Emanuel Darwin, one of the Seven Sages known as the Jeweled Magician, was trying his best to maintain composure before the person seated in front of himthe Duke of Crockford, Darius Knightley.
Felix had ordered Emanuel to poison the Duke of Crockford, and several days had already passed.
Emanuel had been agonizing over when and how to do it. When he was suddenly invited to a dinner party at the Duke of Crockford's residence.
It was not really a dinner party per se, but more of a private eting between just the Duke and Emanuel to discuss recent developnts.
This was a chance. But when should he poison the food? He had to ti it perfectly so he wouldn't be suspected. If caught, it would an his end, which is also his ruin.
After much thought, Emanuel decided to poison both his and the Duke's als. He would then pretend to take a bite, act like he noticed sothing odd, and spit it out.
If only the Duke's al was poisoned, Emanuel might be suspected, but if they were both poisoned at the sa ti, suspicion would be less likely to fall on him.
Thus, Emanuel had already snuck into the kitchen beforehand and laced both their at dishes with poison.
All he had to do was put the at in his mouth at the sa ti as the Duke, chew it without swallowing, and when the Duke showed signs of being poisoned, Emanuel would pretend the poison was affecting him too and spit out the at in his mouth. A perfect plan.
Emanuel put on a polite smile and brought the soup to his lips.
"Well, well, this pea soup is so smooth! The cooks at the Duke's residence are truly skilled."
"Have you found a new apprentice yet?"
Ignoring Emanuel's flattery, the Duke bluntly asked his question. Knowing the Duke disliked wasting ti, Emanuel dropped the pleasantries and answered the topic the Duke had raised.
"An apprentice well, no, I haven't found a suitable craftsman yet"
Previously, an apprentice working for Emanuel had quit the workshop after losing faith in him. This caused delays in fulfilling orders at Emanuel's company.
More importantly, the Duke of Crockford had invested a large sum into Emanuel's company.
"I will surely find one by the end of this month"
"That's fine."
The Duke concisely cut off Emanuel's words with a single word. Taking it to an he didn't need to rush, Emanuel breathed a sigh of relief, but
"You no longer need to search for an apprentice."
Unable to comprehend the true aning of those words, Emanuel froze. What did those words an? Before Emmanuel could voice that question, the Duke declared, "You always eat the at dish first, but today you haven't touched it."
The plate clinked softly as Emanuel's trembling hands holding it shook. That small sound seed to echo loudly in the room.
"What's wrong? Won't you eat?"
"Ah, no, it's just my stomach isn't feeling quite right today"
"Is that so?"
The Duke glanced sideways with his pale blue eyes, making eye contact with a servant standing by the wall. The male server approached Emanuel, lifted the at dish, and tilted it over Emanuel's soup bowl. The sauted at plopped into the pea soup, clouding its color with at juices. However, the servant didn't seem to mind, and thodically, ticulously stirred the soup with a spoon.
"If it's soup, you can drink it, can't you?"
"But, this is a bit"
As Emanuel tried to make excuses to escape drinking it, the Duke gave him a cold look.
"If you wish to demonstrate your loyalty, you'll drink it all."
Sweat burst from Emanuel's entire body. The green peas and at juices had mixed into a murky soup. The poison Emanuel had added had seeped out from the at and fully dissolved into it.
"A, ahah"
With trembling hands, Emanuel scooped up the soup with a spoon. He had no idea how much poison was dissolved in that single spoonful, or how potent that poison was.
"Uuuuuu~~"
The spoon slipped from his shaking hands, spilling the murky soup onto the tablecloth.
Emanuel fell to the floor, pressing his forehead into the carpet.
"I'm so sorry! I was instigated by Prince Felix!!"
There was no point in pretending anymore. This terrifying Duke had seen through everything.
He knew Emanuel had poisoned the food. He knew who had ordered him to do it.
Emanuel had witnessed ti and ti again the rciless, cruel Duke purge traitors as a harsh example. So throwing away all sha and dignity, Emanuel pleaded for his life.
"It was a montary lapse in judgnt! My loyalty is solely for you! Please, have rcyeh?"
The last word trailed off unnaturally because his tongue had started tingling.
It wasn't just his tongue tingling. His fingertips, toes, the extremities all over his body were tingling and prickling.
Gradually, his pulse beca erratic. As if his heart had been punched, it started pounding unnaturally, leaving him breathless.
"A, awha? An, why?"
These were symptoms of poisoning.
But Emanuel hadn't eaten any of the at yet.
"D-Did youput the poisonin the soupfrom the start"
"Did you think I would allow a bat that doesn't know the aning of loyalty to remain by my side?"
As Emanuel foad at the mouth, clutching his throat as he begged the Duke for help, for rcy, the Duke no longer even looked at him. The Duke turned his gaze towards the direction of Serendia Academy and muttered softly, "So he did betray after all."
There was no need to specify who "he" referred to.
The Duke of Crockford had foreseen the Second Prince's betrayal.
"Then you shall be of use in cleaning up that ss."
When the Duke turned his eyes back towards Emanuel, he had already died in agony with an anguished expression on his face.
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