Chapter 130: The Queen Wants One More Time

"Finally, I have one last request. You have no choice but to say yes. Is that all right?"

Prime Minister Richelieu asked with a slightly gentler face.

"You can’t just say yes without hearing the details, right? But don’t you think there’s a saying that favors don’t pay for trouble?"

This is bad. That phrase isn’t something a child would know. Besides, I don’t know if that kind of saying even exists in this world.

"No, this is something only Prince Robin can do, and I’m truly sorry, but I have no choice but to ask you to help."

Asking me to help? There’s only one thing I can imagine.

"Is it possible that the Queen is involved?"

Prime Minister Richelieu’s face lit up with a wide smile and he gave a firm nod.

"You understand! That’s right! The Queen has fallen so deeply in love with the food in the commoner district that she wants to go again. Since she’s been staying in the palace all this time, she was overjoyed that you took her out there. She said she wanted to go one more time before you leave for the Kingdom of Mainz, and I couldn’t refuse her no matter what... This is her final request! This is the very last time!"

"I don’t think so~"

"You’re making a huge mistake by troubling Prince Robin alone, but I beg you to hear Her Majesty’s request!"

Prime Minister Richelieu’s entire body was radiating desperation.

"Seriously!?"

I thought I couldn’t refuse, but... couldn’t someone else do it? Like Cantoner or Relf?

"I understand. I know how heavy the mental burden is on Prince Robin, but there is no one else who can do this. Please, I beg you."

Prime Minister Richelieu bowed deeply. Following him, the aides also said in unison,

"Please, we beg you."

Why is this happening when they said it was the last time?! My heart screamed. Did my scream reach them?

"If you really don’t want to, then you’ll have to speak to the Queen directly. I’ll arrange for you to meet her as soon as possible."

"Eh—!?"

No way! That would be even worse.

Just then, someone brought a cup of tea that wasn’t even cold. A capable young aide had prepared it.

But the cup was strangely colored. The rim of the white cup was stained a deep red. It looked odd. The color wasn’t the same on my cup and Richelieu’s. Something’s wrong here. I should ask about it.

"Prime Minister Richelieu, the rim of that cup is stained red."

"Hm? It doesn’t look stained at all? Prince Robin, what are you talking about?"

"It looks stained red to me."

"No, I don’t see any stain. It’s just a white cup. Does anyone else have the ability to see?"

Prime Minister Richelieu asked one of his aides. The man stepped forward and peered closely at the cup.

"Uhh... now that you mention it, it does seem to have a color. Prime Minister, this cup seems unused. Hey! Bring the person who brought it here!"

Several aides rushed to the back and brought the man who had brought the tea. His face was deathly pale, whiter than paper. His hands were trembling violently.

The aide who could see asked the man,

"Drink this tea."

The man took the cup with shaking hands. He looked at the cup but said nothing.

"What’s wrong?"

The moment the man who could see spoke, the trembling man gulped down the tea in one go.

The cup fell from his hand and spilled on the carpet.

"Ugh?!"

He pressed his hand to his mouth and collapsed to his knees.

"Guh!"

Blood—dark, blackish blood—spurted between his fingers.

"Goho! Goho! Goho!"

The man coughed violently and fell forward. Prime Minister Richelieu, I, and the aides watched his convulsions. His body jerked once and then went still. His skin turned from white to gray and then purple. I thought, People’s skin can turn that color?

"Poison..." someone muttered.

"Prince Robin, thank you. We’re saved."

Prime Minister Richelieu gave me a stiff bow.

"Um, what should we do with this man?"

"I understand what you want to say. But please keep silent about what you saw today. All right?"

"Yes, if Prime Minister Richelieu says so, I’ll stay quiet."

"I thank you. I’m truly sorry, but I can’t let you leave today. I must deal with this matter."

Prime Minister Richelieu bowed deeply to me.

"I understand. I’ll return to my room. I won’t leave the room today. If anything happens, please contact me."

"I’ll be grateful if you do that."

I bowed and left the room. The moment I did, angry shouts erupted from the room.

When I returned to my room, my status had changed to Poison Vision 2. Does appraisal going up mean I can now tell if something is poisonous? I got that skill from the thief who drank the poison. Why do I have to work so hard just to gain skills? If I hadn’t gotten Defective Transmission Technique last time, I probably wouldn’t have had any skills at all right now.I want a cheat! Was that somewhere?

