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"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, You shall not murder,and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment." —Matthew 5:21
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THAT time, Penelope was running happily with excitement shown on her face while Emily was tailing her while her face was filled with anxiety towards her master.
"My lady, please stop running or else you might suddenly trip!" Emily said with a voice a little louder though it only echoed in the staircase as Penelope continued her reckless behavior as if she didn't hear anything.
"The butler said that Lord Hubert sent me something from his last trip! I have to go down quickly to meet him!" she shouted like a kid while laughing as if she was a free bird.
Unfortunately, the excitement immediately went down the drain as soon as her eyes were welcomed by the trusted servant of Hubert instead of him himself.
Though she was clearly disappointed, she didn't want to show it on her face so she tried to smile as big as possible before she took the small package, which was wrapped with ribbons and lace, that the servant was handing to her to check what was inside it.
The moment that Penelope saw what was the content, her smile became real as she took a piece and immediately shoved it inside her mouth.
As soon as the servant saw it, he immediately excused himself.
The order to him was to only see if the woman really ate the cookies. That should be enough seeing how happy she was.
When Lantana saw the truth unfolding before her, her knowledge about what really happened widened. From her previous dream, Hubert said that he was the one who personally sent the cookies. However, based on her new dream, it was mostly not what really happened.
Then, she woke up, wondering. The perpetrators were clearly Hubert and Mistica. However, the dream did not specify who gave them the poison. In the first place, how were they able to know about that person?
LANTANA was seen again by the servants, looking so far away with her expressive pair of blue eyes that seemed to be thinking about something with her mind. She was completely, deeply submerged in her own thoughts to the point where she wasn't even able to notice the strange looks that the servants were throwing at her.
It had been two days already since she had seen the scenario of the night before Penelope died.
If her guess was right, the reason why the previous one had died was because of the cookies that was sent to her by her fiancé since those were the only food that she consumed the night before the day of the party and matched the description that she had heard from the female friend when she was listening to their sickening conversation. She mentioned that it had a one day late effect, odorless and colorless traits where if a person consumed it on Monday, the effect would only show up on Tuesday. In the case of the late Penelope, she consumed it during the night and it only acted up during the next night.
That was probably what the two cheating people were going after since no one would really suspect normal-looking cookies to be poisonous to begin with. Knowing Penelope personally, they knew that she was already blinded by her love for her fiance to a point of no return and so, they assumed that she would eat anything that her fiancé would send which was why they were confident that there'd be no evidence left.
What made them even more confident was the fact that the poison was odorless and colorless. They knew that anyone wouldn't find fault in them since the poison itself was already something that they did not easily acquire. And, their confidence did not end there. The food at the party that Penelope ate added more ideas to the duke and the authorities to think that the cause of Penelope's death was something from that event and not something near them.
Lantana clenched her fists upon remembering how the two snakes kissed each other so passionately in front of Penelope. Her hatred towards them had already reached her boiling point.
However, they were wrong at one point. Though Penelope was careless and love-fool, she was able to leave evidence before she passed away.
Since Penelope was a sentimental person, she always kept the gifts she received from her fiancé inside a box she was hiding. Whenever she would receive a gift, she would hide them there to keep them safe. If the gift was something edible, she would eat the gift but make sure to leave a piece behind as a remembrance. Because for her, everything he gave was valuable.
Lantana couldn't commend Penelope enough for being able to do that! Though she was a fool in love, she did something so amazing.
Soon enough, Lantana stood up from her seat as she decided that she would tell the duke about that night's incident during their dinner since the duke would be sure to be around by that time.
AND SO, Lantana really did. Before dinner time, she even went to pick up the duke inside his office and acted coquettishly as she clung onto him all their way to the dining room.
"My dear, I noticed something is odd with your actions today though it's not like I'm complaining. Do you have anything you wish for? Do you want to tell me something?" the duke said to her as soon as they finished eating.
Lantana smirked deep inside her. Good. Because he mentioned it first, she didn't have to think on how to bring the matter up to the duke anymore. All she had to do was to open her mouth and speak a melodramatic story that would surely touch her father's heart—probably even break it into pieces.
'In three, two, one… Action!'
"Father, do you think you're able to cancel my engagement with Lord Hubert?" she said in a low tone while averting her eyes.
'Father, please cancel my engagement.'
"W-What are you saying all of a sudden, my dear?" the duke said, shocked and almost choked up in his own saliva.
Though he never approved of his daughter's fiancé because he was a scum, in a much lower rank than them and he felt like his daughter even deserved the whole empire, he couldn't still stop himself from getting surprised at Lantana's words.
