<CHAPTER 14>
You Want Me to Cut Off My Neck?
Evelyn’s mind spun rapidly.
Viscount Kanite? The person who was said to be Father’s wet nurse? The one who retired and returned to her family shortly after I was born… that Simila?
This was not a matter of belief or disbelief.
Once the doubt had been raised, it had to be confirmed.
But even before confirming the truth with Simila, Evelyn was already almost certain.
If Vane investigated it, the information can’t be wrong.
He isn’t someone who would bring up a matter like this based only on guesses or suspicion, so there must also be solid proof.
Then it was time to ask another question.
Why would the wet nurse of the Embrio family… be connected to someone from the Marshall family…!
If the Embrio family represented the anti-Emperor faction, then the Marshall family represented the pro-Emperor faction.
The elderly Marquis Marshall had already stepped away from active politics due to age and illness.
Even so, many nobles still regularly visited the Marshall family estate to seek his advice.
Furthermore, although the Emperor was ill and imperial events were not held often, whenever an important royal event took place, the Marquis Marshall was always one of the first people invited.
In addition, Emery, the Marchioness Marshall, had once served as the chief lady-in-waiting to the late Empress and had remained by her side until the very end.
Yet the guardian of Raven, a member of the Marshall family, was Viscountess Sibila Kanite?
The same person who had lived within the Embrio ducal household for decades?
Fenril, his face fierce, shoved Evelyn in the chest.
However, perhaps because his ethics as a knight prevented him from using greater violence against a woman, he eventually turned his head and shouted at Vane instead.
“You never told me about something like this!”
“I did say that a woman named Simila was suspicious!”
“No, but if it’s something this serious, shouldn’t you have told me first?!”
“I was informed on the way here too.”
While the two argued, someone approached and tugged at Evelyn’s clothes.
“Are you alright?”
Gail’s face was full of worry.
The child looked pitiful as he hesitated helplessly, not even daring to touch her, so Evelyn deliberately maintained a calm expression.
“I’m fine.”
“I’ll explain it. What I know… what I saw…”
“No. Don’t.”
With an extremely cold attitude, Evelyn cut Gail off.
Embrio.
The name of the family she had belonged to in her previous life still bound her.
If Simila, who had taken care of her, was connected to that family… and if the Marshall family had also joined the anti-Emperor faction…
It would be better if I were the fake one.
“What are you whispering about?”
When Vane shouted at them, Evelyn pressed her aching head and replied.
“Stop shouting.”
“What?”
She decided to first do what she needed to do.
“You said to treat him.”
Since there were no maids or attendants, she stood up alone and adjusted her skirt and clothing herself.
Then she stood upright and demanded of Vane.
“Move. The physician you brought seems to be useless.”
The physician’s face changed with humiliation, but he withdrew without saying anything further.
Since there was nothing he could do right now, that was the wisest choice.
Evelyn thought it fortunate that although the physician lacked skill, he did not waste time clinging to useless pride.
“You said you’re not a physician.”
“But I do know how to handle poison.”
She did not say the rest.
Because she was still not certain whether she still belonged to the Embrio family, or whether the Marshall family had truly allied with them.
However, it was unlikely they were unrelated.
If Simila really was Viscountess Kanite, then it would be stranger for Raven and Embrio to have no connection at all.
“And what makes you think I should trust you?”
Grinding his teeth, Vane asked.
Evelyn tilted her head lightly and answered.
“If you don’t trust me, do you have another option?”
It had been the same back then.
Whenever the poison began to manifest in Rexfail’s body, no one could do anything about it.
All they could do was hope that it would naturally subside and that he would recover.
The only person who could artificially suppress it, both then and now, was herself.
So Evelyn believed Vane would not be able to stop her.
Ignoring Vane’s irritation, Evelyn gestured to Gail and had him drag a table beside the bed.
Panzyal absentmindedly helped the boy who was wobbling while pulling a table nearly as big as himself.
“Let me borrow it.”
When she gestured toward the bag he had brought, the physician reluctantly handed it over, even though his face clearly showed he had no idea why he was listening to her.
