Chapter 4

To be exact, it was Esteban who faced an assassination attempt, right before my eyes, inside the palace itself. Out of nowhere, a dozen or so masked men dressed in black sprang into action. At that moment, it was just the two of us standing beside the Obsidian Pond.

Given how shady the whole setup was, I instantly saw through Esteban's ploy. He was pulling a classic self-sacrifice trick to win sympathy.

He couldn't just come out and accuse me of sending Lindsay to kill him, and there was no way he could officially get back at me. So, he cooked up this fake assassination attempt himself.

So when the assassin aimed his sword straight at Esteban's chest, I instinctively threw myself in front of him.

I heard a sickening squelch as the blade sliced through my clothes, slid along my collarbone, and stabbed right through my shoulder.

Esteban supported me from behind and struck out with a single palm, crushing the assassin's heart in an instant. The man dropped dead on the spot.

Not a single one of them was left alive.

By the time the Imperial Guard arrived, all that was left were a dozen corpses lying on the ground.

Esteban clearly hadn't expected me to throw myself in front of him. When he saw blood gushing from my wound, he went pale as a sheet.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

I pressed my hand to my bleeding shoulder and gave him a wry grin. "Guess you really are cold-blooded, Esteban, even willing to hurt yourself for your own schemes, huh?"

His face went from ghostly pale to thundercloud dark in a heartbeat.

"Are you saying it was me...?" he demanded.

"Who else could it be?" I shot back.

His glare met mine, neither of us backing down.

No need to play dumb. We both knew each other's tricks inside out.

He got even more pissed off, covered my eyes, and slung me over his shoulder. "Get the imperial physician!"

As I was draped over his shoulder, I called out, "Get Kairi!"

For once, he didn't bother arguing. Instead, he threw out a couple of snarky comments about how I should really rein in my thirst, since he didn't buy that a kid like Kairi could possibly know anything about medicine. He figured it was just my weird little hobby.

When we arrived at the Hall of Dominion, Kairi was already there, medical kit in hand.

"Esteban, step aside," I ordered.

Esteban crossed his arms, standing his ground like a rock.

"I need to see your wound with my own eyes. Who knows if it's real, or just another setup to frame me?" Esteban shot back.

My blood was boiling. I was ready to explode.

I swore to myself, if I ever got the chance, I'd rip this bastard to shreds. Nothing else would ever be enough to satisfy my rage.

"Kairi, cut open my clothes and show him!" I ordered.

Kairi snipped my clothes open one layer at a time, revealing the wound.

Esteban drew in a sharp breath, his confidence vanishing instantly.

He lifted his hand, maybe about to do something, but I stopped him cold. "Take a good look, Esteban, real or fake, you tell me."

Without a second thought, I shoved my finger right into the stab wound, half of it vanishing inside.

Cold sweat slid down my hairline from the pain, but I just glared at him, defiant and furious.

Esteban's face went dark again. He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he just spun around with a dramatic huff and swept out of the room.

I yanked my finger out, trembling from the pain, and collapsed onto the bed, totally spent and unable to move.

Esteban didn't set foot in the palace for three whole days.

Eliza, meanwhile, came by every day with healing tonics, always with a worried look on her face as she watched me.

"Your Majesty, don't you hate him? So why did you throw yourself in harm's way for him?" she asked, unable to hide her puzzlement.

Stuff like power plays and politics? Way too messy to get into. I just brushed her off, saying, "You wouldn't get it."

Eliza looked pretty down herself after that.

With something this big going down, there was no way Lindsay would miss her chance to show up.

She arrived in a simple yet finely tailored dress, standing tall in front of me. Her gaze zeroed in on my wounded shoulder as she confronted me with her ultimate suspicion.

She said, "Your Majesty, are you really trying to stage a self-sacrifice in front of him? He hates you to the bone. Do you honestly think one sword wound is enough to settle that score? You sent those assassins, didn't you? You really think he'd be fooled by something so obvious?"

The look on Lindsay's face right now totally reminded me of how she used to glare at Eliza when Eliza first showed up in the palace.

She obviously thought I was trying to compete with her for his favor.

She was so off the mark, I just had to laugh.

I shot back at Lindsay, "You've been chanting scriptures in the church for days, and yet your thoughts just keep getting more twisted."'

Her face flushed bright red with anger.

A few days later, Lindsay called me out to the Obsidian Pond.

Before I could even say a word, she dove headfirst into the water without warning.

She popped her head up and threw a scornful smirk my way.

I raised an eyebrow. Let me guess, she was about to accuse me of shoving her in?

Sure enough, she buried her head in the water and put on a dramatic show, thrashing around and yelling, "H-help... help me..."

My gaze swept across the pond and landed on Esteban, who was strolling over with a bunch of political fence-sitters from the Grand Secretariat tagging along.

With Lindsay putting on her over-the-top damsel-in-distress performance, all eyes turned our way.

My eyes locked with Esteban's from across the water. I could handle anyone else, but if that bastard ever got some dirt on me, he'd ruin me without mercy.

He didn't finish me off last time, but this time, there's no way he's letting me walk away.