NIYTR 39

Chapter 39

“I’ll Make Her Infertile”

Edelweiss responded with a light nod.

“Your Highness, if you don’t mind, would you like to join us?”

“Really? Can I?”

“We’d be delighted if you would.”

At Lady Scherna’s suggestion, Princess Charlotte immediately climbed into a seat.

By chance, only the ones near the terrace were left.

Edelweiss looked at the terrace railing and felt her stomach turn.

‘There’s no Rosemary here to push me now…’

Even though she knew there was no real danger of falling, looking down still made her uneasy.

She couldn’t bring herself to sit too close, and as she stood hesitating, Damian seemed to notice. He stepped past her and sat in the chair on the terrace side.

Thanks to that, she was seated where she couldn’t see over the edge, and the pressure in her chest eased slightly.

“Lady Blossomweaver, Madame Teresa told us. That it was Lady Rosemary Benel who made the anonymous report to the Boniel newspaper.”

“I heard too. It must have been so upsetting. How could anyone do something so cruel…”

They had apparently heard during a visit to the Shubrets atelier, and they offered Edelweiss kind words of comfort.

“Thank you for your concern.”

“Lady Benel? Who’s that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Your Highness, would you like to try some raspberry cake? The jam inside is really delicious.”

As Princess Charlotte showed interest, the Marchioness of Chedil quickly changed the subject and offered her a slice.

The Countess of Scherna also focused on redirecting the princess’s attention.

While they did, Edelweiss noticed Damian’s gaze fixed in one direction.

‘What is he looking at like that?’

Wondering if he was still thinking about what had happened earlier, she followed his gaze.

A figure in a robe caught Edelweiss’s eye as they slipped into a secluded alley.

When she turned her head and locked eyes with Damian, he gave her a small nod, as if to tell her to follow.

‘…I left something at the Shubrets boutique. Please excuse me for a moment.’

Edelweiss excused herself from the bakery and followed the direction Jane had gone.

Inside the alley was a shabby-looking herbal shop.

She muted her footsteps and leaned close to the slightly ajar door to eavesdrop.

“I’m here for the lily tea.”

“Just who is it you’re serving that you keep coming back for this infertility-inducing lily tea?”

“I’ve told you multiple times. The person I serve doesn’t want children. Just hurry and give it to me!”

“Impatient, aren’t you! It’s in the basement. Wait a moment.”

Under Jane’s prodding, the shopkeeper brought out the lily tea.

‘So this is where Rosemary was getting the lily tea.’

Edelweiss stepped in front of Jane just as she exited with the tea in hand.

“When did I ever tell you I didn’t want children, Jane?”

“…H-Huh!”

Startled, Jane gasped and stumbled back, landing hard on her rear.

“M-Miss Edelweiss, I—I can explain—”

“What are you doing here…?”

“Answer the question I asked.”

“M-Miss, you’re misunderstanding! I can explain everything!”

As Jane tried to scramble up, Edelweiss stepped on her hand.

“Kyaa!”

Thinking her hand had been crushed, Jane screamed again.

“Explain?”

“…Miss…”

“Maybe I should cut off that useless tongue of yours.”

“……”

“I thought it was suspicious, you bringing me lily tea every morning. Turns out it causes infertility.”

Her long-suppressed fury erupted all at once.

“Please, Miss, forgive me just this once! I—I had no choice!”

Edelweiss found Jane’s desperate groveling unbearable.

“It’s not poison! The lily tea isn’t poison, it’s just… Lady Rosemary said… just a little wouldn’t hurt…”

‘That’s your excuse? That it wasn’t poison?’

“Surely you know how devastating infertility is for a noble lady of marriageable age.”

Edelweiss had been unilaterally dumped by Adolf after becoming infertile.

To her, the lily tea was a recurring nightmare, tied to the letter she received that day.

“Even if it’s not poison, it’s still considered bodily harm. And in nobility, the punishment for inflicting harm is having your wrist severed.”

“…Miss, please spare me! I was out of my mind. I should never have done this to you…”

Jane hastily hid both her wrists behind her back, trembling.

“Ending it with just your wrist? How merciful.”

Damian had approached silently, without any warning.

Edelweiss turned to him in surprise.

“Shouldn’t we cut the tendons too, so she can’t walk anymore? Make sure she can’t live like a person.”

“I was wrong! Please, just once, show mercy! I won’t do it again!”

Damian ignored Jane’s pleas and calmly said,

“Anyone who harms the future Archduchess can be executed on the spot.”

“…Aaaaah!”

“Killing her here might be the cleanest option.”

He approached the retreating Jane and grabbed her by the throat with one hand.

“Ku—kuuh…”

With a dry expression, he lifted her off the ground.

Jane squirmed and flailed.

“Your Highness, wait. Please let her go.”

It might cause trouble if Jane were to be killed here.

Besides,

“Jane is still a useful card.”

When Edelweiss stopped him as if to dissuade him, Damian hesitated, then loosened his grip.

Jane, who was nearly flung aside, panted heavily and soon dropped tear-filled eyes.

“H-Hans racked up gambling debts… and I needed money to pay them off. Lady Rosemary said she would give me the money…”

Hans was Jane’s lover, a servant working at Duke Stern’s estate.

“If you needed money, you should have come to me.”

“I’m sorry, my lady. I think I must have gone mad for a moment.”

She would have helped one way or another.

“You tried to make me infertile… over a debt that isn’t even yours?”

The weight of repeated disappointment felt miserable.

To be pushed off the edge after more than ten years together—over something like that.

“…I’ll make Lady Rosemary infertile too.”

Jane wiped away her tears and cautiously spoke while glancing at Damian.

“You think Rosemary will willingly drink lily tea? How exactly do you plan to make her infertile?”

“…I’ll mix the lily tea into her bathwater. It’ll be masked by the bath salts and she won’t notice.”

It would be slower than direct ingestion, but still effective through skin absorption.

“The problem is I don’t trust Jane.”

As Edelweiss stayed silent, Jane hurriedly added in a desperate tone.

“My lady, I’ll never do anything like that again. Please. I realized something while serving Lady Rosemary—

she doesn’t treat me like a person. Lady Edelweiss, you treated me like a sister…”

“……”

“If you give me one last chance, I swear I’ll be loyal to you.”

Jane trembled as she bowed deeply, meeting Damian’s eyes.

Considering how she hadn’t shown any concern when Rosemary fell down the stairs, it was clear their relationship had completely broken.

Edelweiss still couldn’t trust Jane.

But she could trust Jane’s grudge against Rosemary.

She must have said she’d make Rosemary infertile out of revenge—not for Edelweiss’s sake,

but to repay the humiliation she had suffered at Rosemary’s hands.

“I’ll give you one month. Prove it with something I can see for myself.

Otherwise, neither you nor Hans will escape death.”

“Yes! Thank you, my lady!”

“But how did Rosemary pay off Hans’s gambling debt? Did she have some secret funds?”

Gambling debts grew like snowballs day by day with interest.

It must have been too much to handle, so she turned to Rosemary.

“No matter how much Rosemary manages the household finances, there’s no way she would leave things off the books.

And the duke wouldn’t miss something like that either.”

If Hans hadn’t already been kicked out and was still working,

then she must have paid off the debt without the Duke of Stern knowing.

“Actually, Lady Rosemary added a fake orphanage to the list of regular donation recipients and recorded it in the books.”