Chapter 5

After Ethan was made Heir Prince, Lady Charlotte finally snapped.

She watched my position become rock solid while my son won more and more of the King's favor, while she herself was losing both youth and attention. Jealousy and gnawing resentment nearly devoured her from within.

Madness began to take hold of her.

She bribed a young eunuch in my palace who was in charge of cleaning and tried to slip a slow-acting poison into Ethan's food.

The poison had no color or smell. It wouldn't kill quickly, but over time it could destroy a child's body.

But she had underestimated me.

By now, Serenity Palace had long since become tightly guarded, impossible for outsiders to interfere with.

The moment that young eunuch acted suspiciously, my people hiding in the shadows caught him red-handed.

I kept it quiet and go with it.

I had the royal physicians prepare a medicine that made Ethan look weak, sickly, and thinner by the day after taking it.

For a while, the whole Royal Infirmary was thrown into chaos.

Every physician took turns examining Ethan, yet none of them could find the cause.

Richard was frantic. He flew into a rage at the Royal Infirmary and even executed several royal physicians.

As he looked at his "son" lying pale and growing weaker on the bed, he showed something close to despair for the first time.

"Victoria, Eith, what's wrong with him?" he grabbed my hand, his voice shaking. "Why did this happen? My son, my only son."

Right on cue, I looked utterly heartbroken and collapsed crying into his arms. "Your Majesty, I don't know. I really don't know. Eith has always been fine. How could he suddenly..."

As I cried, I glanced from the corner of my eye at Lady Charlotte, who was standing outside the hall with a face full of fake concern.

The time had come.

A few days later, under my careful arrangement, the young eunuch who had been bribed "accidentally" dropped a packet of unused poison near Harmony Palace, where Lady Charlotte lived.

The imperial guards searching the area so happened to pass by and pick up the powder.

Caught with the evidence in hand.

When the commander of the imperial guards arrived at Harmony Palace with the poison packet and the ashen-faced young eunuch, Lady Charlotte had still been leisurely sipping tea.

"Lady Charlotte, I must ask you to come with us." the commander gave a cold wave of his hand. "Men, search the place."

Harmony Palace instantly erupted into chaos.

Very soon, the soldiers found the remaining poison hidden in a false compartment of Lady Charlotte's dressing box, along with letters linking her to an apothecary outside the palace.

The evidence was overwhelming.

Lady Charlotte collapsed to the floor, unable to defend herself.

"No, it wasn't me. It was her. The queen set me up." she pointed at me, having rushed over after hearing the news, and screamed herself hoarse.

Standing beside Richard, I wore the perfect mix of shock and grief, tears streaming down my face.

I asked, "Charlotte, I've never treated you unfairly. Why would you be so cruel as to poison a three-year-old child?"

Richard looked at Lady Charlotte throwing a fit on the floor, then at the "barely breathing" Ethan in my arms, and the fury in his eyes looked ready to explode.

"You vicious bitch." he kicked Lady Charlotte square in the chest hard enough to make her cough up blood.

"I treated you well, and you dared plot against Ethan. Men, drag this woman away and throw her into the isolated royal quarters. Without my order, she is never to leave for the rest of her life."

Lady Charlotte's cries and pleading slowly faded into the distance.

I knew her life was completely destroyed.

And I had not only gotten rid of a major threat, I had also used this chance to rip out her family's influence by the roots.

That night, Richard stayed by Ethan's bed and didn't sleep at all.

The next day, the royal physicians reported that Ethan's illness had "miraculously" improved.

Everyone said heaven was protecting him, that His Highness was truly blessed.

Only Richard looked at me with extremely complicated eyes.

Maybe he suspected something, but he had no proof.

And he didn't dare dig deeper.

Because he couldn't bear to lose this son, and even less could he admit he'd nearly been played by a woman.

So he chose to believe, to believe it was all a coincidence, to believe I was still the fragile queen who needed his protection.

After that, no one in the harem dared make an enemy of me again.

I finally became the true ruler of the entire harem.

And my connection with my family's loyalists outside the palace became even smoother and more discreet.

A giant net of revenge was quietly spreading open.