“Your Grace, a letter has arrived from the palace.”

“From the palace?”

It had been less than a week since he had met with the Emperor. And yet contact from the palace was already coming so quickly.

‘A bad feeling about this…’

The Duke hastily tore open the letter that Rikel handed him. Soon after, his face darkened dramatically as he read its contents.

“Is something the matter?”

When the Duke sighed briefly and touched his forehead, Rikel cautiously asked.

“Elei has summoned me to the palace. She suggests we share a cup of tea in this lull.”

Akia, who had nervously set down the letter, mumbled. When had they ever had the leisure to sit and have tea together?

There must be some other scheme afoot.

“Have you noticed any strange signs around the Emperor lately?”

“Well, no specific movements have been observed. However, Duke Rodrigo seems to have purchased sea holly through a dealer.”

“Sea holly?”

“Yes, it’s not a particularly rare herb and is commonly used as a nutritional supplement.”

Listening quietly to Rikel, the Duke nodded. As Rikel had said, sea holly was known to be a herb for boosting one’s energy.

However, that was only when sea holly was used alone. Akia, wearing an uneasy expression, stroked his chin and then spoke to Rikel.

“Sea holly, huh…”

“Should we investigate further? Sea holly might be…”

“No, I know what you’re trying to say. You can go.”

Rikel hesitated for a moment, but eventually bowed his head in acquiescence to Akia’s instructions. It seemed that Akia also understood the implications of his own words.

Then, as he was about to turn away, Rikel turned back to Akia.

“By the way, Professor Rams visited the palace. He paid a visit to His Majesty after attending an academic conference.”

“Professor Rams?”

Lifting his eyes from some documents, Akia looked up again. Rams? Wasn’t he the herbalist that Lea had met recently?

“Yes. He talked with His Majesty for about an hour and then left.”

Akia’s brow furrowed.

An hour was a considerable amount of time to spend. Rams, despite his renown, was not a highranking figure deserving a personal audience with the Emperor.

‘That means he must have been investigating Lea.’

If he had started to investigate Lea, it would only be a matter of time before Elei became aware of the Polarium poison.

The Duke had met with an expert on poisonous herbs, after all.

“Rikel. It seems we might have to expedite our plans.”

“Expedite, you say?”

Rikel’s eyes deepened, grasping immediately what Akia meant.

“Yes. Where is Lea?”

“She appears to be in her lab; shall I call her?”

He had momentarily considered consulting Lea about sea holly, but the Duke shook his head.

‘The development of the new drug is urgent, too.’

“No, never mind. Prepare to go to the palace.”

.

.

.

Elei sat by the window, staring off into the distance.

[Your Majesty, it is my first time greeting you. I am Rams, a professor teaching herbal medicine at the Royal University of Foren. It’s an immense honor to meet you.]

He had invited Rams to the palace after hearing that he would be attending a conference in the capital. It was to inquire about Akia.

Unable to directly question Rams about Akia, he deflected by discussing the Duke’s mysterious illness.

An inexplicable condition. Initially, Akia seemed to be losing strength, and then he collapsed.

When he regained consciousness, he was so gravely ill that his imminent death would not have been surprising.

[Hmm. From what I hear, it sounds similar to symptoms of Polarium poisoning.]

The answer he received at the end of his explanation was shocking.

[Polarium poison? You mean it’s not an illness, but poisoning?] [If it’s not a congenital disease, the skin color can’t suddenly darken like that. Usually, these symptoms appear when one is poisoned. Particularly, drying out and killing the person slowly is a characteristic of Polarium poison.] […….] [Of course, it’s unlikely to happen from a single exposure. The patient probably had prolonged exposure. Is the patient still alive?]

When Illei heard the story from Rams, he felt as if he’d been struck on the back of his head.

Illei was also suspicious of why Akkia had suddenly fallen ill.

Until the former Empress was assassinated, Akkia, who used to frolic around with Illei, came to mind. His brows tightened as if recalling his childhood.

‘Someone might have deliberately been giving Polarium poison to Akkia.’

If not.

“Has he been feigning weakness all along?”

A chilling voice slipped past Illei’s lips.

Sending that female pharmacist to meet Rams implied that Akkia knew he was poisoned.

‘The latter possibility is more likely then.’

No. His ominously pounding heart seemed to assert that his speculation was correct.

‘It’s unbelievable.’

Illei glanced at his trembling hands.

If he had thought Akkia was an ailing prince waiting for his inevitable death, and he had been drinking Polarium poison voluntarily…

He’s no different from a lurking predator.

Just as Illei’s eyes grew cold, a brief knock sounded, followed by a maid’s voice.