Chapter Twenty-five: The Ruined Potion
“It was definitely a potion when I made it. Did someone add something to it?”
“Sara, spit it out right now!”
Sieg jumped up from his seat with a clatter and shouted. Sara covered her mouth.
Helfried also stood up and raised his voice:
“Seize everyone in the kitchen and everyone involved in serving the food immediately!”
“Sara, come this way.”
Before anyone realized it, Sophie escorted a pale-faced Sara to the adjacent room, supporting her by the shoulders.
Karen watched the scene unfold in a daze, still seated in her chair.
“Karen, when a potion is ruined, it means someone added something extra to it.”
Julius, sitting beside Karen, explained to her, who was still unsure of what had happened. When she looked up at Julius with sudden realization, he was glaring at the pot of curry with a stern expression, his brow furrowed.
“A non-magical poison…”
Hearing Sara’s pained voice coming from the adjacent room where the door was left wide open, Karen stood up and rushed over.
“Ms. Sara!”
“Ms. Karen, could you please watch over Sara? I must attend to controlling the situation in the mansion.”
“Yes, Lady Alise.”
Karen entered the waiting room, switching places with Alise who had been watching over Sara. Alise spoke in a dignified voice:
“Do we have any antidote potions?”
“We should have some in stock.”
“Sara, as you heard, we have antidote potions, so don’t worry.”
Karen repeated what Julius had said to reassure Sara.
It seemed Helfried, who had left the dining hall to issue orders, had returned, as his voice could be heard.
“We’ve caught some suspicious individuals. However—”
What followed were family and personal names, which Karen barely heard.
Karen removed the pin from her own hair and tied up Sara’s hair so it wouldn’t fall into the washbasin as she vomited.
“Thank you… Lady Karen…”
“Don’t worry about that, just focus on getting it all out. Let me know if you sense anything unusual!”
“I need to describe the symptoms… precisely… right?”
It was something Karen had drilled into Sieg countless times before. Sara spoke while breathing heavily, perhaps from continuous vomiting.
“At first… I had to force myself to throw up… by putting my finger in my throat… but now… I’m starting to feel nauseous… and can vomit… naturally…”
“That can’t be…”
Karen wanted to believe it was nothing serious, that something harmless had just mixed in and made the curry lose its potion properties. But the fact that Sara was feeling nauseous meant that she had truly been poisoned.
“Sara, a knight has brought the antidote potion. Drink this.”
Sophie helped Sara drink the antidote potion. Although her breathing seemed to ease slightly, her distressed condition remained unchanged.
Sophie’s brow furrowed deeply.
“Non-magical poisons are truly upsetting.”
“Does the potion not work on non-magical poison?”
“Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. The poison consuming Sara’s body must be one that the antidote potion doesn’t recognize as poison.”
“That can’t be…”
“Still, a potion that is lethal should be defined by the antidote as a poison and still be neutralized, even if it is made from non-magical ingredients.”
With those words, Sophie gently laid Sara back on the bed after helping her drink the potion.
She seemed experienced with this type of poison.
In a world where antidote potions exist, it was no surprise that poisons designed to counteract them were also prevalent.
Now Karen understood why Sieg had found it hard to trust her. She understood well why Helfried had been wary of Karen’s potions back then.
“I’m sorry. If only I could make a potion that could neutralize non-magical poisons…”
“Karen, you have your own ways of being helpful, so there’s no need to blame yourself.”
“Master Sieg.”
Sieg entered the waiting room from the dining hall, perhaps to check on Sara’s condition.
As the door opened, the curry’s aroma tickled Karen’s nose, and just as she felt frustrated that something so poisoned could smell so delicious—she jumped up as she remembered.
“The panacea! There was a panacea!”
“Karen? What are you talking about—?”
“Master Sieg, the curry actually turned into a panacea! You know, when I added that final secret ingredient!”
“Um…?”
Sieg, whom Karen had expected to be delighted, was looking at her with a puzzled expression.
“Could you be mistaken, Karen?”
“Calm down, Karen. It’s understandable that you’re feeling shaken right now, but…”
Helfried and Alise called out concernedly from the dining hall. They didn’t seem to believe at all that Karen’s curry had become a panacea.
Based on their reactions, her guess that she just didn’t know a panacea could be made due to restricted information seemed to be wrong.
The looks on their faces indicated that such a reaction was expected if Karen had claimed to produce something she shouldn’t be able to make.
Sieg also said with a troubled expression:
“Even if it had become a panacea, it’s already been tampered with, right?”
“There’s a pot I set aside for Sara! I’ll go get it!”
“I’ll come with you.”
“Master Julius!”
When Karen rushed out to the dining hall, Julius came with her.
“You don’t believe me, do you?”
“No, I think it wouldn’t be surprising if you were capable of making it.”
Thinking rationally, what Karen was saying was absurd, and believing it would be even more so. So Karen thought Julius was probably just extending such courtesy. Even if that was the case, it was reassuring at a time like this. She felt her eyes welling up with gratitude.
“Thank you, Master Julius.”
“Let’s hurry, Karen.”
“Yes!”
Karen lifted her dress and ran.
As she fully utilized the dress designed for easy movement, she decided to believe her racing heartbeat was just from running.
Ah... not expired then, it was tampered.
ReplyDelete