"Might I suggest?" Aefia started speaking while she sat straightened and her hands clasped together at her lap. "How do you know that I am not going to avoid a new way of trying it right here and right now? Because you seem to be completely aware that I am not as dumb as I may seem to be and I always have a way of solving my own problems."
At the end of her sentence, she stood up, walking to the duchess's side and then sitting right beside her. "How it is so that you haven't even tasted the different flavour and scent in your tea today? Are you faking it to keep me from becoming a villain to the servants' eyes?" She whispered at the woman's ears.
"What do you want to tell me?" The duchess stared at the girl seated next to her with eyes blown wide. "What did you do this time?! What are you planning?!" She shouted while putting down the tea cup back at the coffee table and then grabbing her pale wrist at her grasp. "What are you planning on doing?! Where is it?! Where is the knife! Where is whatever you are using to kill yourself?!"
"I am not using sharp instruments this time... I am still using my old way of doing things..." She answered back while not even flinching under the restrictive grasp of the woman. "I love to cover up my work by framing others... But I also like to frame myself if it would come to be useful at one point of my life. I am not speaking... Until you show the symptoms yourself. And I know you aren't going to be able to resist the amount even if it were not lethal or not effective enough. You have a weak liver if you remember carefully."
"Aefia... This life you have inside of your body isn't something to mendle with..." The duchess spoke while narrowing her eyes and holding her wrist in a way that a mother would if the child did a mistake in public. "Why are you fighting to give it away when your parents fought hard to give it to you... What are you planning on doing? How much of the poison, after being injected, will I show symptoms?" She asked while keeping Aefia pinned against the sofa to keep her from doing anything else.
Suddenly, she started to feel irritation at the back of her throat and at her tongue. She let go of her hands while rushing to grab a glass of water on the coffee table. And using this oppurtunity, Aefia managed to sit up properly, then whispering continuously at her ears about what she was about to do. As she watchedbtehbirritatiom get unbearable for the woman sitting right next to her.
"English Ivy... Although not really poisonous... It has a much less gruesome symptoms compared to the others that I thought about using. It will show symptoms with how ever much you put, but it won't be lethal until you use too much to actually kill the person. I don't intend on killing you... But I need to turn you into a bait in order for me to do this thing that my mind thinks is right..."
"What makes you think a suicide is a right choice?!" The woman spoke while grabbing her throat as the servants outside started to suspect the situation on the inside. "You have been at this since yesterday... What is it that is troubling you?" Her voice sounded exhausted and as if she is becoming more and more on the edge of her conscious state.
"I told you... I am trying to protect those around me." Aefia added while leaning in near her ears. "You don't understand... But the Guardian of Silence doesn't just want me and the people around me... She wants the power and knowledge that you all possess. And here is the thing... I am the reason she is after you all because she finds me a possible slave of hers..."
"How is that supposed to save us?!" The duchess spoke while trying to dull the irritation with sweets.
"Because... Every time... She tries to use one of my loved ones as bait and when I refuse or fight back, she kills them... I am afraid of losing more people so I rather give up my life in order for the rest of you to live... Especially Lewis..." She added while looking down at the pillow that she had hidden the syringe at.
"In fact... This is something I don't want to tell others... But I think I have been enough and seen enough in my life... Even to the point where I was brought in as an Imperial Princess... To my biological parents... I guess to this point it would seem like a successful life. Or maybe not."
Finally, her gaze dropped to the woman who was gasping for her own life, that was at the edge of her throat right now. She let out a sigh, before continuing with her words. "Anyways... I don't plan on keeping you waiting for medical attention... So I will say this... You can't stop me when the jealous servants are witnesses and they know very well about what I have done to you... And witness is all it takes to execute someone if they tried to poison the Empress."
The duchess immediately gazed up, but her vision was too blurred as she tried to grab Aefia's wrist and hold her down. "You– Smart... Liar!" She shouted with her last breathes as she completely ignored her own irritations and tried to reach out to the girl, however... It was too late and too far away.
"I am sorry... If you are suffering... But I am determined when I say I want to die... Like really... I hated my life... I hate my life... And I would hate to continue living my life..." Aefia's expression calmed down as she took a last glance at her surroundings. "Please don't try to save me... I want to finally disappear before seeing the angry faces of my biological family, and before the Guardian of Silence tries to play another trick with my mind that I can't recover from."
Her fingers wrapped around an empty, and clean plate, then slowly lifting it until it was right above her head. The duchess understood what it was supposed to mean, but her body gave up to the irritation and strained her consciousness. Her hands that were reaching out, slumped to her side as she collapsed with her head resting on top of the sofa's armrest.
Just then, the sounding of an expensive dish breaking echoed through the room door and into the ears of the servants waiting outside the room. They were all certain that something had happened, and it had to do with the girl who went inside with a pleasant smile this morning. The guards waited outside, but the few maid servants rushed inside and one broke out in a scream. And a few others started shouting at Aefia's direction, which she found amusing as she watched the chaos grow around her.
The sofa was stained with blood, and a thin line was sliding down the unconscious duchess's mouth. Although it was actually Aefia's blood, the servants gave it no mind and immediately started accusing her of trying to poison and killing an Imperial family member. "We don't even know where the duchess adopted her from! She was greedy for the throne! It is all obvious now!" One shouted as she stepped back to act like she really cared about the way the Empress was laying almost dead on the sofa. All eyes turned to her direction, standing in the middle of the room.
