A Cold Is Foul Play (2)
"My Lady?"
Sars stared at me as if I had grown a second head. "Whatever are you picking up a pen for so suddenly?"
"Doctor, you did mention that all the other physicians are away on house calls, correct?"
"Pardon? Ah... yes."
"Then the only people left in this dispensary are you and that young pharmacist over there."
"That is true, but why on earth are you asking?"
The physician frowned, his eyes narrowing in bewilderment. I gave him a calm, measured smile.
"Because with this body, I wasn't entirely sure I could handle two grown men at once."
The moment the words left my lips, I shoved the medicine vial straight into his mouth.
I had already uncapped the stopper.
"Mmh, mmrrgh—! Mmph—!"
Caught completely off guard, the physician involuntarily swallowed the bitter draught as it flooded down his throat. I clamped down hard on his jaw, holding his head fast while he thrashed in violent desperation.
For a man who had simply imbibed the very cold remedy he had prescribed, it was an extraordinarily suspicious reaction.
"Whatever is the matter?"
Only after confirming that he had swallowed every last drop did I loosen my grip. "It is supposed to be an ordinary cold syrup, yet you seem rather overwrought."
"Guh... cough! Aaargh! No, nooo—!"
The second my hand released him, Sars collapsed onto the floor. Coughing violently, he jammed his trembling fingers down his throat, gagging desperately to purge the medicine.
Not a chance.
I caught him by the wrist in an iron grip. An elderly physician who had spent his entire life doing nothing more strenuous than turning pages had no hope of overpowering me.
"What do you think you are doing?!" Sars shrieked, twisting frantically against my hold. "Let go! Let go of me this instant! I said, let go—!"
"Doing? Why, nothing at all," I replied smoothly. "Since this is medicine meant for His Imperial Highness the Third Prince, I merely thought it prudent to have it tasted first."
"Wh-what did you say?!"
"Doctor." I sank down into a low crouch, meeting his crazed, bloodshot gaze. "I may not know much about medicine, but I know a thing or two about poison."
"Wh-what madness are you..."
"Why would a remedy for a child's cold call for oleander leaves?"
The moment the name of the lethal plant left my lips, the blood drained completely from the physician's face.
"O-Oleander?! What kind of dreadful nonsense are you spouting?!" Sars shook his head with frantic fervor. "I-I never used any such thing—!"
Oleander. It was a deadly toxic tree imported from across the sea in the Eastern Continent. Its venom was devastatingly potent, making it a weapon of choice among assassins, who coated their arrows and blades with its sap.
With my free hand, I twirled the fountain pen between my fingers, letting the polished metal gleam under the lamplight.
"I was under the distinct impression that oleander is a deadly poison."
"How dare you frame me! There is no way such a thing could have gone into that draught!"
"Quite so. One would certainly think a prescription would never contain such lethal poison."
Shhhk.
I pressed the sharp nib of the pen against the nape of Sars's neck. The fine metal point bit effortlessly into the old man's delicate skin, drawing a bead of crimson. Feeling the steel burrowing deeper into his flesh, his pallor turned from ashen to ghost-white.
"Why... why are you doing this to me all of a sudden?!"
"When a physician reacts with such unhinged horror to drinking his own concoction, it naturally invites reasonable suspicion." I leaned into the pen, driving the tip a fraction deeper. "Let me ask you plainly. Why did you try to murder the Prince?"
"N-Nonsense! Stop spewing such outrageous lies! When did I ever—!"
"The only one spewing lies here is you."
Rising to my feet, I brought my boot down onto the physician's shoulder with ruthless force.
"Aaaaargh!"
"I saw that pharmacist add the oleander leaves with my own two eyes. Do you still intend to play dumb?"
"I didn't! I never ordered that! If it was in there, th-then yes, it must be that boy's doing! He did it on purpose to ruin me!" Sars thrust a quivering finger toward the reception counter, screeching at the top of his lungs. "It was him—!"
Unfortunately for him, his desperate attempt to drag someone else down with him fell flat.
The young pharmacist was far quicker on his feet than the old man had anticipated.
"It wasn't me! I swear, I am innocent!" The young pharmacist practically scrambled over the counter, holding out a slip of paper and thrusting it into my hands as if he had been waiting for this exact cue. "Look, right here! The prescription clearly instructed me to add four oleander leaves!"
Sure enough, the ink on the parchment bore the exact instructions the boy described.
Pinned beneath my boot and betrayed by his own assistant, Sars writhed in sheer frenzy.
"Y-You wretched—! Get off me! Get your foot off! Off of me this instant—!"
"Four leaves," I murmured, examining the script. "A dosage subtle enough that no one would find it strange whether the patient lived or died."
Reaching down, I seized the sputtering physician by the collar and yanked him up. The moment his gaze locked onto mine, a torrent of vitriol burst from his lips.
"You insolent bitch! Do you have any idea who I am?! I am the Chief Imperial Physician who has attended His Imperial Majesty for ten long years! The Chief Physician! And you dare lay hands on me?!"
Driven into a corner, he resorted to the most predictable defense imaginable: brandishing his title.
"And what of it?"
"Wh-what...?"
"Have you truly not realized that being the Chief Imperial Physician only makes your situation far worse?"
At my cold counter, the old man's faded eyes trembled violently. I arched a brow, letting a razor-sharp smirk curl my lips.
