Going back in time, in prison at dawn.
Despite managing to create an antidote and injecting it, opening up all the blocked veins, the chief physician remained unconscious. Usually, this poison would quickly dissipate and disappear if the antidote was administered correctly, and the heart would return to normal.
But there was no change in the chief physician’s condition, even though the black mark on his chest had disappeared.
Had too much time passed? Or was it because the antidote, hastily prepared, didn’t work properly?
Dozens of worries filled my mind. In the end, I had no choice but to admit it.
“I must have failed…….”
I know I can’t save a life every time. I also know that my hand is not as omnipotent as the hand of God.
No matter how many times I go through it, the sensation of glimpsing possibilities, eagerly pursuing them, and ultimately finding myself on a precipice is something I simply cannot grow accustomed to.
Trying to keep a straight face, I glanced at Julion, who was holding his breath beside me. Julion’s eyes widened as he didn’t take his gaze away from the chief physician.
“Rohiriel, his mustache seems to be twitching a bit right now-“
“Gasp……!”
And then, the sound of the chief physician’s breathing reached our ears. I quickly lowered my gaze again.
The once lifeless brown eyes of the chief physician were gradually regaining their light.
The chief physician gasped for breath, breathing heavily and then rolling his bloodshot eyes.
He still didn’t seem to realize what was happening.
“Chief physician, are you awake?”
Julion asked, touching the chief physician’s shoulder from the side.
The chief physician opened his mouth for a moment, then coughed dryly.
“I’ll check his condition.”
I immediately looked him in the eye and checked his heart rate. It was a little fast, but normal. I did a general check in other places, and finally asked a question to assess his cognitive abilities.
“What’s your name?”
The chief physician blinked a few times, then slowly opened his mouth.
“Ca……Man. Caman Beldrick…….”
Slowly, but surely, the chief physician began to speak his own name, and it seemed like he was gradually comprehending the situation.
I went on to ask.
“Do you know where this place is?”
“……the Imperial Palace.”
“The Imperial Palace, yes, but where exactly is this place?”
The chief physician rolled his eyes again.
He whirled around, looked here and there, and swallowed hard.
“…Inside a prison… Ugh! His Highness the Crown Prince!”
His eyes locked with Julion’s, and the chief physician panicked and tried to get up. However, his body, which had been half-dead just a moment ago, couldn’t immediately rise.
So he flailed his upper body in the air, and this time he made eye contact with me.
“Y, Your Imperial Highness!”
His eyes were clear and his memory intact, so I assumed his cognitive abilities had returned.
“Everything seems normal.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Julion nodded with a bright expression. Only the chief physician rolled his eyes in confusion.
“How did this happen? I was certain…”
“Do you remember the last moments?”
“I feel an excruciating pain in my chest and…… and then I don’t remember anything else.”
“Your heart stopped due to the poison. You would have died if the princess did not prepare an antidote.”
At the word poison, the chief physician looked shocked. Then his face turned bright red.
“It must have been Blanche Camer, that woman. She must have tried to kill me to destroy the evidence!”
“Evidence? How certain are you of that?”
“I have recorded all the secret letters and transaction books we have exchanged so far. She was afraid I would reveal it.”
The chief physician let out a few more curses as the minutes ticked away.
To the sulking physician, Julion spoke in a cold voice.
“I’m sure you have more important things to do right now than that.”
“……ah!”
The sobered chief physician suddenly snapped back to his senses and grinned foolishly, bowing his head to me.
“I am deeply grateful to you, your highness. You are my lifesaver!”
His angry expression toward Blanche instantly turned into a big smile.
It occurred to me that perhaps the chief physician was more suited to a stage actor than a physician.
“I offer my whole being in loyal service to Your Highness!”
I wondered if this was the same person who had looked at me badly, sneered at me, and ignored me not long ago.
Seeing how people could attach themselves and adapt to circumstances, regardless of their humble beginnings, I gradually comprehended the reason behind his ascent to the role of chief physician.”
