Chapter 3

Luckily, I knew far more about narcotics than the evil heroine did.

The reason was obvious—my younger sibling.

Cho Ye-rim, a Marketing Director (MD) working with contracts at two clubs.

Her scale was not merely about attracting a few female customers during the weekdays; she targeted those who spent over ten million won at the main tables.

She reportedly earned about twenty million won per month as commissions from the sales figures her clients brought in. She also seemed to meet a lot of celebrities.

The secret behind the impressive salesmanship of this twenty-year-old was drugs.

Since high school, she had been a supplier of narcotics.

In her first year of high school, she successfully cultivated hallucinogenic mushrooms.

By her second year, she involved herself in the international smuggling of ketamine.

Later, she started supplying ecstasy and liquid marijuana at student parties, using two native English teachers as her suppliers.

Up to that point, she was merely supplying to her friends on a small scale…

“Her operations skyrocketed when she joined the club scene.”

The kids she supplied to when she was in high school were all from wealthy families. While I had severed ties with our parents, Ye-rim kept receiving her allowance regularly—enough that she could live comfortably for life without working.

She simply enjoyed supplying drugs cheaply and safely, gaining leverage over people.

“There’s this trainee who got caught by the police for simple possession. He could have been let off with a non-prosecution opinion if he had mentioned my name, but he held out, even pleading not to sever ties with me?”

“Ye-rim. You’ll get caught eventually. Don’t regret it—quit while you still can.”

“I’ve already prepared a capable replacement.”

“Hmm.”

“I’ve designed everything so that I can always escape any situation. Don’t worry.”

…She had once said something like this to me. Though I didn’t want to disown my younger sibling, it was a moment where I was tempted to cut ties.

“In the end, she got into trouble and ended up implicating me when it happened.”

Thinking back, she could have implicated someone else, but I wondered why she specifically targeted me. Was she worried that I might report her to law enforcement?

It was unknowable, but ultimately irrelevant.

After all, I had reincarnated into this world, and…

“Alan, with this, our dear Empress might be able to overcome her homesickness, right?”

In front of me, a wicked woman far more malevolent than anyone like Cho Ye-rim was smiling.

Though Hyemsung may be similar to my family, Siena even had power. The kind of clout that allowed her to get away with tormenting a noble-born attendant without repercussions.

Even now, she was speaking to me without using honorifics for the Empress, asking for my opinion despite not being her biological child. To degrade one’s mother in front of her subordinates…

“Perhaps she bears resentment.”

Siena’s biological mother had passed away not long after her father became Emperor.

Right before his first wife’s passing, the Emperor had taken in an esteemed princess from the East as his new consort in a political marriage aimed at restoring relations disrupted by a succession war. It was, indeed, unfair to infant Siena at the time.

Moreover, now the Empress, Lianhua, had given birth to the Third Imperial Princess Anais, creating a rivalry with Siena for ennoblement. It would be peculiar if Siena didn’t harbor resentment towards the Empress.

Still, this was a bit much.

“Initially, I intended to have her smoke it via a pipe.”

“That is common. We could also use it in the form of an ointment.”

“A bit crude, don’t you think? But then I realized the Empress doesn’t smoke. I assumed she did because I thought all Eastern women and children smoked, but I was mistaken. And simply cooking it and serving it lacks a certain refinement.”

“So you decided to mix it into wine?”

“Not just any wine—it must be port wine. The Empress regularly enjoys an eight-year-old Ruby Port. That’s likely the only artifact of this land that she truly loves.”

“…”

A port wine, known for its high alcohol content among wines, could easily deceive someone into drinking casually due to its sweet taste, leading to inevitable addiction. The Empress, who suffered from a mental illness and was already reliant on alcohol, being fed opium would make the situation grotesque.

Yet, you aim to feed her opium too?

If something went awry, even her father, who had been blindly protecting Siena until now, could easily lose interest in her, which would disadvantage me as well.

“I need to stop this. Somehow.”

It was necessary to prevent the Empress from becoming an opium addict and to avert Siena’s eyes from the commercial potential of opium.

I began brainstorming frantically.

*

After an interval of silence, Siena’s violet eyes were intently watching me, urging me to speak.

‘Too much pressure.’

A high-performance hunting dog.

That was originally all Siena considered me to be.

Alan Medoff was, at his core, an exceptional swordsman.