"Imagine the spectacle once word spreads that the Emperor's own trusted physician conspired to assassinate an imperial prince."
"Y-Y-You...! Who would ever listen to the slander of a lowly maid like you?!"
"Perhaps no one would listen to me. But in your case, Doctor, even if someone were willing to listen, I doubt you'll have the breath to speak."
The poison was right on schedule.
"What... gasp... krhhhk!"
Right on cue, the physician clutched his chest, his breath hitching into jagged, agonizing wheezes.
"You should have just answered my question from the start."
"Y-You... you devil—!"
"So, why were you trying to kill him?"
"Who was trying to kill anyone?! I never did! I tell you, I didn't—!"
Seeing that he still had the energy to yell, he clearly hadn't reached his limit yet. But I had no intention of waiting around.
"I am sorry, but my patience has worn rather thin."
"Wh— Aaaagh!"
I drove the fountain pen straight into the meat of his thigh.
He collapsed into a heap, shuddering like an aspen leaf in a gale. Crimson blossoms unfurled across the pristine white wool of his imperial mantle, soaking the fabric in dark, hot blood.
"Who ordered this hit?"
"Haaah... haah... uuuugh!"
Clutching his bleeding leg, Sars gasped for air through gritted teeth, staring up at me with eyes drowned in sheer terror.
"You... no, My Lady... why are you doing this to me...? Please..."
Venom coursing through his veins, blood pooling onto the floorboards. For a frail body long past its prime, the agony had to be unbearable.
"You would have had no personal motive to murder the Third Prince. Someone ordered you to do it."
"Ngh... uuuurgh!"
"Who gave the order?"
Finally breaking down, Sars burst into tears and crawled forward, clinging frantically to my skirt.
"My Lady, I was wrong! I was completely in the wrong! Please, I beg of you, just spare my life! Spare me!"
"The only person wasting your life is you," I said coldly. "The sooner you confess, the sooner you receive the antidote. Why hesitate?"
"Th-That...!"
Even now, he vacillated. A specific face was clearly burned into his mind, yet the sheer terror of uttering the name kept his jaws clamped shut.
Not that I need you to tell me.
I could already deduce the culprit well enough. In fact, it was someone whose name had rolled off his very tongue only moments ago.
"I knew it," I murmured quietly. "It was Her Highness the Second Empress, wasn't it?"
Sars did not answer.
Yet his silence was confirmation enough. The moment the title crossed my lips, his shoulders slumped in utter defeat.
"I... I was only doing what Her Highness requested... I had no choice..."
"And what precisely did Her Highness request?"
"Sh-She said... that if the opportunity ever arose... I was to send the Third Prince into the Angel's embrace..."
No matter the empire, no matter the realm, the battle for the throne was always soaked in blood. Rivals to the succession plotting each other's demise was as common as grains of sand on a shoreline.
"What did I do that was so wrong?!"
The memory of Edwin's shattered cry echoing in the imperial garden that day struck my ears once more.
What had he done wrong?
Nothing.
If he bore any sin at all, it was simply the misfortune of being born an imperial prince. It was the crime of possessing sacred royal blood while holding neither power nor wealth to protect it.
What a weary, merciless life you were handed.
A bitter, humorless smile touched my lips.
"M-My Lady, please save me! Have mercy! I... I had my own circumstances!"
"Hey. You over there."
Ignoring the groveling physician clutching at my ankles, I turned toward the counter.
"M-Me?" The young pharmacist flinched, his eyes widening in alarm.
"You call yourself a pharmacist. I presume you know how to neutralize oleander?"
"Ah... y-yes! Yes, My Lady!"
"Treat him."
At my command, the boy rushed over to his superior. He forced Sars to purge the ingested poison, then swiftly administered a suspension of activated charcoal mixed with medicinal water. Having narrowly pulled through the jaws of death, Sars's breathing gradually stabilized, the feverish terror in his face subsiding into exhausted relief.
"Consider this your only warning," I said, gazing down at the broken man. "From this moment forth, you will never touch the Third Prince again. In fact, you will not touch anyone associated with the Third Prince's Palace."
"O-Of course! Naturally! How could I ever dare? I will never touch them, never again!"
"If you break this promise, my next visit will be to the Zaill Countdom."
I leaned down, bringing my lips close to his quivering ear.
"I will pay a personal visit to your wife and lay bare every single atrocity, embezzlement, and corrupt dealing you have ever committed. More than half of the Zaill estate's fortune came from the Countess's dowry, did it not? Once she casts you aside, you will have to vomit up every last coin."
Sars's eyes stretched wide with petrified shock. "H-How... how could you possibly know that...?"
"I have my ways." I met the old physician's gaze and offered him a radiant, venomous smile. "So guard your tongue. Not a single soul must ever hear of what transpired here today."
"H-Hk...!"
"Because if word of this ever leaks, I will ensure you discover firsthand what is far more excruciating than death."
Trembling from head to toe at my parting whisper, Sars nodded with frantic subservience. "Y-Yes, yes! I will engrave it upon my very soul!"
"Good. That will do."
Thwack!
My hand chopped cleanly into the side of his neck.
Like a snuffed candle, his consciousness vanished in an instant, and his limp body slumped heavily against the cold stone floor.