She hated attention, but this was going to favor her with a huge help just the next minute. Eyes stuck to her direction, but all she could do was flash a villain-like smile at the duchess while her wrist drooled blood that slid down her fingers. She was lucky that the idea had come to her misnt hat instantly. Now... The only thing I need to keep in mind about... Is to keep George out of this matter... Or he will make it a failed plan a second time... Like I had said... He won't understand anything...
She then looked up at the servants, her smile vanishing as she acted to be strict and like she was the one under the control. "What are you looking at?" She asked with a sharp voice, that irritated them, and caused their nerves to flare up. "Stop acting supreme Princess... You are about to get executed for your actions... Do you know how bad it is that you have just done?! If the duchess doesn't wake up... We all servants will hate your head handing at the entrance of our rooms." One snapped, from the few groups who used to talk behind her back.
"Where is the poison? And how did you collect it?"
"Oh... Check behind that pillow." Aefia replied while pointing towards the sofa she had been sitting at, and the pillow right next to the right armrest. "It's English Ivy... Takes careful handling of you don't want to get irritation all over your skin." She spoke while ready to surrender herself to the situation. She looked to the back where the guards were approaching with a pair of handcuffs. "Anyways... Like you said... It's time for me to go... Take care of the duchess and the irritation might need something soothing if it helps."
With that, she turned around and held out her wrist in complete submission. Once the cuffs locked at her hands, she moved towards the door without any given commands or any directions. Finally... I have secured my price... Now let's just hope nothing happens on the way towards the execution's chamber... And then a week of torture, then the long awaited death warrant. Darn! I am so smart!
She thought to herself as a smile lifted onto her face. She didn't hesitate even for a second. Just continued walking without anyone asking her to do anything. The guards trialing her thought she might just have been embarrased of her actions and decided she would pay back by showing that she was confident. "Silly and dumb... That's what she is..." One whispered.
"No wonder she didn't have any friends..." Another added.
"It was only that Brittany who was ever loyal to her... And now she is gone and this girl is just a void! That should serve her right..."
Dumb*ss... I originally hate judgemental people unless they choose to judge and insult me... Then this is going to be a much better game and a easier exit for me. Thanks to them... I am finally free. She thought back as if part of the argument. Actually... How fun would it be if I was arguing while they were arguing?
"I heard that the middle brother tried to kill her twice."
Yeah! That guy is a b*tch!
"Honestly... Deserved! She should have died so the duchess didn't get hurt today!"
Oh yes! I should have thought about this earlier!
"This girl is suspicious! How did she get that poison?!"
It's called scavenger hunt you dumb*as! Oh darn! I can curse! F*ck off you nasty smelling b*st*rds! Wooh! This is extremely fun!
"Actually... Should we hit her?" One whispered while carefully making sure that she didn't overhear it, but she still managed to do it. "On the head... I swear it won't hurt that bad... I think it would be deserving to drop her blood..."
But just when, before anyone could actually grab a sledge hammer, she went forward and slammed her forehead onto the nearby wall while turning a corner. Blood immediately stained the white walls a deep red, and they watched with a bunch of horrid faces as the blood turned into a droplet and rolled down.
"Done... Is this enough? ... Or should I do it again? Honestly it didn't hurt so I can go another ten or twenty times." She answered while turning around to face their pale and colourless faces. When they didn't answer, she hit her head a second time, drawing a bit more blood as the blood rolled down and passing the corner of her eyes. Then rolling down and dropping to the ground in a splat.
Before she could do it again, she was hauled away by her cuffs. "That's enough shenanigans! Head to your cell now!" He shouted while pointing towards the heavy bolted doors. She didn't say anything else, and just entered the prisons. She didn't glance back, no second thought and a satisfaction that she had spent her genius on something that actually worked. She settled onto the straw laid ground as her blood split onto the yellowish straws.
That easy?! The guard who had hauled her away, thought to himself. This seems too perfectly planned to be called a coincidence that we intercepted it on time. Why did she speak about the poison so fast and so fluently as of submitting herself? It is guilt? Or it something that includes something else? Like death?
He glanced at the way she was tapping her feet in a happy rhythm on the straws. I think I need to let the eldest brother know somehow... She is... She had planned this all up for something and I can't tell what... How does someone hurt themselves that easily? Without a single hesitation?
"Hey! Why did you poison the duchess?" The guard shouted at her direction. "Does it matter? If I am being executed for the poisoning, it would be better to be silent... You have me in a cell... Now leave..." She sharply added while moving deeper into a corner of the cell.
Yep... That's... A planned thing... He thought while turning away from the cell and walking out with a straight idea in his mind. Progressively, I have heard rumors that she had been sent in the mental asylum, then lost her only loyal servant. Then there was something to do with a certain letter... She even dismissed the guards who were supposed to follow her on her 'walk' after she returned from the vacation...
She used the servants to help her into this cell... Because she knew they hated her and wanted her gone... So she had them believe she had to do it for greed... And given that she is still young... I think the lines are too straight to say coincidence... This is a planned su*c*de.