Chapter 4. Until you have the right hand (4)
Okay. There was clearly something wrong with my body.
“At first, I thought it was because I didn’t go out, but after I felt heart pain, I thought it might be a mana problem. I was also worried that there might be something wrong with my heart.”
Looks like that wasn’t all there.
“Then this must be the antidote.”
“That’s right. I made it in a hurry, but I confirmed that it can be detoxified, so you will be completely cured by the time you eat it all. Then, I will show you the prince’s magic from then on.”
Calian’s eyes never left his medicine bag.
Alan looked at Calian quietly and began to explain calmly as if he was talking about a third party, not Calian.
“It is a deadly poison called Tacrimosa. It is made by mixing several poisonous plants with the blood and poison of a snake called Crimosa. It would be strange if the prince, who was healthy until yesterday, suddenly dies, so it seems that he wanted to make it look like he was slowly getting sick. However, it is quite poisonous. “It will be cured with the power of the blessing, so it must have been made to consume a small amount of deadly poison on a regular basis.”
This is truly cruel.
Kalyan was only fourteen.
The only thing he did wrong was that he resembled Freya.
“In order to do that, it would have to be something that has no scent, no taste, doesn’t react to silver, shows symptoms similar to the disease, and can be easily obtained in large quantities to feed it for a long time. That’s the poison that suits the prince’s symptoms and those conditions. ”
Calian lowered his head again without answering.
Alan continued his explanation. The information he was talking about now was information he had gathered from the wizards living in Teinansha by sitting in the wizard association building all day the day before.
“If it weren’t for the power of blessing… no matter how little I ate, I would have coughed as if I had a lung disease and would have vomited blood and died within a week. Treating such a poisonous thing would have put a strain on my heart. Thus, the healing power “It feels like it’s gone, and when I try to use mana, it shows a rejection reaction. I’m already dying from exhaustion, but when I try to use my strength again, all I can do is scream out in pain.”
Kalian tried to close the medicine bag but lost it in his hand. So a few pills fell into my lap. Calian hurriedly picked it up and put it back.
The fingers that picked it up were trembling.
It wasn’t because of fear. It was anger.
‘Callian was clearly assassinated. It wasn’t poisoning. Considering that I couldn’t use mana from the beginning, it’s not like I changed the situation and got poisoned. So, the story goes that they used poison on Calian in the original past as well.’
Another question that this fact raised filled me with unbearable anger.
“…… why.”
Calian, clutching his pockets tightly in his hands, looked at Alan.
‘Why did you strangle a child who was already dying!’
Alan’s shoulders flinched for a moment.
Because I saw a life full of red eyes. He soon disappeared without a trace as if he had never seen it before, but it was definitely not a look a boy could have.
“I’m sorry, Master. I hadn’t even thought about that.”
Alan responded to Calian’s words, trying to shake the look in his eyes from a moment ago from his mind.
“… It’s not just the sword that flies in front of your eyes that’s sharp. Sometimes what you can’t see is sharper.”
Calian took Alan’s words to heart.
The Sword Master is not harmed by poison. That’s why I let my guard down.
Bern has experienced battlefields rife with various assassination attempts, regardless of method. But I let my guard down.
‘I was so caught up in the fact that he had been strangled that I didn’t suspect poisoning.’
Despite the obvious symptoms, no poison was thought.
It was a big mistake that Kalyan, and no one else, should have made.
“Are you severely addicted?”
“To me, it seemed like today and tomorrow.”
Calian burst out laughing. I asked, feeling relieved by Alan’s words.
“If I take the poison and antidote together, will it still get worse?”
Alan’s expression distorted.
“Don’t do that. It will slow you down, but it will be dangerous in the end.”
“How long will it be delayed?”
“I’m not a healer either, so it’s hard to say. Will it be ten days or fifteen days?”
Calian looked satisfied.
“If it delays that much, that’s enough. Let’s eat together.”
“Are you really saying that you would take poison and medicine together?”
Is this an insult, informal language, or polite language?
“Yes. If it was a simple abnormality in the body, it may be okay, but if it is poison, we need to deal with it carefully. It is a situation where we cannot say not to eat it right away.”
Calian continued, looking at Alan’s worried eyes.
“I think it’s the tea I drink every morning. Other than that, I didn’t eat the same thing every day. However, I always drank it in front of everyone. I don’t mean to suspect the maids, but I think we shouldn’t overlook just one case.”
Maybe really maybe.
‘The former Calian may have noticed that he was slowly becoming addicted. He might have refused the poisoned tea.’
If Silike had known that Calian had noticed that the tea was poisoned, he could have sent an assassin to the already poisoned and dying child. Silike would definitely have done that.
‘From now on, if my car is bitten, I will immediately use a different method, but since my situation is different then and now, it is difficult to be sure what they will try to kill me with.’
Alan opened his mouth to Calian, who was organizing his thoughts.
“Prince. If it’s because there is no evidence to catch the culprit, don’t worry. Over the past few months, we have already collected evidence that a lot of snakes were brought in from Briesen Merchant Marine for their skins, and the Wizards Association is still investigating in various ways.”
In just one day, Alan found out a lot.
“Thank you. I guess I can leave it as the last card. But that alone won’t catch Silike. I have to find another way.”
