LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 18: 18
Michelle sat silently for a while as the Emperor stared at her, his eyes concealing intense rage. Meanwhile, the Crown Prince was calm and indifferent, not even looking at Michelle.
But Michelle's words, which sounded after a moment of silence, shook both the men. "Your Majesty, I apologize, but..." Her purple eyes narrowed dangerously as she spoke. "I don't think I can go through with the engagement!" Michelle stared right at the Emperor, her purple eyes bright.
She no longer looked like the naive and innocent little girl she was acting to be after "losing her memory". Her eyes were still and calm, with coldness lying dormant inside, which made them look like they were made of endless void.
Seeing Michelle's gaze, both the Emperor and the Crown Prince were shaken. That gaze proved that Michelle was playing with them at the ball, just so she could break off the engagement. And the fact that she revealed it was proof that she disregarded them.
"Michelle Grace! What is the meaning of this?!" the Crown Prince, being an impatiens and temperamental brat, exploded.
But Michelle only turned her head to look at him with a smile, but her eyes remained cold. "What do you mean, Your Highness? I don't understand why you are so angry."
The Crown Prince wanted to say something, but the Emperor beat him to it. "Lady Grace, the Crown Prince must have heard something wrong. Don't worry about it!" he spoke with a forced smile, the corner of his eye visibly twitching.
"I see..." Michelle smiled understandingly, but her eyes were cold and chilly.
As she finished speaking, maids took the finished plates and brought more food. The maid that brought the Emperor's food seemed nervous, and that didn't escape Michelle's eye, causing a discreet smirk to appear on her lips. Mare started moving.
Michelle calmly ate the food, but as the Emperor started eating, he felt sick after a while and nearly fainted.
When the Crown Prince saw it, he instantly panicked. "Doctor! Call the doctor!" he shouted at the servants.
"Since His Majesty isn't feeling well, I shall no longer disturb you and will take my leave." Michelle bowed her head, prepared to leave, but the Crown Prince stopped her.
"You stay here! It's because of you that the Emperor is feeling sick!" he shouted in anger.
"What does your Highness mean?" Michelle asked with cold eyes, seeming ticked off, but in reality, she had expected that to happen. One could say that she wanted it to happen.
The Crown Prince was a bit surprised by Michelle's coldness, but that only lasted for a moment before he started blaming Michelle. "You repetitively angered His Majesty with the intentions to make Him sick! Also! We can't be sure if you didn't do something sketchy to the Emperor! What if you poisoned Him?" he shouted "angrily", but his eyes couldn't conceal the evil glint deep inside, and it was caught by Michelle's eyes, causing a smile on her lips, which she didn't even bother to hide.
"Since your highness thinks so, I wouldn't dare leave..." she said coldly, her lips hooked into a cold smile. The fish got caught in her net and it didn't even realize it. How funny...
The Crown Prince suddenly felt uneasy when he saw Michelle's smile, but he didn't have the time to care about it, as he had to execute his plan.
After the doctor came, he examined the sickly Emperor and said that the Emperor was indeed poisoned by a slow but lethal poison with no known cure.
This mews made Michele raise a brow. 'How crude..." she thought to herself. The Crown Prince was planning to kill his own father and blame it on her so he wouldn't need to marry her and would be able to become the Emperor.
When the doctor said that the Emperor was poisoned, the Crown prince flared out in rage and grabbed Michelle by the collar of her dress. "How dare you!!!" he roared in "anger".
But Michelle remained deadly calm. "Your Highness, what do you mean by this?" she asked coldly, her purple eyes boring into the Crown Prince.
"It must have been you who poisoned father!" the Crown Prince roared, seeming like a son enraged for his father.
"I don't know what Your Highness is talking about." Michelle grabbed the Crow Prince by his wrists and gripped them painfully, making him let go of the collar of her dress. She hated being touched by others. Especially by disgusting and incompetent bastards like the Crown Prince.
"You-! How dare you!" the Crown Prince roared, his wrists aching as Michelle gripped them.
Michelle stared at the Crown Prince coldly for a short moment before letting go of his wrists, taking a deep breath to calm down. Hating being touched caused her to act a bit rashly, but it changed her plans only a little bit.
"Your Highness, please refrain from violence until the case is investigated. You can't carelessly say that I poisoned His Majesty. That could affect not only the reputation of Your Highness, but also my reputation, and the reputation of my father." she easily dragged the Archduke into the case with a few words, putting pressure on the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince's face twisted into an ugly grimace as he had to withhold his rage. "Guards!" he called out. "Gather all who had a hand in preparing today's breakfast!"
Hearing that, Michelle felt like smiling, but she kept her face calm. She turned her gaze to the doctor who was trying to suppress the poison in the Emperor's body, so that he wouldn't be unconscious anymore.
Michelle stayed in the Imperial Palace for a good few hours, sitting on a couch in the Crow Prince's office, being watched by a guard, as she was the Crown Prince's "prime suspect".