Chapter 10 The Trial of the Perpetrator: The Consequences of Poisoning Through Real-Name System...

“I demanded that Mauro and Maria come out and confront me, and tell me why they deliberately poisoned my food.”

Lilith, dressed in a long, jet-black mourning gown, stood in the center of the drawing room of the Knarro family palace, cradling the lifeless, stiff dead rabbit in her arms. Her tear-stained green eyes, now made up, reflected a sharp glint in the candlelight. Heinrich, draped in a black robe, stood behind her like Lilith's shadow.

Crisis always brings both danger and opportunity. Lilith understands this better than anyone else.

So after composing herself, she immediately began to plan her counterattack. She sent Sophia's servants to summon Cecilia, instructing her to invite a doctor who could identify food poisoning, and to tell Tata to invite her father and fifth uncle to meet late at night in the master's drawing room. She herself, accompanied by Heinrich, went to the palace where the master Massimo lived, carrying the box of poisoned almond cookies and the dead rabbit to accuse Mauro of poisoning her.

Because the event happened so suddenly, the crystal chandelier in the center of the hall hadn't had time to be lit with candles; only a few small candlesticks barely illuminated the room. Three solemn-looking elders sat in the dim light. Behind them, on the orange-red wall, hung portraits of the ancestors of the Knarro family.

"Poisoning him? How could that be? He's your own brother after all..."

The first to speak was Bruno, seated on the left. He was Lilith and Mauro's father, sporting a goatee and a furrowed brow. His reputation, that of his legitimate son, was at stake, and he was deeply anxious.

“I have evidence.”

Lilith glanced at her father with disdain, then brought out a bald old doctor.

"The almond cookies in this box do not use sweet almonds for desserts at all, but poisonous bitter almonds. The dough for the cookies contains a lot of bitter almond oil, and the bitter almonds have been soaked in sugar oil to mask their unique bitter taste."

As the doctor spoke, he presented the food box to everyone.

“This box of cookies is a gift from Maria tonight,” Lilith added.

"Go and invite Mauro and Maria here."

Seated in the middle was Massimo Canaro, who gave a signal to the servant beside him. He was Lilith's uncle, the current head of the Canaro family, overweight, with gray hair and a serious expression on his wrinkled face.

To the right of the patriarch sat a much younger man, only in his early thirties, who hadn't yet grown a beard. When he first sat down, he had one leg crossed high like a thug, only straightening it after Massimo glared at him. She was Lilith's fifth uncle, named Francesco. Like her father Bruno, she was a good-for-nothing, yet remained unmarried, making her even more unrestrained and carefree than Lilith's father.

Once her request for a standoff was granted, Lilith sat up straight in her chair and quietly awaited the arrival of the defendant.

"We're all family, there's no need for us to make such a big deal out of this, right..."

Bruno nervously pinched his chin, tilted his head, and whispered to Lilith in a low voice. Lilith merely gave him a cold sidelong glance and said nothing.

Sons with inheritance rights generally lived close to their homes. Before long, everyone saw Mauro, disheveled and flushed, stagger into the middle of the hall, drunk. Behind him followed Maria, still wearing the same dress she had worn when meeting Lilith, only her face was more heavily powdered. Upon seeing Lilith in the hall, she shuddered and nearly fainted.

"What are you doing here?!" Mauro was shocked to see Lilith sitting there, as if he had seen a dead person crawl out of the grave.

“What, can’t I be here? Does my brother think I should be in heaven with my dead husband?” Lilith stood up again, staring at Mauro with neither arrogance nor servility, glancing at Maria behind him, who was trembling with fear.

"What are you saying..." Mauro saw the food box on the table in front of him, and his alcohol-induced brain finally came to his senses.

Lilith glanced disdainfully at the drunken man, ignored him, and continued to recount to the elders: "This morning at my husband's funeral, I argued with Mauro because I tried to stop him from beating his wife in public. In a fit of rage, Mauro insulted me, but my servant intervened in time to stop him, thus preventing a bigger incident."

“I already know about this. Mauro was reprimanded by the bishop and has received the punishment he deserved,” Massimo explained to Lilith.

"Yes. I originally thought the matter was over and didn't intend to pursue it any further, so after the funeral I visited Sophia Esther, the daughter of the Dandolo family. After nightfall, Maria came to Sophia's house to see me. She thanked me in person for speaking up for me at the funeral and gave me this box of almond cookies as a gift."

“Maria, is it true?” Massimo asked.

“Yes, yes, I did deliver the food box…” Maria’s face was ashen, and a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.

"After Maria left, my rabbit accidentally ate the cookies in this box and then suddenly died right in front of me. I called a vet to check and found out that the cookies were made from poisonous bitter almonds."

"So, if the crispy biscuit hadn't poisoned the rabbit first, wouldn't it have poisoned Liliana?!" Francisco commented with a nonchalant click of his tongue.

