MCDB CH 08

“If you’re going to die, there are plenty of other ways to do it, beast.”

Axel tapped the brush against his palm as he spoke.

“If the poison doesn’t affect you, they’ll become suspicious.”

No matter how insignificant humans were, they still had brains, didn’t they? Unless that thing in their heads was merely a flowerpot for growing hair, they would at least become suspicious once.

Did that beast actually eat the poisoned food?

“I know. They’ll come to check whether I really ate it. But I can eat it right in front of them and then turn around and quickly take the antidote, can’t I?”

Helens had thought it through, too.

“They don’t know I have an antidote. So they’ll think, ‘Oh, that beast must be immune to poison.’”

After all, Helens was cursed.

She wasn’t an ordinary animal, but a beast afflicted by a curse. They might assume that ordinary poison couldn’t kill her.

“And wouldn’t the person who comes to check whether I ate the poisoned food be the same person who put the poison in it?”

It was highly likely that person would be one of the culprit’s servants.

So if they followed that person, they might be able to find clues leading to the real culprit.

“What do you think? Huh?”

“What do I think? It’s just as foolish as it was before. What are you going to do if they change the type of poison? Then the antidote would be different too.”

Axel clicked his tongue at the foolish plan.

“If there’s no antidote, don’t you have potions or healing magic?”

It wasn’t as though Helens hadn’t considered that.

But who were the two people standing beside her?

A dragon and a dragon’s secretary.

Wouldn’t they have healing magic or some kind of potion that worked against any poison?

“Healing magic is advanced magic. It consumes a great deal of mana, and if I use it in my current condition, I might collapse before you do.”

Axel firmly shook his head.

“That is correct, Princess. And potions can only be used for physical injuries. They have no detoxifying properties whatsoever.”

“Hmm…”

Helens let out a short groan.

Axel and Roman had a point.

Her plan was reckless.

But she couldn’t simply give up on catching the culprit.

“It would be nice if I knew whose hands my meals passed through before reaching me.”

Marie was only a low-ranking servant. She merely received whatever another maid gave her and carried it over. She didn’t know who actually prepared the food.

That was understandable.

There were numerous cooks in the royal palace, along with many assistants who helped them.

If someone had poisoned the food, the culprit could be any one of them.

If she observed those people and investigated their movements, she might find a clue leading to the culprit.

But there was one problem.

“I’m trapped in here, so there’s nothing I can do.”

Helens was stuck inside this iron cage, unable to move freely.

And even if she could move around, what could she accomplish in the form of a beast?

So Helens looked at the two humans in front of her.

Axel and Roman.

“Investigating the servants? That’s a better plan than blindly eating poison.”

Axel immediately understood from Helens’s gaze.

The princess wanted someone to investigate various things on her behalf.

He wanted to help, but could the great dragon himself really stoop to begging humans for information?

“Isn’t that right, Roman?”

“W-Well, yes.”

Roman trembled at the ominous feeling that he was about to be saddled with the entire task.

“You can do it, right? Ah, did I make it sound like I was underestimating you? If my master chose you as his secretary, you must be extraordinarily capable. Something like this should be easy for you.”

It was a task being passed off under the guise of praise.

Axel raised an eyebrow at Helens.

What are you waiting for, beast? Hurry up and play along.

“I’m really relieved to hear that Professor will do it.”

Helens pressed her front paws together as if praying and gazed at Roman with bright, sparkling eyes.

Then she glanced sideways at Axel.

How was that? I played along properly, right?

Amid the silent exchange between the two, Roman lowered his head.

He had fallen right into their trap.

“Yes. Of course I’ll look into it.”

Even though I’m neither royalty nor a dragon, just an ordinary secretary.

“Thank you, Professor Roman.”

This time, Helens was genuinely grateful and took Roman’s hand.

“But what exactly has Roman taught you that you call him Professor?”

Axel had been trying to let the matter slide, thinking that keeping things pleasant was best, but eventually he couldn’t hold back and asked.

“To be honest, I was wondering about that myself.”

Ah.

Helens let out a small exclamation.

The people here didn’t understand that Professor was simply a respectful way of addressing someone.

“I didn’t know what else to call him, so I just called him that.”

“Oh, dear. You can simply call me Roman, Princess.”

Roman had forgotten that although the princess’s reason had returned, she knew almost nothing about the ways of the world.

“Still, calling you by your name feels a little…”

Helens had spent twenty-five years of her previous life in a Confucian-influenced society.

There was no way she could casually call a man old enough to be her middle-aged uncle by his first name.

“Then you can call me Sir Roman.”

“So you’re a noble?”

Axel asked.

“I may not look it, but I’m a graduate of the Royal Academy.”

“I see. Then that must be why my master chose you as his secretary.”

When Axel praised him, the corners of Roman’s mouth stretched upward.

But Axel hadn’t said it because he genuinely respected Roman.

He had merely forced himself to come up with a compliment because he wanted to win Roman’s favor too.

That way, when Roman reported back to Galian, perhaps he would add a few flattering words on Axel’s behalf.

Ha. I actually have to put effort into winning the favor of these people.

Axel inwardly lamented his circumstances.

“Then I’ll be going now. I also need to visit Count Divine.”

Two days ago, Roman had said he would return shortly and report on the princess’s condition, only to disappear without a trace.

The count and his family must have been growing anxious as well.

“Yes. Thank you for helping me.”

“Of course, Princess.”

The princess might have been ignorant of the ways of the world, but considering she was trapped inside a cage, she was remarkably polite.

