"Yes, yes?"
Kobe opened his eyes wide in surprise at Adele's sudden words.
Then Adele tilted her head.
“Why are you so surprised? Are you afraid I might have given you poison?”
...Yes. I gave him poison.
Kobe swallowed the words rolling around in his mouth.
He said he didn't know what the drug was because he knew that telling the truth would be digging his own grave.
As Kobe sat there silently, Adele smiled kindly and said,
“Don’t worry. This isn’t poison, it’s medicine.”
“...”
“So drink.”
What should I do? Should I drink it?
Kobe hesitated for a moment but eventually decided to drink it.
Because there was no other way to avoid her suspicion.
Kobe knew something was wrong from the moment he heard from Jis that Adele was looking for him.
But the reason he was able to act so shamelessly was because there was no clear evidence that he had done such a thing.
When looking at Adele's actions, it seemed like she had a suspicion, but she couldn't point to himself as the culprit based on that suspicion alone.
'I guess I'll get kicked out of here.'
It was a bit disappointing to be kicked out after having worked so hard to become Jis' disciple, but it didn't matter.
Because he can just go somewhere else.
“Okay, I’ll drink it.”
To end up being kicked out, Kobe decided to take the medicine to minimize the possibility that he was the culprit.
In any case, not only does he have the antidote, but the poison inside doesn't cause any problems even if he drinks it once.
First, drink the medicine, then go back to his room and take the antidote right away.
After finishing the calculation in his head, Kobe took a cool sip of the medicine.
"Ah."
Adele, who had been staring blankly at Kobe, suddenly let out an exclamation as if a memory had occurred to her.
“Do you know anything about that, Kobe?”
Kobe, who had emptied the bottle cleanly, wiped the residue from his lips and looked at Adele.
Adele continued, looking at Kobe with cold eyes.
“There’s ‘Fantasia’ in it.”
“...!”
Fantasia.
By itself, it has no effect, but when mixed with poison, it amplifies the poison's effect.
When mixed with the poison Fantasia, which is so weak that it cannot even kill a single ant, its effectiveness increases several times over and it can easily kill an elephant.
But there's Fantasia in this?
Now that he thinks about it, he only took some medicine, but his heart seemed to be beating faster than before.
He thinks it might hurt a little.
“Ugh, ugh.”
Realizing that fact, Kobe leaned forward, clutching his chest.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe and he felt the blood in his body running cold.
The shadow of death seemed to loom before his eyes.
If he doesn't take the antidote quickly, he'll die.
Kobe's mind went blank and filled with that thought. He desperately needed the antidote in his bedroom drawer.
Kobe tried to leave the room on his wobbly legs, but he couldn't.
Dulkerdang-
“!”
Because the door was locked from the outside. He pulled with all his might to open it, but the thick door wouldn't budge.
“Open it!”
Boom bang-
Kobe banged on the door loudly and shouted.
“I said open it! I have to take the antidote! Right now...!”
“It’s an antidote.”
For a moment, a chilling voice was heard from behind him, sending shivers down his spine.
Kobe, who looked back absentmindedly, froze as he met the cold eyes that seemed to pierce through him.
Adele asked, crossing her legs and tilting her head slightly.
“I clearly said it was a tonic, so why are you looking for an antidote?”
Cold sweat ran down Kobe's round face.
Kobe just said whatever came to his mind.
“That, that, I, I have a Fantasia allergy...”
Adele's lips tilted slanted.
“Fantasia allergy. Is this the first time I’ve heard of it?”
Of course. Because such an allergy doesn't exist in the world.
“Oh, it’s a very special allergy, so you might not know about it, Miss.”
But to survive, he had no choice but to lie and say he had it.
Anyway, Adele wouldn't know since she's not a pharmacist or a doctor.
“This, this allergy is very dangerous, so I have to take medicine quickly. Otherwise, I, I’ll die.”
His heart was pounding like it had just run a marathon. Kobe said earnestly, feeling like his heart would burst and he would die if he kept going like this.
“So please let me take the antidote, miss.”
“Oh, is there an antidote?”
“Yes, yes. It’s in my room!”
"Right."
Adele smiled, stood up, and grabbed the rope next to her bed.
Then a door that seemed like it would never open opened.
Kobe suddenly stood up and tried to leave.
Kwajik-
“Ugh!”
Instead of going out, he was caught by Aldor who opened the door and came in and was forced to bang his head against the wall.
He felt like his skull was shaking because he hit it so hard.
"May."
Adele didn't even look at Kobe and called out to May, who was standing behind Aldor.
“Yes, Miss! I will find the antidote and bring it to you right away!”
May, who had heard their entire conversation with Aldor outside, ran towards Kobe's room.
A heavy silence fell over the room as the sound of running from the hallway disappeared.
“Ugh, ugh-.”
