#3. Downfall
2023.08.03.
“As you know, the one who ordered me to do this is His Majesty. Now, don’t tense up. Let’s start the interrogation. Next, did you sleep with that Titrus bastard? How was it? Enjoyable?”
Gasp. Elise sucked in a breath and pressed her hand to the ground.
“Didn’t I tell you to talk? They say barbarians really know how to finish the night. Were you bewitched by the taste of that and handed over state secrets?”
Elise clenched her fist. Her nails scraped against the floor, producing a noise she didn’t want to hear.
“I never did.”
“Like hell you didn’t! Letters from Prince Titrus were found in your room. They were pathetically passionate.”
Gabriel threw the bundle of letters in front of Elise. Elise gulped and unfolded them.
The handwriting was unfamiliar, and judging solely by the content, their misunderstanding was correct.
But these were letters she had never received.
However, Elise knew who favored this pink stationery.
‘Iris… Was this Iris’s doing?’
Elise bit down hard on her lip. Her cracked lip burst with a small pop, and blood seeped out.
“We’re both busy, so let’s make this quick and easy. Charges for the assassination of the previous king, and collusion with Prince Titrus. Just nod. I’ll write the confession myself.”
Gabriel tapped Elise’s foot.
“Let me see His Majesty. I will tell him everything.”
“You don’t understand a word. It can’t be helped. I’ll just have to make you understand, even if I have to put holes in your ears.”
Gabriel rolled up his sleeves. And the beating continued.
***
Gabriel trampled Elise thoroughly and left. He lifted her limply fallen hand and made her stamp the confession he had written as he pleased.
Elise, who had fainted, only regained consciousness half a day after Gabriel had left.
Everywhere throbbed with pain. Seeing that her ankle wouldn’t move properly, it seemed to be broken.
She forcibly dragged her immobile body together and curled into a ball.
“Hng.”
Tears flowed endlessly, never drying. Elise pressed the back of her head against the wall and wept ceaselessly.
It was unjust. And it was maddening.
The charges of assassinating the previous king and colluding with Prince Titrus were fabrications.
With Prince Titrus of Karan, she had merely exchanged a few words to make use of him in the subjugation of the Evil Dragon Ragnaros.
But who would believe her?
The punishment that would be handed down to Elise was obvious.
If she was lucky, exile; if not, hanging.
“It’s a misunderstanding. If I explain it well, it will be fine, just fine.”
Many trivial matters always happen before a wedding.
Elise tried her best to think positively.
“His Majesty is angry now and has put me in prison, but he will come back to me soon.”
Elise repeated it like an incantation.
That Chase would come. That the misunderstanding would be cleared, and in a week, she would wear a white bridal veil and walk down the wedding aisle alongside Chase.
And as she wished, late at night, Chase came. However, he was not alone.
***
“Foul.”
The moment Chase set foot in the underground prison, he frowned.
“Must I really go and hear what she has to say? She’s doomed anyway.”
Elise was a piece that had to be discarded. Because she was someone who would become a flaw on the throne he had ascended with difficulty.
“Your merciful Majesty.”
At that moment, a fair hand rose to his forearm. A white, delicate hand caressed Chase’s forearm.
“Is she not a pitiful child? You should at least greet her.”
Iris. At her gentle smile, Chase’s heart melted away.
She, whose very name was a flower, was called the kingdom’s treasure, the hope of the Ivory Tower, and the Rose of Bedroca.
And she was the only woman in Bedroca who made Chase restless.
In the past, wanting to have her, he had sent a marriage proposal to Viscount Wharton’s household, but had obtained Elise instead of her.
For a time, Chase had been satisfied with Elise. Though he regretted the flaws Elise possessed, there had been no alternative.
‘If only Iris had not made her decision.’
But Iris had acted bravely and claimed her place by his side.
Whenever Chase imagined a future without Iris, he furrowed his brow.
“Does merely thinking of Elise disgust you? That child always drags people’s moods to the bottom. I am constantly amazed by Your Majesty’s patience.”
Iris gauged Chase’s emotions and expressed sympathy. She was wrong, but Chase nodded.
The minor misunderstanding of a woman who had even killed her husband, David, to come to him was perfectly fine.
‘A far cry from Elise, who claimed she could never kill.’
Iris had dropped a single drop of black ink onto her pure white life for him.
So anything that would harm her future, he would clear away.
“I am the one moved by your noble heart. Me, the husband of the younger sister who dragged you down.”
Chase was too overwhelmed to continue. Iris pressed her chest tightly against Chase’s forearm.
“Are you asking if I love you? It was always you. If only Father hadn’t opposed it. I was so worried that I was too late.”
The corners of Chase’s mouth softened. Finally, he had everything in his hands. The title of the greatest swordsman, the throne, and the most beautiful woman in Bedroca.
He was worried about the Ragnaros subjugation, but since Iris had said she would help actively, there was no problem.
Elise had prepared everything—military affairs, money, and plans.
‘We only need to execute them as they are.’