Roman pulled a teleportation scroll from inside his robes and tore it open.

In an instant, golden energy shimmered around him, and Roman disappeared.

“Tch. For someone who’s supposed to be a secretary, he can’t even use teleportation magic and has to rely on a scroll.”

The moment Roman left, Axel openly clicked his tongue.

Helens was speechless at how quickly his attitude had flipped.

She couldn’t possibly keep such an astonishing experience to herself.

So Helens shamelessly made another demand.

“When you come tomorrow, bring me some food.”

“…Fine. I will.”

Axel barely suppressed the words Did I leave it with you? with the patience of a thousand years.

She was becoming more shameless by the day.

“What do you want to eat?”

He suppressed every bit of irritation he possessed and tried to ask kindly.

He needed to appear as though he was treating Helens well.

He had to pretend to feel guilty and seek her forgiveness.

He could probably get away with doing that only when Roman was present, but…

Axel watched Helens hum happily as she considered what food she should ask for.

What would make people say I really treated her well?

She might look like a foolish animal that would wag its tail at anyone who brought her food, but she was secretly quite calculating.

If Roman realized that Axel only treated her well when he was around, and if Helens happened to meet Galian later, she might tell him,

“He only treated me well when Roman was there!”

It was better to make absolutely certain.

And if he pretended to treat her well, there was even a chance Helens might fall in love with him.

Axel spoke gently to Helens as she thought about the menu.

“You’ll be eating every day anyway, so you don’t need to decide everything you want right now.”

“But there are so many things I want to eat. I’m trying to decide which one to choose.”

“…”

Right.

She could have a lot of things she wanted to eat.

That was actually a good thing.

After all, beasts tended to follow whoever brought them food.

Wait. But she isn’t actually a beast, is she?

Seeing Helens happily lost in her delicious dilemma, Axel decided to let it go.

Whatever the case, all he needed was to win Helens’s favor.

“Axel, are you listening?”

Helens’s voice pierced through Axel’s thoughts.

“Yes, I’m listening. You said you wanted something hot, something sweet, something sour, something salty and spicy, and something both sweet and salty.”

“You’re smart because you’re a dragon, aren’t you?”

Helens praised Axel.

Axel responded, Hmph. That’s hardly anything, but he looked quite pleased.

However, despite being intelligent, he was terrible at reading the mood.

Perhaps because he was a dragon and had never needed to worry about other people’s reactions, that ability had never developed properly.

But Helens had lived a life in which reading the mood was essential.

If the calories from all the meals she had eaten because of social pressure in her previous life had actually counted, she would have been morbidly obese.

Thanks to the instincts she had developed in her previous life, Helens noticed that Roman kept glancing at the fairy-tale book he had left outside the cage.

He had removed it before the water cleaning because he was worried the book might get wet, but Roman’s gaze kept returning to it.

The very same fairy-tale book Galian had sent to Axel, which Axel had then given to Helens.

Only after Axel left did Helens begin examining the book carefully.

“Why did he leave while looking at this like that?”

Helens stared at the fairy-tale book for a long time.

She examined it from every angle, read it carefully, skimmed through it quickly, and eventually tossed it down.

“Was this Roman’s book, perhaps?”

Had Galian taken it away from him and given it to Axel?

If the student was anything like the master, that seemed entirely possible.

As Helens’s misunderstanding of dragons continued to grow,

“Hm?”

A very faint golden light leaked out from between the pages.

Helens carefully examined the place where the mana was escaping and opened the book.

“…It’s magic.”

Magic.

She gently separated the pages that had been stuck together and unfolded them to the side.

The golden energy that had been trapped inside suddenly flared up and disappeared.

And the page that was revealed was…

“There’s nothing here. What? What is this?”

Blank.

“The princess has it.”

It seems Lord Axel failed to find the clue hidden inside the book.

Roman felt relieved when he spotted the fairy-tale book inside Helens’s cage.

It was a good thing.

Galian had sent the book to Axel without anticipating the variable that was Helens.

He hadn’t sent it merely to tell Axel what the curse was.

There was a clue hidden inside that would allow Axel to loosen the restrictions of his punishment, even if only temporarily.

Judging by the fact that Axel hadn’t found the mana left on the book suspicious, he clearly hadn’t realized anything.

Then again, it wasn’t strange for a book sent by Galian to carry some of his mana.

“The princess obviously didn’t notice it either.”

Even someone who had studied magic would have difficulty detecting mana left on an object.

The next time he went there, he could subtly switch it with another book, and the princess wouldn’t notice.

Then he could take it back to Galian, who would decide whether or not to send the book again afterward.

Before that, surely Galian would praise Roman for successfully retrieving the book.

Roman was already excited at the thought of receiving praise from his master.

Then he reached the gates of Count Divine’s estate and immediately became gloomy.

How am I supposed to explain disappearing for two whole days?

There was no way he could say,

“My dragon master spent two days thinking things over.”

Roman sighed deeply and entered the count’s estate.

“I’ve come to see Count Divine. If you tell him Roman is here, he’ll know who I am.”

“Yes, just a moment. Huh?”

The servant who had been politely welcoming Roman suddenly stared at something elsewhere.

“What is it?”

Roman followed his gaze and looked up at the sky.

The sky had darkened, and the faint outline of the moon could be seen.

“Huh?”

Roman made the same dazed sound as the servant.

The moon was blue.

“A-A blue moon?”

“W-Why is it rising today? It’s supposed to rise tomorrow!”