I Became A Genius Of The French Royal Family [EN]: Chapter 35

Checkmate (2)

Attempted assassination of a royal.

Everyone present knew how threatening and serious those words were.

The surroundings fell silent, and only silence engulfed the area.

“…Royal assassination…”

Someone’s muttering echoed loudly like thunder.

Starting from that, scattered murmurs erupted.

“Colonel Esterhazy…?”

“The head of the guard tried to assassinate His Highness?”

“What’s going on?”

Those who didn’t know the full story were dumbfounded, unsure of what to do.

Looking at Esterhazy’s face, he wore an expression that was hard to describe. He was trying his best to appear calm, but his agitation was obvious.

“Y-Your Highness? I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

His voice, fragmented and stuttering, was pathetic.

Even a child could tell he was flustered.

“Considering that, you looked almost like you’d seen a ghost when I appeared. Was it that surprising that I was unharmed?”

“N-No, it’s just that I didn’t expect Your Highness to suddenly appear… In fact, isn’t that the case? If there were no problems, there would have been no reason for you not to show yourself until now.”

“Even so, a normal person would have reacted like Count Berzen. Bringing soldiers was clearly because you were certain that something was wrong with me, wasn’t it?”

Kaunitz had already pointed this out.

As I pressed on, the people around us began to look at Esterhazy with suspicion.

“…I was careless. I made the wrong decision due to the obsession that I had to confirm Your Highness’s safety. But it’s unfair to be suspected of trying to harm Your Highness with just this!”

“Really? Well, it would be unfair to accuse someone of attempted murder without any evidence.”

“If I am suspected, I will gladly volunteer to be investigated. I am truly innocent…”

“No. There’s no need to investigate.”

At first, I was going to enjoy watching him stammer and make excuses, but my patience wasn’t as great as I thought.

“You seem to be mistaken. I didn’t just guess based on your reaction. I arranged this to see how dumbfounded you would look. I’ve known what you were going to do for a long time.”

“…I’m being framed. I…”

“You’re not being framed; you’re just curious how the guy who drank poisoned wine yesterday is standing here perfectly fine?”

The moment I specifically mentioned the wine, Esterhazy’s face, which had been denying the charges, turned pale.

Because I had set the atmosphere in advance, the psychological pressure was felt much more intensely.

No matter how hard you try to maintain your composure, you can’t help but be shaken when you think, ‘Does that guy really know everything?’

“…W-Wine? I have no idea what you’re talking about. The gift I gave Your Highness was tea imported from Qing China [China under the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China]! If someone tried to harm Your Highness with poisoned wine, it certainly wouldn’t be me.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Are you an idiot? If the food you gave as a gift was poisoned, of course, you’d be suspected. Why would you do that?”

“…”

In the previous regression, my top priority was identifying which food was poisoned.

Once I knew that, I could easily deduce who the culprit was.

First, I excluded the food eaten at the banquet.

It seemed unrealistic to poison the food targeting only me in a place where so many nobles were present, no matter how I thought about it.

If something went wrong, it could lead to a major disaster.

If Theresia or Joseph II were the culprits, it might have been possible, but since that wasn’t the case, I could rule out this possibility.

Then, the only things left were the gifts I received personally.

But as I said before, if the culprit wasn’t an idiot, they wouldn’t poison the food they gave as a gift.

I also considered the possibility of poisoning someone else’s gift to frame them, but if the French were the culprits, this was also unlikely.

First of all, it’s not a good situation for suspicion to be directed at one’s own camp.

“To be honest, I was at a loss at first. But after solving just one question, the answer became clear. You tried to poison me and then pin the blame on the other side, right? Then naturally, the food that could be poisoned would be limited.”

“N-No, I…”

“Naturally, the most likely candidate would be wine.”

I didn’t notice it when I was first poisoned, but it was suspicious from the start that the wine I said I wanted to try was given as a gift.

Also, if the gift sent by the Austrian side was poisoned, it would be easy to shift the blame.

Even if I was questioned for negligence in security, I would have an excuse to get through it.

How could I stop them if they were deliberately preparing an assassination?

Of course, Theresia had detected that information in advance and prepared to counterattack.

In the previous regression, I succeeded in deducing that far, but it was already too late.

Above all, it was just a suspicion, not a definite fact.

Besides, I didn’t even have a card to negotiate with Theresia.

Now that August and Marie’s marriage had been decided, I wasn’t sure that Theresia would continue to protect me while I stayed in Austria.

Even if I got through this death, what if another threat came?

If I died every time I was touched like a sunfish, my mind might collapse.

Even if the save point of the regression continued to be fixed on the first day in Austria, it would be impossible to clean up the aftermath if I moved on with the time elapsed.

It was best to make everything clear and then make a bet, even if it meant dying one more time.

So, to confirm whether the wine was really poisoned, I told all the suspected suspects different things in advance.

I said that I was going to be busy with various things because there was an important event the day after the banquet.

I said this to all three of them, but the details that followed were slightly different.

To Esterhazy, I hinted that I was tired of wine and that Austrian traditional liquor was delicious, so I would like to try it if I could get my hands on it.

