By the time Tom was done spilling everything he could remember that might end up hurting those who plotted against him, he was already panting in both pain and exhaustion.
Not only did he not feel relieved after ‘venting’ as he expected, but he also felt like his body was slowly turning hollow, as if a monster was eating his flesh from the inside out.
Although the physical pain wasn’t too obvious, it was still terrifying.
’Shit! Didn’t that bastard claim his poison wouldn’t leave any evidence or something? Why can’t it be over quickly and painlessly?!’
He couldn’t help but curse out loud. “I hope you lose all your power and reputation and end up rotting in jail, fucking bastard!”
Emilia grinned. “Although everything you told us before will be very useful… would you happen to be interested in personally exacting your vengeance?”
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Tom naturally didn’t believe he had any chances of survival, and thought that the empress must either be stupid for thinking she could do anything to him in this situation, or simply be poking fun at his misery.
In either case, he really couldn’t care less about a little girl being petty. He just hoped that whoever was guiding her actions so far was smart enough to make full use of the information he had provided them.
Otherwise, if his enemies didn’t even suffer for their betrayal after all this, he really would have died in vain!
The crimson-haired girl didn’t waste much time convincing him either, and simply waited till the time was right.
Around fifteen minutes later, she took a sip from the glass of water her girlfriend brought over earlier, and put it back on the coffee table with a sigh. “I guess you really won’t believe it… well, whatever. It’s not like it will change anything.”
Dixie nodded at her signal, and quickly picked up the glass before stomping over to despondent Tom.
To say that he was dumbfounded when his jaw was forcefully grabbed and water was poured down his throat would be an understatement.
’What the fuck? Are they into some sort of ‘don’t let a man die thirsty’ superstition here?!’
It was just his fucking luck. If they were really stupid enough to believe in something like that, couldn’t it have been something decent like ‘don’t let a man die a virgin’ or something, at least?
Well, not that he was a virgin, but he could always lie for some good time before the end. Not like he had anything to lose if they found out later.
And if there was an afterlife, he could at least brag about sleeping with one of the most beautiful girls in his world, right?
Speaking of which… he should end up in heaven at least, right?
Although he did betray his country in the end, it was only after he had been backstabbed, so it was justified! There’s no way a dutiful, diligent, and hard-working man like him would end up in hell, right?
His idle thoughts abruptly fizzled out when Tom realized something wasn’t quite right.
Given how he was feeling earlier… shouldn’t he already be dead now?
No no…. not only was he not dead, but the strange feeling he had of his vitality being drained away was also completely gone!
’D-Don’t tell me… she really had an antidote?! No wait, what did she make me drink earlier? Wasn’t it just… a glass of water…?’
Although he had been somewhat delirious at that time, Tom’s observational abilities as a once chief intelligence officer were naturally not bad. He clearly remembered that Emilia had instructed the dark-haired girl to bring a glass of water earlier, and it was the very same one he had been forced to drink from later.
If the water already had something mixed in it earlier, wasn’t it too dangerous for them to let the childish empress take a sip just like that? And if there wasn’t… then what was it that really cured him?
No matter how confident these people were, didn’t they really cherish this silly girl? Tom couldn’t make sense of it no matter how hard he tried.
Well, that wasn’t right. He did have an idea, but it was so absurd that he refused to believe it.
Emilia wasn’t interested in explaining anything to him either, and just tilted her head with a smile. “As you can probably tell, you’re no longer at death’s door. Now… shall we talk business?”
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Emilia naturally didn’t expect a man such as Tom to be faithful and loyal to her just because she saved his life. Even if Crystal were to assure her of it using her ability, she would still remain vigilant.
After all, while most people may be inherently selfish and greedy, few would be as unscrupulous and ruthless as the man in front of her. Unless she had no other choice, Emilia wouldn’t ‘trust’ someone like Tom.
Fortunately, she only needed him to remain alive and be himself.
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Having left all the clips and information in Noelle’s hands, Emilia was finally able to relax and enjoy the chaos as it was systematically unleashed upon the world.
From the testimonies of the soldiers to the various evidence that Noelle’s team had managed to collect beforehand, the point that everything had been prearranged by the government of Red Dusk was slowly solidified in everyone’s mind.
Of course, the other side refused to acknowledge it, and continued insisting that they were being framed and misunderstood. But as more and more ‘evidence’ kept pouring in, the general narrative started to shift completely in Emilia’s favor.
Even if it could be argued that the soldiers who had been captured were either being malicious or were forced to confess whatever it was that the empress believed, what about all the evidence that supported their words?
The pictures and geographical coordinates of the tunnels they had dug, their resource points, as well as all the details about their mission process all seemed to match up completely.
There were even drone shots that showed the whole team together at one of Red Dusk’s border bases, looking ready to depart. It didn’t seem like they were sneaking away at all!
Of course, the final ‘nail in the coffin’ was the statement of the ‘big shot’ in the assassination team, the one who was claimed to be the ex-chief intelligence officer of Red Dusk, Tom.
The clip didn’t appear to be complete, but the few words it contained were enough to set off a storm all over the world.
According to Tom Harks, it was the president of Red Dusk himself who gave out the orders of assassination!
It had to be said, all the soldiers until now clearly never had the chance to meet anyone past the general, and the source of the orders they received could still be considered ‘dubious’… if their words were to be believed in the first place.
It just left too much room for conspiracy.
With Tom’s words, however, the debate was no longer about whether it was ‘someone within Red Dusk wanting to harm the empress’, but the president himself.
Of course, the other side of the argument still remained someone trying to frame them, or the Empress ‘misunderstanding’ them, which was what the officials of Red Dusk insisted on.
The evidence they had managed to gather against the Red Dusk so far wasn’t small, but it was also not substantial enough to be really conclusive. After all, most of it could still be explained away using the ‘some other third party is trying to frame us’ excuse.
A team of talented military men like that might not be easy to sway, but there were several forces in the world that could indeed pull something like that off.
Moreover, this was just one of the possibilities that could be used to ‘deny’ her claims of the assassination being the Red Dusk’s conspiracy!
Except for Tom, all of the others were more or less ‘small fry’, after all. And the man’s ‘treachery’ had already been made public earlier, making all his testimonies completely invalid, as far as the officials of Red Dusk were concerned.
It might cause an uproar internationally, but the government of Red Dusk could easily explain it to their own people as Tom being either forced to make those statements under the threat of death, or trying to frame their country to further the agenda of whoever it was he was ‘really’ working for.
He may be a dangerous man who could make things incredibly difficult for them, but in the short amount of time that he had left… even if the empress was stupid enough to let him go, how much damage could he possibly do?
In short, as long the government itself continued to deny it, the most Emilia could do was cause widespread criticism of Red Dusk internationally. It may hurt them a little, but the core interests of the commonwealth would remain more or less intact.
This mentality was the same as that of someone who closed their eyes and blocked their nose as they were being flung with mud by the crowd. Unpleasant and pointless, yes, but what other choice did they have?
Compared to the compromises that the empress was proposing, being isolated and mocked like this was still much more ‘acceptable’.
This was one of the core reasons why the president of the Commonwealth had been so stiff and unbending in their earlier conversation.
Unfortunately, this was a mistake he would only realize he’d made when it was already too late for regret.
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