Not only that, it’s amazing that they gathered evidence. Calian, who had no idea how many wizards had been mobilized to find out this much, just grinned.
“Until I find a way, Silike must not know that I noticed that the tea was poisoned. But I have been drinking the tea in front of all the maids. There is no way to throw it away without eating it, so even if I take the antidote, the tea will not be consumed. “You should keep drinking.”
“Besides, if it gets known that there was a problem with the morning tea, Jan and the other maids will get hurt. You’ve been poisoning me for so long, you won’t get away with it.”
“The baby elephant will be fine.”
Calian asked back in response to Alan’s muttering that sounded like he was talking to himself.
“yes?”
“No. But why do you trust that servant so much?”
Calian answered that question by raising his hand and pointing to his face.
“I can’t lie. It’s all visible here on my face.”
Then he looked at his right palm. There was a small but clear scar left, which was the mark of injury from the incident with Plants.
I thought of Jan holding that hand and crying like a child.
“And just. I believe.”
Alan nodded wordlessly.
Calian continued.
“It’s not a poison that needs to be used for a day or two, so Silike must have been mindful of the possibility of being caught. Nevertheless, the fact that he went ahead with it means that he had a clear way to escape if he was caught. He even said that he would kill me right in front of me. Because we did it.”
I was reminded of Silike’s attitude at the dinner with Viscount Lennon Brissen. It was clearly an attitude that there was nothing to take.
“If I’m not careful, I won’t be able to catch Silike and I’ll lose my own person. In fact, they’ll accuse me of being framed and accuse me as well. If that happens, it’ll be difficult to stop them even if they are assassinated or exposed to another poison.”
Alan let out a deep sigh.
“So, until we have a proper hand, we will eat together until we find a way to at least make him completely give up the poison. After that, we just have to somehow block the swords that are flying at us.”
Alan looked at Calian with a complicated face.
Calian smiled and picked up an antidote.
“Then I will eat it gratefully.”
Then, without hesitation, he put it in his mouth and swallowed it. Alan saw that and raised his eyebrows.
“Didn’t I tell you to be suspicious and eat it? What are you going to do if it’s really poison?”
“Then it can’t be helped. Master didn’t believe in me as much as I believed in him. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be my fault for not trusting him?”
Alan said with a grin.
“You’re just making a fuss.”
“These are words coming from the mouth that seduced Alan Manasil. How terrible are they?”
Calian responded with a proud look on his face, as if he had just received a compliment.
Alan, who was silent for a moment while looking at Calian, asked.
“Okay. Now what else can I do for you?”
Just showing him how to survive was more than enough, but Calian still needed a lot of help from Alan. Calian answered in a quiet voice.
“Please take me out of the palace just once tomorrow evening.”
It was something that could be done.
Alan nodded.
“I’ll take you there again and again.”
* * *
– Grumble.
As I slightly threw the medicine bag in my hand upwards, I heard the sound of antidotes rolling around.
After Alan returned, Calian was now, for the first time, not keeping his promise to Jan. He was deep in thought, fiddling with his pockets without even touching his lunch.
Jan, who knew that what Calian had talked about with Alan was related to his health, had anxious eyes. Nevertheless, he just stood next to me without saying a word.
Grumble.
The medicine bag made a sound again in Calian’s hand.
“……Yan.”
“Yes, my prince.”
“Do you have any plans for nobles to attend within 10 days?”
“My schedule with the nobles was interrupted for a month before the festival, so I have a bit more for the time being.”
That’s fortunate. Calian nodded.
“What are the specifics?”
Yan lowered his gaze for a moment, perhaps thinking about Calian’s schedule, and gathered his thoughts. Then I started listing the ones closest to me.
Schedules for going outside the palace and schedules for going on inside flowed out like a torrent. After hearing Yan’s words, Kalian’s face showed that he was fed up.
‘There are a lot!’
Calian slightly raised his hand to stop the explanation.
“It’s okay. That’s enough. Thank you.”
“Yes, my prince.”
Calian was now thinking of a way to make Silike give up his poison.
There was one method that came to mind while talking with Alan. That was the only thing Calian could attempt within ten days. So, I told Alan that I would go outside the palace, and I also had a schedule with nobles that was just right.
However, it was a somewhat risky method.
That’s why I worried for so long.
– If you want to take the opponent’s hand, you must bet yours first.
Suddenly, the words of Bern’s father, Devlan, who is now the king of Secretia, flashed through my mind.
‘It’s times like this that I think of it. father.’
Thanks to this, Kalian finally decided to take the risk.
And as I was about to stand up, I looked at Jan.
Calian sat back down with a smile on his face, as if the words “Can we have some food?” were engraved on his face. Then he placed the pouch in his hand on the table.
The crunching sound rang again.
Naturally, Jan’s eyes also moved along the pocket. It was clear that he was very worried, so Calian squeezed out some of the truth and explained.
“It’s medicine. You’ll be better by the time you take it, so don’t worry. But about this.” After
Kalian had said that, he paused for a moment, and Yan, who sensed Calian’s intention, answered first.
“Yes. I won’t tell it anywhere else. Don’t worry.”
Are you quick or slow?
Calian grinned and started a late meal.
