My Charlotte Hates Me

Chapter 73: Revelations

After removing the glass bottles from Queen Gaelle's person, King Arundel took the cap of the nearly empty bottle and took a deep whiff.

"...It's poison," King Arundel confirmed.

"I...I have no idea how that got there," Queen Gaelle said.

"...This must be the antidote," King Arundel said as he tossed the other bottle to the attending Royal Doctor. "Give her that."

"Your Majesty, it is still an unfamiliar liquid. We should analyze it a bit more," the Royal Doctor said.

"...She is going to die if you do not do anything right now. Don't make me repeat myself and do what I asked you to," King Arundel said strongly.

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty," he said as he quickly fed Lady Kaya the bottle.

Unfortunate or not, Lady Kaya narrowly escaped death with the antidote but remained unconscious despite taking the antidote. Honestly, it would have been better if she writhed in pain a little longer. Well, at least this little science experiment paid off.

"...I guess that settles the contents of whether it was the right antidote or not," King Arundel said as he accepted a silver rod from one of his underlings and dipped it into the vial supposedly containing poison. When the rod turned black, everyone let out a small gasp as if no one expected the contents to truly be poison. "There it is...proof this is poison."

"It was not me! I did not poison Lady Kaya. I am being set up by someone here!" Queen Gaelle said.

"Pray do tell...who here would want to frame the Mother of our country?" King Arundel asked.

"Of course, I am being framed! After all, there should not be an antidote to the poison! Only the poison filled bottle should have been left in her purse!" Queen Gaelle said hysterically.

Everyone in the room went dead silent after the Queen's shocking confession.

"Queen...you really are...I have no words left for you," King Arundel said as he waved his hands for the Royal Guards to take the Queen away.

"You! It is your fault! You must have framed me!" Queen Gaelle shouted as she directed her frustrations at Arielle.

"Your Majesty, I have never had any intention of harming you," Arielle said.

"Please! You must have known that it was me who killed your mother! That is why you are getting revenge on me now! You wicked fiend!" Queen Gaelle screamed.

"...My mother...my mother died from an illness," Arielle said in disbelief.

"It should have been you...It should have been you. I wanted to kill you so that your mother would suffer in the same way I have! If only you died! You parasite! Wicked thing! You as well as as your mother bring misery to everyone around you! Die! Die! Die! Die already! Die you ghost of that wicked woman!" Queen Gaelle screamed as she was dragged away.

Arielle went into Garett's chest and began sobbing uncontrollably.

"...My sincere apologies for making you go through that ordeal, Lady Maddox. I will make sure she gets the punishment she deserves...Also, for the collaborators to the Queen's wicked schemes...I order death to you and four generations of your families," King Arundel said.

"Your Majesty, please! We were only being ordered around by Her Majesty! Please forgive us!" the conspirators begged as they all fell to their knees.

"Your Majesty, please! This is too harsh of a punishment," Prince Erik pleaded.

"These people...and your mother killed the only woman I ever cared for and was about to send her beloved daughter to the same place. Do you think I am going to forgive this insolence over and over again?" King Arundel said glaringly towards the Prince.

"That is...why go that far for that woman...even if she is that person's daughter?" Prince Erik asked.

"That woman...that person? It seems that your education has degraded even further than I had once thought. You cannot even show a shred of respect towards the most Noble person there ever was. As expected, you truly are just like...that person," King Arundel said with a disappointed expression.

"That person...Mother?" Prince Erik said quietly.

"...I will announce other news that I have been wanting to say for a long time already," King Arundel said. "From this moment on, I will deprive the Prince of his right to succeed the throne and all of his other titles and privileges as a Prince."

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty...Father! You can't do this to me!" Prince Erik yelled as he tried to approach his father who turned his back onto him.

The Royal Guards quickly restrained the hysterical Prince from approaching King Arundel any further.

"...Please take the former Prince to his room to calm down," King Arundel said.

"Father!" Prince Erik yelled.

"...I shall take my leave now," King Arundel said as he began leaving.

"Please wait, Your Majesty!" Arielle said as she got on her knees in front of King Arundel.

"Arielle?" I said in surprise.

"...I admit that His Highness has made a few mistakes, but he truly loves his kingdom more than anyone else. I have seen all of his hard work first-hand. There is no one more suitable as your successor. I beg that you give him another chance, Your Majesty!" Arielle begged.

Just a few moments ago, he and his mother accused you of murder and tried to ruin you...Even Arielle's current saintly behavior was slightly sickening to my blackened heart. I feel as though a criminal's dirty soul could be purified with one look from Arielle's act of kindness. In my case, I was already too far gone.

"Lady Maddox...I admire your benevolence, but I will not allow even you to try overturning my decisions towards my own family. I will hate to punish you too for insubordination," King Arundel said coldly.

I quickly kneeled in beside Arielle and pushed my forehead to the ground out of fear that Arielle would be punished.

"Your Majesty, I humbly ask that you forgive Lady Arielle. She is only looking out towards your best interests. She would never intentionally try to undermine Your Majesty's will," I quickly said.

"Charlotte, I..."

"If you must punish anyone, please punish me only for not being able to keep my good friend in line," I said.

"You are a vile person trying to pretend to be a saint! Stop trying to pretend being a good person after everything! Look at what you have done to my mother, me, and everyone else around you! You spread misery to everything you touch," Prince Erik yelled.

"...Even if you hate me and think of me as the most vile person there ever was, it is an undeniable fact that I am so ever grateful as well as respect you from the bottom of my heart," Arielle said.

"I have always, always hated you...from the bottom of my heart," Prince Erik said before willingly making his exit.

A tear fell from Arielle's watered eyes.

King Arundel soon took both my hand as well as Arielle's hand and helped us both up.

"I admire your friendship, but I cannot say the same for your naivety," King Arundel said with a gentle expression.

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