Meanwhile, Kobe was gasping for breath as if he was going to die at any moment.
Adele saw that and said with a small laugh.
“It’s a lie that the medicine you drank contained Fantasia.”
"...Yes?"
“That’s a lie. I didn’t hear that. Instead, there’s a drug in it that makes your heart beat faster.”
There was silence again.
Kobe's face turned pale as he realized half a beat too late that he had fallen into a trap.
Kobe wanted to run away, but he couldn't because Aldor was holding his head.
“Lord Aldor. Let him go.”
At Adele's command, Aldor let go of Kobe and stepped back.
Kobe's legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor, unable to stand up straight.
Adele approached him and asked, pushing the empty bottle of medicine that Kobe had used in front of his eyes.
“I ask again, Kobe Alstein. Do you know what’s in this?”
Unlike before, Kobe kept his mouth shut like a mute who had eaten honey.
At this moment, Adele sighed as if she was annoyed.
“...!”
Aldor stuck his sword between Kobe's legs.
Kobe's body trembled like an aspen tree at the thought that if the sword had been just a little higher, his precious body would have been blown off.
“You are the only child that Count Alstein has.”
What was even more creepy was that Adele's voice was gentler than ever.
“But how sad Count Alstein would be if you became disabled.”
As if she was genuinely concerned about Kobe.
“I have one last question for you, Kobe Alstein.”
Aldor grabbed the sword hilt.
As the floor was scraped, the sharp blade gradually rose upward.
“Do you know anything about this vial?”
The moment when he feels a sharp sensation in a precious part.
“Oh, Her Majesty the Empress ordered it! To put poison in the medicine that His Highness Prince Perdes was to take!”
Kobe panicked and told everything he knew.
The only information that could be obtained by questioning Kobe was that the Empress was behind this incident.
Kobe had no idea why she did this.
It was natural for him not to know, since in chess terms, he was a pawn that could be discarded at any time.
After confessing everything, Kobe begged and pleaded for his life.
It's noisy.
As I glanced at Kobe out of the corner of my eye, Lord Aldor struck Kobe on the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious.
And then Aldor grabbed him by the scruff of the neck like he was a rabbit and asked me.
"What should I do?"
“Put him away somewhere. We might need him later.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Leaving Kobe's aftermath to Lord Aldor, I headed to Perdes' bedroom.
In his bedroom were Jack, May, and his doctor.
I sent Jack and May out and asked the attending physician.
“What is the condition of Perdes?”
“Thanks to the antidote, he is feeling much better. If he is feeling this way, he should wake up within a few hours.”
"Is it so?"
Thank goodness. I looked down at Perdes with a deep sense of relief in my heart.
Certainly, his complexion looked better than before.
Even breathing seemed much easier.
“I, Miss...”
The attending physician called me cautiously, watching me closely.
He might be wondering if Kobe Alstein is really the culprit.
As I nodded silently, the attending physician's expression darkened rapidly.
He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then asked me again.
“Now... what happens to Kobe?”
“Well, I’m not a Supreme Court Justice so I can’t say for sure, but I think he’ll probably die.”
Because Perdes was a Prince.
Since he dared to poison the Prince, Kobe, his father, and all of his immediate family will die.
The doctor's face darkened even more after hearing my answer.
Even though Kobe betrayed him, he was a dear assistant, so it seems he is sad to see him die.
But he never asked me to spare Kobe's life or forgive his sins.
“If anything comes up, I’ll call you back, so go now, Doctor.”
"... Yes."
After I had even consulted the attending physician, I sat at the bedside and thought of the Empress.
Kobe didn't tell me why the Empress did this, but it wasn't hard to guess.
'It must be because of Pura.'
The finances at Max's top were in serious trouble because I cut off both her arms.
She's barely managed to get by with the money she's earned and the small businesses she's started, but since she can't run her main business of selling magic tools, she's going to go bankrupt soon.
When the Max top collapsed, the financial line was cut off, which was a blow to the Marquis of Prasis as well as the Empress and the Crown Prince.
Because it took a lot of money to recruit nobles.
So the Empress gave this advice.
If I hadn't figured out that Kobe Alstein was the culprit.
So if Kobi Alstein succeeded in hiding the dried ethos, I had no choice but to ask for help from Max Top, or more precisely, the Marquis of Prasis.
Because Ethos was a specialty product that could only be found in the Prasis territory.
Without it, the antidote cannot be made, so the Empress seems to have tried to use it to trade Pura again, but it is impossible.
“Phew.”
I sighed deeply and looked up at the ceiling.
I had no intention of fighting the Empress head-on.
Just fighting the Emperor was burdensome.
Anyway, the Empress was going to fall apart on her own once the Crown Prince died, so I was going to just cut off both of her arms and stay still...
“If it comes to this, I won’t stay still any longer, Your Majesty.”
