I Was Told to Drink Poison, So I Drank It - 6 - The Death of Victoire
[Queen Stella Buys a Seven-Million-Pound Ring! The Upstart Queen’s Extravagant and Unfitting Luxury]
Reading the headline in the newspaper, the man—David Zenefelder—threw it onto the desk.
Just as he was about to take a sip of his tea, there was a knock on the door.
When he granted permission to enter, a servant of the ducal household stepped in.
The servant, looking troubled, spoke.
“Lady Stella is here…”
“…Stella?”
Stella was David’s adopted daughter.
Surprised, he instinctively stood up.
Looking at this newspaper, Stella was now the target of the entire nation’s criticism.
In fact, commoners had already gathered at the gates of the Zenefelder estate.
The household’s private soldiers were keeping them at bay for now, but no one knew when the gates might be breached.
David had planned to flee to another country with his wife, Anne.
Right now, he had finished preparing and was just having his last cup of tea before leaving.
(Why would Stella come here now…?)
As David pondered, the servant hesitantly asked.
“Shall I turn her away…?”
“…No, let her in.”
David lifted his gaze and answered.
Then, he added:
“But there’s no need to prepare tea.”
David Zenefelder.
The Duke of Zenefelder.
There was a reason he took in the orphaned Stella.
At the time, he wanted to avoid a conflict with the rising reformist faction, so he adopted Stella.
That was the only reason.
Any commoner girl would have sufficed.
So, he left it to his servants.
He simply ordered them to pick any suitable child from an orphanage.
And the one they brought was a charming girl with green hair.
Her large blue eyes were beautiful.
They closely resembled the deep indigo sky that could only be seen at twilight.
The girl’s beauty was so striking that even David, who had seen many noblewomen in high society, was astonished.
When he asked why she was chosen, the servant gave the expected response:
“Because she was the most beautiful one.”
He hadn’t intended to choose based on appearance, but… oh well.
Now that she was adopted, Stella was officially his daughter.
Stella was affectionate and always smiling.
She got along well with her older sister, Chalize, and the two often played together.
Things changed when Chalize debuted in high society.
One day, Stella confessed:
“I fell in love with Crown Prince Henry at first sight.”
She pleaded with her father.
“Henry said he loves me too! So please, Father, switch the engagement…!”
Tears streamed down her face as she spoke.
David was utterly shocked.
Although Stella had been adopted into the ducal family, she did not carry its noble bloodline.
David wanted to avoid conflict with the reformists, but at his core, he was a staunch traditionalist.
Replacing Chalize with Stella as Henry’s fiancée? The aristocracy would never allow it.
Letting commoner bl00d into the royal family was unthinkable.
The nobility would protest, claiming it would lower the kingdom’s prestige.
If the prince married a commoner, foreign nations would mock them, saying:
“The Victoire royal family isn’t worth much after all.”
So, David tried to reason with Stella.
She was only an adopted daughter of the Zenefelder family and did not inherit its noble lineage.
This engagement was meant to strengthen the bond between the royal family and the Duke of Zenefelder’s household.
With the reformists growing stronger, this marriage was arranged as a way for the royal family to align with the leading faction of the traditionalists.
He explained this to her in detail, but she refused to accept it and eventually broke down in tears.
“You’re so cruel!! You love my sister more, don’t you?! You don’t care about me at all!”
“That’s not true! You are my precious daughter, but this is a different matter. Why can’t you understand that?!”
“How is it different?! You love my sister more! You’re discriminating against me!”
At that point, Stella refused to listen anymore.
Even though she knew she couldn’t replace the fiancée, she continued her relationship with Henry.
David warned her multiple times.
But Stella only cried and ignored him. Henry did the same.
Henry dismissed David’s objections with:
“This is not something a mere noble should interfere in.”
And then—time passed.
Chalize was executed.
By Henry’s hand.
Chalize had been working tirelessly to restore the corrupt kingdom of Victoire.
She collaborated with Prince Noah, restrained the influence of the temple, focused on exterminating monsters, and punished corrupt nobles.
But the newspapers, under the temple’s pressure, only printed stories that favored the temple.
To them, Chalize was an obstacle—an unbearable nuisance.
And Henry, her fiancé, hated her too.
He was fed up with a wife who meddled in politics and tried to exert influence.
Unlike his father, Henry was not a traditionalist.
He had grown close to Stella and had always wanted to make her his queen.
But she lacked the noble bl00d and high status required.
Although she was legally a daughter of the prestigious Zenefelder family, she was still just an adopted commoner.
Under these circumstances, making her queen was impossible.
As Henry struggled with this problem, someone from the temple approached him with sweet words.
And then, Henry changed sides.
He abandoned the traditionalists and embraced the reformists, who claimed to believe in ‘freedom from social class.’
This idea, however, contained the risk of undermining his own authority.
Yet, without realizing he was being manipulated by the temple, the king devoted himself to the reformists.
And what was the result?
Everything happening now.
With Chalize gone, the temple expanded its power unchecked.
The monsters she had kept at bay multiplied at an alarming rate.
This kingdom has no future.
The moment Chalize died—
So too did the proud and historic Victoire.