Chapter 28 · I Received the Gift Well

Isadel stood by the window and looked down at the garden surrounding her quarters.

The fingertips gripping the window frame trembled faintly.

She had known that one day he would try to take her life.

But she had not known he would draw the blade this quickly.

It was Marquis Valdema's way to bide his time in the darkness and then, at the most certain moment, cut off his opponent's breath.

At this uncharacteristically hasty move, Isadel felt a strange doubt.

That a man who held the entire empire in the palm of his hand could not eliminate a single woman confined in a tower, and had to resort to such a crude method.

Isadel's gaze turned to the mousetrap on the floor.

The mouse that had licked up the spilled soup lay dead in a wretched state.

It was clearly poisoned with far more than a lethal dose, enough…