Chapter Twenty-six: Proof of Detoxification
Just as Karen was about to push open the kitchen door in the east wing as usual, she was suddenly pulled back by her waist.
The door, which Karen hadn’t yet pushed, opened from the inside, and Karen’s eyes met those of a burly man trying to exit. A cook by his attire, with bloodshot eyes―and a dagger in his hand.
The tip of the blade was aimed directly at Karen.
In an instant Karen realized it, Julius’s sword had already pierced the man’s shoulder.
The man had pulled back his shoulder to dodge, which was the only reason the sword hadn’t pierced his heart.
Still, the shoulder wound was severe.
Just as Karen felt relief that it was over, Julius threw her aside.
“Kyaa!?”
“UGGHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
The man let out a bestial roar. Something shattered immediately after.
Then came the metallic clash of blades.
Karen quickly got up where she had been thrown.
At first, she thought dust was floating in the air, but she soon realized it was different.
High-density particles of magical power were sparkling as they drifted about.
In the midst of it, despite bleeding from his left shoulder, the man showed no sign of pain as he held the dagger in his right hand.
His left arm hung limply―the injury was clearly not superficial.
The man was grinning, which sent chills down Karen’s spine.
Julius faced the man with his sword raised and said to Karen without turning:
“Karen, get what we came for and go back ahead.”
“I can’t leave you here, Master Julius!”
“Sara is waiting, isn’t she? Besides, having you here would be troublesome.”
Karen immediately understood he had a point.
Though Julius was too considerate to say it, she would just be in the way.
“I’ll call the knights!”
“Yes, do that―I’ll be in trouble if reinforcements don’t arrive soon.”
Julius was unscathed, armed with a sword, and strong enough to win sword fighting tournaments, plus Karen the liability was about to leave―so why?
Puzzled Karen looked up at Julius’s face and gasped.
“Don’t look, Karen.”
Julius was smiling as he said this, with a fierce look on his face as if he were gritting his teeth.
While Julius kept the man occupied, Karen pulled out the pot she had hidden in the kitchen cabinet and ran back to the dining hall.
On her way back, without stopping, she called out to a knight: “There’s a suspicious person in the east wing kitchen and Master Julius is engaged in combat!”
“Understood!" the knight shouted back, and Karen could hear him spring into action immediately.
Karen neither looked back nor responded as she had already passed him, hurrying to Sara with the pot in hand. Upon entering the dining hall, Karen noticed Helfried and Alise were gone, presumably carrying out their respective duties. When Karen came into the adjoining room with the pot, Sieg was already there holding an appraisal mirror.
“Master Sieg, please appraise this.”
“Got it.”
Sieg appraised the pot’s contents with the mirror and smiled.
“It’s a minor panacea. I’ll feed it to Sara!”
“We couldn’t possibly let you do such a thing, Master Sieg.”
“Sophie, help support Sara. I’m not strong enough to do that.”
Surely, this wasn’t something Sieg should be doing.
Karen reached out to do it herself but noticed her hands were trembling violently and withdrew them. She became aware that her whole body had begun to pound like one big heart. Karen had just nearly been killed. Her mind and body were finally catching up to that fact. She was in no condition to help properly.
Karen watched as Sophie supported Sara’s body while Sieg spooned curry to Sara’s lips.
But she wasn’t just watching idly. Her mind was racing. This was the panacea she had made. Would it work on Sara? Even if it worked, would it be enough? It was specifically labeled as "minor"―if it wasn’t enough, she’d have to make more. But she wasn’t confident she could recreate it. Yet she had to. She would have to make an even more potent panacea.
After about five spoonfuls, Sara opened her purple eyes. She carefully sat up on her own from where Sophie had been supporting her and bowed apologetically to Sieg who had been feeding her.
“Ms. Sara! Are you alright?”
“As expected of your potion, Lady Karen. The discomfort in my body is gone.”
“Thank goodness, Ms. Sara…!”
“Lady Karen, would it be alright if Master Sieg had the rest?”
“Of course, but was Master Sieg exposed to the poison too?”
As Karen panicked at the thought that they had let him help despite that, Sara shook her head.
“For years now, he has been drinking things that we couldn’t even be sure were poison or medicine, never complaining no matter the taste.”
With that, Sara turned back to Sieg.
“Now, please eat the potion Lady Karen made.”
“…Is it really okay to use such a precious potion? Karen?”
“Of course, Master Sieg. I made it for you, after all.”
“You just wanted to eat it yourself, didn’t you?”
Karen couldn’t help but laugh at being seen through.
“I’ll make more, so please eat it.”
“…Thank you, Karen.”
Sieg smiled and began to eat.
Sara, conscious of her dirty appearance, tried to step back and stumbled. As Karen approached to support her, Sara said:
“You may not know this, Lady Karen, but there was once a terrible person who tried to profit by giving Master Sieg a harmful drug that only made him appear healthy.”
This was most likely the story Karen had heard from Sieg himself. It was about a doctor who had given Sieg medicine that only made him appear cured, told when Sara wasn’t present. In the end, the deception was exposed and Helfried dealt with it.
“Because I failed in my duty as a food taster, Master Sieg had to take an antidote potion. Even then, the harmful effects of that drug on his body never completely disappeared.”
The antidote potion wasn’t omnipotent. It didn’t work on Sara and apparently hadn’t worked on Sieg either. While wondering what it actually did work on, Karen listened to Sara’s words.
“I was always worried. Even after Master Sieg’s condition improved, I couldn’t stop worrying.”
“It’s a panacea, but marked as ‘minor.’ Will it cure him?”
Sara leaned close to Karen and whispered in her ear.
“For the past few years, my body had felt increasingly heavy from the food testing, but now it feels light.”
Karen gasped as she looked at Sara’s face.
If Sieg had been poisoned, then Sara, who had been tasting his food, must have been affected by the same poisons.
Since Sara was keeping her voice down to hide this fact from Sieg, Karen swallowed the words that were rising in her throat.
And if Sara’s body was feeling better, then―!
“Since it’s your potion, I’m sure it will cure him.”
Just as Sara said this with gentle eyes, they heard someone sniffling, and both Sara and Karen turned to look.
“Master Sieg!? What’s wrong!?”
“Is there something wrong with my potion…!?”
Sieg, who had been crying while holding the small pot of curry, raised his reddened face.
“It’s still way too spicy! I couldn’t tell when I just tasted a little bit! It’s delicious but…!”
Karen couldn’t help but laugh at Sieg’s complaints as he continued eating through his tears.
As she laughed, tears began to fall.
Next to her, Sara also started crying, and before they knew it, Karen and Sara were holding hands and crying together.
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