The body that had been convulsing abruptly froze as if time had come to a standstill, then, with a slight sound, it relaxed entirely.
The emperor’s body, now limp like a doll with its strings cut, almost seemed lifeless. I immediately put my finger to the emperor’s nose to check his breathing. Then I placed my palm over his heart.
“He’s fine. It looks like he’s calmed down.”
“Ah……!”
The empress, visibly tense, let out a short gasp and sank onto a chair near the emperor’s bed.
Beside me, Julion also released a sigh of relief.
The two physicians, who had been watching the situation, displayed complex expressions, a mix of surprise and relief.
“Indeed… what a relief.”
“We left the poison alive, yet how did this happen…”
Meanwhile, the assistant chief physician wore a face full of questions. However, he only muttered to himself, lacking the courage to ask.
I lifted the emperor’s eyelids to check his pupils, then found a vein to draw blood.
‘His pupils are dilated quite a bit.’
If I hadn’t calmed down the Mordheim poison this time, it could have been much worse.
“Now, what will happen to His Majesty?”
The empress’s voice carried a strong sense of concern.
“He won’t wake up for a while.”
“Yes, I see… “
The Empress replied gloomily.
I collected the blood sample and stood up.
“Don’t worry too much, Your Majesty. I can cure him. I’ll find a way to save him, no matter what.”
The empress smiled silently, a smile that rose with great effort.
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
[Rottie, each of these children has their own preferences.]
[Preferences…?]
[Yes. They have likes and dislikes. If you mix them without considering that, the herbs won’t work properly.]
My mother always explained herbs as living beings.
Whether it was to make it easier for me to understand when I was still young or if it was just her way of doing things,.
But what is clear is that her teachings greatly helped me achieve success faster than anyone else.
[I was trying to make a medicine to help mom eat better. I thought I could just mix salia grass and reva leaves…….]
The first concoction I tried right after learning the combination method of the two herbs.
It was a medicine to ‘help someone eat well’ using Salia grass to strengthen the stomach and Reva leaves to stimulate appetite.
My mother hadn’t been eating well because of her illness.
Looking at the dead plants, my mother smiled quietly and spoke.
[Rottie, Salia grass really dislikes Reva leaves. Reva leaves always try to devour Salia grass. So, they can’t work together.]
[What should I do then? Should I use a different herb?]
[That would be nice, but if you really have to use the two together somehow…….]
I found myself once again listening to my mother’s words. She seemed to find me cute, and she gently patted my head with a smile.
Her touch was so comforting. I wished for her to keep patting me.
I felt myself getting more deeply absorbed in Mother’s words.
[When one finishes its task, let the other take over afterward.]
[So…… you’re telling me to use the salia grass first, then the reva leaves, but that’s not really mixing the two.]
[You got half of it right. I’ll show you later how to do that.]
Mother bent down to my eye level, her aquamarine eyes full of love.
Happy at the thought of doing it together later, I hugged my mother’s neck tightly and exclaimed,
[Yes, let’s do it! I’ll learn everything quickly to make you the best medicine!]
[…Thank you, Rottie. I’ll be waiting for that day.]
I can’t remember the look on my mother’s face at my words.
Only the momentary hesitation in her movements and the soft voice that answered after a short time remained in my memory.
But she couldn’t keep that promise.
My mother left me in no time.
‘It’s been a long time, really.’
As I watched Mother’s figure fade away, I gradually felt my consciousness returning to reality. The soft touch of the blanket and the cool morning air embraced me.
I vividly superimposed my mother’s face, which I had just seen, onto my darkened sight.
She hadn’t appeared in my dreams for a long time. If she scatters again, I have no assurance of when I could dream of her again.
“Is it because of the Emperor?”
Even though I knew there was no one to hear, I threw a question into the empty air.
My mind was filled with everything related to treating the Emperor, who suffers from the same disease as my mother.
So, memories of the past that I hadn’t dreamed of resurfaced subconsciously.
‘Perhaps she knew all along.’
Conventional medicine cannot cure the Mordheim poison, the disease she was suffering from.
Now that I think about it, it seems like she knew.
If only I had known a little more about medicine back then. Would things have turned out differently?
Erasing the meaningless question, I wiped away the tears that had unknowingly flowed. Unbeknownst to me, tears had moistened my cheeks.
“This is not the time for this.”
The Emperor was still racing against death at this very moment. After today’s seizure, the disease had likely progressed more than 90%.
I put on another gown over my negligee. And as I opened the bedroom door to step outside,.
“…Zenid?”
Zenid was standing quietly in front of my room.
Certainly, she wouldn’t be the night attendant guarding the bedroom today, but she was dressed in maid attire rather than casual clothes.
“Your Highness, where are you going this early morning?”
Zenid, too, widened her eyes as if surprised by my appearance.
“I woke up and was planning to go somewhere for a moment. Why are you here, Zenid? You’re not on duty today.”
“Yes, I wanted to stand here, so I switched.”
“I told you not to serve the early shift when you’re tired due to recent busy work.”
In response to my question, Zenid replied with a faint smile.
“I’m afraid Her Highness will be a little restless tonight.”
For a moment, the words to respond vanished from my mind.
Indeed, I was restless, dreaming of something dear, and unable to fall back asleep; wasn’t that why I came out to work?
‘It seems like she knows me better than I know myself.’
As I stayed silent, Zenid naturally stood behind me. Her determination to follow me was clearly evident.
“Always grateful, Zenid.”
“You’re welcome. By the way, where are you heading?”
A distant sound echoed through the quiet corridor.
Soon, the footsteps changed, and the surroundings brightened.
The scent of dawn wafted from the tilted silver moon. Shielding my eyes from the moonlight for a moment, I answered.
“To the Imperial Library.”
The Emperor’s final hours were set.
Before ‘the thing’ happened, I wanted to do a little more research. Maybe I could discover something better.
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
When I returned to Garnet Palace after daylight, Julion was waiting for me with Pailson.
“About what we were talking about last time…”
As he said that, Julion’s gaze shifted slightly to the side instead of meeting my eyes.
‘He seems a little awkward…’
After a moment’s puzzlement, I quickly focused on blocking out the sound due to my busy schedule.
The smoke from the sound-blocking pill cleared, and Julion spoke.
“We have three candidates: Lionel Crainet, Zeloy Pian, and Fabrio Tuken. Here are the details.”
Taking the papers from Julion, I leaned back on the couch.
These were faces I’d seen time and time again during my stay at the palace. Lionel Crainet had even come to me not long ago with a group of physicians.
“You mean to tell me that Roxis’s mole has been working as a physician for this long?”
I did my best to filter them out. Apparently, it still wasn’t enough. I think I’ll have to do another round of weeding out the spies, but Julion has an unexpected answer.
“It hasn’t been that long, a few months at most.”
“Yeah, but the one who’s been at the palace the least is Zeloy Pian, who’s in his fifth year.”
“At the Spring Banquet, there was an unidentified charred corpse.”
Julion suddenly brought up the incident of the spring banquet fire.
As I listened silently, he continued,
“We compared the list of palace residents and found all the missing persons were actually alive. So we thought that the arsonist might not have escaped and died, but…”
Pailson, who was standing nearby, handed me a second set of documents.
“Something seemed off, so we dug deeper. After the fire incident, there are a few individuals in the palace who, quite strangely, have secluded themselves, not interacting with their families outside. It’s as if they’ve changed completely.”
