“Greeting to the moon of the empire, Your Majesty the Empress.”
Duke Cassian bowed calmly and gracefully. A faint smile graced the duke’s face as he lifted his head.
“You must have known I was coming, Duke.”
“If that were the case, I would have hurried to the entrance of the mansion to welcome Her Majesty. It’s regrettable that you didn’t announce your visit; I would have gladly welcomed you with grandeur.”
“Are you not curious about why I personally came to find the Duke?”
“I am merely glad that you seem to regard the Duchy as a place where you can visit at any time.”
The Duke replied skillfully, deflecting Psirias’s words.
After a brief silence, the duke spoke with a gentle smile.
“We shouldn’t discuss matters here; let’s go to the reception room. I’ll guide you.”
With that, the Duke turned to leave. But Psirias’s cold voice stopped him.
“No, there’s no need for that. I, as the representative of the Emperor, have come to enforce the imperial decree.”
Without taking her eyes off the Duke, Psirias gestured behind her.
Immediately, a knight closest to him presented a scroll to Psirias.
“Zikriesen Cassian has failed to comply with the order to appear and is hereby placed under house arrest, and everything in the manor is to be seized and inspected.”
With a snap, Psirias tossed the fully-read scroll towards the Duke’s feet, and at the same time, the knights who were waiting promptly scattered throughout the entire mansion.
The servants, including Bvel, stood speechless.
However, Duke Cassian, the actual person involved, merely glanced at the scroll and took no further action; instead, he let out a heavy sigh with a somber expression.
“How dare someone like me receive a personal visit from the Empress herself? I am deeply sorry.”
“Indeed. But wouldn’t you have barred anyone from entering the mansion if it wasn’t me?”
“How can that be? You must be deeply misunderstanding something, Your Majesty.”
The Duke sighed as if feeling unjustly accused.
But Psirias only smiled coldly.
“Misunderstanding? Does that mean you would also claim it’s a misunderstanding that your eldest son, Roxis Cassian, dared to poison the Crown Prince?”
Psirias’s face, tainted with anger, reflected in the Duke’s eyes.
How surprised she was to hear reports that Julion had been poisoned!
Rohiriel had been working tirelessly in the pharmacy to create an antidote for him.
Therefore, Psirias had come here herself to do the best she could in this situation, knowing that even Duke Cassian wouldn’t dare directly harm her at this point.
“As for Roxis’s actions…”
The Duke received the Empress’s words with a dark expression. His eyes flickered as he looked down slightly.
“Truly a distressing affair. I must have failed in educating my child properly.”
“So, you admit to it then.”
“I don’t believe my admission is necessary. All things are the will of His Majesty the Emperor.”
“There is no need for the Emperor’s will to be involved when someone has clearly committed a crime. Roxis Cassian will be executed.”
“…I will solely abide by the Emperor’s order.”
“There are also reports that the poison used to harm the Crown Prince originated from this place.”
For a moment, the Duke’s fingertips twitched ever so slightly, but Psirias’s eyes did not catch it.
After exhaling a few breaths, the Duke spoke.
“Empress. While it’s true that Roxis has committed a crime, please refrain from implicating Cassian in any conspiracy.”
“Implicate”
“Rohiriel…… no, I implore you to remember that Your Imperial Highness is also a Cassian.”
The duke’s silver eyes moved slowly, focusing on Psirias.
Then he spoke again.
“You know better than anyone that if Cassian were to be branded as a traitorous family, it would reflect badly on her highness.”
Psirias clenched her fists in response to the Duke’s calm words. Her golden eyes seemed to burn as brightly as her hair as she looked at the Duke.
ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
“Your Imperial Majesty, is there anything else that is bothering you?”
I asked the Emperor as I organized the blood collection tools.
He smiled softly and shook his head.
In fact, he had regained much of his voice now and seemed to be able to speak. But for now, he was still pretending to be unable to speak in order to assess the situation.
‘At the very least, it would be good to know which of the Emperor’s shadows is the traitor before we announce his recovery.’