Kobe opened his eyes wide in surprise at Adele's sudden words.
Then Adele tilted her head.
“Why are you so surprised? Are you afraid I might have given you poison?”
...Yes. I gave him poison.
Kobe swallowed the words rolling around in his mouth.
He said he didn't know what the drug was because he knew that telling the truth would be digging his own grave.
As Kobe sat there silently, Adele smiled kindly and said,
“Don’t worry. This isn’t poison, it’s medicine.”
“...”
“So drink.”
What should I do? Should I drink it?
Kobe hesitated for a moment but eventually decided to drink it.
Because there was no other way to avoid her suspicion.
Kobe knew something was wrong from the moment he heard from Jis that Adele was looking for him.
But the reason he was able to act so shamelessly was because there was no clear evidence that he had done such a thing.
When looking at Adele's actions, it seemed like she had a suspicion, but she couldn't point to himself as the culprit based on that suspicion alone.
'I guess I'll get kicked out of here.'
It was a bit disappointing to be kicked out after having worked so hard to become Jis' disciple, but it didn't matter.
Because he can just go somewhere else.
“Okay, I’ll drink it.”
To end up being kicked out, Kobe decided to take the medicine to minimize the possibility that he was the culprit.
In any case, not only does he have the antidote, but the poison inside doesn't cause any problems even if he drinks it once.
First, drink the medicine, then go back to his room and take the antidote right away.
After finishing the calculation in his head, Kobe took a cool sip of the medicine.
"Ah."
Adele, who had been staring blankly at Kobe, suddenly let out an exclamation as if a memory had occurred to her.
“Do you know anything about that, Kobe?”
Kobe, who had emptied the bottle cleanly, wiped the residue from his lips and looked at Adele.
Adele continued, looking at Kobe with cold eyes.
“There’s ‘Fantasia’ in it.”
“...!”
Fantasia.
By itself, it has no effect, but when mixed with poison, it amplifies the poison's effect.
When mixed with the poison Fantasia, which is so weak that it cannot even kill a single ant, its effectiveness increases several times over and it can easily kill an elephant.
But there's Fantasia in this?
Now that he thinks about it, he only took some medicine, but his heart seemed to be beating faster than before.
He thinks it might hurt a little.
“Ugh, ugh.”
Realizing that fact, Kobe leaned forward, clutching his chest.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe and he felt the blood in his body running cold.
The shadow of death seemed to loom before his eyes.
If he doesn't take the antidote quickly, he'll die.
Kobe's mind went blank and filled with that thought. He desperately needed the antidote in his bedroom drawer.
Kobe tried to leave the room on his wobbly legs, but he couldn't.
Dulkerdang-
“!”
Because the door was locked from the outside. He pulled with all his might to open it, but the thick door wouldn't budge.
“Open it!”
Boom bang-
Kobe banged on the door loudly and shouted.
“I said open it! I have to take the antidote! Right now...!”
“It’s an antidote.”
For a moment, a chilling voice was heard from behind him, sending shivers down his spine.
Kobe, who looked back absentmindedly, froze as he met the cold eyes that seemed to pierce through him.
Adele asked, crossing her legs and tilting her head slightly.
“I clearly said it was a tonic, so why are you looking for an antidote?”
Cold sweat ran down Kobe's round face.
Kobe just said whatever came to his mind.
“That, that, I, I have a Fantasia allergy...”
Adele's lips tilted slanted.
“Fantasia allergy. Is this the first time I’ve heard of it?”
Of course. Because such an allergy doesn't exist in the world.
“Oh, it’s a very special allergy, so you might not know about it, Miss.”
But to survive, he had no choice but to lie and say he had it.
Anyway, Adele wouldn't know since she's not a pharmacist or a doctor.
“This, this allergy is very dangerous, so I have to take medicine quickly. Otherwise, I, I’ll die.”
His heart was pounding like it had just run a marathon. Kobe said earnestly, feeling like his heart would burst and he would die if he kept going like this.
“So please let me take the antidote, miss.”
“Oh, is there an antidote?”
“Yes, yes. It’s in my room!”
"Right."
Adele smiled, stood up, and grabbed the rope next to her bed.
Then a door that seemed like it would never open opened.
Kobe suddenly stood up and tried to leave.
Kwajik-
“Ugh!”
Instead of going out, he was caught by Aldor who opened the door and came in and was forced to bang his head against the wall.
He felt like his skull was shaking because he hit it so hard.
"May."
Adele didn't even look at Kobe and called out to May, who was standing behind Aldor.
“Yes, Miss! I will find the antidote and bring it to you right away!”
May, who had heard their entire conversation with Aldor outside, ran towards Kobe's room.
A heavy silence fell over the room as the sound of running from the hallway disappeared.
“Ugh, ugh-.”
