Chapter 5

In the southern part of the empire, the largest granary area.

In front of the Lahrhert main residence, a sprawling, fertile plain as far as the eye can see, began to buzz with people eager to witness the victory parade of the Northern Duke.

Despite it being early in the morning, an estimated crowd of about 500 people had gathered.

It was a busy time for preparing next year's crops, but it seemed that curiosity about the Northern Duke, who saved the southernmost people from the brutal barbarians, had drawn them here.

"People who would normally not come near are here."

I muttered to myself.

Most of them were tenant farmers living off the land leased by the Lahrhert Duke's family or their retainers. Their presence near the grand estate of the Duke was a significant act of courage.

Naturally, they were curious about the Northern folks who reportedly decimated tens of thousands of barbarians.

It's a human instinct to want to verify rumors, regardless of status.

However, contrary to their inner desires, the crowd was eerily silent.

In my previous life, I learned much later that this silence during the 'Silent Victory Parade' was due to threats from the Lahrhert retainers.

Worried that their people might displease the Grand Duke, they had preemptively warned them. Of course, the South Duke's influence was heavily implicated in this warning.

I hid atop the highest tower in the main residence, where the gunpowder and flower sacks were stored.

'It's been five years since I've seen this.'

In my original life, he died on the same day I did. But in this life where I returned, our meeting took place five years ago. It was the day a fourteen-year-old me dueled the seventeen-year-old Duke.

A tingling tension crept up from my fingertips, and then it happened.

"Sion Belpast, Duke of the North, and the Northern Knights have arrived!"

The well-dressed stewards of the Duke's family, standing at various points across the plains and hills, announced loudly.

From a distance, the knights, cold as the wind, appeared. The crowd swallowed their unspoken cheers.

The group, though less than a hundred in number, comprised the empire's finest knights.

Their posture betrayed no signs of fatigue despite the long and brutal battle they must have endured.

Suppressed silence welcomed them. Some waved at the knights, but out of fear of repercussions, quickly withdrew their hands.

I couldn't take my eyes off the person leading the procession from atop the tower. His black hair, a hallmark of the Belpast bloodline, fluttered in the wind. The man sitting on a black horse had eyes colder than blue sapphires.

I closed my eyes, recalling his appearance from my previous life at this moment.

Elegant eyes stretching sideways, a beautiful forehead that barely furrowed even in anger.

A jawline sharp enough to cut, reminiscent of the gods Delphast and Belpast from the founding myths, a physique akin to a divine statue.

Opening my eyes, I looked down at him on the black horse. Leading the procession, they halted in front of hundreds of people.

The citizens lined up along both sides of the main road in front of the residence, making way for the parade. Yet, no one shouted in jubilation or prostrated in praise.

The same stifling silence as my previous life ensued. The silence was broken by the clicking of heels.

From atop the tower, with concentrated effort, I could hear the sound. A sensory acuity honed in my previous life as a Sword Master.

Medeia Lahrhert, clad in a dress as red as roses, walked towards the Northern Duke. It was she, not her father Cranell, who, despite having no title, represented the South in welcoming the Duke. Her solo appearance alone indicated Lahrhert's grave disrespect towards Belpast.

"Please turn back, Your Grace!"

Someone from the knight's order shouted towards the impolite crowd and the Lahrherts. However, Sion Belpast neither turned his horse nor approached Medeia.

He seemed to just gaze at Medeia as she approached him.

From atop the tower, I couldn't see Medeia's expression, but her red dress wrapped around her pale skin stood out even from afar. It would undoubtedly be more prominent against the trampled silverbell flowers.

Medeia, standing in front of the black horse, slightly lifted her dress's hem and bowed towards the Northern Duke.

You must be smiling inside, Medeia. After all, the upcoming silverbell fireworks are your creation.

I heard the sound of the rope catching fire. Servants were seen lighting the long rope connected to the gunpowder at the tower's base and leaving.

The fire rapidly climbed to the top. Finally, it ignited the gunpowder.

A deafening explosion ripped through the air, and the gunpowder and flower sacks soared into the sky. Countless sacks burst open, showering red jasmine from the sky like rain.

"Wow!"

It was then that the people shouted in awe.

Jasmine, the flower symbolizing the Lahrherts, known to even a three-year-old. Lahrhert, seemingly welcoming the Northern Knights by scattering the flowers representing them.

Perhaps they thought Lahrhert was genuinely welcoming the Northern Duke, not harboring hatred as rumored.

Hundreds started cheering and praising the Northern Duke and his knights.

I watched the rain of red flowers, then slowly lowered my gaze, only to freeze. The Northern Duke was looking up at me.

'Is he looking at me?'

But before I could be certain, he looked down at the people.

My heart pounded.

His black horse slowly stepped on the fallen red flowers. Trampling the jasmine-lined path, the Northern Knights entered Lahrhert.

A true victory parade, unlike my previous life.

After the chancellor left, Medeia's furious scream burst from outside the reception room. It was clear Cranell had reprimanded her.

After confirming the chancellor had fully left, I approached the reception room. Inside, gold and silver-decorated teacups were shattered.

Seeing me, Medeia grabbed my arm and yelled.

"Bella! We must catch them. Find who switched the silverbells with jasmine!"

I calmly responded.

"Understood."

She was still agitated.

