquis Eldridge’s daughter started to speak but was cut off by the third princess.
"No but! I want it means I want it. And I said I want them all. I don’t want to share! I won’t share!!" She yelled.
The loud noise attracted the attention of some servants who approached while others rushed to the hall to inform the others of what was happening.
The servants who approached tried to intervene, but the third princess wasn’t listening.
The servant himself was now confused, not knowing how the situation had spiraled out of control.
"Your Highness—"
Still he felt that it wouldn’t do him good to just keep silent, so he gritted his teeth and opened his mouth to pretend to convince her, only to be ruthlessly interrupted.
"Shut up! How dare you speak when this princess speaks? Who are you? Who do you think you are? You’re just a servant! Do you dare to disrespect me? I will have you beheaded!" The third princess’s voice rose higher with each word.
With each word, the servant’s face darkened.
Moments later, the people in the banquet hall arrived.
The servant rejoiced in his heart. With all this drama, no one would end up eating the sweets.
Even though he failed, at least he was still alive. He could always try again.
The servant was counting on the crowd to stop Aristia. But he forgot one thing. And that was that the third princess had never feared the crowd.
But just as he finally relaxed, the next words of the princess was like a bucket of ice poured on him on this cold, winter night.