Chapter Sixty-four: The Reason for Fury
Karen left the sleeping Petra with Frank and went to look for Julius. He was in the hallway, looking down at the garden where they had dug up dandelions earlier. When he noticed Karen, he gave her a wry smile. He looked like his usual self, making the furious Julius from earlier seem like a dream—the contrast was striking.
“I don’t know if I should call it pathetic or I’m just merciless… I’ve been making all sorts of potions because I find the various effects interesting, including some silly ones, but… have you secretly been thinking I should make something more useful all this time?”
“Not at all. Those with the power to create valuable potions should be free to make whatever they wish. If others want those potions, they need only offer a price the maker desires.”
“I-I see…”
Karen nodded with a half-smile.
Though Petra didn’t appear weakened, she was supposedly suffering from poison. Seeing Julius corner a girl like that was somewhat different from how Karen had perceived him. Not that Karen had any right to talk after interrupting her request for a dance with him…
Looking at Karen, Julius lowered the corners of his eyebrows.
“Would you believe me if I said that was all an act?”
“An act?”
“I didn’t want Miss Petra to see my visit as a pleasant outcome of her using the poisonous face powder. She might continue using it just to have me come visit her again.”
“Oh… that makes sense.”
If Julius had left Petra with good memories, she might have continued using the poisonous face powder, making herself ill again to summon Karen and meet Julius once more.
“After being scolded so harshly by you, Master Julius, Lady Petra probably won’t use the powder again. Your harsh words were out of concern for her, right?”
Karen felt relieved.
For a girl that age, hearing such words from someone she liked could be traumatizing, but if it was for the sake of her health, it was a necessary evil.
“Although it was an act, there was some truth mixed in. However, if you were planning to continue making detoxification potions for Miss Petra’s beauty, I apologize for interfering.”
“No, I don’t want to make such futile potions either.”
Karen had no desire to engage in such pointless efforts. Like stacking stones at the riverbank of the dead—building up health only to have it repeatedly destroyed. She would refuse such work even if paid.
“Honestly, I sometimes feel guilty asking you to make sachets for me… I wonder if I’m wasting your time by relying on your potions when there are other solutions.”
“Please don’t worry about that—it’s my hobby.”
“Hahaha, a hobby, is it?”
In truth, it was also Karen’s strategy—using the potions as an excuse to maintain her connection with Julius. He had no reason to worry about it. Karen was in no position to blame Petra for trying to get Julius’s attention through illness.
Julius ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He wore a bitter smile.
“Merciless… Perhaps my personal feelings got mixed in, and I ended up being too cruel to Petra.”
Seeing Julius becoming depressed after quoting her words, Karen panicked.
“No! It was just my poor perception that I couldn’t grasp your intention! I think you only did what was necessary!”
“Do you think so…?”
As Karen worried about Julius’s gloomy expression, Frank approached them.
“Master Julius, I apologize for my rudeness earlier. I also apologize for the trouble caused to you, Lady Karen. I’m sorry you had to witness such an unsightly scene. Thank you for making the potion. I’ve confiscated Petra’s face powder, so we won’t need to call for you again.”
“I’m not sure how much help I actually was.”
Petra had appeared energetic throughout. Though she claimed the potion worked, she had seemed fine from the start, so it was unclear how much Karen’s potion had contributed. Still, given the dramatic effect of the potion, the poison must have accumulated in her body.
In response to Karen’s modest words, Frank slowly shook his head.
“Petra has certainly improved. You might not have noticed because she was putting on a brave face in front of Master Julius, but didn’t you notice how she wouldn’t listen no matter how many times I told her that Master Julius was merely escorting you? She might have seemed like a stubborn child, but that was because she couldn’t hear properly.”
“Ah…”
Karen had assumed Petra was simply strong-willed. That she didn’t listen because of her intense fixation—not because she could barely hear. The girl hadn’t appeared to be in such a terrible condition, but then Karen realized. Frank had said Petra was a patient person. That level of endurance, hiding her symptoms from Karen, might have been typical noble behavior, like what she had seen in Sieg.
“I felt deeply relieved when I saw Petra, exhausted from crying, finally asleep. After her magical power had drained from her body… she couldn’t move well, and couldn’t sleep at night.”
“Her magical power drained from her body?”
“Yes. When the body breaks down, that kind of thing can happen.”
Did mercury cause such symptoms? Could it drain magical power from the body? No, such a thing couldn’t possibly exist, Karen thought.
“…Could this symptom have been caused by some other poison besides the face powder?”
Frank looked puzzled but answered Karen’s question:
“It was definitely the face powder. The maids tested everything else. Only the face powder was untested because Petra refused to let them use even a speck of the precious cosmetic. My foolish sister has brought us nothing but shame.”
Karen looked at the face powder in Frank’s hand with a pale face. This powder certainly contained mercury, but Karen didn’t know the exact amount. What was certain was that it contained another poison that affected the body’s magical power.
If the most obvious symptom was the loss of magical power, then Petra might have been suffering from a different poison, not mercury.
When one regularly relied on magical power to move their body, losing that power made movement difficult. Since the advancement exam, Karen occasionally experimented with this and knew the feeling firsthand.
Magical power also made seeing and hearing easier.
If Petra had been living reliant on magical power, losing it would cause her to feel discomfort throughout her body, even pain.
This time, perhaps the other poison had been flushed out by the potion Karen made. The possibility that she had given Petra the potion for entirely wrong reasons, based on superficial knowledge, made Karen’s skin crawl.
“Lady Karen, thank you for your help.”
“…I’m glad if I was able to be of assistance.”
Frank bowed deeply.
Karen looked at his bowed head with a bitter feeling.
Having helped only by sheer coincidence, she felt no sense of accomplishment and broke into a cold sweat.
Her heart was pounding rapidly.
She needed to study more. She wanted to study.
She couldn’t relearn the knowledge from her previous life. So, she needed more knowledge from this world.
Just reading papers wasn’t enough. There wasn’t enough time.
So what should Karen do—
Next, Frank turned to Julius.
“Our parents died in battle while performing their duties as knights when Petra was young. Since then, we’ve been exempted from fighting as heirs. Because of that, Petra has never truly known those who risk their lives in battle… I should have educated her better. I apologize for causing you discomfort because of my ignorant sister’s foolish words.”
“I accept your apology, Frank. However, my use of unnecessarily harsh words was my fault. I’m sorry.”
“No. Thank you for strictly reprimanding my sister. Now she’ll never think of getting that face powder again. Though it’s embarrassing to admit, my sister is quite stubborn, so this was helpful.”
Even from Frank’s perspective, it seemed that Julius had been stern for Petra’s sake.
Karen had simply misunderstood.
About the poison, and about Julius.
—Trying to suppress her racing emotions, Karen pressed her clenched fist against her chest.
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