"A spy among the servants? Get everyone related to the gunpowder and flower sacks!"

Medeia ordered her maid, Countess Berg's daughter, who would later become her confidante. She briefly affirmed. I quickly interjected.

"It was the highest tower. People saw it was originally filled with silverbells. It's not a task an ordinary person could do overnight."

Medeia narrowed her eyes at my composed statement.

"Not possible? Even though it was changed?"

"It must have been done by someone trained. Considering no witnesses, someone swift and skilled."

"…"

"I'm suggesting it was someone highly skilled."

This was the translation of the provided Korean paragraph, keeping the names and genders of the characters consistent.

I didn't want the innocent servants unrelated to this incident to suffer or be killed. So, I spoke more coldly, knowing Medeia's nature.

"Your ladyship's servants are all ordinary people, born and raised here. As you always carefully choose only the most trustworthy, there can't be any mistake on your part. So, it might have been the act of someone extraordinary. It's not my place to judge, but I thought I'd mention it."

"Sounds plausible. It's just an opinion, of course."

"Yes, it's just a thought from someone who works with their body. So, as per your wish, my lady."

Medeia's voice softened after a moment of thought.

"In such matters, we must be cautious, especially with the Northern Duke so close. We can't let them know. Understood, Bella."

"My apologies."

Medeia instructed Countess Berg's daughter.

"We need to intensify surveillance throughout the estate. The culprit is surely within. If necessary, I'll ask for assistance from my father's men."

"Yes."

Countess Berg's daughter nodded. She always responds briefly to tasks she can handle well.

"Berg, the reception room is a mess. I should change into a silver dress, resembling the snow that falls in the North."

Medeia commented.

Medeia Lahrhert, in a way, was better than her father. She could humble herself before enemies for ultimate victory.

If Cranell Lahrhert was a snake, she, though a villainess, masqueraded as a saint.

A siren.

The sea creature that came to mind when thinking of her.

A goddess known for luring people to their death with beautiful songs. People realize only at the moment of death that she's not a beautiful being but a demon.

In terms of undetectable hypocrisy, she surpassed her father. Even I, until killed by her, hadn't realized her true nature.

The White Duchess.

A nickname given by the Emperor.

The thought of the Emperor made a corner of my heart ache. I saw him only once, from a distance, just before my death. A tired, aged man with white hair.

I shook my head to rid myself of these trailing thoughts.

'Let's focus only on the Northern Duke's safety.'

Each time I remembered being a princess, pondering how to reveal my identity, I felt indescribable guilt.

I was a person who helped kill the only nobleman of true justice in the empire. I was a villain who assassinated his limbs.

During this visit, the Northern Duke's right-hand man, Sir Arcadia Nugent, would meet his death because of me.

He wasn't someone I could easily defeat at nineteen. I felt it when I crossed swords with Arcadia in my previous life.

'He's been poisoned.'

The Black Worm sent me as an assassin because I was unknown, and he judged that I could win after poisoning Arcadia.

How and when Arcadia was poisoned, I do not know. He didn't change color or vomit blood. He just suffered immediately upon crossing swords and was in so much pain that his knees buckled.

I remember his beautiful platinum hair sticking to his pale cheeks with sweat.

He fell to his death from his room terrace while parrying my sword, and his death was ruled a 'suicide.'

It was attributed to despair over his father, Herrn Nugent's, death, who was the Northern Duke's deputy.

Arcadia's death shook the Nugent family, the second most prominent in the North, and initiated the region's fragmentation.

This must not be repeated.

I alternated between watching Medeia's office and the reception room.

At this time in my previous life, I didn't know, but Medeia had said something to me when I was just over twenty.

"Hard to believe, Bella, but I have a garden of poisonous plants," Medeia once said.

By then, having already taken lives, the mention of poison didn't stir much in me. I was expecting it.

There are poisons that immediately dissolve the intestines upon ingestion, while others don't show symptoms until days later, only under specific conditions.

She also mentioned poisons that break or weaken a person's mind, unrelated to their life.

The reason why Medeia needed no other assassins besides me was that she possessed the weapon of 'poison,' capable of elevating her to desired positions with her own power.

For very important and secretive tasks, she dealt with them unknown to others, calling upon her underling who managed her poison garden.

The freshly extracted poison changes its effects depending on storage conditions and duration. Therefore, the poison garden's keeper, who was well-versed in toxins, personally delivered it to Medeia.

He entered disguised as a dress designer, gardener, book seller, but I clearly remember his face.

Will he come this time too? Or has he already arrived?

I was worried.

Typical of Medeia, she never lets important items leave her side. So, if he had come, surely it hadn't yet passed into someone else's hands, considering the Northern Knight's party arrived less than half a day ago.

The first banquet is tonight.

The knights are staying in the outer castle, slightly away from the main castle. I heard that the entire castle is being used by the Northern Knights.

"Sir Arcadia died on the second night after arriving here. When could he have been poisoned?"

I was pondering this when a middle-aged man, with a receding hairline and dressed as a servant, entered Medeia's office. I instantly recognized him as the poison garden keeper.

The same pattern as my previous life.

This time too, Medeia will use poison against the North. And she'll send the Yellow Caterpillar to kill Arcadia.

My heart started racing rapidly.

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This novel has been translated up to chapter 66.

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