The Romantic Trials Of A Transmigrated Empress

Chapter 404: Who dared to poison an empress?

It took an hour for everyone to be gathered in the empty ballroom. They assumed that the venue had been chosen because the new empress had a party to plan. It was expected of her to throw a ball that would be a celebration of her crowning.

Some maids asked Mauve and Christie what Sigrid was planning, but she shrugged. They had no clue about what was going on as well.

Sigrid entered the ballroom with Brolin at her back, sword drawn and facial expression menacing. She took a sit in a chair and faced the crowd. The expression on her face was unreadable as her eyes roamed over the sea of knights, maids, cooks and advisors.

Mauve and Christie moved to their usual positions and stood behind Sigrid. Another knight placed a small table before Sigrid and Lanai placed the cup of tea and crystal jar of facial cream down.

"Lock the doors." Brolin commanded.

That command had everyone nervous. Locked doors and unpredictable body language was very dangerous.

"This," Sigrid gestured to the tea and cream "is the work of one or some of you. Someone here wants to poison me."

Gasps, a ripple of panic, fear and other emotions swept through the hall.

"It seems that some of you forget that I am a mage and a healer at the same time. Or maybe you have not forgotten as you cleverly hid the poison in two mechanisms. Alone, each ingredient is harmless but together, they combine to form a poison called Brottongue. First it inflames the skin and causes it to turn a little red.

Then comes the small rash and a fever which is assumed to be natural illness or an allergy. And then comes the itching as the body rots from within. In a weeks time, the unlucky victim has maggots dropping from flesh wounds. It seems like someone is out to harm my beautiful face."

More panic filled the crowd.

"From what I can tell, it took at least two people to deliver this rot to me." She continued. "One that poisoned my cream without being noticed. Someone whose presence in my chambers would not be questioned. The other--a person that accessed the kitchen and managed to pry open Mrs. Elsworth’s private tea cabinet which only she has the key to. So, one maid and one knight, working together or separately."

All of the kitchen maids were loyal to her and according to the system which tracked the loyalty of those around her, they were still loyal. It had given her a list of people that were not one hundred percent loyal and they were the ones that had been gathered.

"Begin the questioning." She commanded.

Knights stepped fourth and brought forward the suspects, one by one. The questioning would be done with magic not the usual tactics.

First came Sir Baldwin, captain of the knights that had been on duty the night before. Sigrid touched his cheek and enchanted him.

Trembling, he said, "I touched the tea cabinet but this was two days ago. I just wanted some of the special tea leaves because my wife is pregnant. I thought that if she drunk the same tea as the crown princess, she would give birth to a healthy child. But I failed to get into the cabinet because it takes three locks to open and I was worried that someone would stumble on me."

"You are clean." Sigrid declared.

Then came a maid that cleaned the bathroom. She was already in tears as she said, "I touched the crystal jar of the cream, but only to polish it because I noticed a smudge."

Sigrid smiled, thin as a paper. "Not you, but almost."

This maid had wiped away the fingerprints of the true culprit.

Thirty minutes passed. The crowd thinned. Maids wept and muttered their innocence. Knights looked to the exit and windows, nervous that they could be wrongfully accused.

Then came Bira, a scullery maid that was smiling, eyes clear with storybook innocence. She was one of the pretty ones, had many knights and servants eating from the palm of her hands. She had been offered many promotions, but never took up any, preferring to remain where she was.

Her loyalty to Sigrid was only 10%.

Sigrid reached out to touch her cheek and she backed away. That pullback was everything.

"Bira, have you been to my chambers" Sigrid asked her.

Bira blinked and smiled. "Yesterday, your highness. Bella wanted my help when she was changing the curtains." noveldrama

Sigrid’s fiery cold eyes turned to Bella and the maid fell to her knees, pushed down by an invisible force of fear. "I am sorry your highness, I never should have invited an outsider into your chambers. Everyone was busy and I was alone so...."

"Did she return at any point?" Christie bellowed.

This was a very serious crime. Poisoning an empress!! Only fools that did not not want to live long would dare to commit such an act.

Lama answered. "Yes she did. She came by when the Emperor and Empress were taking a bath. I clearly recall that she claimed to have dropped an earring when she was helping Bella. At first, she was denied entrance by me but she started to cry because the earring is a family heirloom passed on by her dead mother.

Sir Nord is sweet on her, he has been courting her for a while since we moved here. He could not stand to see her cry so he let her inside and asked her to be quick about it. She went in for no more than a minute and came out holding an earring with a blue gem. I remember very clearly because she kissed Sir Nord on the nose."

Lama was sweet on Sir Nord but he did not reciprocate her feelings. She was very bitter about that nose kiss. And Bira had smiled smugly at her as she walked off. How could Lama forget that moment?

Sir Nord was one of Sigrid’s loyal knights and he was in the hall. He immediately fell to a single knee and put his hands together. "I am not involved in this poison scheme your highness, It is true that I let her in but I kept the door open and I searched her before and after she entered the room. I really have no clue how she sneaked poison into the room."

Bira’s lips trembled and her eyes welled up. "It was not me, I didn’t do it."

"I already know that it was you dear, I just need to find the other culprit." Sigrid smiled and leaned forward. "You wouldn’t happen to know his identity, would you? I would like to end this as quickly as possible."