Early that morning, a messenger from the Marquess’ residence arrived at the inn in a frantic rush.
He looked completely pale, almost like he’d seen a ghost, and began shouting from the gate, calling for Raven over and over again.
"Milady! Milady! Please... you need to come home now!" he cried, almost out of breath. "Something’s wrong with Lord Thalen! He ... he ... oh god, please! You have to see him right now!"
Primrose was standing on the balcony, her head resting tiredly in her palm.
She glanced to the front gate, watching as Raven immediately rushed out of the inn.
[Finally,] Raven thought to herself, [that bastard is dead.]
[I must not smile. I have to cry loudly when I see his body.]
Primrose was sure Raven was doing everything she could not to grin right then and there.
Behind her, Salem followed quietly, staying close as they walked toward the gate.
He looked like he wanted to go with her all the way to the Marquess’ mansion, but his presence would raise too many questions.
It wouldn’t be surprising if people started whispering that the Marchioness had already found a replacement before her husband was even buried.
And even though Salem had once claimed he didn’t like women, that didn’t mean everyone believed him.
"What kind of method did he use to kill himself?" Primrose asked, her voice calm as she looked over her shoulder at Edmund, who had been sitting quietly behind her.
He looked almost too composed, far too calm for someone who had just driven another man to take his own life.
"I gave him a vial of poison," Edmund said casually, as if it were nothing more than a cup of tea.
Primrose immediately turned to face him. "What?" she blinked. "But ... I still have the poison bottle."
Edmund set his teacup down gently before replying, "No, my wife. I used a different poison." Then he added simply, "It’s stronger than the one you have."
Honestly, it made sense.
Salem’s poison would’ve made it look like the Marquess died of a heart attack, not suicide.
"Then what happens to him after drinking your poison?" Primrose asked.
Edmund shrugged slightly. "He felt sick."
He didn’t explain what kind of sickness. Maybe he was trying to spare her from hearing something too awful.
But what he didn’t realize was that Primrose could still hear his thoughts.
[Within seconds, his tongue and throat will start to burn.]
[The pain will spread to his stomach. His skin will blister all over, and he’ll suffer for half an hour before his body explodes into pieces.]
He—what?! Explodes?!
What kind of poison makes someone explode?!
Where on earth did Edmund get something like that?
She stared at him, stunned, before finally asking, "Where did you get that poison? Did you buy it?"
The Marquess looked like he adored his sons, but behind closed doors, there were rumors.
People whispered that he pushed them too hard, that he treated them like tools, not children.
Never letting them rest. Never letting them be boys.
In the end, someone as rotten as him probably never knew how to love in the first place.
"Then what did you do?" Primrose asked, genuinely curious now.
"I gave him two choices," Edmund said, his voice turning cold, so cold that it sent a chill down her spine.
"First choice: I’d let him live. He would be exiled, banished from Noctvaris, but he’d stay alive.
However, I would strip him of every last thing he owned. Every coin. Every property. Everything he ever claimed as his."
He paused for a moment, then added, "I already had all the proof—documents of his embezzlement, records of the awful things he did. It wouldn’t be hard to make sure he never touched a single piece of it again."
Primrose straightened her back slightly as she listened, but said nothing.
She simply waited for her husband to continue.
"The second choice ..." Edmund paused briefly before finishing, "was the poison. A quick death, in just a few seconds. A way to escape a life of poverty."
"What a pity," Primrose murmured as she leaned back against the railing. "In the end, he chose death ... because his life had no meaning without his wealth."
Follow current novℯls on f(r)eewebnov𝒆l
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Mind-Reading Mate Why Is the Lycan King So Obsessed With Me