1 The Ashford (Olivia POV)

"Urgghhh…" Francis suddenly fell on his knees and vomiting blood. His face turned really pale and he look so weak.

I, who had just entered his office, hurriedly took a handkerchief and approached him. "What happened? This is not your first time vomiting blood!" I asked, pretending to panic. I knew the reason why he was in this state, it was because I poisoned him.

"Cough… cough…" he coughed as he was vomiting blood. "I'm fine. As you said this is not my first time vomiting blood so I can handle it." He said after he stopped vomiting blood.

"But I guess you have to stop pretending." He paused and moved his body closer to me. "Charlize," he whispered right to my ears. He still looked so weak due to the poison but he seemed like already used to it. "I know it is you who make me in this state."

…

I had been working for Duke Ashford since I was 9 years old. I was still young back then but I always performed well so the duke trusted me to work at his poison laboratory. There, I worked with Sir Clark, the head researcher there, as his assistant.

By time, the duke used to call me to join discussions about some matters related to the Ashford family or Roosevelt, the second prince as well the duke's nephew. I gained his trust by giving a good solution for every problem he discussed with me. Slowly, I became an advisor for this family, so I had two responsibilities; Sir Clark's assistant and the advisor.

"Thanks to Olivia's suggestion, Prince Roosevelt was praised by his majesty for his idea to build a relationship with Helsa Kingdom. Now he has the right to attend the successor class." The duke started the meeting. The mood felt so light that everyone was happy that Roosevelt praised the emperor at the regular morning meeting.

Around that time, people talked about how brilliant Roosevelt was, suggesting a way to build relations with the Helsa Kingdom. The fact that Roosevelt was still young made him more outstanding and caught people's attention. People said that he is a genius that was born to raise the empire.

I smiled and answered politely as I bowed. "It's my job to make sure Prince Roosevelt will be the next emperor, your grace."

"Good, I like your work, Olivia. Marquis Whitley, you raised such a smart girl, excellent." The duke was really proud of our achievement. His blue eyes shone brightly, showing how delighted he was.

My father, Marquis Whitley, slightly laughed. "I just do my job as a father. She's naturally talented so I recommended her to help us."

"Alright, it's a good thing to have you in my side like this." The duke took a sip of his tea, as he was thinking about something. "Marquis, I want you to be Prince Roosevelt's tutor." He said right after making his decision.

"I will teach him properly your grace."

The duke was coughing a bit and continued the meeting. "Now, let's talk about Prince Francis." He paused. "He keeps missing and until now, no one knows where he's going. I wonder how he can fool all those maid and guards."

"The worst case is if he silently does something behind us and we're not ready for it." My father held his forehead as he thought.

"I wonder if those maids and guards can do their work well. They can't even look after a fifteen years old kid?" I paused a bit, and came with an idea. "Your grace, if you allow me, I will be the spy."

The duke looked at me and frowned. "You will spy on Prince Francis? I know you're a smart kid Olivia, but how will you do that?" He was interested and confused at the same time.

"He's not made any progress in his study for a long time. If her highness the empress appoints me as his study partner, saying that I can help his study then, I can be with him more intensely." I explained my plan.

"Olivia, if you are his study partner and keep following him, we won't know where he's going when he disappears. He will be more cautious." My father crossed his legs and straightened his body.

"The more cautious someone is, the more obvious he will be. We may find any clues from the way he acts or something. The most important thing is, he won't be able to ditch his class so we can control his study as we planned before."

The duke and my father looked at each other and smiled. "I like your idea, Olivia. I'm sure if it's you, everything will be done perfectly. I will visit my sister and ask her to appoint you as his study partner." The duke made his decision.

"I will do my best and never let you down, your grace." Once again, I bowed.

The duke once again picked his teacup. "Olivia, I have a request for you. Please help Sir Clark and make a powerful poison. A very strong one that no antidote can neutralize and kill the victim in no time. Also, I want the poison won't be detected when the body is checked." He described the poison's details.

"Yes, your grace. I will inform Sir Clark and do the research."

After the long meeting with the duke, I left the room with his permission. I walked to the basement, where the poison laboratory is. As for my father, he still had some business with him that I didn't know about.

The duke ordered me to create such a strong poison. The most possible reason I could think was to eliminate Francis. That poor prince really has nine lives as a cat in my perspective. He avoided death many times since he was young.

As the first prince of the empire born from a commoner, he's a natural opponent for Roosevelt in succession right. The rules stated that the first prince is more prioritized as the heir, except if he's incompetent to be one. So, even Francis was born from a commoner, he has the chance to be the heir.

To make sure Roosevelt be the heir, his mother, the empress, did all things she could to make Francis's incompetent to be the heir. With her brother, Duke Ashford, helping her, she put a lot of spies to monitor Francis. The tutor assigned for him was also told to not teach him properly.

As the advisor worked for the Ashford family, I'm part of those tricks.

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