“Kyle! Kyle!”
In a moment of panic, Edwin even forgot to ring the bell.
Fortunately, Kyle, who had been waiting outside the door, heard Edwin’s call and rushed in.
“What’s the matter?” Kyle asked, his usual laid-back demeanor completely gone.
Even Edwin, who had faced hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers without flinching, had raised his voice, which meant something serious had happened.
Edwin, seeing Kyle enter, first adjusted Lina’s posture, making sure she was comfortably settled on the sofa.
Then, in a low voice, he gave an order. “Miss Carolina Diaz drank wine laced with truth serum and fainted. Get the doctor immediately.”
“What? All of a sudden, why…?”
“I’ll explain everything once Miss Diaz wakes up. Now hurry.”
“Understood.”
Kyle dashed off to fetch the doctor who was stationed at the guild.
Edwin placed his fingers under Lina’s nose, checking for breath. Thankfully, it was faint but steady.
As Edwin clumsily checked her pulse, the door, disguised as part of the wall, opened, and Kyle returned with the doctor, Azela, who was slightly out of breath from running all the way from the lab.
“Miss Diaz drank wine mixed with a truth serum and suddenly fainted,” Edwin repeated the explanation he had given Kyle.
“How much did she drink?” Azela asked.
“She drank an entire bottle with about half the recommended dose.”
“That shouldn’t have been too much of a problem. The truth serum we use in the guild has very little toxicity.”
Azela took out a diagnostic magic tool and briefly examined Lina’s condition before announcing her findings.
“It seems the problem lies with the Blue Dragonfly Leaf used in the serum. This herb doesn’t agree with her, and the alcohol likely exacerbated the effects.”
As she jotted down notes, Azela added, “She has a rather rare constitution, this one.”
Relieved by Azela’s nonchalant tone, both Kyle and Edwin began to calm down.
“What’s the treatment?” Edwin asked.
“A bottle of antidote and a few days of rest should do the trick.”
“Will there be any lasting effects?”
“Unlikely.”
Azela, who had been scribbling notes, turned her attention to Edwin, seemingly surprised at his concern.
“This might be our fault,” Edwin muttered, almost defensively.
“It’s only right to take responsibility since our client ended up like this,” Kyle added, feeling somewhat sympathetic toward Lina, whom he had come to like after their shared coffee.
“True,” Azela agreed with a nod. “Luckily, I have one bottle of antidote left. It would have taken a long time to make a new batch.”
Azela soon returned from the lab with a small vial of light crimson liquid. Carefully, she fed Lina the antidote with a silver spoon, like one would administer medicine to a child.
The tiny vial, holding about two fingers’ worth of liquid, was quickly emptied.
After another scan with the diagnostic tool, Azela looked at Kyle and Edwin, saying, “She should wake up in about 30 minutes once the antidote takes effect. If anything happens, call me again. I’ll need to make more antidote, as this was the last one.”
Azela then disappeared back into her lab through the hidden door.
Kyle and Edwin stood around the sofa where Lina lay, preparing themselves for what would feel like a long 30 minutes.
* * *
It was only after I drank all the remaining wine that I realized it.
‘Was that poison?’
My vision became blurry, and my heartbeat alternated between racing and slowing down.
My body felt feverish, yet my fingertips were as cold as if they were submerged in ice water.
But I only noticed these symptoms for a brief moment before my consciousness faded.
I don’t know how much time passed before I was jolted awake by a sudden chill, as if I had been doused with ice water.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Everett and Kyle.
I was too close to the very people I suspected had poisoned me.
“Help me,” I tried to scream, but the sound that came out was soft, almost like a plea.
Everett and Kyle exchanged glances above me.
Kyle, the more easygoing of the two, tried to reassure me with a smile. “Relax, Miss Diaz. It was just an unfortunate accident.”
‘An accident? You mean they failed to kill me?’
“An accident? You mean they failed to kill me?” My thoughts slipped out as words.
“What is this? I wouldn’t say something like that in front of people who might have tried to kill me.”
It felt like my words were bypassing my brain altogether. I crossed my hands over my mouth to stop myself from speaking further.
“Oh dear, it seems the antidote hasn’t fully worked yet,” Kyle said, inspecting me with concern.
“Don’t worry, you’ll feel better soon.”
“What did you make me drink?”
The sound was slightly muffled since I was covering my mouth, but it was still loud enough for the two men to hear.
“It was a truth serum,” Everett, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.
“We still had questions about how you managed to contact the guild.”
“So you used a truth serum? Are you out of your mind? I thought I was going to die!”
Thankfully, both men pretended not to hear my critique of their choice of interrogation methods.
“No one in the guild has a record of contacting you. To build trust, we needed to clear up any doubts.”
“Well, that’s only natural.”
I bit down hard on my tongue to stop myself from revealing that I had reincarnated into a world from a book.
It would be better to endure a few days of discomfort while eating than to be treated like a lunatic.
“It’s not polite to press you for answers now, so let’s leave it be for the time being. Once you’ve calmed down, I’ll take you home to rest.”
It was a kind gesture on Everett’s part, given that I was still biting my tongue to keep from blurting out nonsense.
With Everett and Kyle gone, I was left alone in the small room.
“Almost bit off my tongue. Truth serum… this really is an intelligence guild.”
I felt like I had just stepped into a harsh reality.
“But they did give me an antidote.”
I began to feel slightly better, managing to keep most of my thoughts from slipping out as words, though not all.
I passed the time enduring the lingering effects of what felt like a mild hangover.
Knock, knock.
There was a light knock on the door leading to the café.
Worried I might start blurting things out again, I gave a short reply. The door opened, and Everett walked in.
“Feeling any better?”
“Giving me poison and then medicine….”
I quickly shut my mouth, but the critical part of my thoughts had already escaped.
Edwin chuckled softly. “You’ll be fully cured soon.”
Everett approached and extended his hand to help me up.
“It’s quite late, almost curfew. I can offer you a place to stay here, but I doubt you’d want that.”
‘That’s true.’
All I wanted was to lie down in my bed as soon as possible.
“Thank you, Sir Roxas.”
I placed my hand in Everett’s, and he led me out with surprising seriousness.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
“Did you just call me Roxas?”
There was a puzzled look in his eyes.
“Didn’t I?”
When I asked back, Everett chuckled.
“I think I know what’s going on. But it doesn’t really matter.”
“Sorry?”
“Nothing, just call me Sir Roxas from now on.”
What a strange man.
“Oh, alright. Sir Roxas.”
As we stepped out of the lit café, the streets were pitch black, with curfew just around the corner.
Even though I walked this path often, it felt strangely unfamiliar with not a soul in sight.
I glanced at Everett out of the corner of my eye as we walked slowly.
We had run out of things to talk about, and the silence between us grew awkward.
Everett was polite enough to answer my questions but remained mostly quiet.
After discussing how Connie was doing and when she might be released, we soon ran out of conversation topics, and the awkward silence returned.
Honestly, it was quite uncomfortable.
‘Oh, there’s Grizel Park.’
Luckily, it wasn’t long before I spotted the sign for Grizel Park.
We were almost home.
Noticing my face light up a bit, Everett chuckled softly.
“What’s so funny?”
“You seem to be scared of the dark streets but not of Grizel Park. That’s interesting.”
“If I were scared of Grizel Park, I wouldn’t live here.”
“I suppose there’s no one in your life who’d haunt your dreams.”
Everett’s comment was clearly meant as a light-hearted joke, but as the words lingered, they began to carry more weight.
Realizing the shift in tone, Everett’s expression grew a bit more serious.
