Robert was so touched by Christine's sad appearance that he tried to comfort her. "Christine, I know how hard it is for you now. But this sad and painful time will soon pa.s.s by. So, get your thoughts together."

Christine looked up with an expressionless look as her father soothed her affectionately, and soon turned around. "Yes, Father. But I want to be sad as much as I can today. Can I go now?"

"Yes."

-------

Christine left the office of Marquis Anais and beckoned Poche who was waiting in the hallway to come closer. "Bring Jane as soon as possible." There was no emotion in Christine's voice after she looked at the office door that she had just come out of and gave instructions.

"Put this in the tea of Princess Kiellini?"

Jane took a small canister from Lady Anais and shook her hand slightly. She would know what the white powder she pa.s.sed was, without asking.

"Yes, no more, no less, put in as much as a little fingernail. It would seem more plausible to have little symptoms for a week than for her to fall suddenly. If you want them to think of it as an epidemic, without thinking of it as poison, you need to proceed slowly."

"An epidemic?"

Christine just gestured to go out without answering Jane's question, frowning. "There's nothing to know, so do what you're told and call me when the princess falls down. After the princess falls down, take a look at the opportunity and give her the rest of the poison. She'll be dead in a week, so I'll go and see her then."

She got gooseb.u.mps at the att.i.tude that she had no qualms about killing a person, but she couldn't say she wouldn't do it now. They would not keep her alive, as she knew their secrets.

Christine smiled merrily as Jane took the medicine.

-------

No one had shown any symptoms yet in Austern, but a mysterious epidemic had broken out in Bertino, and people had started to collapse. They began to suffer from dizziness, vomiting and headaches, and the death toll was expected to be higher a week from now.

The exact name of the disease was not known, nor was it any kind of infectious disease that they had seen so far, but when people fell in groups, a state of emergency fell on the whole continent.

The Emperor quickly sealed off Bertino's Magic Square. However, people were afraid because they could not tell how many people had traveled between Austern and other countries through the Magic Square before they knew it was an epidemic.

They used all the treatments they had when the epidemic broke out, but they didn't work at all, and the fear had spread further.

This epidemic was very unusual. Most infectious diseases began in poor villages with no sense of hygiene and poor eating, and spread among the common cla.s.s. This time, however, the epidemic spread among aristocrats and wealthy people, and people began to call the disease a "Blue Blood Disease".

When she first heard about the plan, Christine noticed at once that it was Killian who Francis was after. It was the moment when another of her plans fell apart.

When the hope of making Killian her own later disappeared, Christine thought she should kill Princess Kiellini no matter what. Anyway, as she couldn't be caught, it would be a good thing. In addition, if they died together in a good relations.h.i.+p, they would get great sympathy.

Starting tomorrow, poisoned grains would be added to each bakery in the Dublin of Austern. To show the rapid spread, the poison had to be distributed evenly. Francis said that it was not an easy-to-make poison and he did not have enough time to prepare it in bulk, so he would concentrate on a few places. He also said it would take a little longer to die because a smaller amount than that was distributed in Bertino was mixed into the flour.

So, Christine instructed Jane on how much to put in the tea. When one or two people in the capital began to die, Princess Kiellini would fall. Soon the epidemic would be transferred to Prince Killian, too.

If she couldn't have the one she loved anyway, she would make Francis Emperor, and she would take the place of the Empress by his side. That was the only way to heal her own broken heart.

------

While Christine was doing so, Marius finished checking the grain powder to be brought into each bakery in the storage of the Baden Shop.

"All right. Let's go."

A series of carriages loaded with flour set off for each store in the capital. Looking at about ten flour bags in a corner of the warehouse of the Baden Shop, Marius ordered the warehouse keeper, "Keep that sack safe until we send a man."

It was flour mixed with more poison than other sacks, and was to be sent into Asta Palace immediately after Princess Kiellini collapsed.

Marius left the warehouse with a satisfied look on his face and set off for the Imperial Castle in the carriage he had parked outside.

The Baden Shop in the capital was on the outskirts of Eldira Street, where the Eileen Theater and the Chartreu Dress Shop were.