After being dumped by the Empress and being used and abandoned by Blanche, it seems like there is nothing left for him but to believe that I am the only one left.
‘In that case, you should be grateful.’
I should make good use of this newfound asset.
Should I reveal all the facts and launch an investigation, or should I…….
I turned to the chief physician and asked,
“So, will you do whatever I ask you?”
“Yes, yes, of course. If you tell me to die, I’ll pretend to die!”
“That’s great. Then die.”
“……yes?”
The chief physician’s mouth twitched like an idiot.
Even Julion beside me looked puzzled.
“You said you’re willing to pretend to be dead. That’s what I need right now.”
“What are you talking about……?”
“Blanche Camer is a high-ranking noble, and even with the most conclusive evidence, it’s hard to properly punish her if she doesn’t confess.”
“That’s true!”
Unless the Emperor himself was running the country and keeping it centered, the imperial family was in a precarious position.
Even though Julion was handling everything as a crown prince, without the Emperor, it was impossible to maintain full control.
As a result, the power of the noble families was growing stronger and stronger, and the imperial power was weakening little by little.
In this situation, if Blanche, a member of a high-ranking noble family, were to be severely punished based on evidence alone, the Camer family would surely protest.
No matter how strong the evidence, if they claimed Blanche Camar was innocent, it would have to go to a noble trial.
There’s only one way out of this situation. In addition to the evidence, you need to produce at least three witnesses.
If we could achieve that, even without a confession, we could firmly establish the crime according to Imperial Law.
“So you’re saying we can’t properly punish Blanche Camer?”
“No, we need three or more witnesses.”
“Then, we’re still one short of three witnesses. What do you plan to do?”
The last word belonged to Julion. I looked at him in wonder.
“What do you mean, one witness short? Aren’t we missing two?”
One of the witnesses was the chief physician, leaving two more needed.
At my question, Julion paused, then smiled awkwardly.
“Oh, well. I didn’t get a chance to tell you, but I think we caught the person who tried to kill the chief physician.”
“What? I mean, when and how?”
Julion had been with me the whole time, except when he’d gone to get herbs.
He glanced out the window and answered.
“I have a few shadow knights who follow me silently. They always follow me unless I tell them otherwise, and I told them to hunt down the culprit as soon as we saw the chief physician had been attacked.”
“Goodness…….”
“And I felt their return just now, so they probably have the person in custody.”
Wow.
This was truly an unexpected gain.
“Thanks to this, things will be easier.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
Julion, perhaps embarrassed, cleared his throat and averted his gaze.
“Then we’ll just have to make one.”
“How do you plan to do that?”
“I’m going to put a trap.”
In a brighter voice than before. I spoke again to the chief physician, who couldn’t keep up with the flow of the conversation.
“So, chief physician, you need to die again. I’ll bring you back to life tomorrow morning.”
“Why, why would I……. No, your highness, give me a little time?”
The chief physician still didn’t understand the situation.
He stumbled backwards on his buttocks and looked around, but he was still in prison.
“You need to die again so that Blanche will let her guard down, and we can take further action easily. Oh, and tell us the location of that evidence.”
He stammered, but told me it’s in the sixth column of the third row of the bookshelf in his.
And by asking this and that, I made a plan that would make Blanche act.
Then I ordered Zenid to fetch a fresh batch of herbs but this time, they were to be found not in the Palace infirmary but in my makeshift pharmacy in the Garnet Palace.
“Your highness, I am indeed loyal, but if I die, I can no longer prove my loyalty, and then you’ll lose one witness, and…….”
The chief physician continued to plead why he shouldn’t die.
I couldn’t be bothered to explain further, so I left him alone with his ramblings and unfolded the herbs Zenid had brought with her.
The potion I was about to make required a great deal of concentration.
Next to me, Julion couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked me what I was making.
As I sorted through the herbs, I answered roughly.
“It’s a potion that temporarily makes you look dead.”
It was also a drug that would cause Blanche to fall into a hole of her own making.