“Bring boiled water.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Gail said they had already been boiling water in preparation for when the Crown Prince regained consciousness, and he ran out quickly.
While he was gone, Evelyn reorganized the cramped room.
“It’s too cramped, so send the knights outside.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Can’t you restrain a single woman?”
After saying that sharply, Evelyn paused briefly and looked Vane up and down as if seriously considering the possibility that he might not be able to.
Just as Vane seemed about to explode, Evelyn turned and pointed at Fenril.
More precisely, she pointed at the sword hanging from his waist.
“Point it at me.”
“Pardon?”
“Draw that sword and aim it at me. If it looks like I’m doing anything suspicious, cut off my neck.”
Evelyn even kindly indicated the exact place with her finger, as if worried he might not know where the neck was.
“I brought it!”
Turning her back on Fenril, who stared at her with a stunned expression, Evelyn greeted Gail as he returned with a basin of hot water.
“Put it here… yes.”
The quick-witted attendant set the basin exactly where she wanted without needing further instruction.
Satisfied, Evelyn rolled up her sleeves and pulled the ribbon from Vane’s neck.
“What are you doing?!”
“Borrowing it.”
After neatly tying back her hair, the preparations were roughly complete.
Evelyn wiped the instruments she had taken from the bag with the hot water and arranged them.
Without even being asked, Gail followed her actions immediately.
“Wipe off all the moisture.”
While taking out disinfectant and sterilizing up to her wrists, Evelyn watched Gail carefully as he worked.
As Gail hurried around bringing clean dry cloths, he accidentally bumped into another knight.
Fenril held his head and ordered all the knights to leave the room.
“I’ll be watching anyway.”
While the two men dealt with that, Evelyn began her work.
With the physician called over beside her, she took out a scale and measuring cup and began measuring and mixing herbs and medicines.
“Th-the grave mushroom mixed with feather fungus produces poison…”
“That only happens if you don’t remove the bubbles created during the mixture.”
“But if you remove the bubbles properly, there’s no problem.”
Before Evelyn even signaled, Gail—who had already wrapped a cloth over his mouth—ran to open the window wide.
“See? It’s perfectly fine.”
When the physician saw her applying the medicine she had scooped with a spoon onto her wrist, he was horrified.
But when nothing happened, his eyes began to shine.
“Ah… ah! So that’s how! You can neutralize its properties just by removing the bubbles?”
The physician, amazed at discovering new knowledge, began asking questions.
Without stopping her hands for even a moment, Evelyn explained the parts he was curious about.
“What’s needed to vaporize the property created when the two herbs mix is cotton-wheel flower tree oil.”
“But the bubbles can’t break through the oil film on their own.”
“So you have to stir like this, lifting the oil film while continuously mixing the lower layer.”
“W-wow… doing it like that… oh… oh…”
While the man stared in admiration, Evelyn completed a medicine that shimmered with an unusual color.
Its base was purple, but it alternated between red and violet as it caught the light.
“…Is that an antidote?”
“At this moment, yes.”
Understanding what she meant, Vane’s face twisted.
The Crown Prince’s illness, where poison suddenly surged and caused seizures, had persisted for a long time.
The symptoms were different each time, but if the proper medicine was prescribed according to the symptoms, they would at least subside temporarily.
Then the next time, a completely different symptom would appear and trigger another seizure.
When Evelyn mentioned this condition, Vane’s expression grew even sharper as he shouted.
“That woman is suspicious!”
“Then will you use the antidote made by that suspicious woman?”
Evelyn asked.
“What else can we do?”
Before Vane could decide, the Crown Prince’s body convulsed violently once more.
“Vane!”
“But we haven’t even confirmed whether that thing is safe!”
“Ah, if it’s this…”
Just as the physician was about to stammer out an explanation about its safety, Rexfail suddenly convulsed and vomited blood.
Seeing that, Evelyn could no longer hold back.
“Woman! Put that down—!”
As she lifted the measuring cup filled with the medicine, Vane shouted in panic.
Ignoring him completely, Evelyn raised the cup and took the antidote into her mouth.