The investigation was interrupted when Julion fell ill. Fortunately, the shadows guarding Julion remained around the Emperor, providing some relief.
“I will come again tomorrow, Your Majesty.”
I cheerfully bid farewell and rose from my seat. The maid followed behind me and saw me off.
“By the way, why didn’t you accompany the Empress?”
Concerned about potential evidence tampering, the Empress immediately raided Duke Cassian’s mansion as soon as the Imperial decree was issued.
Naturally, I expected her to take the maid with her, but when I came to the palace to examine the emperor, I was surprised to find the maid still there.
“She said she needed to go as quickly as possible and took a horse, but I don’t know how to ride…”
I nodded in understanding at the maid’s answer.
It was entirely plausible for the impulsive Empress to act that way.
“If anything happens to His Imperial Majesty, let me know immediately.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Leaving the bowing maid behind, I hurried toward the Garnet Palace.
‘By now, the results should be out.’
I had placed the nearly completed antidote into the testing reagent for examination to confirm its proper antidote.
‘Please let it work properly…….’
So that Julion’s suffering would end.
I stepped back into the pharmacy, trying to calm my racing heart.
Dr. Bamid, who was examining the reagent, greeted me.
“Your Highness, you have come.”
“Have the results come out? What happened?”
“Well, you see…”
Dr. Bamid hesitated to answer. Without waiting, I stepped closer and checked the reagent with my own eyes.
The reagent, which had been violet, had turned a light purple color due to the action of the antidote I added.
‘Was time insufficient?’
If it had been completely detoxified, it would have turned into a transparent color.
Suppressing the growing restlessness within me, I spoke.
“This should have been enough time… It seems Cheros was indeed the issue.”
It was the last detoxifying herb we needed.
The results revealed that it contained cheros, a winter herb. Cheros itself wasn’t particularly rare, but the problem was that it only grew in the winter.
Since it was currently summer, obtaining fresh Cheros was like trying to catch stars in the sky.
‘It’s impossible.’
Cheros was a temperature-sensitive plant, which further complicated matters.
One could still find it in the northernmost part of the continent, in high altitude mountain villages, but it would take too long to get there.
That’s why I had considered using dried cheros instead. While it wasn’t ideal, we had decided to use it as a substitute since it could be found in the palace’s herbal storage.
Despite managing to complete it somehow, the results were unsatisfactory.
“Still, this is a remarkable achievement, Your Highness.”
“No, it’s not enough. We need to create it faster and perfectly…”
“It’s only been a few days. Moreover, it’s not a common poison; it was specifically crafted by the Cassians. Normally, it wouldn’t be strange if it took several months.”
Dr. Barmid’s objectively stated situation only added to my anxiety.
While agreeing that it wouldn’t be strange for it to take several months under normal circumstances, I can’t let that happen.
Julion and the knights were still suffering right now.
Additionally, given the tense situation with Cassian and the uncertainty of what might happen at any moment, he couldn’t remain in bed forever.
“Your Highness, perhaps consider finding Cheros by any means necessary.”
“Are you suggesting we wait for who knows how long?”
“If they go to the northern border, they might be able to find it. I’ll send someone right away.”
“And in the meantime, you want me to let Julion and the knights continue to suffer? I can’t do that.”
“But there’s nothing we can do, is there, or what if we let them try this?”
Dr. Barmid pointed to the most recently completed sample of the antidote.
While it wasn’t entirely ineffective, it was an imperfect remedy. I firmly shook my head.
“No, we can’t. If it doesn’t completely eliminate the poison, we don’t know when or in what manner complications might arise. You know that.”
Dr. Barmid sighed, his expression reflecting the dilemma.
A heavy silence settled in the pharmacy.
I took slow, deep breaths to calm my anxious mind.
‘The role of cheros in the antidote is recovery and neutralization. Is there any other herb that can entirely substitute for these functions?’
It would have been ideal if the dried cheros had resolved the issue, but…
With the current situation where cheros itself became unavailable, I had to shift my focus elsewhere.
As I mentally sifted through various herbs, Dr. Barmid cautiously spoke.
