Almost imperceptible...
Smile had appeared on the Emperor's lips.
It wasn't the warm, cheerful smile of an oblivious ruler enjoying a banquet. It was the dark, calculated, deeply knowing smirk of a master chess player who was watching a trap spring exactly as he designed it.
Heena's pupils shrank to pinpricks. The realization hit her like a physical blow to the chest.
He knows. He knows it's poisoned.
If the Emperor knew, and he was still willingly lifting it to his lips, then this wasn't just the Prime Minister's trap. This was an imperial trap. If Heena stepped forward now to play the hero, she would be walking directly into a bloodbath she hadn't prepared for.
Without a single second of hesitation, Heena abandoned Samuel's plan. She screamed in her mind.
"System! Throw yourself at the cup! Now!"
"What the—?!" the System yelped.