In any case, watching people die in that way was shocking. My heart is still racing.

—-

I was still in a daze in my room when Cass arrived with Lily.

"Lord Robby, I heard that an aide of Prime Minister Richelieu suddenly died in his room. I was told that it happened at exactly the time you were with him. Do you know the details? If you’re willing, could you tell me?"

Cass asked hesitantly. His ears were quick. Lily must have heard from him and brought him here. I thought I could safely talk about the real truth with the two of them... but no, even then... still no. It might come out someday, but I won’t say it myself. Not yet, anyway.

"Yeah, I was talking to Prime Minister Richelieu when a young aide brought me new tea. The moment he stepped away, the man suddenly started suffering and died."

"Eh? Really? You must have been shocked."

"I was shocked. I never imagined something like this would happen in Prime Minister Richelieu’s room. My heart is still racing even now."

"I see. Then, perhaps you shouldn’t go to the accounting bureau this afternoon. Please rest in your room. I’ll contact the bureau for you."

"Understood."

Lily listened silently to our conversation. Then she asked,

"Prime Minister Richelieu has someone who can use healing magic, right? Did you manage to get help in time?"

She hit the perfect spot.

"It was too sudden."

She didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t say anything more about it.

After that, I waited, thinking maybe a messenger from Prime Minister Richelieu would come, but no one did. The night passed. While I was worrying that Linda might come on night duty and die, I felt a little relieved when the usual grandma maid came instead. Thank goodness.

I climbed onto the roof from the window. Lily was already waiting there. She leaped up with boing! boing! boing! and joined me in the spot where we could see the rooms of Michel and his wife and Marin-sensei’s couple. Of course I didn’t have to come here, but I wanted to check if Michel was yelling properly and if Marin-sensei was being attacked. That had become my routine. The curtains were closed and no light leaked out, so I couldn’t see anything. I waited a little longer.

When we sat on the roof, Lily sat right next to me and pressed her body against mine.

"Lord Robby, about Prime Minister Richelieu’s room during the day."

"Yeah, I thought something was off."

"Yes, it felt suspicious. So I investigated."

"I see. What did you find out?"

"The official report says the young aide suddenly died. His father is a powerful minister in Prime Minister Richelieu’s faction. He was seen running into the room with a face as white as paper."

"Eh?! So the man’s father is from Prime Minister Richelieu’s faction!? That’s huge!"

"Yes. He was a key supporter. But there’s something fishy. Do you sense anything off?"

"Hmmm... I do, but I can’t talk about it right now. Prime Minister Richelieu told everyone to keep silent about what happened there. There was a gag order."

"I understand. I won’t ask anything then. But please tell me someday. It might be a clue to a major incident."

"Yeah."

A major incident? I thought it already was. Why would the father of a man trying to poison Prime Minister Richelieu be in his faction? Who told that man to do it? I want to know, but the darkness is too deep. If I dig too deep, I might get dragged into something terrible. I can’t picture a bright future. So I’ll stay at a distance and wait for Prime Minister Richelieu to say something.

But... was that really the cup Prime Minister Richelieu drank? Or did I accidentally hand the wrong cup to him? I wanted to ask Lily to look into it, but it would be too dangerous. The safest thing was to pretend nothing happened.

"Lily, shall we go for a walk tonight? The thieves in the noble district have gotten fewer, right?"

"Ara, I thought you were sorry you couldn’t see Michel’s room."

"What? I wasn’t thinking about that at all."

"Is that so? Ufufu, I thought you were the kind of person who would worry about that first. You’re still so young."

"Don’t say such rude things. I’m still shaken after seeing someone die right in front of me in Prime Minister Richelieu’s room. No matter how much I try, I can’t think about anything else."

"I see. So you want me to do it?"

"No, I want you to do it."

"Fufu. Then please do it."

And so, as usual, I got my usual treatment from Lily. Last night she had squeezed me so hard I thought I was going to run out, but tonight I felt my body was properly replenished.

After she finished, Lily smiled and said,

"Thank you for the meal."

How do I answer that? "It was delicious" sounds wrong, "Did you enjoy it?" sounds weird, and "Thank you" feels off too. While I was thinking, Lily put my cock back into my pants, straightened the belt, and gave it a light slap over my clothes.

"Thank you for the meal. It was delicious."

She looked at my face and laughed.