The fact that he was a knight itself was evidence of his extraordinary skill in a world leaning towards the use of firearms and cannons in the military. Individuals who could excel as knights and magicians in this environment were exceedingly rare.

However, the reason Siena went out of her way to nurture Alan and make him her right-hand man wasn’t solely because of his abilities—it was because he could accomplish any task she assigned without complaint.

And if he also possessed advisory capabilities? This would make him an irreplaceable aide-de-camp.

‘That’s not what I want.’

My hesitation stemmed from this very reason. In order to avert an impending disaster, I needed to voice my opinion actively, but I didn’t want to catch Siena’s attention. Doing so would make it even harder for me to disengage from her later.

“Indeed, you are playing it safe. There’s no need to. Maybe my expectations were too high.”

“Your Highness.”

“I understand, so you can leave. I’ll call you if I need you later.”

Siena, signaling an obvious dismissal with her chin, seemed disappointed, her expectations lowered.

Though I wanted to leave then and there, I couldn’t. I had to stop the Empress from consuming opium.

“Your Highness, I have something to say before retiring. About Her Majesty…”

“Simply ‘Empress’.”

“…Yes, Empress. With all due respect, offering opium to Her Majesty would not benefit you, Your Highness.”

The response prompted Siena to feign innocence and tilt her head questioningly.

“Benefit? I merely wish to cure her homesickness.”

“The homesickness may be cured, but in exchange, her body will become unable to function without opium. Initially, it might be once a week, but soon it will be every four days, and eventually, night and day, she will be consuming opium-laced wine.”

“Shouldn’t we wait and see if that happens?”

“Absolutely not. Once started, the dosage will increase rapidly. The pain from withdrawal will be so intense that she will seek opium out of necessity rather than choice… It’s that type of drug.”

“….”

“Given your intelligence, Your Highness already foresees this outcome, I believe.

Siena couldn’t dispute this.

Perhaps her understanding didn’t extend to the nuances of side effects, given the world’s lack of knowledge around narcotics.

But she likely already knew that heavy consumption of opium dulls the mind—perhaps that was why she planned so meticulously. Yet here I was, a supposedly ignorant knight, catching on to her plans.

‘I don’t sense any irritation.’

I pressed on regardless.

“From what I can see, Your Highness’s goal should not be the Empress.”

“Why?”

“The current Empress lacks any real political influence. She doesn’t even participate in external activities.”

“Many people consider the Empress incapable of understanding our language.”

“What benefit is there for you in neutralizing an Empress who quietly stays in the background? It would only provoke His Majesty’s displeasure. Especially if an accident occurs because of the opium; His Majesty will not remain silent.”

At this moment, Siena’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Accidents caused by opium? Surely, it would merely make her a bit spaced out. That’s too extreme.”

“Not at all. I dare to predict that once she starts, she’ll soon find herself craving opium the moment she wakes up. The chills, sudden sneezing, and severe abdominal pain will prevent her from sleeping.”

“…Continue.”

“Through opium, she’ll be able to sleep soundly for a while. Repeatedly, though, until one night she won’t wake up.”

“Is that really what you desire, Your Highness?”

Siena remained silent, gently massaging her chin as if pondering. Bringing up the Empress’ death had its merits.

‘Siena does not wish for the Empress to die.’

Of course, if she were to pass, Siena might appreciate it as it would remove her rival’s support. However, earning the Emperor’s hatred as a consequence was something she would likely avoid.

‘Becoming the Crown Princess is what she truly desires.’

After much deliberation, Siena finally set her gaze on me with a hardened expression.

“Alan. So, what do you propose we do?”

“Rather than steeping the Empress in opium, we should treat her. This isn’t purely out of goodwill; there’s a way to place her in political debt to you.”

“Truly? To help her?”

She sounded unenthusiastic, which was expected.

In order to reel in someone like Siena, I added another statement.

“…In addition, the reputation of the Third Imperial Princess, born to the Empress, can be ruined utterly.”

Only then did Siena seem genuinely interested, nodding in agreement.

As expected, this person relishes causing others pain. Though Siena has no particular animosity towards the Third Imperial Princess Anais, it’s better for her to be seen as the one preventing the Empress’s downfall—watching her mother degenerate into an opium addict into uselessness.

“Fine. Let’s proceed.”

As soon as her approval was granted, I unveiled the plan I had just devised—a plan to fashion Siena into the filial daughter everyone would admire.

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