Chapter 107: Sorrow
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 107: Sorrow
“Thanks to Your Highness, it was a truly wonderful banquet. Thank you once again for your hospitality.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Please, everyone, get some rest and recover from your journey.”
“I will show you the way.”
I watched as Perel led the delegation out of the banquet hall.
The moment the door clicked shut—thud—my legs gave out, and I collapsed.
Whitley and Tiern rushed over to support me.
“The mage! Get the mage!”
Enolius, who had been waiting in the adjacent room, and Hosen, the personal physician, came sprinting inside.
The delegation had stayed in the banquet hall for another hour and a half. By the end, my mind was so hazy I didn’t even know what I was saying. It felt as if someone were stabbing my stomach repeatedly; I honestly just wanted to pass out.
In my semi-conscious state, I was laid down on several chairs that had been pushed together. Enolius knelt before me.
“Your Highness, please bear with it just a little longer.”
Cecilia, who had appeared at my side at some point, took my hand, her voice trembling. “You’ll be alright soon.”
Fortunately, Enolius’s recovery magic seemed to be working, as the pain slowly began to subside. Only then did my surroundings gradually come into focus.
Enolius, Hosen, Cecilia, Whitley, and even Tiern, who had been standing guard—they were all surrounding me, watching with eyes full of worry.
Magic really is a wonderful thing.
“Wow... I thought I was going to die.”
Hearing me say I thought I was dying actually seemed to reassure them, as they all let out small sighs of relief.
“Lying here like this, it feels like you’re all looking down into my grave.”
“How can you say such a thing!” Cecilia cried out, her voice thick with emotion. “Do you have any idea how anxious we were in the next room?”
As Enolius stood up, Hosen, the physician, seemed eager to show he was doing something as well. He quickly sat down to examine me.
“It is a relief that you have recovered this much. The head chef nearly lost his mind.”
“Berni did?”
Well, the head chef would have tasted the sauce too. Hosen nodded in response to my questioning look.
“The mage cast recovery magic on him immediately.”
“What on earth was in that sauce?”
Hosen, who hadn’t been able to help with the treatment, finally found his chance to speak as a physician and spoke up enthusiastically.
“It’s called Black Caribane. It’s a poisonous herb that causes vomiting and abdominal pain.”
He explained in detail that while it was very difficult to identify what had been mixed into the sauce, he had found some leftover powder on the kitchen counter.
“If we hadn’t known, everyone would have just assumed it was food poisoning.”
“That’s a stroke of luck.”
“The pain must have been excruciating. How did you endure it?” Hosen asked, his voice laced with concern, noting that Black Caribane was one of the more toxic herbs of its kind. “You must rest for the remainder of the day. Your body may have recovered, but your mind will be exhausted from the prolonged physical suffering.”
“I should do that.”
Now that the situation was settled, a sense of sorrow finally began to well up within me. No matter how difficult my life had been before I possessed this body, I never imagined a situation where someone would actually feed me poison. To experience something I’d only ever seen in romance fantasy novels...
My throat tightened at the miserable thought.
But looking at the worried faces before me, I could only say I was fine. These were people I had to show a reliable side to, not people I could act spoiled with.
Slam!
The doors to the banquet hall swung open. At the sound of heavy, purposeful footsteps, the people surrounding me quickly moved aside.
I turned my head to see who it was. Standing there was the face I wanted to see most at this very moment.
*
Loik forced a smile as he approached Annette. His heart ached at the sight of her pale face brightening when she saw him.
“I’m back, Annette.”
“How did you get here so fast?”
She had expected him tomorrow at the earliest. Seeing Annette’s voice rise slightly in surprise, Loik knelt on one knee beside her to meet her eyes.
I should have hurried more.
He had ridden for hours without rest. Eventually, he had left the others behind and galloped on alone. He felt Norton and a few other knights gritting their teeth as they struggled to keep up, but he ignored them and pushed his horse even harder.
By the time the moon was high in the sky, the lights of the Grand Duke’s Castle finally came into view. He had never felt anything particular when looking at the castle before, but today, those twinkling lights felt like Annette welcoming him home, making his heart feel strangely soft.
