Chapter 209 A Trap (12)

But perhaps fortunately, Aristine’s arsenic-smeared hand did not reach her face.

Aristine looked at the two men holding her hand.

She expected Tarkan to stop her but didn’t think that even Hamill would join him.

Hamill stared at Aristine nervously, his usual relaxed smile nowhere to be found.

People were already shocked to see Aristine bringing poison to her face, and they were once again shocked by this scene.

Same went for the Queen and Yenikarina.

“Hamill…!”

“Brother Hamill! Get away right now! The poison got on you!”

It was just as she said.

Aristine looked at the powder which had spilled from her hand and gotten on Tarkan and Hamill.

But the two didn’t care and just held onto her tightly.

Rather, they even tried to shake off the powder on Aristine’s hand.

Everyone who saw the flying powder immediately tried to block their nose and mouth.

However, the Queen just stood there. Her face flashed with horror, doubt, and anxiety.

“You said…it’s not poison?”

Aristine smiled and walked up to a nearby table.

She thought she could make her point clear by rubbing it on her face but that failed due to the interference of the two men.

But just then, an even better idea arose in her mind.

On the table, was a water basin decorated with flowers.

Aristine stuck her powdered hand in the basin and stirred.

Then something surprising happened.

“…!”

“This…!”

“Bubbles?”

White foamy bubbles arose in the water inside the basin.

“Yes. These are bath bombs.”

Aristine gave a refreshing smile.

Everyone stared at Aristine blankly.

A memory suddenly flashed through Tarkan’s mind, and he frowned.

《Tarkan, please do me a favor.》

On the day Aristine suddenly asked if anyone would poison Nephther, she asked him to do something for her.

It was this very thing.

A bath bomb.

Furthermore, she asked for a very particular blend of bath bombs. At the time, he thought it was an absurd request coming after such a serious discussion but…

‘So she was preparing for this.’

He couldn’t help but laugh.

She was really an amazing woman. How could she fool people so seamlessly?

A moment ago, he really felt like his heart was sinking.

‘But does this mean that Aristine expected that she would be framed as the poisoner?’
It was too coincidental to be a fluke.

While everyone’s focus was on Aristine, Hamill looked down at his hand.

It was covered in bath bomb powder.

That was only natural.

Not only did he hold Aristine’s hand, he also tried to brush it off. If it was truly arsenic, Hamill would have been poisoned by the large amount floating in the air.

‘Why did I…’

Hamill couldn’t understand his behavior.

He slowly lifted his head and looked at Aristine, as if searching for an answer.

Aristine grinned and blew off the foam on her hand.

The discoloration of silver is due to a reaction with sulfur or chloride. So it is necessary to be careful whenever you buy accessories made of silver.

Do not wear it when going into sulfur hot springs, soap contains a surfactant so do not touch your jewelry when washing your hands, be careful not to let it touch rubber, bleach, or dry-cleaned clothes, etc.

Aristine found hints in her previous life through the Monarch’s Sight.

That was why she changed the contents of the glass vial after seeing a future where she was accused as a poisoner.

A bath bomb containing sulfur, surfactant, and sodium chloride.

It was a trap to catch whoever was accusing her of poisoning. To make a well-laid snare.

Aristine’s gaze turned to Dionna.

With her face utterly pale, Dionna shook her head like she was trying to deny reality.

Like a poisoned rat.

* * *

A chilling silence fell over the hall.

All eyes turned to the queen and Dionna.

“So Dionna, you said you heard from the handmaids that I was in possession of poison?”

“T-That’s definitely what I heard…” Dionna stuttered as her eyes darted all over the room.

“What a strange matter,” Aristine tilted her head, “Let’s say that the handmaids told you I have poison like you say.”

Aristine then brought up the testimony that Dionna gave when the Silvanus handmaids were exiled from Irugo.

“You said you only gave the handmaids advice a few times because you thought the maids were helping me. That you never imagined that they were going to betray me.”

Dionna acted like a victim who was deceived by the handmaids and claimed they were really cruel people.

Even the public knew about Dionna’s testimony because it was published in the newspapers.

“However, you didn’t feel like something was strange when the maids who were supposedly helping me said that I had poison?”

“That…”

She had nothing to say.

“Even if it was true that I had poison, would the people serving me really tell that to someone they’ve only met a few times?”

The fact that she had poison would be a crucial matter.

People began to whisper.

‘She’s right. Loyal maids definitely won’t mention that their master has poison.’

‘Right, if they say that, it’s normal to become suspicious of the maids.’

‘But she said she helped the handmaids because she thought they were loyal?’

That was absurd.

“Did you really advice the handmaids because you thought it benefited me?”

Aristine asked, looking straight at Dionna without a single fluctuation in her eyes.

“Or, did you know that the maids were slandering me from then on?”

Aristine’s attitude increased people’s faith in her.

“That’s why you didn’t feel anything strange when the handmaids said that I had poison.”

“T, That is not it!”

Dionna screamed, trembling with a pale face.

“If it’s not that, then there’s only one answer,” Aristine declared, “Your claim that the maids told you that I was in possession of poison is a lie.”

“Uk…”

A groan escaped Dionna’s teeth.

She didn’t feel proud of eavesdropping on the maid’s conversations, so she just added a little lie. She also wanted to add a little more credibility to what she was saying.

But as a result, she found herself in bigger mess.

‘I should have just said I overheard the handmaids talking to each other from the start…’

If it was revealed in front of so many people that she deliberately tried to corner Aristine as the criminal, everything was over.

‘I have to stop that from happening!’