The daughter he knew was someone who always talked about Hubert. Lord Hubert this, Lord Hubert that! The name of the man always came out of Lantana's mouth wherever she was.
Seeing how happy his daughter was whenever she was with the count's son, he tried to do anything by the means of his power to link them together and accept him as her fiancé in the long run. But, for his daughter to suddenly speak of cancelling their engagement…
What really happened to his daughter after she woke up? Her old self seemed to still be there yet at the same time, sometimes she would suddenly feel like a totally different person.
"Tell me what happened, Lantana," the duke said in a serious tone.
"Father, do you remember the night before I attended a ball on my own?"
"Yes. What about that night, my dear daughter?"
"Hubert sent me a box of cookies the day before that. I ate many of them and because of it, during the night of the ball when I got home, I got ill."
'Hubert poisoned me.'
"W-What?"
"That night at the ball, I was all alone because my fiance was busy with somebody else's companion. When I was about to leave, I tried to find Lord Hubert. Mistica's friend told me that she saw him on the second floor so I went there. While I was searching for his location, I saw him and was about to call his name… Until I saw that he was with Mistica on the balcony at the back, and they were very intimate. They were talking so I tried to wait until they were done but…"
'I was alone the whole time because my fiancé was cheating with my friend.'
She paused as she gathered all her best actress tears that immediately formed around the corners of her eyes, ready to fall.
"Suddenly, I heard Mistica talking to Lord Hubert about the cookies that he sent me last time. S-She asked if he was really able to send them and if I really ate them. Then… Lord Hubert assured her that I did and he called me s-stupid and that I would eat anything as long as it was him who sent it—even poison. Then, I-I saw them, father! M-Mistica kissed Lord Hubert in front of me while saying in between how effective the odorless and colorless poison that they got and that finally, no one would be a hindrance in their l-love story," Lantana said with her cracking voice before her tears that looked like pearls finally started to become like waterfalls that ran down her pitiful face consecutively.
The duke was too stunned to utter even just a single word. All the time he was silent while listening to Lantana's words, he had a gentle, concerned, and pained look on his face.
He was heartbroken for what happened to his daughter. It broke his heart all the more seeing her tears fall for the wrong person while trying to silence her sobs, though she failed. It pained him how his treasured precious daughter was treated like that.
On the other hand, his eyes were cold, silently containing his violent reaction to what was revealed to him that day. He was fuming mad towards the people who played with her daughter's feelings and used her as they wanted. And though he wanted to fly into his rage, he tried to keep his composure intact to make sure that he wouldn't suddenly scare his fragile little daughter.
"Father, please help me to make Lord Hubert and my friend's wish come true. I don't want to be the villain of their story anymore. I love him so much. Though it pains my heart, I love him enough to set him free. If Mistica is the one who could make him happy, I'll concede."
'Please end my engagement. The two of them can fuck themselves and leave me out of it.'
"Please let them know that I'm already in a far place and in peace knowing they are happy so that they wouldn't have to worry about me anymore. Don't let this matter affect their families too. They didn't know about it. They are innocent. I just wish for their happiness," Lantana said with a weak smile on her lips before she looked down.
'When you break my engagement, don't tell them about my situation. Let them rejoice in thinking that I'm already dead. I know you'll attack them both but make sure to attack their families too.'
The deafening sound of silence lingered in the hall. No one was talking between the two of them to the point where Lantana wondered if her acting was unrealistic. However, as soon as the duke gathered his thoughts, he immediately stood up and went to his daughter's place and pulled her in a warm embrace—which made her think it was a success.
Though Lantana was surprised at his action, she thought it was nice. Unfortunately, that feeling was tainted by her little guilt towards the duke because of her scheme.
"Father, I remember the most important detail I have to tell you," she suddenly said which made the duke look at her with incredulous eyes.
Inside the duke, he thought, 'There's more!? Just how many injustices did my daughter suffer?'
"In my memory, I heard them talking about a certain person. It was the one who made the poison. From my memory, they made it sound like that person was powerful and that the poison was hard to obtain. I don't know this person but I'm scared of what he can do to our family," she said while continuously fidgeting her fingers as she was looking at the duke with fear for him.
Though Lantana felt happy because of the familial hug and felt guilty towards the duke, with the thought that her plan was successful, she couldn't stop laughing mischievously deep inside her as if she was a villain in a movie to the point where she had to force her lips to stop curving.
'Sometimes, the best move was not always to stand up and take up a sword. Sometimes, it was just to stand still and let someone else do the work. Words are definitely more lethal than any other weapon that ever existed in the entire history of Leontios and of Earth. Hah! I can't wait to see how low the families of those two would end up.'