As Loik dismounted upon arriving at the main castle, a single thought occupied his mind.
He had ‘returned.’
To the castle where Annette was waiting.
The resonance of those words in his mind was incredibly pleasing.
He was just about to move quickly to see Annette after briefly tending to his horse—which was on the verge of collapse—when he heard the news from his aide, who had run toward him with a face turned pale. Loik had sprinted to the banquet hall in a single breath.
As Perel had said, it seemed Enolius had resolved the situation, but the fact that he hadn’t been able to prevent this small woman from suffering cut him to the heart.
Loik gently took her small hand and asked, already anticipating her answer.
‘I’m fine. Enolius cast recovery magic on me. It doesn’t hurt at all now.’
Annette’s response was predictable. Wasn’t she the type of person who worried so much about others but couldn’t stand it when others worried about her?
However, Annette bit her lip slightly and beckoned him to come closer. Wondering what she wanted to say, he leaned in urgently, and she whispered.
“It hurt so much.”
Her sugar-sweet voice crumbled against his ear. When he pulled back to look at her, her cheeks were puffed out in a pout, as if she were complaining to him.
“Did it hurt a lot?”
The anger that had been boiling inside him just moments ago vanished instantly. As he gently stroked her disheveled hair, Annette nodded, her lips curving downward in a sorrowful expression.
Loik used his broad back to shield Annette from the view of those around them. He had no desire to share the sight of his piteous and lovely wife with anyone else.
“Let’s go back to our room and rest.”
Loik slid his hands behind her back and under her knees, lifting her effortlessly. Annette didn’t even look surprised; she simply leaned into his chest.
As he turned around, the people who had been fussing over her just moments ago were all staring at them with their mouths agape. In the end, out of all these people who worried for Annette, Loik was the only one who could hold her in his arms.
Feeling quite satisfied, he strode out of the room.
*
Janet looked out the window of her room.
The poison should have taken effect by now.
The Guest Castle wasn’t clearly visible from the annex to begin with, but even so, the surroundings were far too quiet.
Could she have failed? Perhaps that sauce wasn’t for the banquet, or maybe the amount of powder was too small compared to the amount of sauce—there were any number of variables.
Judging by the sound of hoofbeats and knights’ voices near the main castle a moment ago, it seemed the Grand Duke had returned as well.
Was tonight the perfect opportunity, and I missed it?
Just as Janet swallowed a sigh of regret, her door was thrown open without a knock.
“Drag her out immediately.”
At the blond knight’s harsh command, two knights who followed him in strode toward Janet.
“W-wait a moment! What is the meaning of this, entering without knocking...!”
A chill ran down her spine, but Janet lifted her chin, feigning bewilderment. Seeing the knights barge in, it seemed things had fortunately gone according to plan. She had expected they might interrogate those who had entered the kitchen, given the gravity of the situation. Some might even suspect a maid from a Marquis’s household of entering the kitchen during banquet preparations.
But it would be concluded as food poisoning anyway.
It’s not like she’s coughing up blood; it’s just a simple stomachache.
Besides, even if they suspected her, they had no evidence. All Janet had to do was play dumb until the very end.
“What on earth have I done wrong for you to treat me like this!”
The blond knight spoke, making no effort to hide his contempt. “I suppose maids from a Marquis’s house are born with a natural talent for shamelessness.”
He was the same knight who had ignored her with a look of disgust when she had asked for directions the other day.
“Let me see Her Highness!”
She asked indirectly to find out Annette’s condition, but the knight no longer responded to her words.
No, this is too much!
To drag her away so roughly when her guilt hadn’t even been clearly established—and her, a lady from a noble family! Her face flushed red with humiliation.
How dare they treat a maid of the Marquis like this!
As Janet was being led out of the annex, her arms pinned by the knights like a common criminal, she saw Perel and Cecilia watching the scene nearby.
Janet cried out piteously toward Perel, who seemed like her only lifeline at the moment.
“Sir Perel! Please, help me!”
Perel took a step forward, his face expressionless.