To Charles Gravier, I casually said that I would refrain from drinking because I might make a mistake if I drank alcohol.

I talked with Bishop Vermond about the traditional food enjoyed by the royal family.

I pretended to say it in passing, but those who were planning an assassination would not take it lightly.

They had to poison the food that I was sure to eat to guarantee success.

And as expected, there was a small change on the evening of the banquet.

Charles and Vermond remembered my words and changed the congratulatory gifts they brought to other kinds.

Of the three, only Esterhazy gave me black tea as a gift, just like in the first regression.

The Austrian traditional liquor that I told him I wanted to try was delivered as a gift from a certain nobleman.

I had thought of a few more methods, but at this point, there was no need to go that far.

I was convinced that Esterhazy was the culprit.

And knowing that it was poisoned, I drank the traditional liquor and regressed to the first day.

To take Marie before August and Marie’s marriage was confirmed.

Fortunately, the plan worked perfectly.

From the moment I became the son-in-law of the Habsburgs, my safety in Austria was now guaranteed.

Of course, Esterhazy, who didn’t know all this, looked confused as if he had been hit in the back of the head with a hammer.

“…Isn’t it just speculation? Even if the wine was poisoned, there’s no proof that I did it.”

“An Austrian diplomat has been following you since the first day you came here, right? Why do you think that was?”

“…What… Could it be?”

“Baron Thugut received kickbacks from you and provided you with various conveniences, and you thought you were using him appropriately without revealing your purpose, but in fact, it was the opposite. All of your actions were being reported to this royal family.”

“…You’re lying… That can’t be…”

Esterhazy asked back as if he were out of his mind.

“From the beginning… I was dancing in the palm of your hand?”

“Even if I had been poisoned, you would have been immediately detained by Austrian soldiers. You would have been treated as the worst criminal who assassinated a royal and tried to pin it on an allied country.”

“I, I didn’t do it. I don’t know anything…”

“By the way, you’re so clumsy. In fact, this side also made a mistake. We replaced the poisoned wine with another wine, but we ended up using a slightly different product. If we had checked just once, we wouldn’t have had to do this clown show on the spot.”

Of course, that’s a lie.

There’s no way they would make such a mistake.

But Esterhazy, who was already mentally broken, lost his composure and fell into the trap I had set.

“That can’t be! I clearly made the wine myself…”

He belatedly covered his mouth, but it was already too late.

The statement he just made was practically a confession.

I was just probing him, but I didn’t expect him to self-destruct to this extent.

It’s no wonder, since he suddenly fell from the height of his arrogance to the very bottom.

It would be difficult to maintain his sanity.

I stopped the soldiers who were about to arrest Esterhazy and approached him.

“The people you thought you had recruited were actually all our people from the beginning. Do you know what I mean? They were double agents.”

“…That’s impossible…”

“There’s so much evidence that you won’t be able to survive if you go on like this. Your family will be ruined. But if you answer my questions honestly, I promise I won’t kill you myself.”

I’d like to grind him to powder, but there are still a few questions that haven’t been answered.

Esterhazy is just the executor, and there must be someone else who planned this conspiracy.

The person I need to kill first is that guy.

Even if I don’t kill Esterhazy, my grandfather, who belatedly realized his love for his grandson, won’t let him live.

I’m not killing him myself, so I’m not breaking my promise.

I’m a person who keeps my promises thoroughly. Yes.

“Think about it. You didn’t even have a reason to kill me, did you? You couldn’t have had any personal grudges; you just fell for the words of the guy who seduced you. Even if you take all the blame and die, that guy won’t even thank you, will he?”

If you consider it rationally, you should accept it right away.

Nevertheless, Esterhazy was reluctant to open his mouth.

“I don’t know who’s behind you, but you know that even the most powerful person can’t save you now, right?”

“So… I…”

“Was it Choiseul who recommended you as the head of the guard? Or was it Maupeou who sent me here? Or someone else entirely?”

Esterhazy was sweating profusely and clenched his fists.

The skin was torn, and red blood flowed out between his fingers.

I had a sense of it to some extent just from this reaction.

The reason Esterhazy is hesitating is not because he believes that the mastermind can save him even if he is caught.

It’s because he’s convinced that he can’t survive even if he reveals the mastermind.

“Is he that big of a shot? Then let’s let you cool your head and think about it.”

Anyway, if it’s a powerful person who can elicit this kind of reaction from France, the number is limited.

Even if I’m generous, it won’t exceed one hand, so there won’t be any problem narrowing down the target.

When I pointed to Esterhazy with my chin, the soldiers who were waiting rushed in and dragged him away.

At this moment, the way people around me looked at me changed once again.

Both France and Austria began to look at me with a mixture of admiration and awe.

One of the reasons I set up such a grand stage in the first place was to highlight my presence.

If you just go along with it and bow down, flies will gather like now.

Thanks to the two deaths, I was able to learn a very good lesson.

From now on, I will build a solid stronghold so that no one will dare to touch me.

I don’t know who incited Esterhazy, but it doesn’t matter.

If you were prepared to attack this side, you should have been prepared to die.

I will definitely find you.

And no matter who you are, I won’t let you die in peace.