Death by Poison

 The ship was well constructed in a way the accommodation area was not affected by the swaying and rolling motion caused by the tide and was relatively steady. 

 After Cedric left the room, Abrielle was thrown into a serious dilemma: how was she going to handle the consummation problem? Cedric was a temperamental beast. Only the gods know what he would do to her in the excuse of sex. 

 She just dreaded the thought of it. "Maybe I should pretend that I am sick." She muttered, thinking out loud, but no way that would work. Cedric would catch her immediately. 

 She felt like pulling her hair because of how frustrating this was. She was pacing around the room to think about a plan. Her brain seemed to have given up; scheming a book plot was different from when your life was on the line. 

 A loud knock from the door drew her attention, Abrielle knew it must be the maid sent to get her ready. "Your Highness, I am here to get you ready for the night." She heard a female voice say from the other side. 

 A long sigh of frustration left Abrielle's lips before she permitted them to come. They were three in number, the maid from earlier and two other younger girls. 

 "I hope we are not interrupting anything." The older maid, who seemed like the head, politely asked. Abrielle shook her head; as much as she didn't want to get groomed for Cedric, she still needed to take a bath. She stinks like dirty water. 

 Immediately, she gave the permission, and they got into action, first and foremost drawing her a warm bath, which was pretty luxurious to get on a ship in this medieval setting. 

 The soak was relaxing, and Abrielle just let them do their thing; while growing up, Hazel, the author, never had such treatment. At least, this was compensation for her horrible fate. 

 While she was enjoying the relaxing soak, one of the maids was massaging her scalp to wash her hair properly while the other washed her body, which felt weird, but she had to get used to it. 

 When the bath was finished, she changed into a lacy lingerie that hid almost nothing about her body; she was perfumed, applied some makeup, and her hair was braided. She was dolled to be taken to the slaughterhouse. 

 Abrielle took a look at herself in the mirror and was astonished once more; despite being the villainess, she had a beautiful body, a rather seductively sinful one compared to the heroine's fragile soft appearance. 

 "We are done, your Highness, " the highest maid informed from behind while Abrielle was still busy staring at her appearance. "A wine bottle and glasses have been kept for the night. His Royal Highness will be here soon. Is there anything else you want or need?" She inquired to make sure her mistress was satisfied. 

 Abrielle turned around to look at the maids and then spotted her wedding clothes in their hands, "please leave behind the jewellery." She instructed them, and they did as she requested and left the room, leaving her jewellery behind. 

 The door was shut close with receding footsteps going further away. Her ears were pressed against the wooden door to make sure they were far away. 

 Her eyes glowed once they were far off, and then she horridly ran to the jewellery she told the maid to leave behind. She picked up her earrings and her eyes sparkled in excitement. 

 She took one of them to be sure it was the one marked, recognizing it as the poison vial. A beautiful smile graced her lips for the first time since she came to this world. 

 She was smart enough to hide some poisons on herself which Cedric would never find. Both earrings were vials, one containing the poison, the other the antidote, and she knew which was which. 

 First, she poured out a glass of wine and dropped one drop of the poison, which was sufficient enough, but later changed her mind. Cedric was a very smart character, so this might not work. 

 Since she had the antidote she decided to take a riskier move to pour all the poison into the wine bottle. It blended perfectly with the wine, and this poison was undetectable; in the original plot, Abrielle had attempted to get rid of the FL with it and almost succeeded if not for the fact the female lead of a book must survive. 

 But the Female lead did suffer a lot because of it. After mixing the mixture the door was suddenly pushed open. The only one who could enter her bedroom unannounced was that bastard Cedric. 

 In the midst of panic, she quickly tossed her earrings under the bed, hoping they would not go missing. Even if it did, she knew the antidote recipe at the back of her hands. 

 She quickly turned back to meet Cedric's eyes that were suspiciously narrowed at her. She gave him a wary smile and picked up the poisoned glass she poured earlier to take a sip. "You are back, I thought you didn't have the nerves to return." She chimed at him while drinking poison. 

 Cedric found something strange about her behaviour and curiously looked at the bottle of wine; his gut was telling him there was something off about her. She was not acting rebellious anymore. 

 "Did you hit your head against something during the bath?" He asked her as he started to unbuckle his jacket. She was definitely up to something but it didn't change the fact she was looking ravaging. 

 His throat went dry with his eyes staring keenly at her, he could already trace her curves with his eyes and knew exactly how to treat every part of her body. It was not a lie when they said the Nightshades were descended from the goddess herself because Abrielle looked exactly like a goddess. 

 Cedric didn't bother to hide his hungry gaze that was on her, which made Abrielle nervous as she slowly sipped the wine, her tongue running over those perfect strawberry lips Cedric wanted to indulge himself with so badly. 

 No one has ever looked at her the same way Cedric did. She was the Duke's daughter and if they did, they would lose their heads. "You cleaned up pretty well for me princess. I am impressed." Cedric gave a narcissistic comment as he tossed his jacket and quickly unbuttoned the top buttons of the white shirt underneath. 

 The room was getting heated up. Abrielle avoided his gaze and focused on the wine as she tried to act as seductive as she could. "It is our wedding night so it should be memorable." She replied. 

 She felt the side of the bed dip by her side. Her skin, feeling faint, sparks with Cedric seated by her side. "How about you drink a glass of wine just to get in the mood?" She suggested, then poured a glass of wine. She gave Cedric the sweetest smile that was too obvious. She was up to something, but Cedric loved playing dangerous games.