If he only seized the title of hero, the entire continent, including Bedroca, would kneel at his feet.
Chase’s chest swelled with anticipation.
Chase and Iris descended underground.
As they neared the prison, the sobbing grew clearer.
A heavy pain rose in his chest, but Chase ignored it, thinking it was because the air was foul.
“Elise.”
At Chase’s call, Elise, who had been lying prostrate, barely raised her body.
“Ah! Chase! Your Majesty!”
Elise ran on her knees and clung to the iron bars. Chase clicked his tongue at the sight of her ruined face.
“Your Majesty, I knew you would—”
Elise, who had greeted him joyfully, fell silent upon seeing Iris standing beside him. Elise bit down on her teeth.
Instead of screaming about why Iris was here, she said what she had prepared.
“Your Majesty, I have never betrayed you.”
Her trembling voice was wretched, but it was something she had to say regardless, and it was the truth.
“Shut that mouth. Nothing but lies come out of it. Filthily colluding with barbarians?”
“Your Majesty, I have never privately colluded with the Prince of Titrus.”
“Are you going to lie so shamelessly? You have quite the thick skin.”
Chase looked at her coldly.
“If you give me time, I will uncover everything. I will—”
“Why? So you can come out and fabricate evidence? Isn’t that what you’re good at? Using people behind the scenes to create false rumors and shove fake evidence forward to steal from others.”
Elise’s words were completely choked off.
Chase’s words were true. Among the things she had done for Chase, there had been such things.
But they had all been for Chase.
Yet Chase called them grave sins. While enjoying the sweet fruits he had gained from them.
Tears trickled down from the corners of Elise’s eyes.
Hahp, hahp—it felt as though the oxygen in the underground prison was gradually depleting. Her head spun from hyperventilation.
Elise wiped her tears with the back of her torn hand.
To end like this—her life was too pitiful.
“Please, just spare me, just save me, Your Majesty.”
Elise prostrated herself on the floor. Pressing her forehead to the cold stone floor, she begged humbly.
It was the only action Elise could take upon realizing that Chase’s heart had completely left her.
She was not foolish enough to try to hold onto the changed man’s heart and speak of love.
Instead of clinging to his love, Elise appealed to his reason.
“Your Majesty, I have built many businesses. If I disappear, great chaos will befall them, and it will affect the subjugation campaign as well. I will work only until the subjugation. After that, I will disappear from Your Majesty’s sight and live quietly. Your Majesty, please show mercy…”
“Elise, I’ll take good care of your businesses.”
Iris cut off Elise’s words.
“Elise, accept it. There is nothing more you can do. There is no place for you.”
Elise raised her head and met eyes with Iris. Iris smiled brightly.
“Your place was there from the very beginning.”
Iris pointed at the underground prison. Elise’s anger shot to the crown of her head in an instant.
Iris leaned toward the trembling Elise.
“The underground prison suits you well.”
“You… you were the one who made me like this.”
“You only just realized? I kept giving you hints.”
Elise squeezed her eyes shut. Only then did the rumors she had known but ignored come to mind.
Rumors that Chase and Iris met frequently, word that Iris had begun managing the palace’s head lady-in-waiting and maidservants, people who had obtained business entry rights through her.
The times she had asked Chase, but each time he seemed to grow more distant, forcing her to keep her mouth shut.
The times she had covered her eyes, blocked her ears, and kept her mouth closed turned into daggers and rained down upon Elise.
“Could you step aside for a moment, Chase?”
Iris asked, rubbing her face against Chase’s chest.
“Will you be alright?”
Chase asked tenderly. The smile Chase wore as he looked at Iris was full of affection.
“Of course, Your Majesty. You know Elise can’t do anything. She can’t use magic. Even if she could, she wouldn’t be able to touch a single hair on me.”
“But her mouth is still alive. I worry she might say something to hurt you.”
Chase stroked Iris’s face. Iris nestled against his large palm like a cat, rubbing her head against it.
The affectionate sight of the two of them was painfully seared into Elise’s retinas.
Chase kissed Iris’s forehead before finally stepping away.
He did not have even a shred of consideration for his former lover.
Elise glared at Iris.
“Since when?”
“Is that important?”
Elise lunged at her, who asked back innocently.
But her hand was blocked by the iron bars and couldn’t even reach the hem of Iris’s dress.
Would things have been different if she could use magic? Elise ground her teeth.
Iris smirked and sat on the floor. She caressed Elise’s cheek with a white hand.
“Everything has simply returned to where it belongs. Don’t resent me. This happened because you reached too high.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
Elise’s voice cracked and splintered.
“Because you’re in the way. There’s no grand reason.”
Iris spoke with a light air, as if clearing away trash before her. And she grasped Elise’s hand, which had fallen to the floor.
Iris placed a small bottle on Elise’s palm.
Odorless, scentless, it was a poison.
“I made it. It’s an incredibly effective poison. I’ve already tested it, so don’t worry about its efficacy.”
Elise’s pupils shook rapidly. Surely not…….