Chapter 53: Chapter 52. Poisoned Wine
"Poison... your mate... glass." Undine’s voice is soft, like water rippling in a hidden spring, but the weight of her words made Vivianne stiffen.
Her bright violet eyes widened as she looked down at the wine glass on her wife’s hand. Within the glass, Undine’s waters shimmered faintly, revealing a sinister truth, a dark, heavy liquid had manifested, hidden beneath the surface of the wine.
Roxanne immediately felt the sudden shift in her wife’s emotions, the tension in her grip, the quickening of her breath. Her crimson gaze followed Vivianne’s, and then she too saw it. The liquid looked wrong, almost alive, thick shadows coiling inside the glass.
"Poison... for demon," Tempest’s deep voice rumbled, the spirit king of wind perched casually on Roxanne’s shoulder. His presence seemed amused, though there is a sharp edge to his tone.
Ever since Roxanne had torn through the Black Covenant’s assassins and slaughtered a demon mercilessly, Tempest had never left her side. To him, strength demanded respect, and she had earned his.
Vivianne’s brows knitted together, her voice low but steady as she asked, "Then how do we deal with it?" Her eyes never left the glass.
Undine tilted her head, her form shimmering like moonlight on water. "Me... purify," she whispered gently, smiling as her hand ghosted over Vivianne’s cheek, as though to soothe her.
Tempest scoffed, crossing his arms with visible annoyance. "Throw... away," he muttered, wind curling irritably around him.
But Vivianne shook her head, her voice soft yet firm. "If we throw it away, we will never know who dared to poison my wife." Her words carried both reason and fury.
Tempest exhaled sharply through his nose, clearly unimpressed, but finally relented. "Then... purify," he said, his voice vibrating with agreement.
Undine’s eyes glowed as she reached forward. Roxanne, calm and composed, just stood beside Vivianne, one of her arms holding Vivianne’s waist possessively. Her face gave nothing away, an unreadable mask she put on to make sure whoever poisoned her did not know that she knew about the poison.
But her gaze is locked firmly on Dietrich, who sits on the throne across the hall. He’s watching her like a predator waiting for its prey, eager, restless, his body almost leaning forward in anticipation of the moment she would take her first sip.
Roxanne’s lips curved faintly. "So it’s you. Let him hope." She muttered under her breath.
The purifying began; the wine glass trembled faintly in Roxanne’s hand as Undine’s power seeped into it. The liquid inside grew restless; twirling inside is the poison and Undine’s power.
The blackness began to stir, coiling upward along the crystal walls of the glass, thick and suffocating, like smoke made solid. It looked as if it wanted to escape, to cling to anything it could touch.
Then the blue came alive. Swirling harder, glowing brighter, it spun around inside the glass, a current of cleansing water pulling the darkness inward. The struggle is violent, two forces locked in battle, shadow and light clashing in silence. However, none of them can see what’s actually unfolding within Roxanne’s glass; to them, it looks like Roxanne just twirls her wine glass slowly.
Slowly, the balance began to shift. The black liquid disappeared slowly, breaking apart into thin threads that curled and then dissolved into nothingness. The blue swirled stronger, brighter, until it gleamed with a silver sheen, each flicker casting sparks of light that seemed to burn away the corruption.
Finally, when the last of the black had been reduced to a single faint swirl at the bottom, the wine cleared. The liquid gleamed as though lit from within, looking deeper in color and pure enough to fool even the sharpest eye.
Vivianne exhaled softly in relief, though her grip on Roxanne’s hand didn’t loosen. Roxanne, however, smirked. Her expression is calm, almost mocking, as she lifts the glass.
She raised it high in a grand gesture, turning deliberately toward Dietrich. The hall fell quiet for a heartbeat as the two powerful alphas in the empire were currently saluting with their own wine glasses. Then she smirked wider and said nothing, only cheered him with her glass before tilting it back and taking a long, deliberate gulp.
Dietrich’s lips stretched into a grin, wide and sharp. He shot to his feet, laughter bursting from him like a shout of victory. "Hah!" he roared, pointing at her with triumph blazing in his eyes.
But Roxanne only chuckled under her breath, muttering so only Vivianne could hear, "What an idiot."
She drained the glass in a single motion, the purified wine sliding down smoothly. It tasted surprisingly sweet, light, and refreshing, better than any wine she had sipped in the capital before. A gift from Undine’s touch. She licked her lips, let the glass settle on the table with a delicate clink, and leaned to Vivianne with ease. Her crimson gaze never left Dietrich.
At first, his smile is radiant, triumphant. His chest rose with pride as though the empire itself would praise him for what he had accomplished. But slowly, the edges of that grin began to falter. His eyes narrowed, watching Roxanne with the anticipation of what will happen next.
But, it didn’t happen. Roxanne stands tall, her posture relaxed yet unshakable, every inch of her radiating composure. The poison that should have burned through her veins like fire, that should have brought her to her knees, left no trace. Instead, she remained unbothered, her smirk carved into her lips like a blade.
Vivianne leaned closer, whispering something only Roxanne could hear. Roxanne tilted her head, eyes softening for her wife alone, and pressed a fleeting kiss against Vivianne’s cheek. A gesture so small, yet intimate enough to draw whispers from those close enough to see. A moment later, she lowered her forehead briefly against Vivianne’s temple, another affectionate brush, before straightening again with her usual icy poise.
Dietrich’s fingers twitched against the armrest of his throne. His jaw clenched. He expected her to stumble, to falter, to grip at Vivianne in desperation for support. Yet instead, she gave kisses, light, gentle, and filled with ease, as though the only weight in her world is the love she carried for her wife.
Roxanne raised her chin slightly, her crimson gaze sweeping across the hall before returning to her cousin. She gave him a slow smile, mocking and deliberate. Then, with no rush, she reached for Vivianne’s hand and laced their fingers together, as though nothing in the world could shake her.
Dietrich’s nails dug into the carved wood of his throne. The triumphant light in his eyes dimmed into disbelief, then fury. "How?" His carefully crafted plan, the rare poison bought with gold and secrecy, the scheme he had nurtured for monthsm, "how did it fail so successfully like this?"
Yet before the court, he couldn’t scream ormake a fuss, or show to the nobles that he tried to kill the only person who is the reason the empire has been safe from monster attacks all these years. He could only sit there in his throne, frozen in silence, while the woman he had marked for death stood in the grand hall across from him, alive, radiant, and very much untouchable.
Roxanne, catching his turmoil, brushed another kiss against Vivianne’s silver hair, her smirk growing. It’s a victory not only to brag but also to spectacle, turning her cousin’s plot into his own humiliation.