I Was Told to Drink Poison, So I Drank It - 12 - The Night Queen Chalize Died

The story goes back a little in time─.

The night Queen Chalize was executed.

A man, who was once her royal guard, carried her body—meant to be buried in the public cemetery—through the forest at night.

The moon tonight was full, and the path was bright.

He gently held the noble lady wrapped in a cloth sack, and walked forward.

Behind him were several royal guards and some aides of the king.

They had to watch closely until she was buried in the cemetery, to make sure no one would steal the body.

And so, Queen Chalize was buried in the public cemetery.

That is the part of the story everyone knows.

So, the truth that she actually survived… that she escaped the cemetery─no one knows that.

Even if someone wanted to check Chalize’s body, it would be hard. It’s a public cemetery, with many bodies buried. You can’t tell which one is hers.

Chalize had expected that she would be buried in the public cemetery.

That’s why she drank poison.

☆

My eyes opened with a small blink.

That’s how I knew—I had won the gamble.

The chance was fifty-fifty… I thought if I lost, that would be it. But it looks like I won.

I slowly let out a breath, and first, I crawled out of the sack.

Just like the plan, my royal guard didn’t bury me too deeply.

That made me feel relieved.

It would be too stupid to survive but then die again because I was buried alive.

I really didn’t want to die in such a foolish way.

I slowly dug through the dirt and crawled out of the hole.

If someone else saw this scene, they’d probably scream, “A ghost has come back from the underworld!!”

Thinking about that, I lifted my head.

Thanks to the shining moonlight, I could see clearly.

I placed my hands on the ground─pulled my body up, and sat on the ground.

That’s when I noticed a man standing in front of me.

He was kneeling, his head bowed low.

I knew right away who he was.

“…Thank you. I made you wait, didn’t I, Louis?”

He was Louis Zyler, my royal guard.

The second son of Count Zyler, a noble family close to the Duke of Zenefelder.

He had long black hair tied back and blue eyes.

He was the only knight I truly trusted from my heart.

Of course, there were other knights I trusted, but not without some doubts.

Some claimed to support me and the conservative faction, but were really spies sent by the temple, or they had hidden agendas… I had very few people I could truly trust.

That, I believe, is one reason why I lost the political battle.

I focused too much on changing the power balance, and not enough on winning people’s trust─on making allies.

In the end, I lost to the temple’s manipulation of information, and I died.

The man kneeling before me, swearing loyalty─Louis, son of Count Zyler, who has close ties with Zenefelder, and was once Prince Noah’s royal guard.

He bowed deeply and said:

“I have been waiting for you, Lady Chalize.”

“I’m glad it worked. It was a gamble.”

“I always believed you would succeed, Lady Chalize.”

I gave a small smile at Louis’s words.

I am a holy maiden with the power to purify magic and defeat magical beasts.

So, in theory, it should be possible to put myself into a temporary death-like state by drinking poison.

But I had never tried that on myself, and I didn’t know if I could use my power while I was weak.

Even if it made sense in theory, the chances were still fifty-fifty.

If I failed, I would die.

Just as the world believed, Chalize the wicked queen would have died by poison and been buried in a public grave.

But if I succeeded, I would come back from the edge of death, like a ghost returning from the grave.

And─I won that gamble.

Still, using my holy power to neutralize deadly poison, then enter a fake death without fully healing, drained more energy, magic, and strength than I imagined.

I managed to crawl out of the dirt, but I would need to rest for a while.

I took Louis’s hand and stood up.

He held me up as I staggered.

After thanking him, I asked him:

“Did you tell Noah? That I’m not actually dead?”

“…Yes. I sent someone to report it secretly to General McGregor. I believe Prince Noah knows by now.”

Hearing that, I let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Good… I lost this battle. But I don’t plan to push everything onto Noah. And I definitely don’t want him to seek revenge for me.”

Still, if Noah thought I had died, he would probably grow even more angry at the king─Henry.

Because he cared for me deeply.

I slowly pressed a hand against Louis’s chest and stepped back.

I wasn’t ready for big movements, but I could at least stand on my own now.

Still, walking was hard.

I reached out my hand to Louis.

He knelt before me and took my hand.

“…I want to go see Noah. I want to explain everything to him myself.”

This political fight, although started by the temple, was made worse by me.

I tried to stop and remove the temple’s schemes.

The temple fought back, and tried to bring me down.

Noah was simply caught in the middle of this fight between me, the conservative side, and the temple, the reformist side.

Now that I survived, I must go see Noah.

That’s what I thought, and I asked Louis:

“Will you come with me?”

This country, and the current royal family, have no future anymore.

Still, Louis is the son of the noble Count Zyler. The Zyler family has always sworn deep loyalty to the royal family and has produced many royal guards.

The one he swore loyalty to was not me, Chalize. It was the queen.

Now that I am no longer the queen, I am just Chalize.

Knowing that, I still asked him.

Will you come with me?

I wanted to know his true thoughts. His real decision. That’s why I asked.

His answer─was exactly what I expected.

“…Thank you, Louis.”

He gently kissed the back of my hand.

A knight’s sign of loyalty.

I was grateful to him.