Meanwhile, Kobe was gasping for breath as if he was going to die at any moment.
Adele saw that and said with a small laugh.
“It’s a lie that the medicine you drank contained Fantasia.”
"...Yes?"
“That’s a lie. I didn’t hear that. Instead, there’s a drug in it that makes your heart beat faster.”
There was silence again.
Kobe's face turned pale as he realized half a beat too late that he had fallen into a trap.
Kobe wanted to run away, but he couldn't because Aldor was holding his head.
“Lord Aldor. Let him go.”
At Adele's command, Aldor let go of Kobe and stepped back.
Kobe's legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor, unable to stand up straight.
Adele approached him and asked, pushing the empty bottle of medicine that Kobe had used in front of his eyes.
“I ask again, Kobe Alstein. Do you know what’s in this?”
Unlike before, Kobe kept his mouth shut like a mute who had eaten honey.
At this moment, Adele sighed as if she was annoyed.
“...!”
Aldor stuck his sword between Kobe's legs.
Kobe's body trembled like an aspen tree at the thought that if the sword had been just a little higher, his precious body would have been blown off.
“You are the only child that Count Alstein has.”
What was even more creepy was that Adele's voice was gentler than ever.
“But how sad Count Alstein would be if you became disabled.”
As if she was genuinely concerned about Kobe.
“I have one last question for you, Kobe Alstein.”
Aldor grabbed the sword hilt.
As the floor was scraped, the sharp blade gradually rose upward.
“Do you know anything about this vial?”
The moment when he feels a sharp sensation in a precious part.
“Oh, Her Majesty the Empress ordered it! To put poison in the medicine that His Highness Prince Perdes was to take!”
Kobe panicked and told everything he knew.
***
The only information that could be obtained by questioning Kobe was that the Empress was behind this incident.
Kobe had no idea why she did this.
It was natural for him not to know, since in chess terms, he was a pawn that could be discarded at any time.
After confessing everything, Kobe begged and pleaded for his life.
It's noisy.
As I glanced at Kobe out of the corner of my eye, Lord Aldor struck Kobe on the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious.
And then Aldor grabbed him by the scruff of the neck like he was a rabbit and asked me.
"What should I do?"
“Put him away somewhere. We might need him later.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Leaving Kobe's aftermath to Lord Aldor, I headed to Perdes' bedroom.
In his bedroom were Jack, May, and his doctor.
I sent Jack and May out and asked the attending physician.
“What is the condition of Perdes?”
“Thanks to the antidote, he is feeling much better. If he is feeling this way, he should wake up within a few hours.”
"Is it so?"
Thank goodness. I looked down at Perdes with a deep sense of relief in my heart.
Certainly, his complexion looked better than before.
Even breathing seemed much easier.
“I, Miss...”
The attending physician called me cautiously, watching me closely.
He might be wondering if Kobe Alstein is really the culprit.
As I nodded silently, the attending physician's expression darkened rapidly.
He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then asked me again.
“Now... what happens to Kobe?”
“Well, I’m not a Supreme Court Justice so I can’t say for sure, but I think he’ll probably die.”
Because Perdes was a Prince.
Since he dared to poison the Prince, Kobe, his father, and all of his immediate family will die.
The doctor's face darkened even more after hearing my answer.
Even though Kobe betrayed him, he was a dear assistant, so it seems he is sad to see him die.
But he never asked me to spare Kobe's life or forgive his sins.
“If anything comes up, I’ll call you back, so go now, Doctor.”
"... Yes."
After I had even consulted the attending physician, I sat at the bedside and thought of the Empress.
Kobe didn't tell me why the Empress did this, but it wasn't hard to guess.
'It must be because of Pura.'
The finances at Max's top were in serious trouble because I cut off both her arms.
She's barely managed to get by with the money she's earned and the small businesses she's started, but since she can't run her main business of selling magic tools, she's going to go bankrupt soon.
When the Max top collapsed, the financial line was cut off, which was a blow to the Marquis of Prasis as well as the Empress and the Crown Prince.
Because it took a lot of money to recruit nobles.
So the Empress gave this advice.
If I hadn't figured out that Kobe Alstein was the culprit.
So if Kobi Alstein succeeded in hiding the dried ethos, I had no choice but to ask for help from Max Top, or more precisely, the Marquis of Prasis.
Because Ethos was a specialty product that could only be found in the Prasis territory.
Without it, the antidote cannot be made, so the Empress seems to have tried to use it to trade Pura again, but it is impossible.
“Phew.”
I sighed deeply and looked up at the ceiling.
I had no intention of fighting the Empress head-on.
Just fighting the Emperor was burdensome.
Anyway, the Empress was going to fall apart on her own once the Crown Prince died, so I was going to just cut off both of her arms and stay still...
“If it comes to this, I won’t stay still any longer, Your Majesty.”
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