Lilith placed the rabbit's corpse in her arms on the table in front of the elders, its unclosed eyes still seeming to hold a look of terror. Then she turned her sharp, razor-like gaze to Maria.

“Maria, I have no grudge against you, and I don’t believe you deliberately tried to harm me. Tell me the truth, was it because Mauro hated me for embarrassing him in public that he ordered you to poison me in a fit of rage?”

"Liliana, you're spouting nonsense!" Mauro shouted at Lilith.

"Shut up! I'm not asking you." Lilith snapped at Mauro, then turned to Maria in a calm and gentle voice, "Maria, I know you were forced. This must not be your intention. As long as you tell the truth, everyone will stand up for you."

Maria stared in horror, speechless. Suddenly, Lilith rushed forward and ripped open her sleeve, revealing glaring bloody welts on Maria's arm.

“I knew it. He dares to treat you like this outside, he won’t let you off the hook at home. Why are you still protecting such a heartless madman? If it’s proven that he premeditated murder, according to the laws of the Republic, he will be excommunicated, deported, and never allowed to return to Venice. Then no one will beat you like this again.”

"Liliana, I think you're really tired of living. It's my right to discipline my wife however I want behind closed doors! What's wrong with leaving a few marks? If it doesn't hurt enough, how will she learn her lesson? You dare to deport me? I think you just haven't learned your lesson from before; you shouldn't have—"

"Silence!" Massimo shouted at Mauro, and he finally quieted down.

“Maria, if you have anything you want to clarify, you can tell us now.” Bruno’s voice was low and cold, more of a threat than a statement.

All eyes in the room were fixed on the thin, battered woman, some with a hint of cautious pity, others with their own ulterior motives. Maria glanced at Lilith, then at the three elders, finally looked down at her stomach, and suddenly knelt down.

"It was me... I accidentally mixed up the sweet almonds and the bitter almonds. Liliana, I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to hurt you, it was all my carelessness..."

"How is that possible? Then why would you have bitter almonds in your house...?"

“Bitter almonds are slightly toxic, but eating a little bit is fine. Mauro likes almond paste, and the traditional way to make it requires adding a certain proportion of bitter almonds to balance the flavor… but I was in a rush last night and got the ratio of sweet almonds to bitter almonds wrong…”

Maria, her face streaked with tears, pleaded pitifully as she tried to explain herself to the crowd, making Lilith appear the one who was being aggressive.

"In other words, these bitter almonds won't actually kill you!" Bruno chimed in.

"Then how do you explain the addition of bitter almond oil? Does making desserts require adding a high concentration of toxic oil to adjust the flavor?" Lilith asked anxiously.

"No. I didn't add anything like that. I've never heard of bitter almond oil."

"According to you, bitter almonds are only slightly poisonous. There are so few bitter almonds in this crispy cake that eating one or two won't kill you. Would you dare to take a bite in front of everyone?"

“If I weren’t carrying the child of the Knaro family, I would have eaten this to prove my innocence. But I don’t know if you’ve deliberately used something poisoned to frame me, saying that I added poison to it. To protect my child, I cannot accept this!”

"Whether the poison was added later or was added before baking, the doctor can prove it..."

"You're pregnant?" Massimo ignored Lilith's objection and asked Maria.

“Yes, it’s been three months. It’s my and Mauro’s first child.” Maria replied with a smile, as if the thought of the child filled her with happiness. “This whole thing was a mistake I made due to carelessness, and it has nothing to do with Mauro. Since I should thank Liliana, who doesn’t get along with Mauro, how could I let him know about this? It’s all my fault. If you want to punish someone, then punish them!”

“You’re pregnant, how can I punish you?” Francisco unconsciously crossed his legs high again, enjoying the sudden reversal of the drama.

"Even if Mauro has made mistakes in the past, please forgive him this once, for the sake of the child. A child cannot live without a father, just as a wife cannot live without a husband..."

"Alright. No need to say any more." Massimo shifted his heavily pregnant body and yawned. "I already know what happened. You gave Liliana poisoned food. Although the amount wasn't enough to kill anyone, it was still your fault. Considering you're pregnant, the punishment shouldn't be too severe. Suspend the Mauro family's monthly allowance for three months as a form of discipline."

“That’s all…?” Lilith stared at Massimo in disbelief.

“After all, you weren’t actually hurt; it was just a rabbit that died.” Bruno frowned at his illegitimate daughter and said sarcastically, “The dowry that was supposed to be given to you in the Schmidl family is still in your hands. You’re quite wealthy now, aren’t you? Maria was right; a wife can’t be without her husband. Once the mourning period is over, it’s time to arrange another marriage for you.”

"Don't even think about it!" Lilith screamed hysterically, as if her sore spot had been hit.

"Alright, everyone disperse." Massimo stood up and left, surrounded by his servants.

A note from the author:

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